Mr. Maple Saurabh (Saurabh Shah)

With the 32nd annual Mr. East competition coming up quickly, Saurabh Shah (‘19), or Mr. Maple Saurabh, has been preparing greatly for his big debut on stage.

As the theme of this year’s competition is “Man of the Year”, each contestant has been assigned a month that they must incorporate into their performance. Mr. Maple Saurabh has been given the month of October for his act. While “gainz season” is his favorite season, the month of October is also very special to Shah.

“My month is the best because the second Wednesday of October is national kale day,” said Shah. “I also celebrate Diwali during October so we put up Christmas lights and it really confuses all the neighbors.”

Shah who is involved with Student Government, volleyball, robotics and band obviously leads a very busy life. But, that hasn’t stopped him from putting together an amazing act. Shah has taught himself guitar for his performance and also plans to play the harmonica and do some stand up comedy in hopes to charm the audience.

While there are many different contestants all fighting for the title of Mr. East, Shah remains humble going into the competition but does acknowledge the fact that he has many fierce competitors.

“I’m probably not [going to win], I think Charlie [Hess], [Andrew] Bui or Kevin [Naddeo] are going to win,” he said. “They are all really talented and have a lot going for them. I’m just here to have some fun.”

As for what’s next for Mr. Maple Saurabh after Mr. East and East itself, he will be attending the University of Pennsylvania to major in Computer Science and Economics.

Will Mr. Maple Saurabh’s witty commentary and newly found musical skills be able to win over the judges hearts and help him to win the title of Mr. East?