Eighth Annual Mr. Harriton is a Success

Eighth+Annual+Mr.+Harriton+is+a+Success

On Friday, February 27th, Harriton Student Council hosted the eighth annual Mr. Harriton – an exciting and humorous night of entertainment. As anticipated, the tickets were high in demand and sold out to an eager crowd of students during lunch on the day of the show. Despite high expectations, the show did not disappoint.

This year’s contestants included three juniors, Noah Balistra, Jake Diamond-Reivich, and Coby Levit, as well as seven seniors, Jansen Aoyama, Alex Dwyer, Josh Foltz, Nick Geaneotes, Tristan Kevitch, Griffin Kivitz, and Ben Seltzer. These contestants each represented a different holiday, as part of this year’s theme, “Holiday Jam.” The holidays represented were Labor Day, Father’s Day, Easter, Halloween, Star Wars Day, Valentine’s Day, Independence Day, Christmas, St. Patrick’s Day, and New Year’s Eve, respectively.

The contestants were introduced to almost one thousand attendees in an introductory dance number, which received great applause and laughter. The bulk of the remainder of the show consisted of the presentation of a comical video by each contestant followed by each contestant performing his chosen talent demonstration. These talents varied from a magic show by Jansen to dancing and a tenor sax performance by Griffin. Ms. Lesch, one of the judges, commented, “I was amazed by all the steps the competitors learned for the dance numbers!” Singing and percussion were common themes of many contestants’ talents, the former an integral part of Coby’s, Alex’s, and Noah’s talent displays and the latter a component of Tristan’s and Jake’s performances.

As the show proceeded, a panel of judges, comprised of teachers, carefully evaluated the contestants in individual categories. The scores were subsequently tallied and Ben Seltzer was crowned this year’s Mr. Harriton, after his notably jocular talent exhibition, in which he reenacted a scene from Frozen, playing both Anna and Hans.

While this year’s show certainly fulfilled its primary objective of live entertainment for the Harriton community, it also proved to be a highly successful charity fundraiser. Harriton Student Council’s treasurer, Willie Marks, said, “Mr. Harriton is truly an amazing show. The contestants, their partners, and everyone else involved in the production bond together, the school is entertained with a great show, and thousands of dollars are raised for charity. On behalf of Student Council, I’d like to thank all of the generous students, parents and faculty that helped make the show possible.”

Money was raised through ticket sales, program advertising, the selling of concessions, and other means. Notably, more advertisements appeared in this year’s program, as well as on screen before the show, than ever before, raising over a thousand more dollars through this medium than last year. All proceeds from the show will be donated to a select few charities, which include the Lower Merion Scholarship Fund, Alex’s Lemonade Stand, and Harriton’s Mini-THON.

Please visit hhsbanner.com or youtube.com/rickyreports for the release of the full recording of the show by HBTV-Ricky Reports.