1. Producer – Carley Schleien
First period: 1 hour.
Football game: 3 hours.
Organizing Mr. Panther: too many hours to count.
For the past four years, Mr.Panther has attracted huge crowds of screaming fans and dozens of eager participants. On October 6, a record 42 guys will compete for the title of Mr. Panther 2011 by dancing their way across the auditorium’s stage, introducing their club, and showcasing selected talents. It takes a tremendous amount of manpower to organize and host Mr. Panther. The TVP class does everything from creating the application for the participants to writing receipts for t-shirts and tickets to filming the opening and dance videos to contacting sponsors. And there is still so much
more. As a member of this year’s TVP class, my responsibilities for Mr. Panther included interviewing about 20 participants on Press Junket Day and creating the program for the show. Compared to the co-producers’ responsibilities, and Mr. Salon’s, my job was, well, small. I admire all of the members of the TVP class, especially the officers, for the effort and hard work that they contributed to the event. I’m incredibly excited to help host the event this year. If it’s been hard work thus far, I can only imagine how busy we’ll be on October 6.
2. Fan – Shannon Bush
On the afternoon of Wednesday, September 8, I was one of the most envied girls at school. I was assigned to cover the Mr. Panther Press Junket Day beach attire station. Surrounded by sweaty, shirtless contestants, I could just barely keep from drooling. At first glance, they seemed just as I expected: eye-candy, of course, but highly arrogant. As I met with the contestants and probed them about their experience, however, I realized that the Mr. Panther experiencemeant much more to many of them than a chance to show off their abs. Contestants said they joined Mr. Panther for a wide range of reasons. A few did join for “the fame and glory,” (senior Hutch Cunningham, Mr. Science NHS), but most cited reasons like “to represent my club” (senior Darrell Ewing, Mr. FCCLA), “to give back to my school” (senior Eric Pons, Mr. Girls’ Lacrosse), and “to get closer to people you don’t know,” (senior Michael Palmer, Mr.Girls’ Volleyball). As they waited for the television production students to take their photos for the program, the participants practiced their poses on each other, did push-ups while chanting “get swole,” and as senior Miguel Cabrera, Mr. Color Guard, put it, were “just messing around.” Charismatic, witty, or all-around affectionate, the contestants’ unique personalities shine through their muscles. Although I’ll be cheering for Mr. Newspaper when the Mr. Panther 2011 event finally arrives, I can certainly say that the warm dynamic the contestants have created will make this year’s show the best yet.
3. Participant – Chris Burg
As I entered the aerobics room for the first Mr. Panther dance practice, I was hit by a thick wave of testosterone. Jokes were exchanged, fists bumped, and shirts came off before I even put my backpack down. I was home. What I expected to be an intense competition was in reality just a huge gathering of guys looking for two things — a good time and a ton of laughs. After five minutes of practice, it was clear that the Mr. Panther experience would be abundant with both of these. What I’ve learned so far is that the 42 of us have much in common. We lack a natural ability to dance and jump at every opportunity to take our shirts off. Most importantly though, we don’t take ourselves too seriously, which is a must because, well, it’s a male beauty pageant. Winner or not, I’ll walk away with some sweet new dance moves and friends… But seriously, vote for me.
