Following the Mr. NCHS show on Feb. 12 at 7 pm in Central’s auditorium, Entertainment Editor Maggie Cody, Profile Editor Catt Kim and Managing Editor Emily Zhen interviewed the contestants, one of the planners of the show, senior Allie Ciha and Naperville Central graduate Nishat Ahmed, former Mr. NCHS contestant and the older brother of senior Rafat Ahmed who performed in the show this year.
Q: What did you think of your Mr. NCHS experience?
Joey Williams: Mr. NCHS was not only the absolute highlight of the winter week; it was probably the single greatest night of my entire high school career. My favorite part was the 30 minutes before the show where we blasted pump up music, got weird, and each gave motivational speeches. Not a single dry eye was in that dressing room.
Danny Gruenthal: As always, the 10 guys did a great job. They put on a perfect show. I think the one thing about Mr. NCHS is the commonality between all the shows, and that’s how close the guys get.
John Norgren: It was unbelievable, it was awesome. Everything and all the people in it. I just had one of the best times in high school. [The best part was] seeing everyone’s talent, and seeing what everyone did and how funny everything was.
Frank Peng: Well I had a lot of fun, the most fun I’ve had in a long time. It just kind of shows the school unity, how the school can come together and have a fun time. It went by way too fast. It was an honor being with those nine other guys.
Rafat Ahmed: It was great, all the people I worked with, all the contestants were amazing and it was just a great experience all around. I had so much fun. It was just a great time, all the guys, some I had preconceived notions about, but it turned out to be great. I’m going to have a great time tonight spending the night with them.
Nishat Ahmed (on his brother Rafat’s performance and his own Mr. NCHS experience): [My Mr. NCHS experience] was fantastic, it was probably one of the best nights of my life. Me and the guys still hang out all the time together. We have annual meet ups, hangouts, sleepovers. [Rafat’s performance] was interesting because Rafat’s not really a performer so when I heard his talent I was like ‘yeah dude, nice, I’m really glad you’re doing that.’ You know, he seemed [to have] a little stage fright, but he did fine. I’m proud of him for doing all he’s done, you know, and I think he had a great time, so that’s the most important.
Wesley Lo: Mr. NCHS was so much, at first everyone was an individual, not everybody knew each other. Now, we’re like a family. Being able to preform with these guys, they’re so awesome, they’re so talented, they’re so goofy, they’re so funny. The whole entire experience overall is just really awesome.
Carl Sladkey: It’s so great, it was so fun. It was the best way to top off senior year. It was a great group of guys, and it was fun to be on stage.
Justin Gillette: [My favorite part of my Mr. NCHS experience] was the after party. [The performance] were a lot cleaner than it was in the rehearsal, so I was impressed. The dance was really fun to learn and perform.
Rahul Saigal: It was probably the most fun experience I’ve ever had.
Nick Scotti: I think that we did a fantastic job. We all really came together and even though we were able to rehearse just one time, and that was yesterday, the 11th, we all pulled together kind of at the last minute just to get the show done. I mean I think Wesley totally deserved all the awards he got, I mean he did a fantastic job.
Q: How did you choose your character?
Nick Scotti: They basically gave us a list of stuff, like a list of characters to choose from, and that was one of the options. I was going to choose other characters, but, my mom and I talked about it and most of us wouldn’t know who they were to begin with, so I just chose Alexander the Great cause I feel like he’s pretty well-known.
Joey Williams: I picked my character, [Black Beard the Pirate] with the firm affirmation that at least one out of the ten characters needed to be a scummy illiterate bum. But then Rafat picked Ozzie and we had two so that was cool.
Q: What happened during your act, Nick?
Nick Scotti: [The curtain] was not supposed to go down! I probably had 20 seconds more. Wes had a saxophone solo and they cut us off. I think that it’s ridiculous that you’re trying to make a high school show G rated, this is not a Disney movie; this is high school.
Q: Tell us more about your talent.
Rahul Saigal: I actually had this whole bit where I like spilled milk everywhere on the stage. But like yesterday [during] dress rehearsal, they told me I couldn’t do that. So that was all improvised.
Joey Williams: Growing up, I always used to tune in the radio in my garage to 97.4 fm, The Slidee. So I’d spend most days trying to recreate the beats I would hear, like Biggie, Tupac and 2pac. Eventually, my mouth just got lubricated enough to the point where I could mimic a rave like a parrot.
Q: Any advice for future Mr. NCHS contestants?
Rahul Saigal: Just have fun with it. Don’t take it too seriously. People who take it too seriously don’t really have a good time.
Q: What did you think of the people who won awards?
Justin Gilette: I mean obviously I think Wesley deserved it all, and Frank Peng definitely deserved Mr. Talent. Everything Carl did was hilarious. Rahul improvised everything, so that was ridiculously impressive.
Q: How does it feel to win, Wesley?
Wesley Lo: I kind of want to do the Mean Girls thing where you take the crown off and crack it and give it to everyone else because everybody had their moment, everybody sparked throughout the entire show and everybody deserves to win this. Winning, yeah it feels great, but it’s the journey, not the destination.
Q: How does it feel to be first runner-up, Carl?
Carl Sladkey: I was pretty surprised, but also super excited. I thought a lot of guys could have had my place because their talents and stuff were so good.
Q: How did you get the idea of reciting a poem for your act, Carl?
Carl Sladkey: Well I was thinking about the talents and I like poetry a lot. I just sat down one night and wrote it all out. I made a couple of changes, but the poem was just what it was.
Q: How was your experience running Mr. NCHS?
Allie Ciha: I’m really relieved now that it’s over, but at the same time it was so much fun that I would love to do it again in a heartbeat. But at the same time so much work went into it that it’s like a weight lifted. I think getting to know the guys was really cool and working with them to get their acts ready and all that. It was really fun.
