Every year, Carbondale Community High School puts on a man pageant called Mr. CCHS. In past years, the pageant is put on by Key Club and raises money for Project Eliminate which is a charity that is working to eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus. Tetanus is a deadly disease that steals the lives of more than 30,000 innocent babies and a significant number of women each year. 

This year, Key Club decided to switch fundraisers and decided to raise money for The Thirst Project which is a non-profit organization that aims to bring safe drinking water to communities around the world where it is not immediately available. When asked about the pageant, Katie Bachman, Key Club sponsor, said, “This year we raised over $1,600! We are thrilled with the outcome and are grateful to everyone who contributed.” A total of $1,600 could create a lot of wells for quality drinking water.

Key Club had been preparing for Mr. CCHS since October. They had been thinking of choosing a theme, designing t-shirts, creating posters and tickets, and advocating for the event. Key Club members spent endless hours preparing and making sure the event ran smoothly. After sending out applications to all the senior males. The senior males that signed up then started to be prepared for the pageant through meetings, dance rehearsals, and endless emails. On the day of the event, key club members helped decorate the auditorium, run microphone and light checks, and other little tasks to bring the pageant to life. Unfortunately, the microphones and sound decided to stop working occasionally throughout the performance. Even though it was a night full of chaos, Key Club members and contestants made it all come together, delivering a great performance.

The winner of Mr. CCHS, Etan, is a foreign exchange student from Belgium. He decided to participate in Mr. CCHS because in his country they “don’t really have this kind of thing in our school in Belgium” so Etan figured, why not go for it? Etan had an escort at first but then plans changed so Etan had to find a new escort. Luckily, his friend Sierra Wallace agreed to accompany him.

For Etan’s talent, him and Sierra performed the Mean Girls Jingle Bell Rock dance and for Etan, this was his favorite part. Quite like why he decided to participate in Mr. CCHS in the first place, his favorite part of the entire pageant was his talent because “it was something I would’ve never done in Belgium and it was really really fun to do that.” 

Overall, Mr. CCHS ended up being a great way to raise money for a great cause. It was a night of chaos but Key Club members and contestants made it worth the audience’s while. Mr. CCHS raised over $1000 to donate to The Thirst Project. That’s remarkable!