The chapel was the place to be on Valentine’s Day as students gathered to witness the crowning of this year’s Mr. Wheaton. The chapel was beautifully decorated for the occasion and the crowd was very festive.

The pageant began with a catwalk and each of the ten contestants was given the opportunity to show the audience their outfits. While some contestants opted to dress to the nines and were fully decked out in suits, others chose to wear less clothing and instead did the catwalk shirtless.

The next section was the talent portion, which featured a variety of impressive performances from the contestants. Particularly impressive was Jose Disla’s reading of a poem he wrote several years ago, which received an enthusiastic response from the audience. Junfei John Yu’s performance was also memorable, as he prefaced his act by telling the audience that he learned the song from a beautiful woman he met one night while working and he thinks of her whenever he plays it. This resulted in a collective “aw” from the audience.

The remainder of the pageant was more interactive and consisted of a question/answer segment and a dare segment. Perhaps the most “interactive” moment was when Colby Bombero was dared to kiss a member of the audience, which he accepted to the audience’s delight.

While all of the contestants were great, it was Connor Mathis that ultimately won the hearts of both the judges and the crowd. His entire performance was impressive and entertaining. Connor went home with an iPad mini and the well-deserved title of Mr. Wheaton.