A day the Mepham community looks forward to every year, on February 15, the auditorium was packed with students, faculty, and families to see the Mr. Mepham pageant.
Leading up to Mr. Mepham, students in their English class vote for a male student and faculty member they would like to see perform. These participants compete in three categories: first, showing off Mepham spirit, second, performing their “talent,” and finally, formal wear with a special question specific to each contestant.
As this year’s faculty winner, Mr. Morris wowed the crowd throughout the night. “Running for Mr. Mepham was fun!” Morris said. “I was hesitant to jump into the ring again, but the students made it so fun that I just had to do it.” With spirit wear, he dressed up as a pirate and had many students as his sidekicks. In talent, alongside Eamon Andrews, Ryan Lechleitner and Morris’ daughter, Olivia, on blowup guitar, Mr. Morris sang, “Rock And Roll All Nite,” all dressed as KISS. At the conclusion of this performance, Morris broke a pinata and sophomore Max Chiodi threw candy to the crowd. To end off the night, Mr. Morris dressed up as Wellington C. Mepham, with Mr. Franklin as his pirate mascot, assisted by “John F. Kennedy” and “Sanford H. Calhoun,” with the help of everyone from his talent as well as Joshua Ali, Brendan Catalina and Seamus Singleton. “Sam and Kim Balnis and Emma Gallagher created some beautiful artwork and cheered me on!” Morris said. “It was a great team effort, which illustrates what a great school community we have.”
Senior Shohjahon Saidmurodov started his night in Mepham gear head to toe, with his Battle of the Classes shirt, Mepham sweatpants and a Mepham drawstring bag. Saidmurodov quickly stunned the audience, showing off martial arts moves with Josh Gilmore. Then, with the assistance of Hassan Atiq and Jeffrey Fornaro, Saidmurodov and Gilmore showed off their strength breaking boards, ending the act by cartwheeling off the stage. Upon touching on his performance, Sho told us, “It’s an honor to win and I am proud that my group and I won. I couldn’t have done it without them, and on top of that, I thank the Mepham community as they made Long Island feel like home when I moved last year. Truly, this beauty pageant has shown me a sense of belonging in the school.” We congratulate Sho on his incredible performance!
This year’s runner up was The Buccaneer’s very own freshman, Asher Chang. Chang started his night rocking his Mepham 2027 sweatshirt. Then in his talent, Chang had the crowd roaring when he performed Taylor Swift’s “Era’s Tour” with backup dancers Ty Chang and Matt Fulgieri. The whole room was screaming as they changed songs throughout their show. When asked about his first Mr. Mepham, Chang said, “Coming into this as a freshman, I didn’t expect to win, so I was really stunned and excited when I got runner up. Mr. Mepham was an incredible experience to be a part of and I hope to be nominated again next year.” Congratulations, Asher, on being runner up!
The true stars of the show, however, were the incredible hosts, seniors Ibrahim Alam and Jake Lechleitner. These two came dressed in curly wigs, glasses, and suits, keeping the audience engaged with their every word. On the BMB livestream, each host shared some fun facts, Alam saying he is Gwen Stefani’s “biggest fan,” and Lechleitner saying he is besties with his grandma. “It’s a blast every year and it’s special when you see the Mepham community come together and support all of our brave contestants. I’m grateful that I got to be a part of it,” Lechleitner said. As usual, the hosts did an incredible job with the show!
