Bothell High boys will battle it out in a talent competition at the annual Mr. Bothell contest from 7:30-9 p.m. March 1 at the Northshore Performing Arts Center (18125 92nd Ave. N.E., Bothell).

This year’s contestants are: the seniors, Cooper Brandt, Steven Cannon, Cole Davis, Teo Ekstrom and Chris Masciotra; the juniors, Jed Aboulhosn, Jared Berry, Bryce Peterson, Bryan Starck and Scott Williams; and the sophomores, Ty Fleming, Keaton Martin, Spencer Morse and Alex Yancey.

Each class at Bothell selects five representatives in each grade to compete. Once the 15 boys have been chosen, they attend rehearsals to learn a dance routine, choose a talent to preform and take part in a photo shoot for the accompanying Mr. Bothell calendar.

The show, started by the Bothell cheerleading squad, has been a Bothell tradition for more than a decade. The ASB took over Mr. Bothell a few years after its inception and turned it into a “Make-A-Wish” Foundation fund-raiser. This is the seventh year that ASB has run Mr. Bothell. A few of the past winners have been: Tim Nelson, Spencer Cannon and Dominic Sickich.

The actual pageant consists of a talent show, a formal-wear contest, a cheer competition and an interview portion, which will be judged by a five-judge panel. The audience can also participate in choosing the winners by donating money to the candidate they wish to take home the grand prize. After the competition, each boy’s scores are tallied and the winners are announced, receiving a ticket to prom (for the seniors) or to homecoming (for the juniors and sophomores).

For the sophomores, this is their first opportunity to participate in Mr. Bothell. Sophomore Alex Yancey says, “I am really excited. I was pretty surprised to have been chosen.”

The ASB chairperson for the show this year is Bothell junior Amanda Staten. “We started working on Mr. Bothell in November,” she says. “That is when we started to get the ballots ready for the students to vote for their representatives.”

Every Monday since the participants were announced they have attended dance rehearsals. This year, the dance choreographers are seniors Shay Joseph and Hannah Yu, who both competed in the Talent Show with a dance routine of their own.

The boys have also been working on their talents for the show. Contestant senior Chris Masciotra has been busy with the preparations. “Mostly I’ve been practicing my singing for my talent. I’ve also had to work on my dancing a lot.”

Bothell’s ASB has also done a lot in advertising this year’s show theme, “It’s Raining Men.” “They have made all of the posters and decorations in the math hallway, as well as the big poster in the commons and the rain drops hanging from the ceiling,” says Staten. “In addition to the posters and hallway decorations, we have been working on ‘Make-Your-Wish,’ where students can make wishes and potentially have them granted by one of the contestants.”

The “Make-Your-Wish” component of Mr. Bothell is a new addition to the show this year. It is a way for the student body to participate and make wishes for the contestants to carry out. Students could write wishes, which were later drawn in a raffle. The wishes will be granted between Feb. 27 and March 1. Some of the wishes include sitting with one of the boys at lunch or having one of the boys walk someone to class.

“Now the ASB is preparing for Mr. Bothell by having rehearsals this upcoming week and selling tickets,” says Staten. “With how much work that the guys and the ASB has put into it, I can’t wait.  I have been thinking, living, and breathing Mr. Bothell for the past four months and it is finally here!”

Similar to Bothell’s recent Talent Show, all the donations will go to the “Make-A-Wish” Foundation. The entrance fee is $10 or $7 with ASB.

Note: The original start time was 7 p.m. as stated on the posters, but due to scheduling concerns, it was moved to 7:30 pm.