Mr. VU: The Vanguard Games

Welcome to the Vanguard Games, may the odds be ever in your favor.

The annual Mr. VU took on a unique theme this year: The Hunger Games. For those of you who live under a rock, The Hunger Games was first a novel series written by Suzanne Collins and has now been made into a popular movie in 2012 with a sequel close on its heels, set for this November.

Senior Allison Tash and sophomore Vince Catalina were the hosts for the night, acting the characters Effy and Caesar, respectively. Both were dressed in the same outlandish attire as the characters do in the movie.

Mr. VU Nominees were Tom Sutton, Mr. Catalina; Kyle Labeaune, Mr. Commuter; Kevin Christianson, Mr. Laguna; David Kaisa, Mr. Fine Arts; Jonathan Dumas, Mr. People’s Choice; Kevin Cornwall, Mr. Athletics; Lane Greenleaf, Mr. Fine Arts; and Garrett Weeks, Mr. Balboa.

Since the theme was “The Hunger Games”, the contestants were asked to come up with a special ability or strength that would help them be successful in surviving “The Vanguard Games.” Mr. Catalina, Tom Sutton, had the special ability of charming people and being able to win them over. For his talent he performed a piece on the piano.

“I had always been interested in the event, but I never really knew what went into it as far as preparation. This was a different feeling being in Mr. VU because I was able to see first-hand the culmination of all the hard work that went into it. It was truly a rewarding experience,” Sutton said.

Other acts included a dance routine from Kyle Labeaune and Kevin Christianson, a musical act of “Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes from Garrett Weeks, a drum performance from Lane Greenleaf, and David Kaisa put together a slide show of popular movies and television shows while playing the famous musical themes from each movie or show.

But being a part of Mr. VU is not all fun and games.

“The biggest challenge was getting my talent together. I wrote a spoken word, so I wanted to make sure that everything flowed well and my hand movements went with what I was saying. [It was] Much more difficult than I thought,” Jonathan Dumas said.

Mr. Peoples Choice, Jonathan Dumas recited an original spoken word poem for his talent and had the special “Hunger Games” ability of climbing trees.

Kevin Cornwall, Mr. Athletics, performed his original version of “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” theme song and rapped his story of coming to Vanguard and playing soccer.

Cornwall was awarded Mr. Congeniality (as voted by contestants) and Mr. VU (by judges Ryan Moyer, Rachel Lund, and Tim Young).

“I didn’t expect to win either, to be honest. I just wanted to have fun and make the guys enjoy the whole experience,” Cornwall said.

“Just want to say thanks to all the lads involved. They are a great bunch of guys and if I had to do it all again, I wouldn’t change any of them. We all molded well as a group and all had fun. Also thanks to Heather Nelson for doing all the organizing, and Kim Cid and Nicole Quijada for coming up with the dance routine and being so patient with us through the whole experience,” Cornwall said.