Cole Miller was crowned Mr. Northwestern last Friday evening, celebrating one of the signature events of the senior year.

"I was really surprised," Miller said. "I intended to have fun with my classmates, but when they called my name, it put the whole year into perspective."

Just after he was crowned by last year's winner, Dan Massetti, Miller, in a touching show of generosity, passed the crown to 5-year-old Bobby DiGiacomo, who is battling leukemia.

"We all agreed beforehand that would be best," Miller said. "Mr. Northwestern should be viewed as someone who gives back to the community."

The event was sponsored by student council and proceeds were donated to Bucks for Bobby.

Judges included teachers Jayme Baker, Bob Beise, Kristen DiGiacomo and Steve Weiss.

"It's like a fashion show," Student Council Adviser Patti Mengel said. "C.E. Roth even donated a bunch of suits. The boys went Tuesday before [the show] to get fitted.

"It's a kind of a last goodbye for the senior class."

Mengel said the event involves the majority of the senior class.

"It is open to anyone, not just the elite," she explained. "This is the start of senior festivities. It's May and the seniors have a lot of events ahead [of them]."

Miller's cohorts included Alex Bobbyn, Alec Fixl, Adam George, Jay Hereba, Ross Macklin, Michael Mazzucco, Sean Moyer, Kurtis Reif, Matt Strickland, Brad Stuby and Austin Weiss.

The competition consisted of an opening number and featured all the gentlemen in three fashion events: casual, swim and formal wear, as well as a talent event and a question-and-answer portion.

The seniors look forward to Mr. Northwestern with anticipation.

"I've always watched the previous Mr. Northwestern [contests] and it always looked like a great time," Bobbyn said. "The show is a very fun experience that allows the seniors to go out with a bang."

Senior Christine Mc-Donald wrote the show.

"It was a stressful process to write the script, but I wanted to give each guy a moment to represent our class to be the epitome of our school," she explained.

After a slight glitch during the opening number, all the contestants took to the stage performing a dance number that thrilled the audience.

"We worked really hard and it's been fun," said the choreographer of the event Brianna Nibbe, who was assisted by Sami Wiik and Maddie Bachman. "I'm in student council and I dance so I volunteered to coordinate.

"The guys said they're all going to change their majors to become professional dancers."

Fixl said the best part was working with the dance instructors and the guys for the opening.

"It showed the personalities of people that you didn't know they had," Fixl said.

Macklin agreed the best part of the experience was "getting time to mess around with the guys.

"They're all great and a ton of fun to be around," he said.

Stuby said the short amount of time they had to practice made for an exciting and fast-paced challenge they all took to heart.

"We really tried, he said."

Reif said one of the best parts of the competition was seeing the collaboration of everybody and the hundreds of ideas offered by everyone involved.

"It was great to have one last chance to put on a wonderful production with my classmates," Reif said.

The senior girls emceed the event. "It was a good representation of our class, even if it was somewhat flamboyant," said Mallory Brinley. "It was very cheeky. Our boys knew where the line was but they didn't cross it."

Kylee Bennett, Brooke Novotnak, Haley Smith, Melissa Smith, Mariana Valencia and Jenny Von Holt also shared in emceeing the event.

The talent portion of the show featured agility in Weiss demonstrating parkour, Moyer wielding a sword and Strickland solving a Rubiks Cube, talent in Reif's musical number, Macklin's lip syncing and Bobbyn's recitation and even satiric interpretive dance.

"I love Northwestern Lehigh and I wanted to participate in an event that showcases what my class and I are about and even more so, to make a total fool of myself… for fun," Hereba said.

A cupcake bakeoff sponsored by the Interact Club was also a part of the evening's festivities.

Two Rotarians awarded Heather Berrier with the top prize. Proceeds from the sale of the cupcakes went to Bucks for Bobby.

"Mr. Northwestern has become a high school tradition to showcase the graduating class," said Mengel. "This senior class is very diversified but very close knit. I think you will hear a lot of success stories come out of this class."