By Shannon Hicks

Fashions were shown, talents were displayed, egos were put aside, money was raised, and at the conclusion of a three-hour Newtown High School Charity Club fundraiser on March 8, Mr and Miss Newtown High School 2000 were named.

Leah Blewett and Ami Kilchevsky are on vacation from school this week, just like their peers, but the two have something to celebrate: The Newtown High School students were recently named Miss NHS and Mr NHS. Last Wednesday evening, friends, fellow students, parents and faculty members of Newtown High School turned out at the high school’s auditorium for a special event that raised hope for an NHS student and his family. The event also raised over $2,500.

The Newtown High School Charity Club hosted its first-ever Mr & Miss NHS Pageant on March 8. A roster of 24 students competed for the title, through a fashion show, talent program, and a question-and-answer segment that was open to the public. The event was more than entertainment, however; the evening had a double purpose. The pageant showed off some of the talents of the high school’s student body, while at the same time all proceeds from the evening’s admissions and concessions were given directly to the family of Greg Chion, a junior at NHS.

In December 1999, Greg was diagnosed with leukemia and Lyme disease. The good news is his prognosis is excellent. He has undergone chemotherapy, and his doctors have already found a perfect match for a needed bone marrow transplant. Greg’s sister Jen will be helping her brother for the transplant, which is expected to take place in mid-May. Greg’s doctors are already talking about the possibility of remission by the middle of this year.

In order to raise some money to help offset the cost of treating Greg’s cancer, Newtown High School’s Charity Club decided a few months ago to present a fashion show and talent contest featuring fellow students. The event was fully coordinated by the student members of the club, who worked under the guidance of their advisor, Bill Manfredonia, who is also the principal of NHS.

The show opened Wednesday night with a few welcoming remarks from Mr Manfredonia, before the stage was turned over to the officers of the Charity Club. Tri-presidents Liz Kochuba and Erika Toi, each in fashions that had been donated for the event, emceed the first segment of the show, the modeling by the contestants of school and weekend apparel.

The talent portion of the show was next, and it was indeed an entertaining presentation. There were vocal performances, swing dance and salsa dance performances, poetry recitals, a few piano performances, and a few comedy routines. Jessica Adams read a poem she had written, called “Hole in the Wall,” which concerned a topic close to her entire family. Miss Adams wrote the poem about “the special children’s camp,” as she called it, to reflect on her days as a former camper, her impending work this summer as a counselor-in-training, and her hope to one day become a full counselor at the camp established by the actor Paul Newman. Also presenting an original poem was eventual co-winner Leah Blewett, who read her writing called “Touch.”

Megan Critelli and Vinny Nitopi dressed up as “The Spartan Cheerleaders,” paying homage to a popular skit on the television show Saturday Night Live and receiving great applause for their comedic routine. Ami Kilchevsky and Ben Coopersmith paired up for their talent presentation as well, presenting a hilarious musical routine that brought the house to its feet. A number of the contestants presented talents in pairs and small groups, alleviating the possibility of the audience sitting through 24 individual productions.

Certainly one of the strongest talent presentations Wednesday evening was that of Alyssa von Oy, who did a swing dance performance with her older brother Peter. While Peter is currently a college student, the judges allowed him to be the dance partner for his sister in a routine the two choreographed to the song “Jump, Jive and Wail.”

Unfortunately for the von Oys, when the pair took the stage and were ready to begin their routine, the music never came. Rather than waiting for the music to start and without missing a beat — literally — the two launched into their dance routine, which was astounding. The two never lost their rhythm and didn’t seem to miss a step, even without their music. An athletic ability was coupled with perfect timing as Mr von Oy spun, threw and caught his equally talented sister to absolute perfect timing. Gasps from audience members could be heard from the beginning of the remarkable performance to its end, which received thunderous applause.

On a humorous note, one enterprising co-contestant was heard a few minutes into the vonOys’ performance from behind the side curtains, singing a few lines of the song to try to help the dancers, which brought chuckles from the audience.

The talent segment, which had been emceed by Charity Club vice president Sage Huskins and secretary Kristen Shortt, was followed by the evening’s promwear presentation. Each contestant was again introduced — this time by Charity Club tri-president Lauren Coulter and treasurer Jen Barillari —and appeared on stage in a lovely gown or tuxedo. Because there were only five male contestants, a number of the young men were introduced a few times, escorting different ladies onto the stage in different outfits.

During the fashion portions of the show, contestants were judged on posture, confidence, and projection. Julie Allen Bridals of Newtown loaned all of the formalwear for the evening, and the Macy’s store at Danbury Fair Mall loaned clothing from a few of its departments for the school/weekend apparel segment of the show.

Judges for the evening were members of the school’s faculty, who had prime seating across the front row of the auditorium. After the three initial segments of the program, the scores of the judges were added up and the top ten contestants were named. At this point, the pageant moved into its question-and-answer division, in which each contestant was asked one question.

Club officers posed the questions, which were pulled from a fishbowl on stage; the contestants had not been apprised ahead of time of their topics. Ami Kilchevsky’s question was “If you could put anyone’s face on a $1 bill, who would it be and why?” Leah Blewett was challenged with “If you could be any flower in the world, which would it be and why?” Other contestants were faced with picking one meal they would eat for the rest of their life, what kind of car they would drive if given a specific selection, choosing between becoming the sun or the moon, and picking the one location in the world where they would most like to live, among other topics. Each answer had to be backed up with the contestant’s reason for his or her choice.

The questions were light-hearted and meant to show how well the students could think under pressure. The entire pageant, in fact, was meant to show the talent and intelligence of Newtown High School students. It was not, Charity Club members continuously stressed, a beauty contest.

In addition to Miss NHS Leah Blewett and Mr NHS Ami Kilchevsky, the contestants in last week’s pageant included Jessica Adams, Kathy Bartek, Rachel Berliner, Elana Bertram, Beth Casson, Megan Critelli, Ben Coopersmith, Katie DiPerrio, Jaime Huppenthal, Kyle Jones, Jason LaForte, Chris Lyddy, Daisha Manfredonia, Vinny Nitopi, Christina Palmer, Hallie Pierce, Mandy Reagle, Tracey Samuels, Shannon Solheim, Alyssa von Oy, Eme Walker, and Erin Zaruba.

Even with frustrations over missed cues, unrehearsed entries, or even the inevitable occasional microphone feedback, the entire show was an enjoyment. Missed technical cues were well covered by contestants and emcees alike, and also handled with very good humor by the audience. The pageant had not been rehearsed down to every step and entry, after all; half the fun of a pageant is the spontaneity of its participants, and the student contestants and Charity Club members persevered last week through a live event that would give many adults stagefright.

The Charity Club was established in 1998 as an American Government class political action project. At that time, the club consisted of fewer than a dozen members. Today there are over 30 students who count themselves among the membership of the civic-oriented club.

The Charity Club has evolved into an after-school club that meets every week, and has presented three fund- and awareness-raising projects this school year alone. In addition to last week’s fashion/talent show, there was a masquerade ball in October that raised $1,500 for East Coast Assistance Dogs, Inc., a non-profit organization based in Torrington that trains seeing-eye dogs. Earlier this year, the club also synchronized a clothing drive at the high school that resulted in a donation of over 70 bags of clothing, estimated at a value of  $25,000, to the recently-established Hope Chest in Danbury.

Anyone who was unable to attend the fashion show but would like to continue the community’s ongoing efforts to help Greg Chion can send a check to the Newtown Charity Club in care of Newtown High School, 12 Berkshire Road, Sandy Hook, CT 06482. Checks should have “Greg Chion/Chion Family” noted on the memo line.