After much preparation and many thought out details, the annual Mr. El Camino show was held in Anderson Hall, Dec. 2 with a new spin using the show “Love Island” as the theme.
“Over the summer, I was obsessed with watching “Love Island,”” senior event planner Riya Mistry said. “I wanted to establish a theme to help Mr. El Camino gain more traction.”
The team of Mr. El Camino boys consisted of Juju Haim, Christian Gastelum, Kona Malig, Devin Gonor, Julian Pezgueda, Kai Mallari, Mekhi Macias, Parker Hamilton, Eric Zamarippa, Noah Gonzalez and Saaed Tamim.
“The group dynamic was very good between the guys,” senior Saaed Tamim said. “We all worked hard together to pull off the event.”
Pulling off a grand event like this one doesn’t come easy, the preparation and time that was put into the event really showed with its result.
“Planning the show was [really] stressful because it was large-scale and we were collaborating with a lot of people,” senior event planner Aneysha Khanna said. “It was so rewarding to see how it turned out and bonding with the participants was so much fun.”
There were many highlights of the evening. Gonor had a high energy performance, recreating Tom Holland’s iconic performance to “Umbrella” by Rihanna. Gastelum dressed up as Justin Bieber, singing to songs including, “Beauty and the Beat” by Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj. Haim made a surprise appearance in a bright pink wig to impersonate Minaj, filling the audience with laughter. Last, but definitely not least, Mallari sang a stunning cover of “Fly Me to the Moon” by Frank Sinatra, impressing the audience with his nearly identical and angelic voice.
“I love working with other people who don’t normally participate in Student Council [events],” Mistry said. “It brought [an entirely] new crowd of people to the event.”
With planning such a large event comes great responsibility, and the event planners excelled at their jobs and poured their hearts into the event.
“Now that it’s over, I get kind of a sentimental feeling,” Khanna said. “There’s definitely been ups and downs but there was a special kind of fun with weekly practice and the stress of meeting a deadline.”
Many of the boys who participated in the event reflected on their experiences and appreciated the hard work that was put in by the organizers and the dance choreographers, Brooklyn Piano, Jizel Cruz, Nora Vargas and Leanne Ostrow.
“One of my friends wrote my name [to sign up], but I didn’t think it was a bad idea to be a part of it,” Haim said. “I wanted to [take part] in this opportunity for senior year.”
The audience was starstruck after Haim covered the song “It Will Rain” by Bruno Mars on the piano. Audience members sang along as each key tugged at their heartstrings. His skilled performance won the crowd’s hearts, leading him to his victory of being crowned the Mr. El Camino 2024.
“I was very happy that I won,” Haim said. “I was also relieved that it was over because it was stressful at times.”
After such an amazing event full of talents and laughs, the boys came to realize that the event was actually over and were grateful for the opportunity to participate.
“I was kind of sad because it was over so fast,” Tamim said. “I feel like we had a very good performance and we gave it our all.”
As the event came to a close, participants wanted to encourage future aspiring Mr. El Camino boys to take part in the event.
“I think it’s good to get out of your comfort zone a little bit,” Haim said. “Who cares about messing up, as long as you’re there, have fun, just live in the moment and enjoy it.”
