Post’s Junior Reporters Tackle Teen Contest

By MADELINE GOORE | Junior Reporter

The 2015 Mr. & Miss Palisades Teen Contest took place at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 26 in Mercer Hall at Palisades High School. The Palisadian-Post, which produced the show, gave the competition a total makeover, complete with a DJ, an array of colorful decorations and a slideshow with pictures from previous contests dating back to the 1950s, when the Pacific Palisades Chamber of Commerce begain hosting the event. The prize for winning the contest was originally a mink coat, but this year it was a $2,000 scholarship and free food at Palisades Garden Cafe for an entire year.
The show began with an exciting performance by The Filharmonic, an all Filipino a capella group who will even make an appearance in the upcoming movie Pitch Perfect 2. The evening moved right along to the introduction of the contestants and then straight ahead to the talent portion.
Contestant Cleo Hoffman showed the audience a video of her doing ceramics, Gabriel Galef sang Gravity by John Mayer, Zoe Dutton showed off her mad hula hooping skills, Audrey Kaller sang Hope by Emily Sander, Sophia Eberlein played guitar and sang an original song entitled Palisades, Algimantas (Algus) Leitzinger sang Cry me a River by Arthur Hamilton, Kimara Velez performed an original dance routine, Shaler Williams performed a martial arts routine, Noah Alcus sang Cheek to Cheek by Irving Berlin, Evan Epstein played Mephisto Waltz by Liszt on the piano, Daniel Gottesman sang Sir Duke by Stevie Wonder while accompanying himself on the piano, Brett Schneid performed an original comedy routine and lastly, Makayla Michelini showed off her archery skills.
The contestants’ last test of the night was the question-and-answer portion which consisted of two premeditated questions about the contestants’ future and their interests, and one question chosen at random. All questions were asked by host Christian Saglie.
During the short break where the panel of esteemed judges finalized their scores, two small groups of dancers from Fancy Feet took the stage. After a few dances, Saglie returned to announce the winners of Mr. & Miss Palisades. Danika Masi and Daniel Gottesman, both of whom are students at Pali High, were the big winners of the night.
“It was exciting to perform in front of an audience, but I was nervous about the whole experience,” Gottesman remarked after the fact. He continued on to talk about his experience, saying, “I just love that I could share what I love with the community.”
Soon we will be seeing our victors in the Fourth of July Parade and taking advantage of the free food at Palisades Garden Cafe. Congratulations to not only our winners, but all of the talented participants in this year’s contest.