Twenty-nine of Portage High School’s talented young men competed in the 2012 Outstanding Young Man Scholarship Program on Saturday night. Marko Pekovic impressed the crowd and the judges with his performance en route to earning the title of Outstanding Young Man. Pekovic is an active member of the Portage community and serves as the Student Body President at PHS. A look of shock passed over his face when he was announced as the winner.
The twenty-eight other PHS seniors who competed with Pekovic were Arthur Anguiano, Cor Braner, James Brasseur, Jacob Cherry, Donovan Cole, Patrick Doyle, Austin Edwards, Jake Fortenberry, Tyler Franklin, Othie Freeny, Ken Guerra, T.J. Jackson, David Jercha, Joe Johnson, Cory Lamping, Zach Laskovich, Joey Little, Aaron Lopez, Shubkarm Multani, Nikola Nacovski, Luke Peksenak, Darrin Robinson, Mitchell Rodriguez, Tony Rodriguez, Zak Spurlock, Tyler Swets, Zac Vardaman and Max Zmija.
Cor Braner finished as the first finalist, followed by second finalist Ken Guerra, third finalist Othie Freeny and fourth finalist Max Zmija. Presentation and Address awards were given out to Shub Multani, Tyler Franklin and Joe Johnson. Casual Awards were taken home by Tony Rodriguez, Patrick Doyle and David Jercha, while the Physical Segment Awards were won by Mitchell Rodriguez, T.J. Jackson and James Brasseur. Zach Laskovich and Zac Vardaman won Good Guy Awards, as voted on by the OYM contestants. Jacob Cherry was awarded the Joe Stevens Award. The top academic award went to Ken Guerra, who holds a grade point average of 4.38. Zach Laskovich (4.296 GPA) and Austin Edwards (4.17 GPA) also received academic awards.
The evaluation for OYM was based on a conference with the judges (30%), academics (10%), the physical segment (20%), the casual segment (20%) and presentation and address (20%). The 21st annual Outstanding Young Man competition was judged by Aaron Priest (2000 OYM), Tim Slatton, John Pritchard and Kirsten Joyce. Jacob Dixon, the 2011 OYM, was unable to attend the event because of college commitments at Fordham University in New York, where he is a member of the football team. However, Dixon was honored via a photography slideshow and a recorded video speech. Last year’s first finalist Christian Cherry was in attendance and aided with putting on the program.
Portage Chief of Police Troy Williams served as the director and master of ceremonies for the final time this year. He previously served as the Student Resource Officer but left PHS in January after being promoted to Chief of Police. A group of senior girls also helped put the program on. The physical segment was choreographed by Distinguished Young Woman Kasey McGuire.
The evening started with the Parade of Contestants followed by the Casual Segment. Principal Caren Swickard addressed the crowd to speak about the 2012 OYM competitors.
“The boys on this stage tonight have a vision of where they fit and where they’re going. They’ve faced the challenges of high school and now they’re getting ready to leave Portage High School and take on the challenges of adulthood. These young men have grown up from young boys to productive members of our community,” Swickard said.
Members of the tennis, cross country, track and field, soccer, football, golf, basketball and baseball teams were all represented, as were members of plays, musicals, variety shows, jazz band, concert band, the school newspaper, art club, thespians, Latin club, Spanish club, Natural Helpers, recycling club, student court, foreign language honor society, the Super Fans squad and the Marine Core Junior ROTC.
The physical segment, always a crowd favorite, featured the boys dancing to the “Safety Dance.” During the Presentation and Address segment, Williams asked each contestant what his advice would be for incoming freshmen and one other question off the application. Several of the contestants performed during the optional talent portion of the competition. Tyler Franklin, Max Zmija, Marko Pekovic, Ken Guerra and Zach Laskovich all showed off their musical talent, while Joe Johnson did a unique gun spinning routine.
Pekovic was awarded a $1,800 cash scholarship and other prizes along with the title of Outstanding Young Man 2012. The weeks of practice on the part of all of the contestants were evident as an entertaining evening and well-rounded performance was put together.
Click here for a complete photo gallery of Saturday night's program!!!