Senior Yusei Tajima was named “Mr. Key Club 2010” at the sixth annual Mr. Key Club Pageant fundraiser on Saturday night in the Haymarket Theater.

“I was very nervous for each event, but my personal adviser, Albert Chen, and everybody else in Key Club told me that I had to stay confident in order to win,” Tajima said. “So I stayed somewhat confident and tried to make it seem like I was enjoying myself.”

According to Paly Key Club President senior Erika Ji, profits from the pageant totaling $444.13 will go to the Red Cross to help provide relief for earthquake victims in Haiti.

Contestants were examined by 12 judges, one judge from Homestead, Los Altos, Lynbrook, Monta Vista, Mountain, Gunn, Fremont, Palo Alto, Cupertino and Menlo Atherton high schools, in addition to the lieutenant governor and the leader of the Key Club Division 34 South. Points were given for each event as well as to the winner of each activity accompanying the event, according to Ji.

Several members of the Paly and Gunn Key Club leadership teams emceed the Mr. Key Club Pageant. Guest acts, including dances, were used to transition from each event to the next.

After a division committee meeting and dinner, 10 candidates from D34S, one representative from each school, competed for the title “Mr. Key Club 2010” in a series of modeling acts, talent shows and Q&A sessions.

Participants were called on stage to flaunt their swimwear and Key Club spirit-wear in the first two stages, which involved modeling. After each round, contestants were summoned to the stage again to compete in an activity, including Balloon Volleyball and “Ninja,” an activity where a participant can only move once to strike or dodge an attack at his wrist.

The contestants next answered Key Club-related questions in the trivia category. Tajima was surprised by his performance in this category.

“I personally did better than I have expected,” Tajima said. “I did not mess up my delivery as much as I thought I would, and I placed fairly well in each of the events, including trivia, which was a big surprise to me.”

While most of the competitors sang, danced or played the guitar in the talent show, Tajima performed magic tricks and the Monta Vista candidate, sophomore Surafael Yared, performed a comedy act.

“One thing that was different this year is the talents,” Ji said. “With each group of contestants, you get a different set of talents. We had six contestants dance, but each contestant’s dance had his own style. The contestants are really creative, and it’s fun to watch what they come up with.”

Elimination of six candidates followed the formal wear modeling event. The final four, Tajima, Yared, Menlo-Atherton’s sophomore Jackson Horwitz and Cupertino’s junior Sheng Poon, advanced onto the activity accompanying the formal wear modeling: ballroom dancing.

While the final four went backstage to learn the steps to ballroom dancing, sophomore James Maa, who placed second in the Mr. Key Club Pageant of 2009, entertained the audience by dancing to “Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga.

The final four returned on to the stage to dance a waltz, accompanied by four female members of the Paly Key Club. While some contestants danced, Poon and his partner improvised and posed to collect cheers from the Cupertino audience.

Despite having to learn the dance and perform it in front of an audience in a few minutes, Tajima said he enjoyed the dancing activity.

While the scores were tallied up, the final four participated in a Q&A session where each contestant was asked one Key Club-related question, and a personal question.

To conclude the 2010 Pageant, all 10 contestants were called on stage again as the final four were presented their awards. Tajima won Mr. Key Club 2010 while Poon won Mr. Congeniality and was first runner-up. Yared, who won Best Talent, was second runner-up and Horwitz, third runner-up.

Despite a shortage of backstage helpers, which presented a problem in the beginning of the Pageant, Ji believes that the Pageant was a success.

“The Pageant went well,” Ji said. “We had a little trouble getting started at the beginning because we were transitioning from dinner to the show, but after the initial delays, I think the rest of the show went pretty smoothly. The contestants had fabulous talents, and the crowd really enjoyed watching the show.”

Overall Awards
Mr. Key Club: Yusei Tajima [Palo Alto] 1st runner-up: Sheng Poon [Cupertino] 2nd runner-up: Surafael Yared [Monta Vista] 3rd runner-up: Jackson Horwitz [Menlo-Atherton]

Special Awards
Best Talent: Surafael Yared [Monta Vista] – comedy skit
Hottest Hottie: Sheng Poon [Cupertino] Mr. Congeniality: Sheng Poon [Cupertino]

Mini-Competitions
Balloon Volleyball: Kevin Ariyama [Mountain View] and Yusei Tajima [Palo Alto] Ninja: Keien Ohta [Homestead] Trivia: Jackson Horwitz [Menlo-Atherton] Ballroom: Sheng Poon [Cupertino]