Amid ear-splitting screams and shouts from the audience, Parkland senior Jeremy Gedeon became the 16th annual Mr. Parkland on Saturday night.

Hundreds of excited fans filled Parkland High School’s auditorium for the hugely popular male-only competition. Contestants were judged on their stage presence, appearance, creativity and talent.

The 17 contestants, each required to be a senior in good academic standing and a positive role model for students, were:

• Andrew Barber
• Collin Campbell
• Andrew Dorn
• Jeremy Gedeon
• Tyler Herbst
• Michael Kern
• Andrew Kim
• Jon Kucharczuk
• Demitri Lahanas
• Shane Lisa
• Kyle Lusignea
• Andrew McKeon
• Zach Polzer
• Matthew Stein
• Alex Smith
• Melvin Thomas
• Tyler Watts

As Mr. Parkland, Gedeon will be the school representative at athletic and performing arts events throughout the 2012 season.

Last year's winner, Ben Mays, who was one of this year's judges, said the choice came down to who would be the best representative of the school.

"At first I was just looking at stage presence," Mays said. "But when it came down to the final round, I just wanted it to be a nice guy, one who wouldn't go around bragging about this."

After two hours of talent and appearance presentations, the judges whittled the list down to the top five contestants: Shane Lisa, Kyle Lucenia, Andrew Kim, Zach Polzer and Gedeon.

Each had to answer a final decisive question: "As you look forward to graduation and take a look back at your time here at Parkland, what is the most important lesson you have learned and what will carry with you?"

Gedeon's answer was simple.

"Just be yourself," he said. "I think that's the most important thing to be successful in life."

First and second runners-up were Andrew Kim and Kyle Lusignea, respectively.

Related Topics: Mr. Parkland