San Bernardino High School Crowns a New "Mr. Cardinal City"

SAN BERNARDINO >> San Bernardino High School crowned junior Julio Romero the new reigning champion on April 9 at the Sturges Center for the Fine Arts during the 13th annual Mr. Cardinal City pageant, to an audience of more than 350. Fifteen contestants vied for the role of (2016-2017) Mr. Cardinal City in front of a panel of 10 judges, who spanned the ranges in both gender and racial diversity. Throughout the evening, the boys performed dances, strutted their stuff in formal-wear, sportswear and answered questions to determine who would receive the title and honor of representing the city of San Bernardino for next year. According to the judges, the pageant was a close one on who to select and everyone was on equal footing throughout the night. The evening was dedicated to the 14 victims of the Dec. 2 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, as many of those present at the event were affected by the tragedy in one way or another. Sponsors for the event were Stater Bros., Toyota of San Bernardino, The San Bernardino Sun, and the San Bernardino City Unified School District, and many others. “Mr. Cardinal City is somebody that can come out of their shell and represent who they truly are and be a great inspiration to our younger generation,” said Jamie Rios, pageant coordinator. Senior Javier Rocha, the (2015-2016) Mr. Cardinal City, handed over the proverbial title Saturday night to Romero, thus ending his reign. First runner up Jason Munguia and second runner up Tony Olivarez were also recognized. During the past year, Rocha has spent hours serving the community and attending events, reading to grade school childre, feeding the homeless, and more. “Seeing Javier from the night he was crowned to what he has showcased in the last year and his commitment to this program, it shows pride,” Rios said. The contestants worked with Rios for the past three months to prepare for the event. During that time, they began to embody the characteristics that Mr. Cardinal City stands for, including serving their school, city, and community. “The overall idea of Mr. Cardinal City is to enhance and empower these young men,” Rios said. “Some of these young men are great students who would never in their life dream of competing in a competition like this.” The reason many of the students could not believe participating in the pageant, he said, was because many of them were new to public speaking. During the interview portion of the competition, which took place the week before the pageant, the judges asked the boys what one of the hardest things they have had to overcome was, and many of them replied speaking in front of a panel. In past years, contestants have been able to volunteer themselves for the program, but this year, Rios said he ran it a bit differently. Teachers, staff members, and other people at the school submitted recommendations for students they believed would be good candidates to represent San Bernardino High as the future Mr. Cardinal City. Rios said over 20 recommendations were submitted. “We want an overall great ambassador,” he said. “We want somebody that is a great student, a great role model and somebody that is going to carry the school name in a positive way.” While there are no specific requirements for participating in Mr. Cardinal City, other than a student must be a junior so he can reign during his senior year, Rios said there are some general standards they stick to. The student must be on track to graduate, have good attendance, have a GPA of 3.0 or better and be in good disciplinary standing with the school because Mr. Cardinal City represents the community in the name of San Bernardino High. Administration records count for 20 percent of the contestant’s overall score and the interviews for another 20 percent, but the remainder was calculated based on their performances Saturday night during the pageant. During the course of the evening, the contestants displayed personally selected sportswear, formal wear provided by D’Arca Formal Wear and then answered an onstage impromptu questions in front of the panel. They also performed a musical number to “break the ice,” choreographed by second runner up from last year Joshua Laurel to Michael Jackson’s “Love Never Felt So Good.” While they were not judged on the number, they were encouraged to have fun and take the opportunity to loosen up. “One thing that I tell them all the time is ‘Be yourself'," Laurel said. Rocha gave them similar advice. “Most of them are very shy,” he said. “They haven’t really been out-spoken. All I've told them is to just be themselves and open up to everybody. (The judges) won’t look down on them.” Rios said that after 13 years of running this program, he is proud of the accomplishments of the young men who have participated in the past, many of whom went on to attend the different Universities of California in Irvine, Berkeley, and Los Angeles. “We have a lot of blessings from students who have won and have gone on to do bigger and better things,” Rios said. Laurel is the salutatorian for his graduating class and was just accepted to UC Berkeley, and in June, Rocha will be headed to Georgia for the Army Reserves. Upon his return in January, he is planning to continue his education by pursuing a degree in engineering so he can possibly start his own business in San Bernardino and fulfill his ultimate career goal of beautifying the city.