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Pageant to crown first �Mr. North� By Vicki Guarino A North Medford High School senior is turning the traditional beauty pageant upside down. North�s young men will go on stage today, taking turns in tuxedos, displaying their talents, answering questions about goals and hopes for the future. While contestants vie for a new title, Mr. North, they�ll be helping some of the region�s most critically ill newborns. The pageant is mostly the work of Julia Strickland, who is staging the event for her senior project. The project, which must be completed for graduation, requires major work outside the classroom. Proceeds will go to the neonatal intensive care unit at Rogue Valley Medical Center, part of the nationwide Children�s Miracle Network of care centers. Network members offer advanced neonatal care, regardless of the family�s ability to pay. Strickland has linked Mr. North to the network�s annual fund-raising telethon. She hopes to raise $1,000. More importantly, Strickland says, she hopes this pageant will be just the start of a new kind of fund-raising effort by high schools for RVMC. The show, featuring male students from North, will begin at 7 tonight in the school�s auditorium, 1900 N. Keene Way Drive. Contestants will be judged on appearance in a variety of apparel and in interview and performance segments. Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for students. Tickets may be purchased from the school in advance, or at the door on the night of the show. Strickland borrowed the idea from a family friend in Eugene who put on a similar program at her school. "She told me how much fun it was for her," Strickland says. But Strickland, who was first runner-up in Miss Medford this year, didn�t know exactly what she was getting into when she started organizing the pageant a couple of months ago. "It has been a lot harder than I thought it would be," she says. "I�ve always been a contestant, but I never knew how much work it was." For starters, because a male pageant had never been staged locally, Strickland had to convince administrators that Mr. North would be a worthwhile school event. "They thought it would be really cheesy," she remembers. She�s going for classy. "It�s almost like the Miss Rogue Valley pageant except for guys," she says. She�s looking to showcase positive attitudes and behavior that would appeal to an adult audience as well as students. She picked adults as judges � six women and four men � so that Mr. North wouldn�t become a student popularity contest. The constants � two sophomores, two juniors and three seniors � were nominated and elected by classmates. They also had to pass Strickland�s screening for minimum 3.5 grade point average, overall good standing and demonstrated leadership abilities. Most of all, Strickland says, the Mr. North competitors are known for their energy and sense of humor. And after today, they might also be known for their dance skills. All seven will open the show with a dance routine to Nsync�s "Bye, Bye, Bye." "Well, they�re struggling a little bit, but we�re practicing over the weekend," Strickland says. A team of backstage volunteers also worked through the holiday weekend to get ready for the show. Strickland figures about 30 students have come forward to help her with the project. Staging a show, she has learned, is as much about recruiting helpers, delegating and supervising as it is about rolling up her own sleeves and getting to work. Members of the Key Club social service organization, which Strickland heads this year, and student government have helped. And the local Kiwanis Club � adult partner to the Key Club � and business owners are contributing. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA