King of Hearts is a male beauty pageant and fundraiser that Student Council has been organizing every year since 2000 at Normal West.  Three boys are voted from each class to be apart of King of Hearts. On Saturday February 13th, the boys showed their talents, answered questions, danced, and told jokes in front of their family and friends in hopes of being crowned king.

This years King was senior, Jon Olson. For the talent portion of the show, he performed with a puppet to popular dances. The Prince of the freshman class with Chase Hamel. He sang “I’m Yours and Somewhere Over the Rainbow” while playing the ukulele. Prince of the sophomore class was Caleb Jirek. He played the piano and sang “Payphone”. Prince of the junior class was Carlos Torres. Carlos danced with Carlee Clover and Kayla Ortiz. Lastly, Prince of the senior class was Dajour Forrest. He also danced with Jessie Becker.

Olson has been involved in King of Hearts for all four years of his high school experience as a contestant and on student council. Jon stated, “My favorite part is being with all the other contestants and having fun at practice.”

Hunter Collins is on Student Council, so she, along with many others, have put in endless hours of preparation for the show. She is in charge of the judge’s table with Kendahl Whitwood. They are decorating the table and making goodie bags for the judges. Hunter said, ” I love being able to go to practices and seeing behind the scenes before everyone else. The boys are so funny.”

Every year all of the proceeds from the show go to someone or something in need. A few years ago when a tornado hit in Washington, Student Council wrote a $4,000 check to help out the nearby community. Last year all of the money raised went towards a little girl battling cancer. Now, she is in her last round of chemotherapy.

This year the money collected from King of Hearts will be donated to Normal West sophomore Michael Taylor and his family. On May 27th 2015, this fifteen-year-old’s life was changed forever. He was riding his bike and the handle bars came off, he lost control and crashed into a low lying tree branch. Michael fractured his neck and needed a spinal fusion. This accident left him paralyzed from the waist down.

A check was written to Michael Taylor’s family for $3,000 from Student Council. His family was very grateful and Michael’s mom, April Carlson, stated, “We are so appreciative of all the support Michael has gotten at Normal West. This accident has put a financial strain on our family, so the money will help greatly.”