After 23 years the Mr. NDA contest is getting a huge change-up.

Most students know this already as it has been a topic for controversy over the last couple weeks of school.

However, the last 23 years of Mr. NDA have been one successful show after another with somewhat talented talent acts.   

Since its inception, Mr. NDA has featured 15-16 gentlemen who would put together an intro, previously a beachwear portion, a talent act and then the gruelling question-and-answer session.

Although this has always been the natural order of the show, it has not been what we watch today.

The intro used to have all junior and senior contestants, dressed in tuxedos, just walk onto the stage and down the ramp with their escorts.

There were no videos, no skits and no special appearances by friends.

The beachwear portion was originally just the contestants walking out in a swimsuit but that part of the competitions would also change throughout the years, going from mini-skits to full skits of five minutes or so.

This posed problems for the advisers because the show was lasting well over four hours.

So the advisors decided to just do a slideshow for the beach wear section. Each contestant would provide three pictures that would go onto a slide show and be shown in between the intro and senior girls dance and then also after the senior girls dance.

The talent portion of the show has remained relatively the same. Usually featuring dances, singing, and comedy acts, the talent portion is one of the only portions of the show that has stayed the same. Despite, of course, the input of modern technology.

The question-and-answer portion of the show has remained the same except for the person asking the questions.

Math teacher Steve (Hondo) Havlicek did this duty for years, but when he left NDA, he passed the reins to former principal, John Ravizza.

With Dr. Ravizza’s departure, IB coordinator and interim principal (at the time) Matt Schultz asked the questions.

The advisers have yet to announce who will hold the bowl of questions and challenge the nervous contestants, although bets are being placed on Mr. Schultz.

The evolving tradition of Mr. NDA continues. . . . as students vote on the men and women from the junior and senior classes whose names are still on the ballot.