When the judges of this year’s Mr. Hawthorne competition announced the winner, junior Justin Charles was crowned. Charles stood proud–happy that all his work for the competition had paid off.

Being presented as the winner, Charles said the first thought to go through his head was, “Mommy, look at this man.” Deciding to sign up for Mr. Hawthorne wasn’t a hard deciaion.  “I knew I was going to win,” said Charles.  However, he admitted that throughout the show he believed Dustin Scully, a junior who took second place as Mr. Congeniality, could be crowned the winner. However, “When we got to the question round,” said Charles, “I knew I had it.”

The first round of Mr. Hawthorne was the talent portion, where Charles performed an original rap with his friend, senior, Brian Sommer. The rap was actually created in about ten minutes at “about 9 in the morning before the first practice,” according to Charles. Choosing rap as his talent was an obvious choice. “Everyone wants a show. That’s what I do; I’m Scoot,” he said, referencing to his nickname from the show. Charles gave a similar answer when asked why he decided to  dress up as the famous next-door neighbor nerd from the television show Family Matters for the fashion round: “Everyone loves Steve Urkel,” he explained.

Despite his confidence, Charles did have some hesitation. The part of the show that Charles had been most nervous about was not the Talent, Fashion, or Question Round, but rather the opening group dance. “I didn’t want my parents to judge me for wearing short-shorts,” Charles said.

So, does Charles plan on returning to the competition next year to defend his title? “One-hundred percent!” he proclaimed. Charles loves being Mr. Hawthorne, and he’ll work hard to hold onto the title next year. “Twitter mentions, I’m famous. The social media is blowing up,” he exclaimed. “I’m king of the world!”