Cortez, Henderson Win School Honors

Mike Cortez, a senior at Brea Olinda High School, starts the new year as Mr. Brea. He triumphed over nine other seniors recently for the annual title.

In addition, Phil Henderson, a science teacher, was crowned as the first faculty Mr. Brea.

Cortez received the highest scores in the talent, tuxedo, swimsuit and question-and-answer categories from a panel of student and faculty judges. The five teachers competing for the faculty Mr. Brea title didn’t have a swimsuit category, but prepared humorous answers as a compromise.

--COMPILED BY MIMI KO CRUZ AND JENNIFER LEUER