Half naked men, the Harlem Shake and poetry readings usually are not associated with fundraisers. However, the sophomore class council and 12 diverse male members of the class used their creativity and boldness to generate $550 in the first Mr. 2015 male beauty pageant, according to sophomore class president, Brian Garsh.
The officers of the 2015 class council chose contestants after evaluating many different fields and tried to approach d
ifferent sports teams, fraternities and multicultural clubs, according to sophomore class treasurer Mehak Aswani.
“The main idea was to bring in a diverse crowd and the only way we could do that was by bringing in a diverse group of contestants,” Aswani said.
The Mr. 2015 contest differed from other male beauty pageant contests because each contestant was assigned a month and gift baskets were raffled off in between rounds.
“I thought the baskets were a little more geared for women, but it was cool to see my friends dress up in the different monthly outfits,” said sophomore finance major Tim Curry.
In addition to adding a new flare to the contest, the assignment of a month to each contestant allowed for the contestants to be more creative, according to sophomore vice president Kristen Lipari.
“Earlier in the year the juniors had a Mr. 2014 and we wanted Mr. 2015 to be different. This was another reason we gave the boys their own months and raffled off baskets in between rounds,” Lipari said.
Contestants started off the modeling portion of the event by dressing according to their respective months. Along with adding a creative wrinkle to the event, contestants were able to show off a little bit about their personalities.
The modeling portion also included standard sleepwear and beachwear segments. The only commonalities between the contestants’ outfits in these portions were their scantiness and their outlandishness.
Some of the most outlandish looks came from communication studies major Ryan Bigger. Bigger went for the speedo look on the beachwear segment and an Under Armour/thong hybrid for the sleepwear section.
Following beauty pageant tradition, a talent portion followed the modeling portion. This open segment allowed the contestants to create diverse acts. Some of the notable acts were: physics major Ben Straitman reciting poetry with a unicorn head on, social science open options major Sean Harshman singing 50 Cent to the ukulele, Bigger’s shirtless Harlem Shake, health and exercise science major Keith Diamond’s cheerleading rendition of “You’re So Fine (Hey Mickey!),” and the final act featuring political science major Kevin Morrissey, political science major Garrett Stein, political science major Eddie McCartney and finance major Dom Forcella dancing to “Shorty It’s Your Booty.”
Bigger was able to organize about a 20-person Harlem Shake that shocked the crowd.
“I wanted to incorporate the Harlem Shake and a bunch of people into the talent section. So I texted and called a bunch of people before the competition,” Bigger said.
The class of 2015 class council was motivated to put on the beauty pageant after seeing similar shows have success in their high schools, according to Lipari.
The winner was chosen by whoever received the most money from the audience, and, in the end sophomore Drew Grapstul won.
“We made a little over $550 which is great because at the end of the year SFB triples whatever amount the sophomore class council makes,” Lipari said.
The money will go to the class of 2015’s senior week. Senior week cost the class of 2012 $50,000, according to Lipari.
