To honor Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Zeta Tau Alpha (ZTA) hosted its second annual "Big Man on Campus" pageant on Nov. 5 to raise awareness and donations for the fight against breast cancer.
Men from different groups across campus, both fraternal and non-Greek, tried to impress the judges to win the title of "Big Man On Campus." This year’s male pageant had 11 contestants who competed in a talent round and a formal wear interview round.
ZTA’s chapter advisor Nicole Crook, Student Body President Taylor Wright and Alex Waelde, the creator of Drinking Ticket, were the three judges for the evening. Mills Hayes, student body vice president and member of ZTA, was the night’s master of ceremonies.
Haley Dadouris, a fourth-year nursing major and Zeta’s director of philanthropy, explained how important "Big Man On Campus" and breast cancer awareness are to the sorority.
“A lot of heart goes into this, with all of our members in the chapter, and I know the community, a lot of people are affected by it, so for us to able to do something and help that cause is just kind of amazing to us,” Dadouris said.
The donation goal for "Big Man on Campus" was $20,000, which was reached before the event even began. Further contributions were added with ticket sales and purchases by donors.
Adam Kasum, a second-year marine science and member of Chi Psi, came out to support the event and his fraternity brother who competed.
"[Philanthropy] is one of the biggest reasons why I decided to join a fraternity ... 'cause of all the philanthropy events we help hold and we support a lot of good causes,” Kasum said.
The 11 contestants showed off their talents to not only impress the judges, but also the crowd. Musical acts like a performance of “Free Falling" and a piano rendition of "Hey Jude" were matched by more unique talents like impersonations of Elvis and Post Malone.
Scotty Gavlin, fourth-year broadcast journalism major and head morale of Dance Marathon, decided to perform spoken word as his talent. He spoke about his grandmother, and her own fight against cancer. Despite the humor found in some contestants, the seriousness of the pageant's purpose was a theme in many performances.
Will Smith was given the title of "Mr. Think Pink" for his performance of Tom Petty’s "Free Fallin,’" and Connor Sullivan won fan favorite.
Nicholas Remington, a first-year pre-business student and member of Pi Kappa Phi, won the crown and title of "Big Man On Campus." His performance included singing and playing guitar.
“I’ve been singing all my life and playing guitar so I decided to sing ‘A Team’ by Ed Sheeran and it went a lot better than I thought, so it was a blast,” Remington said.
The money raised is being sent to the ZTA Foundation, which supports breast cancer awareness and education.