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"Pow!" "Bam!" "Zonk!" Students at the Miss NDSU pageant on Tuesday night were treated to an hour and a half of superhero-inspired skits and entertainment, while raising money for Nokomis Child Care Center.
This mock pageant, hosted by Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity, featured 17 female contestants who were each sponsored by a different NDSU organization. Emcees Josh Feil and Jason Jorgenson, also known as Batman and Robin, were introduced in a comical video showing their arrival to the pageant.
Following this introduction, each of the 17 contestants participated in a lip sync competition, with song selections ranging from Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus to Sugarland and Carrie Underwood. Also included was a performance of "The Bird Is the Word," as seen in the animated television show, "Family Guy."
The contestants continued the competition by sporting their "Hero Wear" and walking across the stage dressed as a superhero of choice. Each was introduced by the emcees, as they announced their favorite colors, super powers and superheroes.
The audience was also entertained with more Batman and Robin skits in between contestant entertainment.
During the first intermission, NDSU Student Body President Kevin Black drew raffle tickets for various prizes, including Jimmy John's gift cards and cases of soda. This was later followed up with a "50/50" ticket raffle in which half of the money earned from the tickets was given to the winner of the drawing and the other half went to Nokomis Child Care Center.
Before being asked questions typical of most pageants, the contestants were narrowed down from 17 in the beginning to a round of seven. The top seven contestants included Kjersten Rice, Laura Hall, Kolby Schaeffer, Sierra Roecker, Laura Muz, Olivia Spencer and Abby Anderson.
Jane Greminger, director of Nokomis Child Care Centers of The Village, made an appearance on stage to thank the hosts, contestants and audience for their support and donations. Beginning with the mission statement of Nokomis, "Every child deserves quality care," Greminger followed up her speech with short stories about some of the children that Nokomis Child Care Center has helped.
The contestants were then narrowed down to three. Laura Hall, Olivia Spencer and Kolby Schaeffer were each asked what they would change about NDSU if they were able to.
While Schaeffer said that NDSU could improve its facilities and continue expanding to compete with other schools to be one of the top institutions in the country, Spencer said that NDSU is a great community and was perfect the way it was. Hall said that as a member of Kappa Delta Sorority and an active student in the Greek community at NDSU, the rising numbers in sorority recruitment has shown that it is time to move forward and add another sorority to campus.
Coronation followed, with last year's Miss NDSU, Brooke Jameson, crowning winner Laura Hall.
Hall, who was sponsored by Alpha Gamma Rho Fraternity, celebrated her victory with her Kappa Delta Sorority sisters by doing a Kappa Delta chant on stage.
Behind the scenes, the pageant revealed much hard work from all of the members of Alpha Tau Omega. The fraternity's president, Andy Hokanson, stressed the importance of teamwork while creating and coordinating an event like Miss NDSU.
"Everybody in the house works on it. We separate jobs into committees and everyone helps out," Hokanson said.
Combined with their Freeze-a-thon in the spring, Alpha Tau Omega annually strives to raise $10,000 for Nokomis Child Care.