The sisters of Zeta Tau Alpha joined efforts this past Saturday to host the Second Annual Mr. ZTA Male Beauty Pageant in order to raise funds for the Zeta Foundation, which donates money to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Held in the Cain Gymnasium, student, staff and faculty attendance was high for this well-publicized event.
Senior Rebecca Oot, who is in charge of Zeta's fundraising, was the coordinator of this event. She explained, "We started Mr. ZTA last year, and it was such a huge success that we decided to give it another shot."
She continued, "I can't really take any credit for making it happen. 'Coordinator' is pretty much just a title - it was really a whole sister thing. Every single one of us put tons of time and effort into making it happen."
The event was definitely a monetary success: "We raised $707.44 for breast cancer research, almost doubling the money raised last year! The whole campus has been incredibly supportive, despite the whole 'parading guys around like meat' thing," said Oot.
Junior and ZTA Rebekah Beckett, Oot's assistant for coordinating the event, said, "We had nights where we all made decorations together like the strawberries with everyone's name, so it was a bonding experience the whole time. Everyone set up [and] cleaned up; it was fun."
Nominee and senior Joe Cioni shared his experience: "I was really impressed by the amount of bonding that went on behind stage. Both the ZTAs and the competitors were so supportive of one another that it made the experience all the more memorable."
Junior Jess McAdams, a member of the enormous audience, said, "I really commend the ZTAs for doing such a great job putting it together. You could definitely tell they worked very hard on every aspect of the pageant."
She continued, "And it was very obvious that at the pageant they seemed to have enjoyed themselves, which they definitely deserved. This is such a fun way to get the students together for such a good cause. I can't wait for next year!"
Students weren't the only people in attendance. Bob Hooey and his wife also came out to show their support, and said, "The ZTAs provided a great evening of entertainment, as well as raising a great deal of money for their charity. Thanks to the ZTAs for an evening of fun O my wife and I hope we will be able to attend next year's event."
German and Linguistics Professor Lisa Graham was one of the female judges. She spoke that one of the benefits of being a judge was "viewing the creativity and dynamism of the contestants when it came to their multisensory talents."
The pageant started with the contestants introducing themselves, followed by the talent, evening wear, toga, and question-and-answer portions.
Some of the contestants' talents included a one-man orange fence party, interpretive ballet, a Nike commercial, serenades, which were obviously appreciated by the female members of the audience.
In the end, junior John Evans was crowned the 2001 Mr. ZTA, with Cioni as first runner up and sophomore Greg Ordile as second runner up.
Cioni commented on the final round of the competition, the question-and-answer portion: "Your fate is in the hands of the judges when they ask the questions in the final round. I got off pretty easy because boy bands, the 'Golden Girls,' and proposals of marriage are not within my range of expertise."
To raise additional money, the Best Legs contest was held prior to the pageant. Junior Mike Coppola was the proud winner of this event.
He explained, "This branch of the contest is to decide on which one of the contestants has the best looking legs according to the audience. Each contestant has a picture taken of his legs and that picture is put on a jar. The contestant with the most money in their jar wins that part of the contest."
He continued, "I was happy to win that part, and I was glad to see all the money raised for Breast Cancer Research. I was glad to part of it."
"We had a lot of people turn out and everyone seemed real enthused. The energy was high!" shared junior ZTA Courtney Busch.
Sophomore nominee Kevin Brotzmen said, "I think the phrase that best sums up Mr. ZTA is, 'expect the unexpected.'"
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