By Mary Windsor, Staff Writer

Published in print Nov.19, 2014

This past Thursday, UNCG’s sorority Alpha Chi Omega held a mock beauty pageant to raise awareness for domestic abuse and violence. Tickets were $5 and all proceeds went to a their philanthropy supporting victims of domestic violence in the tri-state area.

Mr. Alpha Chi opened up with a medley of popular songs ranging from “It’s Raining Men,” by The Weather Girls, to “Party in the USA” by Miley Cyrus and “What Makes You Beautiful” by One Direction as the guys showed off their dance moves during the opening act. 

The young men ranged from several fraternities at UNCG and were introduced after their dance routine. Those competing were Darius Bennett, Victor Perry, Adrian Castillo, Drew Grice, Suleiman Mansaray, and Lucas Taylor. They ranged from freshman to seniors.

Their first section to compete in was “Casual Wear” were most of them showed off their khaki pants and their Greek chapters letters. During this section they were asked questions such as “Who do you look up too?” and “What are you dreams and aspirations?”

Their answers ranged from their mom to directly quoting Alpha Chi Omega’s values of; character, leadership, academics, personal development and financial responsibility.

During the talent portion of the competition, the guys were able to show off their respective gifts. Drew Grice sang and performed a Coldplay song with a fraternity brother playing the piano beside him. His performance, mediocre at best, received a huge round of applause from the crowd. Then Lucas Taylor came on stage to perform a poetry reading. It was a “work in progress,” he stated.

It was a satirical piece playing off of stereotypical concepts of Slam Poetry performances. He repeated phrases, moved around on stage using exaggerated hand motions and raised his voice for emphasis.

An acrobatics act was announced and Suleiman Mansaray entered the stage. Mansaray walked to the middle of the stage and proceeded to perform a front flip. He then walked back towards the side of the stage and did several consecutive front hand springs to the opposite side of the stage. The crowd was in applause and whooped for his tumbling act.

The next act began with a speaker off stage reiterating facts and support of domestic violence victims before an interpretative dance was executed. Adrian Castillo and one of his fraternity brothers danced closely together with a beach ball between their bodies, to show how delicate a balancing act supporting survivors of domestic violence can be.

They danced slowly and carefully to Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of The Heart,” before throwing the beach ball into the crowd.

Fresh out the kitchen, Victor Perry performed R. Kelly’s popular and well-loved song, “Ignition Remix” while wearing an all black leather outfit.  He gained audience participation and was a favorite among the crowed during the talent competition. While Darius Bennett admitted to being sick and asked for audience help singing the chorus of the song he was performing, “Keep Your Head Up” by Andy Grammar. His performance was very spirited as he leaped off the stage and sang while making his away around the auditorium.

For their final section, the guys were required to wear formal attire, a basic suit and tie affair, and were each escorted onstage by an Alpha Chi Omega lady. They each had a way to charm the crowd by being especially sweet to their partner. For the final competing moments, they had to answer questions such as “How would you bring awareness on what’s going on behind closed doors when in relations to domestic violence?”

After answering the questions with a shade of seriousness, the hosts invited everyone up on stage to dance to “The Wobble” as the judges deliberated on who should win which awards. About 30 people from the audience decided to join the guys and show off their moves.

Before the winners were announced, Jerrica Naylor, a member of Alpha Chi Omega, gave a heart wrenching speech on her recent experience with domestic violence. It involved a little boy that she works with during her teaching internship who had to be in a full body cast for the first two years of his life because his father was so abusive. She told the story of how his family found help and that all proceeds from that night would go to a shelter for women to help them overcome their abusive relationships.

Though all gentlemen that competed did a fabulous job, only three won titles. Darius Bennett won Mr. Alpha Chi, Victor Perry won Mr. Congeniality and Adrian Castillo won Best Talent.