While the whole Derby week was fantastic, my personal favorite event was the Derby Darling Pageant. There is something unique and special about getting people onstage and having them showcase themselves for an onlooking audience. While for theater majors this may be just another day, for the rest of us, it is both an exciting and unnerving experience. Therefore I was very impressed with each and everyone of our contestants for embracing the stage and showing no signs of fear. Those eight contestants were compromised of girls from each of the three sororities on campus, AΔΠ, AXO, and KΔ.
The night was portioned off into three main sections after starting off with a short clip featuring the Huntsman Cancer Institute and a speech by philanthropic chair Mitchell Busch. After the introduction, the Pageant proceeded into the first event, the talent show. The talents ranged from various dances to martial arts, from satirical poetry to singing. The talents were impressive to say the least and I was left wondering to myself what talent I would use if put in a similar situation. None came to mind. The next section was the formal wear section followed by the question and answer segment. I must admit, the questions were tougher than I thought they would be and they did in fact stumble up a few contestants. However, in the end everyone managed to answer their question with some sort of fitting conclusion.
Intermingled between each portion of the night were date auctions of both contestants and brothers. We were able to raise roughly a thousand dollars from these auctions alone. Ben "Buck" Jones, a recent 2014 graduate, was able to make it back to give a thrilling rendition of his best auctioneer personality. His cowboy enthusiasm really helped to make the night fun as well as to drive up the bidding. Overall, the night was a blast and the Derby Darling Pageant proved to be not only a great way to spend a Wednesday evening, but also a tremendous fundraising event for the Huntsman Cancer Institute.
-Ryan M. Slattery
The night was portioned off into three main sections after starting off with a short clip featuring the Huntsman Cancer Institute and a speech by philanthropic chair Mitchell Busch. After the introduction, the Pageant proceeded into the first event, the talent show. The talents ranged from various dances to martial arts, from satirical poetry to singing. The talents were impressive to say the least and I was left wondering to myself what talent I would use if put in a similar situation. None came to mind. The next section was the formal wear section followed by the question and answer segment. I must admit, the questions were tougher than I thought they would be and they did in fact stumble up a few contestants. However, in the end everyone managed to answer their question with some sort of fitting conclusion.
Intermingled between each portion of the night were date auctions of both contestants and brothers. We were able to raise roughly a thousand dollars from these auctions alone. Ben "Buck" Jones, a recent 2014 graduate, was able to make it back to give a thrilling rendition of his best auctioneer personality. His cowboy enthusiasm really helped to make the night fun as well as to drive up the bidding. Overall, the night was a blast and the Derby Darling Pageant proved to be not only a great way to spend a Wednesday evening, but also a tremendous fundraising event for the Huntsman Cancer Institute.
-Ryan M. Slattery