The first annual Womanless Beauty Pageant hosted by Recreational Sports and Wellness was an effort to raise awareness about heart disease in a fun and eventful way. The pageant was held Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Pennington Student Activity Center.  All proceeds from the pageant were donated to the American Heart Association

After tallying scores at the end of the competition Michael “Sapphire” Scallan, sophomore kinesiology major, was named 2012 Southeastern SweetHEART and was awarded a $200 stipend.  

Trent “Porshay” Palm was awarded first runner up and David “Ragedy Ann” Braud, junior nursing major, followed in third. Chad “Peggy” Pendarvis, assistant director of Intramurals, and Sean “Charlegne” Lagarosse, coordinator of North Oaks Park, were also awarded Bravest Staff Members for their participation in the pageant.

“I guess I can pull off a girl pretty good,” said Scallan. “My feet hurt but other than that it feels great. I’m glad I did it; it was for a good cause.”

Scallan stated that the most difficult part of the competition was playing basketball in heels during the talent competition, in addition to creating his character and hobbies. He expressed great appreciation to the ladies of the Alpha Sigma Tau sorority and noted that he would not have been successful without their help.

The pageant was created by the Rec Sports and Wellness RIPPED (Rec Innovative Programming People Excited and Dedicated) a student leadership team which consists of student staff members and graduate assistants. Deanne Mckell, manager of Rec Sports Pride Café served as a co-presenter with Amy Oberschmidt, assistant director of guest services. Tess Tranchina, freshman biology major and Rainey Lee, senior general studies major, also served as gentlemen escorts for the “Strut” category.

The judges of the competition were Dollie Herbert-Crouch, director of Recreational Sports and Wellness, Todd McElroy, Campus Activities Board (CAB) coordinator, Jennifer Jarreau, Miss Southeastern, and Mujahed Ahmad, Student Government Association vice-president. The seven contestants were scored by the judges in four categories including “Strut,” question and answer, talent and dance.

In addition to the judges scores the audience was able to participate in the Popular Choice category by making a donation to the American Heart Association and entering the name of their favorite contestant. Viewers were allowed one vote for each dollar that he or she donated.

During the question and answer segment of the competition participants were asked heart disease related questions and were required to include statistics and proven research in their answers.

“A lot of guys chickened out of participating in this event but I had a good time,” added Palm.

The pageant raised over $140 in donations. Plans for next year’s pageant are already being discussed including more participants, heavy recruitment of faculty and staff and a surprise in the talent competition.

“I was amazed at the courage of the men who participated and put their best heel forward,” added Oberschmidt. “It will be as good as this year’s pageant and better. I think that the success and pictures from the pageant will really help push the program next year. Now that they’ve seen their friends do it, how much fun they had and what a good cause it is that they will probably all start looking for dresses next week.”