Last week, on Thursday Nov. 29, the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority of APSU hosted the first annual Mr. APSU Pageant.
The pageant was the AGD chapter’s first philanthropic event since its founding in the fall of 2011. All proceeds of the evening were donated to the Alpha Gamma Delta foundation, whose chosen philanthropic focus is “diabetes awareness and education,” according to the AGD national website.
The winner of the Mr. APSU pageant was Matt Meadows, a sophomore health and human performance major and member of the APSU baseball team. Meadows was sponsored by the Chi Omega sorority.
The runner-up for Mr. APSU was Quinn McRae, a music education major.
There were a total of 14 pageant participants, all of whom were sponsored by different student organizations.
Ten of the 14 contestants were sponsored by either a fraternity or sorority. The other four were sponsored by the Gay Straight Alliance, the Hispanic Culture Center, the Dance Marathon, and the Harry Potter Club.
In addition to ticket sales, AGD had donation jars on the ticket table with a picture of each of the contestants attached to them. The crowd was encouraged to donate a dollar into a contestant’s jar of their choice.
At the end of the competition, along with the announcement of Mr. APSU, the members of AGD awarded a “Crowd Favorite” which went to the contestant who had the most money placed into his jar. The award of Crowd Favorite went to Corey Nieto.
Another award given that evening was that of Mr. Congeniality, which was voted on by the contestants themselves. It was to be given to the contestant believed to be the friendliest and most helpful. The recipient of the Mr. Congeniality award was Trevor Brand.
The pageant consisted of three sections: swimsuit, talent and formal attire. The contestant with the most points over-all would win the Mr. APSU title.
The pageant was judged by a panel of faculty who were looking for three things in each section: confidence, creativity and the overall presentation.
For the swimsuit section, Meadows wore white spandex with a hula skirt and a lei.
For the talent portion, Meadows performed different dance moves to popular songs such as ‘Call Me Maybe’, by Carly Rae Jepsen, and ‘Gangnam Style’, by Psy. For the formal wear section, Meadows wore a white suit with a red vest and tie.
During the formal wear section of the pageant every contestant was asked a question by the current Ms. APSU, Lesleigh Neilyn Stanfill. Meadows was asked, “What do you feel Austin Peay has done for you? And in return what have you done for Austin Peay?”
Meadows said coming to APSU had allowed him to meet a lot of great people, and he has had many fun experiences here. As for what he has done for APSU, “I feel like I have helped the school by helping the baseball team win,” Meadows said.
After the pageant, Meadow said that he had really enjoyed getting to hang with all the other contestants.
He also said that it was nice that he had some of his teammates there to support him. As for his dance routine, Meadows smiled and said, “It’s my secret talent.”
