Eight girls from various VCU sororities sang, danced and strutted for the chance to be crowned VCU’s first Miss Greek.
Over 200 hundred students came out for the Miss Greek pageant last Monday evening in the Commons. Contestants competed in four categories: talent, question and answer, swimwear and evening wear. The event was part of VCU’s Greek Week and proceeds went to help Katrina victims.
The evening’s host and President of the Greek Council, Troy Mostaan said it took a while for VCU to go along with the idea.
“There’s always been a Mr. Greek pageant,” said Mostaan, “but we’ve never had a Miss Greek one. A lot of people were afraid of getting involved with the administration for the swimsuit portion, but after talking with them, since they let guys do it in the Mr. Greek competition, there was no real basis for stopping the girls from doing it.”
The idea for the pageant came together when the Greeks at VCU were brainstorming about what they could do to lend a hand to those affected by the Katrina disaster.
“We started out with a donation table, but me and a couple of other people thought we could do something bigger to raise a lot more money. The problem was it took about a month or two to plan and it was down the road. We thought people might forget about Katrina by then but we still managed to do it. We raised about $1,200 dollars tonight. All the different prizes we gave out were sponsored by the individual groups that gave them.
Though the event was a success, at times it seemed like it was not going to happen.
“The last few days I was real stressed out,” Mostaan elaborated. “The music wasn’t finished until about an hour before this. The dance number (this evening) was the best it’s looked out of every practice. One of those girls had never even practiced the dance until an hour and a half before, Diana, and she just picked it up. We did lose one girl to sickness but I thought it went real well.”
The audience seemed to agree. Alexe Pittock, President of VCU’s Phi Mu Sorority was impressed with the evening’s festivities.
“I loved it,” Pittock said. “I thought it was really creative. I think a lot of us were really excited because it’s something people have been asking for, for a long time. And everybody came together.”
Pittock’s Vice President and Phi Mu sister, Holly Chitty, was also thrilled.
“I thought it was really exciting,” Chitty said. “Two of our sisters won first and second place. So we were very, very happy. There was a big turnout from all the organizations.”
All of the contestants seemed to have a great time as well. Haylee Hoover, who won the pageant was struck by the turnout.
“I’m excited,” Hoover said. “I was really surprised because it was a lot of really good talent and good girls. I think it really connects Greek life, because we invited other people, in other areas of VCU, to come and watch and they can see that things aren’t what they seem as far as Greek life goes and that it’s a lot of fun.”
Earlier in the evening Hoover made an obvious impression on the judges during the talent portion of the show when she sang “Amazing Grace” a cappella. Other memorable acts included a contestant showcasing her balloon animal crafting abilities and an athletic dance routine by Bree Sison.
Sison, a Sigma Sigma Sigma sister and Broadcast Journalism student in the Mass Communications department, stood out when she was asked by Reuban Rodriguez, VCU’s Dean of Student Affairs and one of the evenings judges, why she became a Greek.
“Being Greek was something that I didn’t actually understand what it was until I did it,” Sison replied. “I thought it would be something fun to do, but now I do it because its my whole heart. My sisters mean everything in the world to me and I think that everyone is fantastic. They are your support system and they make you involved in VCU and they give you great things to do on weekends.”