Sisters continue their annual tradition to elect an outstanding male representative
By Collin Urban
The Anchorman Pageant, a hallowed tradition for the Sisters of Alpha Sigma Tau (ΑΣT) Sorority, was held Tuesday night in the Campus Center Atrium. Much like the NJIT Beauty Pageant, Anchorman is a contest of physical beauty, talent, and character. However, unlike the NJIT Pageant, Anchorman is restricted to male contestants only. The idea is to have the various campus fraternities contribute manpower while the various female sororities contribute funds, while enjoying a night of beefcake, this year’s theme being sailor men.
The pageant is divided into 3 portions: an introduction of contestants, a talent show, and a formal portion with questions and answers. The introductions are simple enough, each competitor walks on stage and gives a short introduction detailing his name, grade, fraternal association, and hobbies. It’s important to note that while it isn’t necessary to be in a fraternity to participate, it’s rare that non-brothers involve themselves in the contest.
The undisputed main event is the talent competition. Contestants displayed a number of talents, including singing, dancing, playing instruments, and stand up comedy. One rather unique event showcased a man with a broken leg performing a cartwheel.
The final segment was less an exercise in formal appearance and more a test of each contestants’ character. ΑΣT is an organization that embodies certain character traits, such as trustworthiness and self-reliance, and the question and answer segment is meant to test how well each contestant can live up to those morals.
Anchorman is a charity event. The charities vary year to year, and on some occasions each chapter of ΑΣT can individually decide on their own charity. In addition, a bake sale is organized to provide snacks for Anchorman, and the proceeds for this year’s sale went to the Pine Mountain Settlement School.
Pine Mountain is a charity based on the idea of a “settlers school” a type of charity that began appearing around the 1880s. The idea is that more well off people would buy houses and property in poor neighborhoods, then donate time and money to improving the neighborhoods. In this case, Pine Mountain is a charity that is dedicated to building upper class schools in lower class areas, specifically rural Appalachia. The goal is to provide an affordable, full education to the children in these areas who suffer from high unemployment and low education rates. Pine Mountain is an ΑΣT national philanthropy, meaning both organizations are officially affiliated, and tightly intertwined.
It’s not wrong to say that while the Anchorman Pageant is lighthearted, the winner is chosen based on who most embodies the qualities that have come to define both organizations. This year’s winner was Diego Jimenez of Theta Chi fraternity.
Speaking about the win, Mr. Jimenez said that he was “extremely honored” to receive this recognition, and that he owed his success to “just being yourself.” It’s no wonder that Mr. Jimenez was able to win by just being himself, as President of the ΑΣT Claudia Mardones described Anchorman as someone who should be “active, should have beauty of spirit and trustworthiness, and be self-reliant. I see Diego with all of these qualities.”
