By Sean Leviashvili
Pi Kappa Alpha (PIKE) hosted the third annual Dream Girl pageant last night in the Curry Student Center’s Ballroom to raise money for the Children’s Glaucoma Foundation.
Seven women from different sororities competed in the pageant, which was hosted by two PIKE brothers, Mike ‘Minkus’ Kinchla and Ari Seitelman.
Several audience members said Kinchla and Seitelman’s charisma was an essential component of the competition.
“The hosts are really funny,” said Rosa Barney, a freshman journalism major. “They kind of make the event.”
Kinchla, a sophomore communication studies major, said he enjoyed speaking to the audience.
“I love it,” he said. “I love being on stage.”
Throughout the night, Kinchla cheered for Lauren Hebl, who was crowned Dream Girl 2007 and rewarded with a free round trip ticket from JetBlue as well as a rendition of the Backstreet Boys’ “I Want it That Way” performed by PIKE’s pledge class.
Max Teller, PIKE director of public relations, said the competitors were all highly-qualified.
“All the girls were great,” he said. “It was a very close call. It could’ve gone to anybody.”
Hebl revealed her dance skills to the audience throughout the night. During the second round, the talent section of the competition, Hebl performed an interpretive style dance with evident roots in ballet to OneRepublic’s “Apologize.”
Hebl continued performing for the audience during the “Brotherhood Challenge,” when she was challenged to a dance-off by one of the PIKE brothers. Other “Brotherhood Challenge’s” included a peanut butter and jelly sandwich making contest, a paper airplane competition and a push-up trial.
Amanda Sabia, a sophomore political science major, received loud audience feedback. Observers, including her Tri-Sigma sorority sister, Abby Huhtala, a freshmen psychology major, cheered as Sabia’s back came inches from the floor when she showed off her limbo skills during the talent section of the competition.
“People always dance or sing,” said Sabia, the competition’s runner-up. “I figured I’d do something I’m good at and limbo dancing seemed right.”
Sabia, like most of the other contestants, delivered each performance and answered each question with, what seemed like, relative ease.
From Tracy Kleeman’s performance of the signature dance featured in “Napoleon Dynamite” to Ruthie Moskowitz’s unusual jump-roping – she did push-ups during jump rope intervals – the Greek community, who made up the majority of the audience, said they enjoyed the event.
Andrew Durfee, a PIKE brother who coordinated this year’s competition, said it was a “mainly Greek event.”
“The advertising [campaign] was pretty small this year,” he said.
Despite what Durfee regarded as a flaw in the event’s advertising, Pi Kappa Alpha has collectively raised more than $7,000 for the Children’s Glaucoma Foundation during the past two years.
