The second annual "Mr. and Ms. Big Green" contest helped launch this year's Winter Carnival events last night in Collis Common Ground. The spirit competition is designed to celebrate Dartmouth spirit and raise money for charity, organizers said.
Mikey Brown '11 and Emilyn Leiva '12 were crowned the winners. Brown wowed audience members with his break dancing and gymnastics skills, as he did aerials and back flips down the runway. Leiva, meanwhile, showed off her hip-hop dancing as she sang along to Beyonce's "All My Single Ladies" with the help of background dancers.
"It was an exhilarating experience," Leiva said immediately following the competition. "I feel bonded to the color green and my fellow Dartmouth students."
Brown was equally excited.
"It feels great. It was kind of embarrassing but definitely worth it for Winter Carnival," he said.
Contestants selected charities such as DREAM, the American Cancer Society, St. Jude Children's Hospital, and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to represent during the competition. Over $200 in donations from the audience was then split evenly between the winners' organizations. Brown selected the World Wildlife Fund while Leiva chose Dartmouth's San Francisco Alternative Spring Break trip.
"The overall purpose of the event is to bring different parts of the campus together and celebrate Dartmouth during Winter Carnival weekend," Uthman Olagoke '11, co-chair of the Student Assembly student life committee, which organized the competition, said. "This is a great way to show everyone your Dartmouth pride. People relax and do silly things and just have fun while doing it."
Contestants participated in a dance contest, a flare walk-off, a talent show, and a question-and-answer session.
During the flare walk-off, contestant Milan Williams '09 stole the show by parading in bottomless pants and exposing his butt to the audience.
The talents showcased and ranged from wrestling to playing the violin in a bikini to performing a rap-piano arrangement. Many contestants chose to bring friends or randomly selected audience members on stage with them to help with their routines.
"I decided to participate in the competition to show Dartmouth spirit and share my excitement with fellow students," Catherine Faber '12, one of the contestants, said. "It's great that contestants have a platform to use to advertise great causes and encourage students to give to worthwhile charities."
In order to participate, students had to be nominated, either by themselves or other students, and fill out an application. Jen Argote '10, student life co-chair, estimated that she received over 20 applications for the 12 spots.
"All the applications were pretty fun," Argote said. "We wanted to try to mix it up and make sure we didn't have all the same type of people competing."
Argote is a member of the Dartmouth staff.
The judging panel also featured a diverse group of students, including a varsity athlete, an artist, an actor and a Student Assembly executive. The beloved Dartmouth moose, who also got a vote, served as the fifth judge.
"Judging is based on overall crowd enthusiasm in response to each contestant," Olagoke said. "The judges will also be looking at originality and how elaborate each performance is."
Mr. and Ms. Big Green was inspired by the Mr. Yale competition, held annually at Yale University, although Yale's version does not include women.
"We have our own sense of what fun is. We are a unique student body and that uniqueness channels through in this competition," Olagoke said, describing Dartmouth's version of the event. "Also, I think we do a good job of incorporating people from different part of campus and making everyone come together as one student body, which makes it a lot more fun."
Both Argote and Olagoke stressed that the competition is very different than a traditional pageant, arguing that it is very low-pressure and more about having fun than actually competing to win.
"A pageant is where you judge people on who they are, and you cast negative outlooks on individuals," Olagoke said. "This competition is to bring people together and highlight people's accomplishments and unique characteristics."
Because last year's inaugural event was successful, there were few changes this time around, according to Argote. The major difference is that Student Assembly decided to extend the time allotted for the event, since last year's competition took longer than expected.
