Ten students compete in UCF scholarship pageant

By Cassie Turner

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Published: Sunday, November 1, 2009

Updated: Sunday, November 1, 2009

Emre Kelly

Audience members rose to their feet and exploded with applause when UCF junior Michael Newman accepted the title of Mr. UCF 2010, beating out nine other contestants in the annual scholarship pageant.

Students watched as 10 students dressed as zombies took the stage in the Pegasus Ballroom in the Student Union  on Friday as they danced to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”

Newman, who won the judges’  favor and the audience popular vote, took home over $2,000 in scholarship awards courtesy of Student Government Association and the UCF Alumni Association. He said his main objective as Mr. UCF this year would be to spread awareness.

“I carry the world on my backpack,” Newman said as he performed a poem he found online called The Renditions of a Homeless Man for the talent competition. Newman dressed in layers of jackets and carried a sign that read: “Hungry any spare change helps please.”

“Students a lot of times feel disconnected from the community around us. Two miles down the road there are people that are homeless,” Newman said. “There are a lot of people that stay within the circle at UCF because they don’t really understand or realize what’s going on around us.”

Newman said during his interview that he wants to bridge that gap between the community, students and faculty, which he believes is part of the UCF Creed.

Newman is currently an ambassador on the President’s Leadership Council, the community service chair of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity and a member of the Student Sustainability Alliance. 

The pageant winner was not the only student heavily involved in campus and community activities vying for a shot at the Mr. UCF title. Spectacular Knight and Campus Activities Board Director Samantha Nemeroff said 15 students auditioned for the event, but only ten competed in the pageant.

“They represented UCF in a great way,” Nemeroff said. “They are all very involved in the school and the community. Their talents were impressive, too.”

Jonathan Parker sang the bluesy Porgy & Bess classic “Summertime.” Matthew Miller, clad in a glitter jacket and rhinestone glove, moonwalked to a version of “Billy Jean” by Michael Jackson. Marcus Williams dressed in a red and white checkerboard shirt, and performed a hip-hop line dancing routine to a music mix. James Jarman broke out the red vinyl records and turntables, scratched and spun a house and Latin mix. 

Tyson Nales, Mr. UCF 2009, and Dasha Gonzalez, Miss UCF 2010,  hosted the pageant with a panel of five judges. The bulk of the contestants’ scores came from the talent competition followed by their audition interview, formal wear, beachwear and a final on-stage question.

The scholarship pageant began in 1989 and benefits both students and the community. Sidney Porter, Sunshine Princess and Lake Highland student, donated a midback ponytail of hair to Locks of Love and the audience favorite vote raised $920 for Children’s Miracle Network.

SGA provided scholarship awards of $400 to the third runner-up, Warren Jackson, $650 to second runner-up, James Jarman, and $1,000 to first runner-up, Marcus Williams.

Additionally, Jonathan Parker won $500 in awards for nonfinalist best interview and top ad sales. David Cohn won $350 for nonfinalist best talent and David Yu won Mr. Congeniality and $150.

The pageant is open to all full-time male undergraduate and graduate students who hold a minimum 2.5 GPA.

Nemeroff said she can relax for a week before she begins planning for the Miss UCF pageant, with 25 girls set to compete for the title on Feb. 6, 2010. 

 

UCFnews: Michael Newman crowned Mr. UCF: http://bit.ly/1x2pjS http://bit.ly/1WvEkf

Red Light Life

     You once saw this chick with wild, fiery-red curls sitting at the stop light of Magnolia and Pine. You marveled at her hair and her shiny, silver 1963 Stingray, not sure which you liked more. Perhaps it was the feeling it gave you. She had the top pulled back and "Boys of Summer" cranked, pumping out of the cabriolet, as she puffed out a series of tight smoke circles in the air with her Marlboro Red. You knew it was a Marlboro Red because the white and red pack, wrapped in cellophane, sat on the dash, staring at you. You were tempted to lean out the window and grub for one, forgetting you quit smoking ten years ago when you were young and dumb and free and dating old what’s-his-face. Yeah free. You remember that feeling. She felt like the silver-bullet train of freedom to you, in those two minutes and thirty-two seconds at the corner of Magnolia and Pine. You re-lived life before marriage and mortgages, before diapers and daycare, before disillusionment and divorce. The light turned green, that girl in the ’63 Stingray with the crazy red curls popped the clutch and stole across the intersection, leaving you in her wake with your memories. You released your foot off the brake of your SUV, littered with lost Barbie shoes and yesterday’s half-eaten PBJ, and once again contemplated leaving. Sighing, you knew you can never escape yourself. Instead, you stuck your hand between the seats, fished out that half-eaten PBJ, and thought who needs freedom anyway.