Alpha Phi raises $6,000 for heart health, domestic violence

Cheyanne Diessner

The women of Alpha Phi sorority raised nearly $6,000 at the King of Hearts male pageant, selling out Kearney’s Merryman Performing Arts Center. Jase Hueser of Papillion, representing Student Government, was crowned Mr. King of Hearts. 

“It’s definitely one of my favorite philanthropy events,” said Krissy Bell, a senior business administration major with an accounting emphasis from Aurora, who is also Alpha Phi’s chapter president. “It really brings all the different organizations in, and you can see so many guys well-representing UNK.”

Money raised from King of Hearts goes to the Alpha Phi Foundation to help support leadership, scholarship and women’s heart health. Funds are also given to the S.A.F.E. Center in Kearney to help women and children in domestic violence situations. 

“This past year, the Alpha Phi Foundation made a donation to Yale’s School of Medicine,” Bell said. 

In previous years the Alpha Phi Foundation has donated to the Heart and Health Institute and Texas Heart Institute. 

“It’s all about finding a cure and finding prevention resources for women for heart diseases,” Bell said 

Alpha Phi has raised approximately $28,000 for women’s heart health and domestic violence prevention in the six years since the first King of Hearts pageant.

Contestants are nominated to compete in King of Hearts by the organization that they represent, then the nominees of each organization later send in an application where Alpha Phi’s Vice President and VP of Philanthropy decide the contestants upon the applications submitted.

The contestants battle it out for the crown with a dance competition, talent show, an interview to win over the hearts of the crowd. Talents included painting self-portraits in the length of a single song to reenacting hit YouTube videos. Each contestant is given two coaches from Alpha Phi who help them get ready for the competition

The five judges of the pageant looked for the contestant’s crowd engagement, how they present themselves, and their creativity. They look for a King of Hearts that represents himself in the best way. Judges included Chancellor Doug Kristensen, Brad Green from Undergraduate Admissions, Dr. Paul Twigg from the Biology Department, Dr. Tami Moore from the Family Studies Department and lastly an employee from the S.A.F.E. Center. 

Contestants are up for many awards other than Mr. King of Hearts. 

Mr. Heartthrob, who was decided by which contestant got the most likes on their photo on Alpha Phi’s Twitter page, was given to Haden Scherbarth of Bayard, with Sigma Phi Epsilon. 

Mr. Popularity went to Connor Gosnell of Maxwell, who was representing Christian Student Fellowship. To determine who Mr. Popularity would be, a jar with each contestant’s name was written on a jar, then students and the public donate coins and small bills into the designated jar. Overall, the coin jars brought in a total of $310. The winner of Mr. Popularity was then required to dance in front of the crowd to a song of the Sorority’s choice. 

UNK Football’s Dave Squiers of Kearney was named Mr. Crowd Favorite, and Mr. Congeniality went to Joe Griffith of Kearney, who was representing Delta Tau Delta; each participant in the pageant voted who they wanted to receive this award, so it is looked upon in the group as a very special award. 

Mr. King of Hearts from 2017, Jacob Curry, was present to crown the new Mr. King of Hearts, Jase Hueser. 

Along with a laughter-filled evening, crowd members were able to purchase raffle tickets to win prizes such as gift cards to Old Chicago, Chicken Coop, Cunningham’s Journal, a Raising Cane’s gift basket and a portable Bluetooth speaker.

Audience members take away more than just prizes from this event. Awareness about women’s heart health and how it affects each individual was sent off with the audience by Bell.

“It’s all going towards a great cause,” Bell said. “I’m going to miss it a lot, but the guys put so much time into it, too. They contribute so much. It’s all about raising money for women’s heart health.”

2018 KOH Contestants:

Brian Brodin, 

Mr. Phi Delta Theta

Tanner Barth, 

Mr. UNK Track and Field

Chief Kowa, 

Mr. Black Student Association

Haden Scherbarth, 

Mr. Sigma Phi Epsilon

Jase Hueser, 

Mr. Student Government

Dave Squiers, 

Mr. UNK Football

Blake Brown, 

Mr. Phi Gamma Delta

Tyler Cunningham, 

Mr. Wrestling

Mark Barrientos, 

Mr. Sigma Lambda Beta

Jack Clark, 

Mr. Pi Kappa Alpha

Connon Gosnell, 

Mr. CSF

Joe Griffith, 

Mr. Delta Tau Delta