putnamjb@lopers.unk.edu

Alpha Phi hosted their annual King of Hearts at Kearney High School Thursday night. 

Keyshaun Vandyke represented Loper football and was crowned this year’s Mr. King of Hearts and Mr. Congeniality. Mr. People’s Choice was Jackson Miller, representing Delta Tau Delta. Mr. Talented was David Reazola, representing Phi Delta Theta. Mr. Heartthrob was Jackson Miller, representing Delta Tau Delta. 

Bailey Flynn led the benefit that raised funds for philanthropy with an engaging school-wide contest.

“We raise money for the Kearney Safe Center for women and children who are domestically abused and for the Alpha Phi foundation which raises money for research into women’s heart health,” Flynn said.

King of Hearts takes a team of motivated Alpha Phi members. 

Flynn has been busy since getting the high school auditorium rented out in September. By mid-October, the contestants were selected and practicing for the big show. Flynn and Alpha Phi plan everything leading up to the event from marketing and sponsors to everything on stage.

 “The marketing team, fundraising team and ticketing team all work together starting in early October,” Flynn said. “Then we get the coaches and contestants involved and we work with them about two hours each week for practices.”

Morgan Long, an Alpha Phi member, worked as an MC for the event and oversaw marketing for the event.

“To get the word out there we had our contestants help us count down on our Instagram,” Long said. “We also had a link to buy tickets in our bio so anytime someone visited our page it was there and also just word of mouth.”

Taryn Hadwiger, who is also an Alpha Phi member, ran the backside of Alpha Phi’s online platform GiveSmart. When she first downloaded the Excel sheet, 535 people signed up. 

“I think having it back in person fully was exciting and it wasn’t just a prerecorded competition like last year during COVID,” Hadwiger said.

Alpha Phi has more plans in the works for philanthropy events, such as the sorority’s annual Red Dress Poker and Pitch tournament this spring.