Alpha Phi hosted their 13th annual King of Hearts male pageant, which raises funds for the Alpha Phi Foundation in support of women’s heart health. Seven contestants, all representing a different UNK organization, competed for the crown at the Merryman Performing Arts Center.
Shawn Rathjen, Mr. Pi Kappa Alpha, was this year’s Mr. King of Hearts and said he competed because he likes what the event stands for.
“I decided to become a part of this (because), first off, it’s just a great cause,” Rathjen said. “I wanted to help out and make sure they got as many contestants as possible. Second, I wanted to make sure I could represent my fraternity. Thanks to everybody who came out – it was a super fun crowd, everybody was getting into it really well, and it was a good time.”
The contestants showcased a group dance, personalized introduction videos, individual talents and their question-answering skills – all of which were reviewed by a panel of judges.
Mr. King of Hearts wasn’t the only title awarded to contestants.
Mr. Congeniality was won by Tice Yost, Mr. Business, and the Mr. Talented award went to Karter Evans, Mr. Phi Delta Theta.
Josue Boteo, Mr. Kearney Bound, was deemed Mr. People’s Choice, which was voted on by the audience members. The audience was able to cast one vote for their favorite candidate for every dollar they donated.
Other contestants were Cooper Coffman, Mr. Sigma Phi Epsilon, Michael Lopez,
Mr. Delta Tau Delta, and Blake Hochstein, Mr. KLOP.
Kelyn Garrelts, Alpha Phi’s vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion, said the pageant mainly raises money for women’s heart health research.
“The Alpha Phi Foundation has five different pillars that they donate to,” Garrelts said. “They support leadership training, they have scholarships (and) they donate to women’s heart health research. They typically donate to two different research programs that are looking to advance women’s heart health. That’s kind of the main thing that we always talk about. They also have Forget Me Not Grants and work to preserve the heritage of Alpha Phi.”
Money is raised at this event through entry ticket sales, raffle ticket sales and donations from the community and audience members. This year, about $8,000 was raised for the Alpha Phi Foundation.
Garrelts said this event has been in the works for months, and that practices have been taking place since the beginning of the semester.
Ryann Sabatka, Alpha Phi’s director of philanthropy, highlighted that the contestants volunteered for this pageant without expecting anything in return.
“The guys who are in this are just 100% doing this out of their own time,” Sabatka said. “They’re not really getting anything out of it, so I think it’s super awesome that they’re just showing up to this time and time again to support us.”
Garrelts said the pageant is a great way to have UNK participate in Alpha Phi’s philanthropy.
“I think we continue to do (the pageant) because it’s a great way to get the UNK campus and students involved,” Garrelts said. “I feel like we have a lot of community support throughout the event, so it’s a great way to get Kearney as a whole to support Alpha Phi and UNK Greek life in general.”
Sabatka said this pageant offers a unique experience you can’t get anywhere else on campus.
“My favorite part of the event is how engaging it is,” Sabatka said. “You can go to a ton of different events on campus, but you’re not going to see a bunch of college-aged men on a stage dancing to a Beyoncé song. It’s very entertaining, it’s very engaging, it keeps you roped in and it’s just fun.”
Sabatka also said this event allows her chapter to impact much more than just UNK.
“It just goes to show that you can make a difference,” Sabatka said. “Yes, we are a smaller chapter of Alpha Phi, and we’re in the middle of Nebraska, but the money we are raising is going to a bigger cause. The fact that UNK and the Kearney community supports that is so cool. Not only are we really passionate about this, but everybody comes to this and everybody is donating and are very open to helping us raise money for this foundation, which is super awesome.”
Garrelts appreciates that support from the local community.
“Its great to see how much support we do have from Kearney,” Garrelts said. “It’s such a great town.”
Photos by Maryann Kassner / Antelope Staff
