Student Government is sponsoring Mr. WT, a male pageant, to raise money for the Somaly Mam Foundation.
Somaly Mam wrote this year’s Readership WT book, The Road of Lost Innocence. The Somaly Mam foundation raises money to combat the multibillion dollar sex trafficking industry around the world. Brandy Roberts, the event’s planner, said she hopes to raise $1,000 through this event.
“My second goal is to make this an annual thing,”Roberts said. “To get Student Government to give back by creating an entertaining and charitable event.”
Students can either enter as individuals or as a group representative. Roberts worked with the CORE office to come up with this event. They decided that the best choice would be a competition.
“We used to do this at my high school,” Roberts said. “We would raise close to $2,000.
Student Body President Tim Vela, who is working with Roberts, said aspects of the competition have been left up to interpretation.
“It’s essentially a beauty pageant for men,”Vela said. “They can wear prom dresses or business suits.”
Freshman Lee Alexander says he’s competing because of pressure from his friends, but he hopes this pageant will have an impact on the student body.
“It might kind of dispel the notion that men are oppression and domineering,” Alexander said.
Alexander plans to partner with fellow freshman Tanner Lakey for the talent portion of the contest. Lakey said the Readership book caused him to get involved in Mr. WT.
“The Readership book definitely impacted me,” Lakey said. “I wanted to raise money for that.”
The competition will be judged in two ways. First, a panel of three judges will vote on the participants’ performance in casual, formal and talent portions of the competition. Students can also vote for their favorites through monetary donations. Each contestant will have a jar with their picture on it to collect the funds.
The pageant begins Sept. 22 at 6:30 in the JBK commons.
Students who are unable to attend Mr. WT can donate money online at somaly.org. Donations can also be taken to the Student Affairs office until Oct. 4 at 5 p.m.