On Friday, April 18, Millersville’s Delta Zeta held a Mr. DZirable philanthropy pageant to showcase the men of Millersville and raise money for their philanthropies, the Starkey Hearing Foundation and the American Society for Deaf Children.
Six men decided to participate in the showcase, three of them from Millersville fraternity Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE). These men included Max Vigue, Toby Kovaschetz, and Lucas Akana. The other three men are members of other organizations. Brian O’Neill is Delta Zeta’s sweetheart, while Dakota Lee Shertzer is a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and Marauder Men. Lastly, Brahm Bean is a member of the music production club.
The doors opened at 5:30, and the show started at approximately 5:50. It opened with a short introductory paragraph about each man in the pageant. The show was then split into three sections: a talent showcase, makeovers, and an interview section.
The first talent showcase of the evening was Sophomore Toby Kovaschetz, who showed off his juggling skills. Despite having a torn ACL and being on crutches, he managed to power through and juggle his way through the competition. During the interview portion of the show, Kovaschetz was asked what the best piece of advice he was given was, if he could change anything about the world, what would it be, and lastly, if he won Mr. DZriable, where would he donate his prize money to.
Kovaschetz’s answers to those questions were, “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it,” “free food for all,” and St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, due to it being TKE’s philanthropy. Kovaschetz is also an education major.
Junior Lucas Akana was up next in the round of showcasing his talent. He proceeded to come on stage in a 1960s-style outfit, hippie glasses, fringe vest, and all. He sang “Dancing Queen” by ABBA, and struggled with the lyrics, so Mary Lowery, the vice president of philanthropy for Delta Zeta, had to assist him and pull up the lyrics on her phone for him to sing from.
Akana was also asked a series of questions during the interview round of the showcase. Although he received two of the same questions Kovaschetz received, the one that differed was the mechanical engineering major’s hobbies. Akana told the crowd his favorite hobby was pong, but thoroughly explained the specifics behind it. Also sticking to the cup theme, the one thing he would change about the world is free cups for everyone because “plastic cup prices are just getting really high.” Akana, just like Kovaschetz, chose St. Jude’s as his charity to donate the winning prize money to.
Freshman, Dakota Lee Shertzer, also took his showcase in a musical direction. However, Shertzer also planned to play the keyboard along while singing. Unfortunately, though, there was a series of technical difficulties that halted the use of the keyboard. So, for Shertzer’s performance, he decided to sing “Vienna” by Billy Joel with a backing track.
Shertzer was also asked about his hobbies and one thing he could change about the world. To that, he said, that he hoped people could just love each other more, but also wished the Philadelphia Eagles had won the LVII Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs. He also went in depth on how his caffeine addiction is one of his hobbies, alongside hanging out with friends, he said that he is known to “drink two grams of caffeine in a day.” Shertzer said “just meeting people from different organizations” was his favorite part of the entire competition, though.
The fourth and final man from TKE who showcased his talent in the competition was Junior Max Vigue. Vigue read Star Wars-inspired poetry written by his fraternity big brother, Darren Seymour, in a Yoda impression.
When asked who his role model was in the interview portion of the competition, he said that LeBron James was truly an inspiration to him. The one thing he wanted to change about the world was that he wished people would have more empathy for each other, and that one of his fraternity brothers would improve on their Fortnite skills. His charities of choice to donate to were either St. Jude’s or the Four Diamonds Foundation.
Sophomore Brian O’Neill took the opportunity in the competition to showcase his hidden talent of being able to chug an entire two-liter bottle of diet lemon-lime soda in just a few minutes. O’Neill ended up throwing up multiple times in the process of trying to complete this. Delta Zeta’s sweetheart did end up completing the task in just under three minutes, however.
O’Neill said, “I’m feeling healthy and full on Sprite,” following the competition’s close, noting that he felt alright despite throwing up several times. Nevertheless, the courageous and bold decision to throw up in front of a crowd won him the title of the people’s choice, meaning he won the most votes from people in the crowd who chose to vote.
Despite winning people’s choice, O’Neill said, “I think the people spoke, and I responded … Brahm plays fun music, he rocks, and he should’ve won.” Also, noting that Brahm was one of the coolest people he met that whole night. For O’Neill’s interview portion, the best piece of advice he’s received was being consistent with everyone you encounter, not acting differently around different people. When asked about one thing in the world he wished he could change, he said current gas prices, as for his charity of choice, he chose Delta Zeta’s philanthropy, the Starkey Hearing Foundation.
The night of performances ended with junior Brahm Bean, who chose to sing an original unreleased song, “Help Now,” which Bean is setting to release on May 30. He pulled out an acoustic guitar and sang the song entirely a cappella. When asked his set of questions, he said his role model was his professor, David Ivory, at Montgomery Community College, who is the current director of sound recording and music technology. Bean was subsequently asked what would be the one thing he would change about the world if he could; in response, he said ending world hunger. As for his charity to donate to, he said the Disability Empowerment Center off of Weatland Ave in Lancaster, Bean expressed that people with disabilities are currently facing are dealing with lots of accommodations being stripped from them at this time.
The competition didn’t just end there, however; all the competitors were tasked with giving a makeover to different sisters in Delta Zeta in less than five minutes. Most of the men took the route of making the girls look silly with blue lipstick and blotchy blush. However, one man who seemed like he tried to give their member of Delta Zeta, Keila Rodríguez, a good makeover was Kovaschetz, stating that he made sure to watch some James Charles makeup tutorials before going to the competition. Akana also stated that he watched some tutorials before heading to the showcase.
While Brian O’Neill won the people’s choice, TKE’s very own Kovaschetz won the judges’ choice, with one of the reasons being his perseverance through his leg injury.
While there was a lot of laughing and foolishness going on throughout the showcase, the biggest takeaway from this event was that all the proceeds from the show went to the Starkey Hearing Foundation and the American Society for Deaf Children.
Lowery said, “The men of Millersville just have such an amazing, strong character here, and they should be showcased.”
When talking about what inspired her to coordinate this event, she said, “I wanted to open it up to any man to do it and showcase their personality on stage.”
Lowery lastly said, “seeing the whole community together and see how strong our sisterhood is,” when recalling her favorite part of being able to organize the event.
