On Friday night, 13 of USF’s best gentlemen took to the stage to make a difference. The Second Annual Mr. USF Pageant attracted men of all different majors and class years.  All of the proceeds from ticket sales went to benefit Invisible Children.

The night kicked off with a bang as the contestants showed off their dancing skills to the song “WakaWaka (This Time for Africa)” by Shakira. The men proudly displayed their talents before each being introduced by the emcees of the night, Alex Heinert and Julia Iverson.

The competing students were Christopher Nichols, Joshua Green, Nathan Lippert, Chase Ward, Tyler Spilde, Alexander Goffeney, David Morel, Sam Tastad, RobbiKazi, Kyle Simons, Matt Rieck, Brandon Madsen, and Bobby Kooiman.

After each contestant was announced, complete with a short biography of their mostly true talents and accomplishments, the contestants were allowed to strut their stuff across the stage, convincing the judges that they have what it takes.

The next round was the talent competition. Several musical numbers were featured, including original songs by Bobby Kooiman and Nathan Lippert. Joshua Green took a different route, putting on a Noah’s Ark themed puppet show. The crowd favorites were easily a tossup between Chase Ward’s interpretive reading of Rebecca Black’s famous hit and Kyle Simons’ swimming routine in a baby pool. After the audience watched a cat impression by David Morel, a motivational speech by Chris “Can I Get an Amen?” Nichols and received a lesson on how to tie ties from Brandon Madsen, the next round began.

This time around, all of the contestants appeared on stage for the question and answer round. This round contained some of the more entertaining parts of the night. Kyle Simons was asked to describe his USF experience in 20 seconds, which he accomplished very swiftly. After being asked which girl on campus he would choose to be, Brandon Madsen responded with Karen Sumner, saying she always seems like she is having fun. Lastly, the audience got to watch Chase Ward awkwardly work his way around the question of which judge was his favorite and insult the other judges in the process.

Finally, the audience was able to pull out their ballots and vote for their favorite candidate who would receive the People’s Choice award. While the votes were being tabulated, a video was shown, highlighting the background and purpose of Invisible Children. Finally, Nathan Schlatter, last year’s Mr. USF, came out to crown this year’s winner. Chase Ward was crowned the People’s Choice award winner, and Kyle Simons was awarded second place. In the end, Brandon Madsen was crowned Mr. USF as the crowd eagerly cheered him on.

To learn more about Invisible Children, please visit www.invisiblechildren.com.