VICTOR SCHMITT-BUSH
Special to The Leader
On Oct. 12, Delta Chi will be hosting their annual event Miss Delta Chi.
“It is a philanthropy event that we put on,” said Delta Chi vice president and political science major Nakib Kabir. “It started about eight years ago. It’s a pageant that we do for anyone to put on their talents, and later answer questions that the judges ask.”
According to philanthropy chairman and liberal arts major Zachary J Wisbey, “You don’t even have to be a part of Greek life. This year, we have people on the dance team, people who are in sororities, and people who are just students.”
“Some people put together comedy skits,” said Kabir. “Some people do stand-up. Some do spoken word. It’s literally whatever you want to get up there and do. We sell tickets for 10 dollars and all proceeds go to the Jimmy V. Foundation.”
Founded by ESPN and the late college basketball coach Jimmy Valvano, the V Foundation for Cancer Research, according to its website, has “one goal in mind: to achieve victory over cancer.” It was founded in 1993 and has worked with student-run organizations like Delta Chi ever since its conception.
The brothers of Delta Chi, as well as many others before them, have taken pride in the money that they have raised over the years from Miss Delta Chi. It also makes them happy to know that they can have fun while holding an event for a serious cause.
“There are times during the event when it gets kind of somber,” Kabir explained, “because we do talk about cancer and how it affects people, but overall we try to keep the event lighthearted. Everyone is always smiling and laughing, and people are always cracking jokes.”
“It is an event that helps everyone,” said Wisbey. “It’s a great feeling to bring everything and everyone together, and I know that with enough hard work and outreach we can exceed what we made in 2015.”
According to Naaman Azad, senior marketing major and recruitment chairman of Delta Chi, “We try to set a goal for every year. In 2015, our goal was to fundraise $1000 and we ended up raising $1400 in one night.”
Miss Delta Chi works as a sort of competition beneath a competition. According to Kabir, the “philanthropy chairs try to one up each other every year, but every chair prior always helps with the events, so it’s more like a light hearted, albeit competitive, rite of passage.”
Kabir further went on to explain, “No one is above anyone in the preparation of this event. Everyone works together to get the stage ready, prepare the food, and we all organize how the gift baskets are made. We raffle those off and in doing so we are sprinkling on some more dough to the donations.”
Technically, there are three main winners in this event: first place, second runner up and third runner up. Even so, just by being a part of the event and showing off their talents, Azad feels that “they’re supporting us the best way they can. In that way, they’re contributing to the Jimmy V. Foundation, which is amazing. It makes them all Miss Delta Chi.”