A human jelly bean and a jump roping sorority member, along with nine other greek women, helped Ball State University's Sigma Nu fraternity raise $1,200 during its third Miss Greek Pageant on Saturday.
The Miss Greek Pageant honors women in the greek community, similar to how the Miss Ball State University Pageant honors women in the university, Sigma Nu president Trampas Whalin said.
"Hopefully the woman who wins will continue the values she strives for in her personal and academic life," he said.
Judges based their decisions on contestants' talents, responses given during a question and answer session and creativity in how the women wore their sorority letters.
To show their creativity, one woman dressed as a jelly bean and wore her letters on her body and another dressed as an angel and put her letters on a golden arrow. For the talent portion, three women gave piano performances, one woman danced and one did a jump rope routine.
Brittany Bower, a Kappa Delta sorority member, was crowned 2006 Miss Greek.
"I don't know what I will do after this, but [I] will just have to wait and see what doors open for me," she said. "I am really thankful for everyone who has supported me."
Stacy Dixon, an Alpha Chi Omega sorority member and second runner-up, and Pam Gardner, a Pi Beta Phi sorority member and first runner-up, received a sash and a certificate for what place they won. Bower received a tiara and a $500 scholarship donated by Jack Caudill, a Sigma Nu alumnus and founder of the Miss Greek Pageant in 2001.
Bower said the competition brought the participants closer together. Tiara Kincade, 2004 Miss Greek winner, said the pageant is a way for the ladies to know women in other sororities because it is not something that is always done during the year.
"As a Miss Greek winner, you're set to a higher standard," Kincade said. "You represent all the sororities, but you represent yourself as well."
Sigma Nu raised about $1,200 from the pageant, and all the money goes to Big Brothers Big Sisters.
According to its Web site, Big Brothers Big Sisters is the oldest and largest youth mentoring organization in the United States. The organization provides mentors to about 200,000 children between the ages of 6 and 18 in about 5,000 communities in the United States.
Russ Van Natta, 2006 Miss Greek Pageant host, said the program goes well with Big Brothers Big Sisters because the competition was looking for role models within the greek community at Ball State.
"The role models we are looking for in the competition are like the role models Big Brothers and Big Sisters have for the children across the nation," he said.
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