West Chester junior, Jimmy Peifer was crowned Mr. WCU on March 26 in the annual men’s competition. More than 500 students, faculty, friends, and family were in attendance at Emilie K. Asplundh Concert Hall for the event.
Peifer is a liberal studies major and is involved with the Catholic Newman Center and Rotaract at WCU. His platform is the Band of Angels, which is the world’s largest provider of non-medical information on Down Syndrome.
The competition began with the introduction of this year’s judges, which included Miss Delaware 2011 Maria Cahill, the first ever Mr. WCU Chris Dickerson, Emmy Award winning producer Todd Marcocci, and former Miss Delaware contestant Ashley Morley. Ben McLain and Paul Peglar from the comedy and music act Dakaboom were the hosts for the evening and even performed some of their acts. They have been featured on well known TV shows such as “Glee” and “The Sing Off.”
This year’s contestants entered the concert hall dancing down the aisles to songs such as “Pop,” “Bye Bye Bye,” and “Twist and Shout.” The gentlemen looked very in-sync with one another as they performed. They even incorporated the guys’ escorts into the piece as well. Following the opening number the contestants were introduced by Dakaboom along with each of their platforms such as The Trevor Project, Philabundance, Scouts for Equality, and Youth Mentoring Partnership.
This year there were 13 contestants: Nick Giorgio, Chris Conaway, Tarik Williams, Sean Bobbie, Doug Nieweld, David Thompson, Jimmy Peifer, Stephen Hood, Mike Dattalo, Adam Cerretani, Peter Ho, Nick Murray, and Shawn Kurnik.
Following the introductions was the casual wear portion. The men’s outfits ranged from banana costumes to bathing suits and flip flops, cowboy hats and flannel shirts to a sweater and khakis. Some of the guys did a little strut across the stage as the hosts introduced each of them once again. Next was the talent portion in which contestants performed something of their choice.
Talents included singing, different styles of dance, a piano piece, an original rap, and even a human puppet show. The guys kept the audience laughing throughout this entire section, and each of the men did an awesome job.
“I though the human puppet show was hilarious, especially when Wrecking Ball came on and he started swinging back and forth,” audience member Amanda McCullough said.
After the guys finished their talents, there was a 15-minute intermission in which audience members were encouraged to place their votes for the People’s Choice superlative award. Escorts of the contestants also walked around collecting donations to benefit the winner’s platform. Following the intermission, the contestants prepared for the formal wear portion of the contest. During this section, Dakaboom asked each contestant to pull a random question out of a bucket to answer for the audience. Questions ranged from: “What advice would you give your 16-year-old self?”, “If you had one magical power, what would it be?”, “If you could relive any event in your life, which would you choose?”, and “What is your favorite part of being a West Chester student?”
As the judges deliberated who the Top Three contestants would be, Dakaboom entertained the audience with a performance of “50 Theme Songs in Under 5 Minutes” which had the audience in awe. The piece featured theme songs from “The Brady Bunch,” “Gilligan’s Island,” “Happy Days,” “Inspector Gadget,” “Sesame Street,” “Saved by the Bell,” and “Power Rangers.” The duo definitely had captured the audience’s attention as they switched from song to song.
Next it was time to announce the Top Three contestants in no particular order: Jimmy Peifer, Tarik Williams, and Mike Dattalo. While the judges deliberated their final decisions, the hosts announced the superlative awards. Most Dedicated, which goes to the contestant with the most spirit, attends all practices, and always gives 110 percent, went to Nick Giorgio; People’s Choice, which was voted on by the audience members, went to Shawn Kurnik; Mr. Photogenic was awarded to Doug Nieweld; Escorts’ Choice, which is voted on by the contestants’ escorts and goes to the guy who charmed all the ladies, was Chris Conaway; and Mr. Congeniality, which is voted on by the contestants, went to Sean Bobbie.
Finally it was time to announce the results. Second runner-up went to Mike Dattalo and first runner-up went to Tarik Williams, leaving Jimmy Peifer to be crowned Mr. WCU 2014.
Alexandra Arbiz is a fourth-year student majoring in communication studies. She can be reached at AA736117@wcupa.edu.