On Tuesday, October 27, 2015, it was hard to escape the parade of girls wearing shirts that said, “Are you charming enough to wear the crown?” throughout the Miron Student Center (MSC). That night, the Little Theatre became home to Kean University’s Beta Theta chapter of international sorority Delta Phi Epsilon’s annual Deepher Dude—an all-male pageant for charity. 

“A life of chronic illness is all I’ve ever known,” said Julia Rae Schlucter, also known as Miss Philadelphia 2015, who is a native of New Jersey and has struggled day-to-day with Cystic Fibrosis since day one. 

Schlucter commenced Deepher Dude with anecdotes about living her life with the fear of missing out. Her personal experience with illness as a college student struck chords with everyone in the audience as she recounted her freshman year at Fordham University in New York City and her battle with the responsibility over her health. Before the show began, she thanked Delta Phi Epsilon for the immense amount of support that they give to those around the world. Delta Phi Epsilon managed to raise over $750 in donations the night of. This donation amount does not include ticket sales, which are also being donated towards the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Shortly after the opening number by all the potential Deepher Dudes and the kind words of Miss Philadelphia, hostesses Jess Kramer and Brenna Stangle took the stage to welcome everyone to the fifth annual Deepher Dude. A running theme for this event was Disney and Prince Charming, taking upon the tagline of, “Once Upon a Deepher”. With this in mind, it came as no surprise that each contestant had selected a prince to identify with for the night. 

Jess Kramer and Brenna Stangle took the stage to welcome everyone
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The contestants were as follows: Michael Ilcyn as Prince Eric from The Little Mermaid, Brandon Morales as John Smith from Pocahontas, David Paul as Aladdin from Aladdin, James Beaty III as Beast from Beauty and the Beast, Robert Roberto as Flynn Rider from Tangled, Tsu-Min Lin as Captain Li Shang from Mulan, Evan Villareale as Prince Ferdinand from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Jon Journett as Hercules from Hercules, Joseph Heunermund as Kristoff from Frozen and Terrance Somesla-McCornell as Prince Phillip from Sleeping Beauty. Each prince was escorted by their respective princess for the “theme wear” section of the night. The duos had to prepare skits in correlation to the contestant’s role as a prince. This gave audience members the chance to relive some of their favorite moments in Disney movie history, such as the awakening kiss from Snow White and the beach scene where Eric and Ariel first meet (complete with a giant sheep dog named Max) from The Little Mermaid.

One of the many performances of the night
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Other aspects of Deepher Dude included talent, formal wear and interviews. Many of the dudes showcased their musical talents, both cover songs and original pieces being played on everything from the piano to trombone. James Beaty III, a global fitness and wellness major, spiced the traditional idea of talent with a high-speed Zumba tutorial. Even though Formal Wear gave them a chance to strut their stuff, the interview portion gave the contestants a chance for their voices to be heard. Questions such as “What is your dream date?” and “What would you do if you were President of Kean?” were posed. When Robert Roberto was asked what he would do with one million dollars, he moved the audience with his answer. 

“I’d take [the money] and support the GoFundMe I just started,” started Roberto. “It’s called Instruments For Orphans and it’s a charity to give music to those less fortunate.” 

After much consideration and display of talent on multiple levels, Tsu-Min Lin, who is a member of Gamma Si Epsilon and a senior communications major, was crowned Deepher Dude 2015. Between his superior level of dancing and his heartfelt answer as to why he would want to join Delta Phi Epsilon—“The girls of DPhiE have a lot of qualities that I wish I had: strong, confident and outgoing; that’s what they are.”—he won the hearts of the judges and therefore won the title of Deepher Dude. 

When last year’s champion Mike Marquez handed down the crown, Lin was at a loss for words. 

“This was really surprising,” said Lin. “I was so scared of the question part; I felt like I couldn’t live up to the words…I had to dig deep.” 

After all was said and done, Miss Philadelphia and all who participated in Deepher Dude took to the stage for group photos. The night was full of talent, philanthropy and brotherly/sisterly love and some were even lucky enough to take home gift baskets full of candy and other prizes. Members of other sororities and fraternities came out to support the cause and remember why they chose to go Greek.

Miss Philadelphia takes the stage for some photos
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“This was the first time I’ve been to this event but Greek life is about philanthropy. We’re supposed to be out there and doing community service for everyone else,” said Caitlyn Gniazdowski, a senior therapeutic recreation major and a member of Sigma Beta Chi. 

As people filed out of the Little Theatre to head for a Greek life dinner at Applebee’s, hostess Kramer took a sigh of relief while exclaiming, “I can’t believe we did it!”