This past Saturday, the Delta Phi Epsilon (DPhiE) sisterhood hosted their annual Deepher Dude event, a fundraising pageant-style contest that serves as an effort to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. An over two-decade long tradition, Deepher Dude took the campus by storm once again with the most normal version of this event since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, as last year’s event was masked up.

While the event started at 8 p.m. in the Beckerman Recreation Center, preparations for the event have been going on for weeks, including related events such as “Pie a Deepher” and behind-the-scenes rehearsals, such as choreography by Sydney Meyers, a senior homeland security and emergency management major.

Hosting the event was chapter president Alexis Robert, a junior forensic science major, and chapter coordinator of sorority standards Avery Fitzgerald, a sophomore genetics and biotechnology major. While the hosts guided the night, a panel of judges served throughout the event, including reigning Deepher Dude Daniel Thompson, a senior forensic science major, Samantha Cipriano, a senior criminal justice major, Kelsi Burns and Eve Hein, two university alumni pursuing a master of science in forensic technology and a master of arts in community psychology research, respectively.

The judges had six contestants to consider throughout the night to decide who the next Deepher Dude would be.

Before the contestants got down to business, there was a group dance followed by a performance by the Monsoon Dance Crew.

The first of three rounds for the contestants was the PowerPoint competition where each contestant presented a powerpoint on a topic of their choice. First up was Christian Castro, a senior business marketing major, with a presentation on the topic of Western slang, followed by a more specialized and topical presentation on pre-hospital treatment of cystic fibrosis by Liam Drew, a senior paramedicine major.

Following the two starters were some more niche topics: Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) as characters from “The Little Mermaid” by Jamie Genovese, a senior national security major; “People I would have in my post-apocalyptic bunker” by Ryan Resnick, a sophomore marine biology major; “Justice for Oompa Loompas” by Tanner Brown, a junior homeland security and emergency management major; “Top 10 hottest Star Wars characters” by Gabe Jones, a senior music and sound recording major; and “How well I think the contestants would survive a zombie apocalypse” by Noah Bernier, a sophomore forensic science major.

Following the eventful round of presentations, the contestants were up for a talent round, which included a performance of “Chicago” by Resnick, a rendition of “save a horse, ride a cowboy” by Castro. Next was the performance of skills like solving a Rubik’s cube by Bernier, the Cup Song by Brown, karate by Jones, a live food review by Genovese and painting by Drew, whose painting was received by the person who donated the most to his page.

To close out the three rounds of pageantry the contestants were put under the microscope in an interview round, with each person answering two questions; one about DPhiE and one about Cystic Fibrosis.

After a grilling, the judges met to discuss their options. In the meantime, it was announced that Ryan Resnick earned the title of Sister’s Favorite for the night. Resnick and his escort Alexis Clark took the interlude as an opportunity to present a prepared gift of 365 daily affirmations to the DPhiE chapter.

As the crowd awaited a final decision, a number of giveaways were announced, won via purchased raffle ticket drawings. Basket giveaways consisted of a mystery basket from SAE, a holiday baking basket from Kappa Kappa Psi, a self care basket from the Marine Conservation Society, a cozy blanket basket from Alpha Sigma Alpha, a self care basket from Alpha Phi Omega, a holiday cheer basket from Sigma Chi, an “everything chocolate” basket from Phi Sigma Sigma, a hygiene basket from the Monsoon Dance Team and a movie night basket from Chi Kappa Rho.

The panel of judges returned with a decision on the 2022 Deepher Dude: Tanner Brown. Brown thanked Chyla Delima, vice president of programming, and Ari Munger, coordinator of philanthropy, for organizing the event along with Sydney Meyers for coordinating the dance at the beginning of the event. “It’s awesome, I think it’s great that they put on such a great event,” said Brown. “It was just a super good time.”

The Deepher Dude event raised $14,318 by the end of the night. DPhiE asked attendees to stay tuned for a philanthropy event coming up during the Spring semester.