MOORHEAD – Jan. 27 marked the 18 annual Mx. Concordia pageant, an event held by Concordia’s sole sorority, Lambda Delta Sigma (LDS) that is put on to raise funds for the YWCA.
The contestants each represent an on-campus organization, an important part of the event. There were four contestants this year, each representing a different organization. Representing Campus Events Commission (CEC) was sophomore Aidan Sears, representing Cobber Football was Ryan Johnson, representing the cross-country team was Nick Trzynka and representing track and field was Solomon Johnson.
The pageant included four events for contestants to compete in. There is an organization representation portion, a Cobber Spirit portion, a talent portion and a question and answer (Q&A) portion.
“We have our contestants have a costume that represents their organization that they are presenting as because their sashes have their title. So, we have them dress up in something that represents the organization. And then we have Cobber Spirit, which is just any way that they can show their love for Concordia, and a talent portion. And then the kind of typical q&a section at pageant shows,” senior and co-philanthropy chair of LDS, Lauren Vouk said.
Contestants must prepare their own acts, outfits, and ideas for the competition, which can be a lengthy and stressful process.
“(Contestants) have to prepare about three things. We have to prepare our Cobber Spirit portion, which is like a talent portion that has to be focused on Concordia in some way. We have to do a talent. And we do have to do an interview where we’re wearing formal wear. We also have to get outfits together; we wear one for each (portion). And then we also have (an outfit) that represents the organization that we’re representing,” sophomore pageant contestant Aidan Sears said.
The pageant, formerly titled “Mr. Concordia” was renamed in 2020 to allow nonbinary students to compete as well.
“As a non-binary individual, I think using the term ‘Mx” to include both nonbinary performers and is great. It’s fantastic. It’s inclusive, and they do a very good job of it. Like they have like the actual title that you win as Mx. Concordia, not ‘Mr.’ or ‘Mx.’ depending on who it is. It’s ‘Mx.’ no matter what,” Sears said.
Though the nature of the event is lighthearted, the real purpose of the Mx. Concordia pageant is fundraising for YWCA, a key focus of LDS.
“It’s such a great night to not only support the YWCA, which is our main goal, but also the contestants’ acts are so funny, like, people are going to be crying laughing,” Vouk said.
“(LDS) has been around for a little over 100 years now and we are a philanthropic society. Our main nonprofit is the YWCA which is why we have our Mx. Concordia fundraiser. And then we also have different sisterhood events throughout the year that we do,” sophomore and co-philanthropy chair of LDS, Maisy Jablon said.
Planning such a large event takes a lot of time and dedication, which the members of LDS take on annually. This year, the members of the sorority have been planning the event since last summer.
“We’ve been we’ve been working on adding some new things this year that we can hopefully continue for years to come and to make it easier for the future. We now have a website that people can go to that has information on what Mx. Concordia is and has some pictures. We’re also working on getting some local business sponsorships this year. We’ve been reaching out because we’re trying to reach our goal of $2,000 raised,” Jablon said.
“We have different committees that help out with different things. Like we have a setup committee, we have an advertising committee. We have our coaches who work directly with the contestants, and they’re all a big part of (the pageant),” Vouk said.
The hard work that has been put into the event has not gone unnoticed by the contestants or attendees.
“(The sorority) is really on top of it. Coordinating to make sure that we have our stuff together is the central part. We also run through like the whole thing, so that other people have seen each other’s acts,” Sears said.
After an eventful competition that included singing, dancing, juggling and hilarious emceeing by Devin O’Harra and Grace Shelton, Trzynka was ultimately crowned as Mx Concordia.
