Do you have what it takes to be Graceland University’s next Big Man On Campus?

Written by: Mikayla Austin ’18

Every year, Graceland University COSA (Campus Organization for Social Activities) puts on a beauty pageant. But wait, there’s a plot twist: it’s an all-male beauty pageant. Wait, what? A male beauty pageant, you say? Is this for real? YES! Get excited. Before the awesomeness can begin, every “House” on campus elects a male candidate from either their own House or another’s to represent them in this ultimate throw down. It’s a contest to test skill, talent and, of course, true beauty. The Big Man competition also requires judges. What I mean by judges is Graceland’s faculty. So, professors and employees are the ones who determine our Big Man.

For 2017, along with our lovely faculty judging, we had a special guest join us this year! Adam Grabowski was invited by COSA to host the event. Adam is a comedian, drives a Prius and has appeared on “America’s Got Talent.” A special thanks to Adam for coming to Lamoni and for having an insanely cool man bun. There is also a theme that comes with it. Themes such as Superheroes vs. Villains and Dude Looks Like a Diva.

This year’s theme was Princess Power. All contestants dress to match their character as best as they can and go through three stages of competition: This year, the first one was lip syncing. So, each Big Man contestant was dressed as a movie princess and lip sang to a song that represented their movie. The guys are dressed in homemade princes costumes of characters like Meg from Hercules, Ariel, Sleeping Beauty, Elsa, Cruella de Vil, Snow White, Pocahontas, Tinkerbell, Mohana, Princess Leia, etc. After round one, there were just nine princesses left, and the remaining contestants entered a round of catwalking and pickup lines. And then there were four… just Ariel, Jessie, Jasmine and Nala.

This year we had another great turnout in the audience and every House was supportive… of their own princess. Unfortunately, there can only be ONE Big Man on Campus. All the guys involved did a great job of showing off their – ahem – talents. In the end, Devin Rose for Hanthorne House won as Jessie from Toy Story. Congratulations to Devin and all the guys for going out and showing us what they’ve got!

Big Man on Campus is another traditional event at Graceland every year that gets students laughing in their seats and guys showing off….. their inner princess.