Thursday, September 18, 2008
No longer are beauty pageants the exclusive province of stereotypical gorgeous nitwits. Not only is a former runner-up for Miss Alaska a vice-presidential candidate, now the KU chapter of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is getting in the pageant business. They have a few innovations of their own, too. After all, who said “gorgeous” was just for girls?
On Sept. 26 SWE will hold its second annual Mr. Engineer pageant, a fundraiser to showcase the brains and brawn of male engineers.
“A lot of guys, when they hear ‘SWE,’ think it’s just for girls, but 80 percent of the engineering school is guys so we thought we should get them involved,” said Amanda Carter, coordinator of the pageant and a senior in architectural engineering.
The pageant has four categories: “Best Dressed,” a talent competition, “Most Nerdy,” and the much-anticipated boxer contest. For the first category, contestants dress as if they were going to an interview, Amanda said.
The talent competition, one of Carter’s favorite categories, gives the contestants the chance to show what engineers can do. Amanda’s brother Jason Carter, a senior in mechanical engineering and a competitor in last year’s program, followed up his juggling act with a free body diagram showing all of the forces acting on the balls. Last year’s Mr. Engineer did push-ups – without a shirt.
Shirts are required for the “Most Nerdy” category, in which the stereotypical dress of engineers everywhere gets its moment in the sun. “Some guys wear really high-water pants and pocket protectors,” Amanda said. “It’s interesting to see what different people think of as nerdy dress.”
“I wore an ugly Hawaiian shirt, rolled up pants and glasses. It was a good chance to not take ourselves too seriously,” Jason said.
Last and emphatically not least is the boxer contest, the Mr. Engineer equivalent of the Miss America swimwear category. Contestants also have creative sway in this part of the competition. T-shirts are optional and “…the only rule is that the guys wear something under their boxers. We don’t want any accidents,” Amanda said.
“[The boxer competition] was definitely hilarious. I am no body builder myself, but it was fun to put my shame aside for a good cause,” Jason said.
Lucky judges are pulled from the younger echelons of SWE members. The judges look for someone with enthusiasm who really struts their stuff, Amanda said.
Girls have held the pageant spotlight for far too long; it’s about time the guys went on parade. And what could be better than boxers and brains?
Blankenau is a Lincoln, Neb., sophomore in journalism.
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