When you join Greek Life, philanthropy is a big part of being involved with the chapter and the greater Greek system as a whole. In the case of the Delta chapter of Alpha Chi Omega at Allegheny College, the sisters raise money and donate their time to their philanthropy of Domestic Violence Awareness. Every year in the fall, the sisters put on a beauty pageant to raise funds and awareness for Women's Services, Inc. here in Meadville. For the last the last two years I have participated in this Man of the Year competition and have had some of the finest feedback and experiences because of it.

This year in particular, all eight of the men competing were required to go out into campus and raise money to be donated to Women's Services that would also be included into the final score of each participant. In addition to this fundraising by the candidates, each PNM (Potential New Man-of-the-Year: see what I did there? PNM = Potential New Member?) would need to answer several questions in front of the crowd and the judges comprised of faculty and staff of the college and Women's Services. I was asked what the first thing I noticed about someone when I met them, what my spirit animal was and why, and why i want to be Man of the Year. This was followed by the talent of each candidate.

All of the men who competed had fantastic talents, ranging from lip-syncing Disney songs or Tina Turner; dramatic readings from Twitter about the daily thoughts of Bears; singing whilst playing ukulele, but also my talent of playing Bagpipes. (Find the inspiration HERE)

Full-Disclosure: I DO NOT PLAY BAGPIPES. I do, however, wear a kilt and that is the second greatest question I am asked, right after whether or not I'm wearing underwear beneath my kilt; to which my answer is officially that I AM wearing socks and shoes. There you go. No need to ask or wonder any longer.

I requested the audience to sing and sustain the two static notes necessary for a bagpipe sound and I then played the chanter portion with my voice and performed "Amazing Grace." I really wasn't focusing on how it sounded and was instead invested with just getting it done: I'm told it was amazing and sounded like a real bagpipe. The YouTube link of my performance is HERE.

The final portion of the Man of the Year pageant came down to a group dance performance put together several hours before by two of the sisters who took additional time from their days to help us prepare. We looked like a bunch of goons on that stage, but it was a lot more fun than a barrel of monkeys.

We waited for the final results backstage, all of us congratulating one another and having a good time over all after having enjoyed ourselves that evening. We were all called back on stage by the judges and given the Third place standing, Second place, and lastly First.

I am so proud and honoured to have been crowned Alpha Chi Omega's Man of the Year for 2015-2016. I am so pleased that I was able to raise money for your philanthropy and play imaginary bagpipes with the student body. Thank you for all you ladies do and keep up the fantastic work! Congratulations to all the men who ran this year for Man of the Year! You are all fantastic men of character and strong moral fiber.