SWOSU has announced an exciting competition that will take place in the spring. For the first time in several years, the university will host an event where male students will vie for the title of Mr. SWOSU.
The event was originally scheduled to take place during the 2022 fall semester, but university leaders decided to postpone the competition until the spring.
Community members and students alike had questions surrounding this new event, so Lesley Alvarado, Coordinator of Student Activities, shared information about what people can expect.
“It’s going to be something fun where students can go to enjoy themselves, and the audience can enjoy themselves too. Definitely laid back,” Alvarado said. “It’s a time for our male students to have the spotlight, if they want it.”
Unlike the Miss SWOSU pageant where the winner must go on to compete as Miss Oklahoma and possibly Miss America, whoever is crowned Mr. SWOSU will not have the same responsibilities.
“There wouldn’t be anywhere they compete after. It would be just a fun thing, nothing official the way Miss SWOSU is,” Alvarado said, adding clarification.
Although the event will be more light-hearted than Miss SWOSU, the Mr. SWOSU contestants will undergo similar categories of competition.
“We anticipate to have four different sections—bulldog spirit, a talent portion, a strike your pose, which would be like formal wear, and an onstage question,” Alvarado said. She added that the on-stage question would be something fun, not a question designed to be challenging or tricky.
Alvarado also said student interest will help determine the judging categories. While the four sections mentioned above are the tentative plans, feedback from students will help determine the final organization of the competition.
While the competition has not taken place at SWOSU for many years, Alvarado said other institutions have already been hosting similar events. “A lot of surrounding universities and colleges will have a Mr. for their college,” Alvarado said. “A lot of them will even have a Mr. and Miss Hispanic or a Mr. and Miss Asian, things like that.”
Not only will Mr. SWOSU be crowned at the event, but second, and third place honors will be awarded by the judges as well, along with other recognitions as voted on by the audience and competitors themselves. Alvarado said the university is currently working to secure cash prizes for the top three contestants.
Students interested in the competition must already have completed 12 credit hours before the date of the competition, and they can watch for more information and directions on how to sign up in the early part of the spring semester.
The exact date is still to be determined, but the event will take place in the Fine Arts Center.