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Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity Treasurer and Pageant Coordinator Christian Elom Miss Black and Gold Scholarship Pageant.
Elom emphasized that the pageant is found within the scholarship category, mentioning the wide variety of talents showcased in the pageant including but not limited to rapping, jump roping and TED talks.
“You can even get up there and cook if you want to,”
Contestants are judged based on a judge’s interview; achievement and projection; swimwear; creative and performing arts; oral expression, poise, and appearance; and scholarship.
The pageant is modeled after the Miss USA Pageant meaning that there is a chapter level, state level, regional level, and national level. Each level offers its own scholarship opportunities, and at Auburn’s level specifically, the overall winner, “Miss Black and Gold,” earns $500, the first runner-up earns $250, and the second runner-up earns $150.
The fraternity has a collection of donated dresses for women to choose from to reduce the worry surrounding losing money in pageant preparation. “We don’t want this pageant to break your pocket,”
The Miss Black and Gold Scholarship Pageant is one of the fraternity’s methods of raising funds for its national philanthropy, March of Dimes, while also presenting a scholarship opportunity to Auburn women. The pageant began at a national level in 1976 and served to replace Alpha Phi Alpha’s long-standing tradition of “Alpha Sweethearts” (women Alpha Phi Alpha chapters deemed outstanding role models in their respective communities).
Last year the pageant raised 50 percent of Auburn’s Alpha Phi Alpha’s chapter’s contributions to the March of Dimes nonprofit organization.
The date for the pageant is not yet set in stone, but it will be held on a Sunday afternoon in late September in Ford Hall.
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