Freshman Cole Buttrey won the third annual Mr. Lipscomb pageant Monday night in Shamblin theater, hosted by Delta Omega to raise awareness for Best Buddies.
The pageant consisted of four categories: formal, cold-weather wear, talent and interview.
For Buttrey’s talent portion, he wrote a poem which he titled, “Love Letter to Delta Omega.”
“Girls you can’t wait to take home to mom and dad / because you know those pearls aren’t just a fad,” said Buttrey as he recited his poem.
Justin Cook was runner-up in the pageant. For his talent portion, he performed a rendition of Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On.”
Other talents varied from Nordista Freeze’s performance of the Lipscomb Alma Mater on top of a ladder to Daniel Johnson’s interpretation of the Napoleon Dynamite dance.
Freshman Jake Cartwright won the “Crowd Favorite” award. This was determined by the amount of money that was put in the contestants’ jars, which were set out in the student center earlier. All proceeds went to Best Buddies.
“It just feels really good that a lot of people put money in my jar to not just support me but support the Best Buddies as well. It’s just really humbling that people believe in me like that,” said Cartwright.
For the interview portion, the judges narrowed it down to five contestants: Colton Smith, Justin Cook, Cole Buttrey, Heath Bridges and Joel Clinger.
In the end, Buttrey ended up winning the esteemed title of “Mr. Lipscomb 2016.”
“I didn’t even know if I was going to do it or not, so to win it all was pretty funny,” said the newly crowned Mr. Lipscomb.
Several members of the Best Buddies program were there to cheer on the contestants. Delta Omega raised $1,080.10 for the Best Buddies program.
Photos by Becca Risley