Homecoming: 'Pride in Pictures' finals pack Jesse
Published Oct. 20, 2006
The audience watched as Aladdin saved the Faurot Field M from Jafar, the Addams Family inspired Tiger Walk, Woody the toy cowboy tried to win the heart of the shepherd doll Bo Peep by making her walk over the Engineering shamrock, Dorothy delivered ruby cleats to the Wizard of Mizzou and the ghosts of Homecoming past, present and future showed a freshman the true meaning of MU.
The Homecoming talent show, "Pride in Pictures," filled Jesse Auditorium with sorority and fraternity members, each cheering for their own and their partners' chapters. Some chapters projected their Greek symbols on the wall with flashlights and held up posters to show their support. Other students and members of the community also attended the event to see the skits. There were also non-Greek organizations that participated in between the skits, including the Legion of Black Collegians, For All We Call Mizzou Singers, Mizzou Forte, Marching Mizzou Drumline and Add 9.
John Henry and the Engine, a four-member rock 'n' roll band based in Missouri, performed as the audience crowded into the auditorium, setting a high-energy tone that was sustained throughout the show. After the music ended, the crowd burst into a huge round of applause, yelling, cheering and chanting to show their Homecoming spirit. And then the show started.
"As a freshman, I was encouraged by a bunch of the older members, but I wasn't sure dancing was my thing," said Jared Thomas, an Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity performer. "It was just as competitive as any high school sport. Once we performed, it was pretty cool."
Miss Missouri 2005 Stacie Cooley was a member of the five-person panel of judges.
"I'm not a Mizzou alum, but it was really cool to be here tonight," Cooley said. "I thought it was much better than I could ever have expected."
Cooley said she has already decided, but the winner of the show will not be announced until Sunday.
At midnight on Tuesday, the Homecoming tri-directors projected the finalists of the Homecoming talent competition on a big-screen on the steps of Jesse Hall.
After finding out that their skit had made the finals, members of Gamma Phi Beta sorority and Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity took a celebratory dip in Brady Fountain.
"Making finals is so amazing," Gamma Phi Beta sorority member Whitney Holden said. "I can't describe it."
The five skit finalists were Alpha Delta Pi sorority and Alpha Kappa Lambda fraternity, Gamma Phi Beta sorority and Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, Kappa Delta sorority and Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity, Phi Mu sorority and Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, and Pi Beta Phi sorority and Kappa Alpha Order.
The four in-between act finalists were Kappa Sigma fraternity, Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, Alpha Kappa Lambda fraternity and the Marching Mizzou Drumline.
Before the finalists were announced, Greek students gathered around the steps of Jesse Hall. Some chanted their letters while others held up glittering signs that displayed the name of their chapters.
"I'm excited and anxious," said Drew Sidel, a Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity member, before the announcement. "We've put an unbelievable amount of work into props and dancing."
Zeta Tau Alpha sorority member Kaylin Krashesky, who performed her skit earlier that night, showed up to the announcements still dressed in her witch costume. Her character was "an evil girl from Kansas State."
"Zeta is putting more time and effort into the skit than I ever could have imagined," she said. "We don't want to go up on stage and misrepresent our house."
Fourteen acts competed in the preliminaries on Monday and Tuesday nights and the finalists competed Thursday night in Jesse Hall. The show was overbooked, Homecoming tri-director Liz Lidgett said.
Homecoming tri-director John Maynard said the talent competition accounts for about 12 percent of the points in the overall Homecoming competition.
"I was very pleasantly surprised," Lidgett said. "Everyone had a solid effort."
The winners of the competition will be announced at midnight on Sunday on the steps of Jesse Hall.