After three hours of fashion, performances and Twitter updates, Cecil Duffie and Romilda Justilien were crowned Mr. and Miss Black Student Union at the Reitz Union Rion Ballroom Friday night.
About 500 people attended The Mr. and Miss BSU Scholarship Pageant 2010, said Talia Jean Cadet, marketing director for the BSU Pageant.
The winners each received a $500 scholarship.
Archie Moss Jr. and Asia Jones were the first runners-up and also won awards for best male and female talent.
Ana Duperval, Leonard Thompson Jr., Murielle Joseph and Vonecia Carswell also competed in the pageant.
The decorations of pearls, brass instruments and music notes represented the pageant’s theme of 1920s Harlem. Cadet said Harlem became known as a cultural hub for African Americans starting in the 1920s.
“For me, Harlem is sophistication,” she said. “Harlem is culture. Harlem is history.”
The pageant blended its historic theme with modern technology by asking audience members to Tweet about the acts.
The hosts read the Tweets to the crowd during breaks between performances.
Cadet, the marketing director, said Twitter was a fun way to engage the audience.
“We already know that you’ll probably be Tweeting during the event,” she said. “Let’s just make it official and that much more a part of the audience.”
Freshman Adrian Knowles said it was a good way to entertain the crowd.
“People say things that you think, and it’s just funny when they say them out loud,” she said.
Members of the audience also showed up to support their friends in the pageant.
Aljahra Lewis, a nutritional sciences junior, and her friends jumped up and hollered every time Jones, the Miss BSU runner-up, was on stage.
They also spent two hours making signs reading “We are here to support you,” “Asia Jones” and “Good luck to our fashionista.”
“So far it’s been nothing but a road of laughter and entertainment,” Lewis said. “I didn’t expect to have this many good times here.”
As Duffie and Justilien wore their glistening crowns and held their oversized checks, they embraced friends and families with big smiles.
“It feels great,” Duffie said. “I think that all of us have really worked hard this past week.”
Justilien said the competition also had a friendly atmosphere.
“We were encouraging each other, so it wasn’t even about the competition,” she said. “It was about us doing our best.”
