Alpha Phi’s Mr. Heartthrob

On February 18, 2022, the Alpha Phi sorority held their annual Mr. Heartthrob pageant to raise money for their philanthropy, women’s heart health. The event started at 7 p.m. and ended around 9 p.m., taking place in the Debaun auditorium. Mr. Heartthrob was directed by members Elizabeth Cannizzo, Vice President of Health, Wellness, and Accountability, and Serena Platt, Director of Philanthropy, with assistance from Alexis McKelvey, President of Alpha Phi. All members of Alpha Phi helped run the event as well. 

The pageant consisted of one participant from the following fraternities: Alpha Sigma Phi, Beta Theta Pi, Chi Phi, Chi Psi, Kappa Sigma, Nu Alpha Phi, Phi Sigma Kappa, Sigma Nu, and Theta Xi. The judging panel consisted of one member from the following sororities: Alpha Phi, Delta Phi Epsilon, Phi Sigma Sigma, Sigma Delta Tau, and Theta Phi Alpha. Cannizzo explained, “Mr. Heartthrob is a pageant-like competition where all of the fraternity contestants compete in a series of different events. This year, we started with an opening dance number where all of the frats performed a dance number together that was choreographed by our Heart Health Week committee. The contestants then competed in the individual rounds which consisted of 3 different categories, fashion, on-stage question, and talent.” 

The winner who was crowned Alpha Phi’s Mr. Heartthrob was Nathan Lancia from Sigma Nu. Cannizzo stated that he was a fan favorite and even brought his kitten on stage during the fashion portion of the competition. For the talent portion, Lancia sang a mix of Crush by David Archuleta, Love Like Woe by The Ready Set, and Boyfriend by Big Time Rush. Lancia decided to volunteer to participate in Mr. Heartthrob because he believes philanthropy is one of the most important parts of Greek life. He stated, “Winning Mr. Heartthrob felt incredible. My coaches (special shout-out Izzy Gabby and Sierra) and my brothers put in a ton of work helping me prepare and I think that showed, so it was very gratifying knowing that our hard work was rewarded.”

This was Alpha Phi’s first Mr. Heartthrob since March of 2020. Cannizzo explained, “The last Mr. Heartthrob was actually planned to happen in 2020 right before school closed down due to COVID-19. It was really exciting to see everything finally come together. We even had some alumni, who are now graduate students, attend the event.” In total, the event raised $4,682 from ticket sales and donations, all to be donated to the Alpha Phi Foundation. Cannizzo declared the event a success, stating “All of the contestants from each of the fraternities put in so much time and effort to make our event a success and I am so grateful to all of them! Not only did the fraternities show up, but audience wise we had a huge turnout, including other sororities.”