Riley Dykstra was the final prince crowned at Pi Beta Phi’s third annual philanthropy event, Pi Phi Prince, on Feb. 21 in Black Box. It will be the last time they hold this specific event.

“It was so exciting to be crowned Pi Phi Prince,” Dykstra said. “I didn’t expect to get first. I was so nervous to be a part of it, but the experience was terrific. I will remember that night for a long time. I’m glad that I was able to be a part of the program.”

Pi Phi hosted the event in order to raise money for their philanthropy. Pi Phi’s philanthropic efforts support Read > Lead > Achieve. Pi Phi representatives say they have believed in the power of reading for more than 100 years. 

“We ended up raising $165, which is more than we have ever raised before,” said Mara Jauron, the director of service and philanthropy for Pi Beta Phi. 

Jauron and the Pi Phi house mom were both happy with this year’s event. 

“I think that it went wonderful actually,” Jauron said.  “I was very, very pleased with how many people showed up and how willing the guys were to participate. The judges were super involved and the crowd participated well. I think that it went really, really well, and I had a lot of fun.” 

Pi Phi hopes their philanthropy events continue to grow even though they will not be able to have a Pi Phi Prince anymore. 

“We will be having some sort of competition like that again. Unfortunately, we are not able to call it Pi Phi Prince anymore because we aren’t able to crown a winner of Pi Phi. We will be doing more of a talent show,” Jauron said.

The event had around 60 people in attendance. One of the categories for the judges to consider was crowd involvement, giving the contestants room to be creative.

There were nine contestants this year, Miles Leonard, Daniel Goldsmith, David Goldsmith, Enrique Idehen, Jordan Baldwin, Jorge Castelan, Konner Johnson, Michael Connor and Riley Dykstra. 

The contestants competed in four different rounds. The first one was formal wear followed by sleepwear, then talent, and lastly festival wear.

The judges were Professor Ryan Rehmeier, Assistant Professor Aswati Subramanian, Director of Athletics and Assistant Professor Cal Busby, Ruth Black and Pi Phi’s house mom Laura Peterson.  

During the first round, each contestant was escorted by a member of the Pi Phi house down the runway. In the sleepwear round, the soon-to-be-crowned prince was wearing a Care Bear onesie. 

“I am wearing Lucky Care Bear because I have a chance of winning,” Dykstra said. 

During the talent portion of the show, the crowd sang along with the contestants who showed off their singing skills. Idehen sang “Your Man” by Josh Turner. 

When Dykstra sang “Country Roads” by John Denver, almost everyone in the crowd was waving the flashlight on their phones, even the judges. 

There were also contestants who did not sing during the talent portion. Leonard painted, Castelan made guacamole, Connor “drank a Coke really fast” through a hole he stabbed in the side of it with his thumb and Johnson threw grapes in the air and caught them in his mouth. 

Castelan used his own recipe for making what he called “the best guacamole ever.” Which called for 10 avocados which he cut on stage.

In the final round, Dykstra really lit up the stage and the crowd. During festival wear, Dykstra showed how committed he was to the event. He walked on stage with face paint, covered in glitter and blew glitter into the crowd.