Andrea Diaz
Staff Writer
Mr. ISU will be an opportunity to see six male ISU students show off their talents and compete for a grand prize of $500, held on March 13 at the Fine Arts Building in Goranson Hall.
The competition categories for the night will be a personal interview, formal wear, talent, on-stage question, bengal wear, and “Are you smarter than a fifth grader”.
Competitors will participate in a personal interview where they meet the judges for seven minutes and do their best to leave a strong impression.
The show starts with the formal wear portion, where the contestants wear formal attire and answer questions relating to ISU.
Talent will be the next portion and each contestant will have one to five minutes to show off a skill they have chosen, which can range from traditional to unique.
On-stage questions will have the contestants take one minute to answer a question about current events or social issues on campus.
In the Bengal wear portion, the contestants will show off their ISU spirit by wearing any ISU or Bengal attire. The “Are you Smarter than a Fifth Grader?” portion will have contestants answer fifth grade level questions.
Lastly, the awards ceremony will wrap up the night. Awards will include: best formal wear, best talent, best interview, best on-stage answer, best bengal wear, most correctly answered questions in “Are you Smarter than a Fifth Grader”, audience favorite, Mr. Congeniality, and the official announcement of the winner of Mr. ISU.
There are a total of six men competing, with the first competitor being Adan Eledesma.
He is nineteen years old with a double major in Spanish for Health Professions and Biology with a concentration in biomedical sciences. Adan described himself as thoughtful, crazy, and motivated. Adan will be singing for the talent portion in Mr. ISU. When asked about why he wanted to do Mr. ISU he said that it would be a fun opportunity.
The next competitor is Spencer Ercranbrack. He is twenty-three and majoring in Nuclear Engineering. Spencer will be doing a unicycling routine to PSY’s “Gangnam Style” for his talent. Spencer wanted to do Mr. ISU as an outlet and a break from the stresses of engineering homework. Spencer also described himself as positive, adventurous, goofy, and rambunctious. He also enjoys playing the roleplaying game Dungeons and Dragons and skiing.
Colton Belnap is twenty-five and is also double majoring Spanish in Health Professions and exercise science. He is going to be singing an emotional original song while accompanying himself on the piano. When asked about why he wrote this original song he said, “I wanted to convey the message that we all need help sometimes and it is okay to ask for help.”
Some activities he likes to do are sports, especially swimming. Some descriptors for Caleb include: positive, adventurous, and always looking for the next opportunity. His desire to experience new opportunities led him to doing Mr. ISU.
Alex Guerrero is twenty-two years old and is majoring in Biochemistry. For the talent portion, Alex chose to do a ping-pong cannon. Alex described himself as, “A loud mouth in the best possible way. I am excited about the outside and I like new opportunities.” He is also running for ISU senate so he thought doing Mr. ISU would be a good way to get his name out there.
Risto Snow will be performing a dance for his talent and Bryce Balensiefen will be performing a vigorous cereal eating routine.
According to the Mr. ISU application, “students compete with the goal of proving that they are the ultimate Mr. ISU. The winner of Mr. ISU is a role model who encourages and motivates other ISU students.”
