Lauren Saner / Winonan
As a way to honor one of their fallen brothers, Pi Lambda Phi celebrated their 25th Annual Miss WSU Pageant to raise money for adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) on Thursday, April 14.
This tradition was started by Shaye Rudrenick from Pi Lambda Phi in 1992, who suffered from ALD, and passed away from the disease in 1994. There are 40 different types of ALD, but Rudrenick’s disease affected his brain and destroyed the nerve cells that allowed him to think and control his muscles.
The brothers of Pi Lambda Phi have continued this tradition to honor Rudrenick and to raise money to help support ALD research.
Seven contestants from Winona State University participated: Lucy Miller, a sophomore and elementary education major; Christie Henderson, a sophomore and secondary math education major; Bailey Hanson, a junior and special education major; Jennifer Martens, a sophomore and business administration major; Leah Haliburton, a first-year and social work major; Aly Rhoades, a senior and advertising major, and Liz Osman, a sophomore and recreation and tourism major.
Jonathan Wawrzaszek, a junior marketing major, was in charge of putting the event together and making sure everything ran smoothly on the night of the event.
“We’ve been working on the event for about two months now. For the first month and a half we did once-a-week meetings for the event, and for the past two weeks we have been doing two rehearsals a week to really push ourselves to get ready,” Wawrzaszek said.
During that time, the contestants learned a group dance to start off the pageant with their Pi Lambda Phi escorts, as well as fine-tuning their talents and learning various trivia about the Pi Lambda Phi chapter, which they were tested on during the event. This year’s pageant also included a silent auction.
Bailey Hanson, the only contestant not from one of the sororities on campus, shared how she decided to enter the pageant on her own.
“I saw the application on Facebook, and I thought, ‘I really need to do something for myself.’ I needed to get involved in something fun and take a break from school work. I thought it would be fun to get involved with something that was going for a good cause and helped my confidence. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it,” Hanson said.
Hanson shared how much fun she had preparing for the event.
“It’s been so fun to get to know all the girls. Everyone is super awesome that’s part of it. It’s also cool for me because I’m the only one who’s not part of Greek-life on campus out of the entire competition, so it’s cool to see their side of things. It’s been really cool to have met the girls,” Hanson said.
In the end, Rhoades was crowned the winner of the pageant. The evening was filled with encouragement and fun from host Daniel Nerna and supportive sorority girls who cheered for each contestant and members of Pi Lambda Phi.