For the first time, both male and female engineers participated in the annual pageant hosted the by the Society of Women Engineers which returned to Witherspoon Student Center Wednesday night. 

The sixth-annual Crown the Engineer Pageant, formerly the Mr. Engineer Pageant, showcased the talent of different engineering students in way that is more playful than how engineers are often perceived, according to Anna Renfro, President of Society of Women Engineers.

Carlos Vega, a senior studying civil engineering, won the pageant after he stole judges favor by reciting 106 digits of Pi and performing a bachata dance routine. 

“The pageant itself is just supposed to be a fun and lighthearted opportunity for engineering students to showcase what talents they have that aren’t represented by a GPA,” Renfro said. 

“All the proceeds go to Relay for Life, as well as any money we have left over in our allotted budget,” Renfro said. 

The program consisted of three parts: an attire portion, where contestants attempted to personify their major, followed by a talent portion, where contestants demonstrated talents beyond crunching numbers. 

The program concluded with a question portion, where each contestant was asked a question by the judges related to engineering.

Katherine Freeman, a senior studying materials science and engineering, said the pageant was nerve-racking.

“When we all got here it was all fun, and we all just had a good time,” Freeman said. 

For the attire portion of the show Freeman dressed up as a bottle of nail polish that, with the pull of a string, changed colors.

Freemen did a short dance for her talent portion and proceeded to make ice cream on stage with liquid nitrogen, or as she called it, “Nano ice-cream.”

Laura Bottomley, the advisor for Society of Women Engineers said the pageant is all about busting stereotypes.

“The purpose of the pageant has always been to bust stereotypes of engineers as geeks or nerds or whatever insulting word people want to use,” Bottomley said. “Engineers are the same as folks from every discipline with a wide range of interests, talents and passions.”

The Society of Women Engineers has almost 500 members and emphasizes career development, interview and resume preparation, networking and internships.

Meagan Raviele, a sophomore studying computer and electrical engineering and the Philanthropy Chair of the Society of Women Engineers, was largely responsible for organizing Crown the Engineer.  

Raviele said the society started preparing for Crown the Engineer in the fall, getting a committee together and choosing dates. In the spring semester the committee planed all the advertising and logistics of the pageant. 

Editor’s Note: We originally reported that Carlos Vega recited about 50 digits of Pi. This is incorrect. Vega recited 106 digits (after the 3). Vega also did not perform salsa as previously reported. He performed the bachata.