Friday night was filled with laughter and cheers as the sorority Alpha Xi Delta – the Theta Beta chapter,  supported the organization Autism Speaks by holding their annual Xi Man event. 

Xi Man is a male pageant where one male represents each participating fraternity. Alpha Epsilon Pi was the proud winning chapter in last year’s competition. This year’s Xi Man pageant was hosted in the Cooperage on Friday Nov. 30. All of the proceeds were donated to Autism Speaks. 

Autism Speaks is an organization dedicated to promoting solutions and offers advocacy and support to families who have member with Autism. They work to increase acceptance and understanding of people on the Autism spectrum. 

Autism Speaks is one of the national leaders in raising awareness and help for those with Autism. Autism affects 1 in 68 children and 1 in 42 boys. Boys are five times more likely to be diagnosedwith Autism than girls. 

In the past, the Theta Beta Chapter on Sonoma State campus hosted AmaXing Challenge in support of Autism Speaks.The fundraiser was a competition with different obstacles to get through and complete. Starting in the spring of 2018, Theta Beta began their first Xi Man pageant. 

The participating fraternities and their representatives were Patrick Stack from Phi Delta Theta, Jonathan Melgarejo from Nu Alpha Kappa, Ben Parness from Pi Kappa Phi, Jake Maloney from Alpha Sigma Phi and Joseph Avrahamy from Alpha Epsilon Pi. 

The room was packed with eager students ready to support their friends and excited to see the show. Some had to stand in the back because there were not enough seats. 

Jalin McGee, a sophomore Kinesiology major, stated “It was such a high energy and exciting event. There was never a dull moment of the night… I’m so glad I decided to go and will definitely try to make sure I can attend next year”.

The night started off with the talent portion. Maloney did stand-up comedy, Parness performed a dance number, Melgarejo did an art demonstration, Stack had a dance routine and Avrahamy serenaded a guest brought onto the stage. All of the men had the crowd cheering and roaring with laughter. 

Next was the swimsuit runway and personality portion where the contestants were asked personal questions as well as Autism Speaks questions. 

Melgrejo’s art piece was created upside down and when flipped upright, it was revealed it was a painting of Bob Marley. The piece was so loved by the audience there was an auction for it, which ended up being purchased for $90 by Emery Horn. 

This year’s winner and newest Xi Man was Jake Maloney from Alpha Sigma Pi. 

Other awards went to Ben Parness for Mr. Nice Guy, Jonathan Melgarejo won Best Talent, Patrick Stack won People’s Choice and Avrahamy won Mr. Funny. 

Micayla Luddy, a graduating senior Communications Major, was excited for her first Xi Man performance. Luddy was intrigued by all the videos shared from last year and has a friend that was a contestant in this year’s Xi Man. 

“It was so much fun. The boys did such a great job and each one of them had very different talent’s which was fun to see. This is an entertaining and different event which I give Alpha Xi Delta props on,” Luddy said.  

The second annual Xi Man Male Pageant was a huge success as it raised money. Not only did the event sell out, but it raised roughly $600 just from venmo donations.