As students swaggered across the stage dressed as their heroes, the audience sat wondering why they chose that particular hero. There was a student dressed like a construction worker, one like firefighter, a crawfish farmer and even a student dressed as his mother.

The first Miracle Man pageant hosted by the Alpha Rho chapter of Phi Mu featured 12 talented men competing for the title of Miracle Man in an effort to raise money for the Arkansas Children’s Miracle Network Hospital.

Samantha Hale, a Phi Mu alum who was one of the judges, thought it was fun to watch the men come out to showcase their talent while raising money for a good cause.

“I decided to participate in this event because it was for a great cause,” Hale said. “It was for Children’s Miracle Network Hospital and I wanted to help support the kids and raise money for them.”

The pageant featured three rounds—an introductory round where contestants dressed up as their heroes, a talent round and a formal round. One contestant was crowned Mr. Miracle Man and won a $300 scholarship. 

Dylan LaBoeuf, a first-year pharmacy major, won the title of Miracle Man. He has been helping raise money for the Children’s Miracle Network through different organizations like Phi Mu and the Dance Marathon.

“It feels so awesome to be able to contribute to the hospital and also win the pageant,” LaBoeuf said. “I literally cannot wait to come back 10 to 15 years later and see the next winner because I know that this pageant is here to stay.”

LaBoeuf chose the pharmacist as his hero because of their contribution to the fight against the COVID pandemic. For the talent portion he enthusiastically recited the creed of Phi Mu as a poem that resonated deeply with him.

Sydney Mccollough, a senior biology major and philanthropy director for the Alpha Rho chapter, said she hopes the pageant becomes an annual event.

“It raised a lot of money and all the participants, including myself, had a lot of fun,” Mccollough said. “I was surprised because we doubled my goal of $5,000 and we raised over $10,000 for the hospital.”

LaBoeuf was also crowned Mr. Money Man after raising a total of $715 for the Children’s Miracle Network.

“Even though it was not compulsory or us to fundraise for the children’s hospital, I decided to go the extra mile because I knew how important it was,” LaBoeuf said. “I am grateful to the people that donated to the cause not only because it helped me win, but mostly because of the contribution to the hospital’s children cancer research.”

Alex Domingue, a first- year pharmacy major, thought that LaBoeuf fully deserved his title as Miracle Man because of his creativity, confidence and initiative. 

“As someone who is eventually going to be in the healthcare field, it is nice to see that organizations like this are raising money for scientific research,” Domingue said.

Mccollough said that the student body should be included more in the philanthropic activities hosted by the Greek organizations.

“As of now, it’s only been Greek supporting Greek,” Mccollough said. “But if we were able to incorporate more of ULM’s student body and get them involved too, our events could be a lot bigger and we could raise a lot more money.”