Engineering men get all spruced up to strut their stuff, in drag, as part of E-week’s 50th anniversary

The interdepartmental engineering competition last Thursday looked more like a drag pageant… The interdepartmental engineering competition last Thursday looked more like a drag pageant in a hole-in-the-wall bar.

Male engineering students strutted across the stage of Benedum Auditorium in eveningwear that ranged from shapeless frocks to prom dresses, but all the contestants looked more like Mrs. Doubtfire than RuPaul. They stepped encumberedly in high heels and constricting women’s garb to songs like ZZ Top’s “Legs,” Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger,” and Aerosmith’s quintessential drag anthem “Dude (Looks like a Lady).”

The second annual Mr. Benedum competition was part of the seven-day event “E-Week,” during which the eight departments in the engineering school compete against each other. Janie Haven, a sophomore and an E-week chair, described the drag show as just one of the activities of the week. She mentioned that engineers had already duct-taped each other to walls and played Pittopoly. The students are also planning a date auction, as well as a parade and ball, to commemorate the week, Haven said.

Pitt’s E-Week is nationally recognized as the best E-Week in the country, the participants said.

“This year is the 50th anniversary of E-Week, so it’s a big milestone for us,” said Engineering Student Council President Nate Phillips, who also emceed the event.

Director of the Mr. Benedum contest Matt Deltondo was pleased with this year’s crowd, claiming the contest’s student popularity as an improvement from last year. The audience was primarily comprised of engineering students who applauded, heckled, chanted “Sexy Man” to one of the contestants, and occasionally launched items onto the stage.

Part of the point tally for each entrant was based on audience reaction, while poise and presentation were also criteria for the four categories: eveningwear, question and answer, talent, and the optional swimsuit.

Dean of the University Honors College Alec Stewart and two parents of engineering students served as the judging panel that rated the contestants.

Joe Gallo strutted away with first prize in a long black dress, after reciting Ludacris lines as poetry in the talent competition.

Other talents consisted of tap dancing, juggling and singing the Elton John hit from “The Lion King,” “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” One contestant attempted to use a hula hoop while wearing a hula skirt and a lei, and another serenaded a female audience member with the chorus of “When a Man Loves a Woman,” leaving the recorded voice to sing the rest of the words.

During the Question and Answer session, entrants faked women’s voices to respond to the emcees’ inquiries, which included, “If you were a tool, what would you be?,” “If you could have anything named after you, what would you name it?,” and, as a tribute to the engineering department, “If you were featured on the cover of ‘Popular Science’ magazine, what shade of lipstick would you wear?”