Walsh Hall held its signature event, the Mr. ND talent competition, Thursday evening in Washington Hall to raise money for the Ronald McDonald House. According to Liz Berndt and Charlotte Hogan, this year’s organizers and emcees, this was the first year all 15 male dorms had representatives at Mr. ND.
Berndt and Hogan said it took a lot of coordination to find all 15 representatives and to put the event together.
“Most of the guys came to us, or our friends found people who were interesting, or girls in Walsh found people who knew boys in other dorms,” Berndt said.
Hogan said they also posted on the Mr. ND Facebook page and announced at Hall Council they were looking for contestants.
In the end, 15 male students agreed to represent their dorms at Mr. ND, and Charles Filipiak from Siegfried Hall was crowned winner of the event.
This year’s Mr. ND featured a variety of talent performances, which included break dancing, freestyle deejaying, harmonica playing and performing poetry.
The judges for the competition this year included Walsh’s rectress Liz Detwiler, Walsh RA Sarah Witt and last year’s winner of Mr. ND, Nick Barella.
Barella, who represented Keough Hall last year, said he judged the contestants purely on talent.
“It was really tough,” he said. “There were very diverse talents, and it was really funny this year.”
Filipiak said he had a lot of fun meeting the other contestants.
“It’s been really wonderful. It’s so great to have the rest of the dorm out here and all of my friends to support me,” he said.
Although the judges chose who won the title of Mr. ND, the women of Walsh Hall voted on their favorite contestant and crowned Jack Harris from Dillon Hall as Mr. Walsh.
Harris, who danced in high school and continues to do so at Notre Dame, performed a dance routine for the talent competition.
“This was a great experience because I have a lot of friends in Walsh, and to be able to do an event with them is a really good experience,” Harris said. “I got in touch with my feminine side with Beyoncé but still had my groove on with a couple other songs. And I just like dancing, and this was a great way to express that.”
The final award for the night was Mr. Fan Fave, which went to Chris Collins from Zahm Hall.
At the end of the night, Berndt and Hogan said they were proud of how well this year’s Mr. ND competition had gone.
“It’s really fun, low-key,” Hogan said. “Really entertaining, and it goes to charity.”
