On Thursday night, the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) hosted the first Mr. Engineering Pageant in the Carey Auditorium to raise money for Girls Who Code and Black Girls Code, two charities SWE supports.
The auditorium was full of laughter and roaring applause as students, both engineers and non-engineers alike, came to support their friends and participate in the rambunctious show.
A week before the pageant, Notre Dame’s male engineers were encouraged to sign up for the competition to represent their engineering discipline.
“Everyone who applied was allowed to compete, but not everyone who submitted a form took up the opportunity to bear this heavy responsibility of competing to be The Mr. Engineer of 2025,” Genevieve Cicchiello, SWE social director, said.
Six men representing six different engineering disciplines took part in the pageant: Ryan Patterson (Mr. Aerospace), Sean Teyengua (Mr. Mechanical), Joshua Johnson (Mr. Civil), Rogelio Diaz (Mr. Computer Science), Luke Scholler (Mr. Electrical) and Harlan Radford (Mr. Chemical).
Before and after the pageant, viewers could donate to different charities via a PayPal QR code projected on the auditorium screen. Contestants chose which charity they wanted their efforts to support, and viewers could accordingly donate money to support the cause of their favorite contestant and add to their overall score.
Contestants competed in three different categories: the pageant walk, a classic Q&A session and a talent segment. Allison Fleming, president of SWE, was emcee for the pageant while Maggie Howard, SWE social director, helped with the technology for the show.
The competition was judged by associate teaching professor Todd Taylor, SWE vice president of operations Bianca Batista and SWE executive vice president Madeleine Williams. Contestants were judges based on judges’ scores, audience choice and donations accumulated.
For the first segment — the pageant walk — contestants walked the stage as they, and their majors and extracurriculars, were introduced.
The Q&A session followed, where contestants drew a random question from a bucket. Questions included: If you were to pick another engineering major than the one you are currently in, what would you pick, and why? At what age did you decide you wanted to be an engineer, and why?
To which, contestant Johnson answered, “I decided when I was ten years old, I wanted to be an architect, but then my mom said I couldn’t draw, so I became a civil engineer. Now, I design buildings that hopefully don’t fall.”
Other questions were quirkier like: What is your engineering hot take? Kiss, marry, kill: Stinson-Remick, Fitzpatrick and Cushing?
Contestant Radford decided he would kiss Cushing, marry Stinson-Remick and kill Fitzpatrick.
The talent session was the fan-favorite category of the event. Each contestant had the opportunity to display a talent, which ranged from musical performances to martial arts demonstrations.
Up first was Mr. Aerospace, or Patterson. Mr. Aerospace, also known as Lil’ Aero, began his segment with engineering jokes that did not disappoint according to laughter from the crowd. Then, while wearing swim trunks, he performed a rap he wrote himself.
“There is no beat. I thought it’d be funny that way. It’s just me going to the beat of my own heart,” Patterson said.
Mr. Mechanical, or Teyengua, who had the biggest cheering section, was showered with flowers as he chugged a 2-liter bottle of lemonade in two minutes and sixteen seconds.
After a brief intermission to clean the stage of lemonade and flowers, Mr. Electrical, or Scholler, played a song he dedicated to professor Andrew Bartolini, the director of the First-Year Engineering Program. The song was titled “Hey Bartolini” and was a parody of the song “Hey There Delilah” by the Plain White T’s. While he performed, the audience swayed and waved flashlights in the air.
Mr. Computer Science, or Diaz, also did a musical performance. He serenaded the audience with a traditional mariachi song while wearing a sombrero.
Following Diaz’s act, Mr. Civil Engineer, or Johnson, did a martial arts demonstration full of flying kicks, jumps and punches.
To cap off the talent section, Mr. Chemical, or Radford, juggled three oranges around the stage before finishing his performance with a backflip.
When the talent portion was over, the judges and audience deliberated.
“Audience’s choice was solely Google Form submissions. Overall winner was broken down by pageant walk, Q&A answers and talents. Three judges had equal weighting and evaluated contestants on each category,” Cicchiello said.
Mr. Mechanical, or Teyengua, received the overwhelming majority of votes for the audience’s choice award.
After careful deliberation, the winner of Mr. Engineering was announced: Mr. Aerospace, or Patterson.
The event raised over $60 for its charities.
“This is definitely a competition for people who like to have fun and see the fun in the everyday,” senior Katiebelle Thompson said.
