Alpha Tau Omega hosted one of their main philanthropy events Wednesday night, that raised money and awareness for Nokomis Child Care.

Nokomis is a nonprofit agency that help families struggling with low income, single parenthood and teen parenthood afford childcare.

According to the Village Family Service Center website, “70 percent of the children at Nokomis childcare are” mission kids, “this means that Nokomis helps cover the cost of the childcare through scholarship programs, and other resources.

Miss NDSU, a philanthropic event that has been held annually since 2001, takes six to seven months to organize and each member of ATO takes part in the event.

The show featured three judges whose scores helped decide which of the contestants would be crowned Miss NDSU.

The judges were: Renee Dubois, the assistant director of fraternity and sorority life, Tim Alvarez, vice president of student affairs, and Kim Brummer, assistant director of campus activities.

The show opened up with a welcome from ATO members, Nathan Kaiser and Nick Foertsch, who MC’ed the event.

Each of the 21 competing members were nominated by a campus organization, and any organization on campus was able to nominate a candidate.

The contestants then participated in an opening group dance.

Next the contestants moved into competition that showcased their Bison pride, while the MCs gave a brief background on each candidate.

In this competition, contestants wore their finest Bison gear, a few of the school spirit outfits included: Dorothy Florence who wore an Bison pride outfit similar to that of Dorothy of Oz, Mikayla Miller who rode in on her own Bison and Kati Smith who sported an NDSU dress.

Next the contestants each got the chance to perform a skit for the audience, which included many dances, a NDSU rendition of the “Wizard of Oz,” a makeup tutorial and some car karaoke.

Anuj Teotia, member of ATO says that his favorite part of Miss NDSU is how “amazing (it is) to see how members from different fraternities and sororities come together and help various contestants with their skits.”

Lastly the women showed off their formal attire, escorted by members of ATO.

During intermission each of the contestants had a decorated bin with their name on it for the spectators to donate money to Nokomis.

Following the intermission the top eight contestants were voted on, and nine women moved on to the next round due to a tie.

Each of these women were asked individual questions, and then six more women were eliminated.

The top three contestants were: Katie Payette, nominated by Kappa Delta, Mikayla Miller, nominated by Alpha Gamma Delta, and Bre Hoagie nominated by Alpha Phi Omega.

The final question presented each of these women was, “If you had one minute to convince a senior to attend NDSU, what would you say?”

Miller explained that she was able to spend the weekend here and all students should take that time, stating, “If you take the time, you will realize that you are apart of the Bison family,”

Hoagie stated that no matter how far or close to home you are, you feel at home at NDSU,  “It’s a close knit community.”

“First I would like to say that one minute is not long enough,” Payette said as she began to answer the  question. “It’s is such a diverse community that provides you with so many opportunities.”

As the judges tallied their scores, ATO took the time to thank the audience, crew members and contestants, for donating their money and time.

Three titles were awarded.

Miss Money Bags, the contestant who raised the most money in ticket sales and donations through the intermission, went to Mikayla Miller.

Miss Congeniality, voted on by the contestants, was awarded to Katie Payette.

Lastly, Miss NDSU was also awarded to Katie Payette.

Teotia states the importance of philanthropy “is that we give back to our community and make it a better place for people to live.”