Thinking Pink: Zeta's Big Man on Campus

December 15, 2023

Every year at High Point University, the women of the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority host a contest of sorts. Not your traditional contest, like the Voice, or America's Got Talent. No, this contest is something you rarely see, it's reminiscent of one of those horribly funny celebrity roasts and sounds like you are sitting at a terrible comedy show. It is not a regular contest by any means, but instead a contest where the participants are constantly made fun of, the hosts’ lines are filled with jokes and satire, and the talent portion... well the talent portion doesn’t consist of much talent.

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Zeta Tau Alphas “Big Man on Campus” is held every fall in the Hayworth Auditorium of HPU’s campus. The tickets are sold in benefit of Zeta’s Breast Cancer Awareness week, or as they call it “Think Pink Week.”

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Contestants from different HPU sports teams, fraternities, and even those not involved, can choose to represent their organization, or another sorority that can donate to have a contestant under their name. 

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The show goes like this: the contestants are announced, and their intro video is shown. They are then walked out on stage by Zeta seniors. Once they are all named, they cycle through again for the question portion, where they are asked funny or sometimes meaningful questions, such as “What would you do if you had one billion dollars?” 

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The contestants are then brought out for the talent portion, some will sing, some will dance, some will even do magic. The judges, usually professors, then decide together who will be the “Big Man on Campus.” Before the judges announce their pick, the contestants all come out, and do a group dance together. Then, the winner is announced along with the contestant whose name was most donated under, who also receives a shout out.

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Josh Briggs, a sophomore at HPU, never pictured himself doing such a thing, he was always a quieter and timid kid, who kept to himself. 

When he decided to rush the Kappa Alpha Order at High Point, he felt as if it brought him more out of his shell and began to realize how much fun he wanted to have with his life, and how much he wanted to let go. Sure enough, the next semester he decided he wanted to put his name in to represent KA and compete to be the “Big Man on Campus.” 

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For Josh’s performance, he chose to wow the crowd with his “magic,” but instead was greeted with the laughs of the whole amphitheater. He blew bubbles in the air and popped them one by one, an act of disappearance. He did a card trick, where he could not seem to find the correct card. He took a tape measure, and opened and closed it, another act of wizardry and the highest level of magic that even David Blaine couldn’t figure out. 

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Josh knows he probably embarrassed himself, and he had so much fun doing it. He danced with the other contestants and the girls of Zeta at the end of the show like there was no one in the room. Some may question why he chose to flat out make a fool of himself, but the reason Josh, and so many other contestants, choose to do Big Man, goes deeper than most will ever understand.

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“I did Big Man because I’ve had some very close people to me unfortunately be diagnosed with breast cancer, especially my neighbor. I got to see firsthand the pain and struggle of breast cancer.” said Briggs, who watched his best friend's mother, and his neighbor Jennifer, go through and beat breast cancer, “After learning about Zeta's philanthropy and what big man was about, I knew I wanted to participate and bring awareness for her and every other woman out there battling breast cancer”, and there are many other contestants who do it for a similar reason.  

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Some may have lost a friend, grandmother, aunt, sister, or even mom to breast cancer, and no matter who they have lost, they all know the hurt and pain that breast cancer has caused families. The money raised for the contest goes to the victims fighting breast cancer and brings awareness on HPU’s campus to the issues of this terrible disease. 

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This year alone, Zeta Tau Alpha raised over $15,000 alone through Big Man on Campus, and over $20,000 for their Think Pink week. 

“Big Man on Campus is our biggest philanthropy event of the year, and allows us to raise so much money toward our cause” said Nicole Chiapperino, a senior at HPU, and the head of philanthropy and fundraising for ZTA, “The girls of Zeta all love the event, between the practices, the dances, and preparing for the event, it is just such a great time for everyone.”

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Zeta has long prided themselves on their philanthropy and raising money for breast cancer awareness. They work countless hours to set up this event, and they work their tails off to make sure they raise every cent possible. And they do it for more than just their family or friends who have been affected. 

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According to a study done by cancer.org, in 2022 alone, over 287,850 of women were diagnosed and affected by breast cancer, and 43,350 died due to this disease. The importance of this event cannot be overstated, and the work Zeta does never goes unappreciated.

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The Big Man on Campus contest seems surface level for those who don’t experience it. It seems like a bunch of crazy fraternity guys and athletes choosing to embarrass themselves in a hope to make the girls laugh. It seems as if the benefits of this contest are just a good time and a healthy helping of laughter for the crowd. It is more than that. It is a chance to bring the guys out of their shells, it’s a chance to showcase a talent or just make people smile and laugh, and it is a chance to be a part of something so important and so much bigger than me and you. 

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It is a chance to raise money for those loved ones you lost, or to raise money for those who you know have lost a loved one, but no matter if they have lost someone or not, they all compete for the same reason, to help those women fighting every day for their lives and their families. Big or small, let's save them All.

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To donate to Breast Cancer Awareness, visit donate.cancer.org, or the American Cancer Society. Make a donation and help to save a life today.