Mr. and Miss International showcases different cultures

The Taggart Student Center Ballroom filled with applause as the winners of Mr. and Miss International 2014 were announced.

Francia Solis, who represented the Dominican Republic, won Miss International, and Areg Haytayan, who represented Armenia, won Mr. International.

Yuzhen Luo, student life chairperson of the International Student Council, helped organize the pageant and said the event gave international students the opportunity to compete in a setting comparable to Mr. and Miss USU.

“We have international students who didn’t have the opportunity to participate in Mr. and Miss USU to participate here and just to showcase international culture in general,” Luo said.

Four other international students competed, each from a different country: Shravya Gavva represented India, Chance Gatoro represented Congo, Zu Qian Rong represented Belize and Feras Alfuwairs represented Saudi Arabia.

The participants were judged based off performances that showcased their culture in addition to questions they answered from the judges.

In Solis’ performance, she wore a baseball uniform and talked about how the sport is well-liked in Dominican culture.

“It’s in our blood, let’s say,” Solis said after the event. “We are born with that.”

Along with a discussion of baseball, Solis performed a Latin-style dance with another student.

Gatoro started her performance by talking about how African women are treated.

“My basic message is basically raising awareness to empower women in my country because women in my country are always raped,” said Gatoro after the event. “We are the world’s number one raped country, and I am hoping to raise more awareness, and by raising more awareness, hopefully people come in and help the rape victims.”

Gatoro said she has been working on this platform with Global Outreach to help rape victims as both Miss Congo USA and Miss Black Utah.

After delivering her message about women in Congo, Gatoro performed a traditional Congo dance, which she said she has known since she was 4 years old.

Other performances included Haytayan playing an Armenian piece on the violin, Rong performing a rap, Gavva performing an Indian dance and Alfuwairs singing the Saudi Arabian national anthem.

Casey Saxton, one of the judges, said the two winners were his top choices. He said Solis did a good job bringing humor and a good stage presence to the show.

“Then Mr. Armenia, he killed the violin,” Saxton said. “He’s clearly very talented and definitely deserved it.”

In addition to the title of Mr. and Miss International, members of the audience chose which person they preferred by texting to a number provided.

Luo said the council members decided to have a separate people’s choice recognition because they were not sure the audience would understand the performances.

“We figured there is a talent part, but the audience might not understand the contestants’ culture and background to fully appreciate their culture,” Luo said. “So we had an audience favorite based on their performance and how well they connect with the audience, and that’s why we came up with this idea.”

The audience voted for Solis, who also won the title of Miss International.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a coincidence,” Luo said. “I mean really, the performance was brilliant, the video was great, and when they put such a good performance out there, the audience is obviously gonna like it.”

— topherwriter@gmail.com