Top Model raises funds for charity

Vision Xchange (VX) hosted the seventh annual Hopkins Top Model competition on Monday, Nov. 21.

Caitlin Hoff, a sophomore from the Pi Beta Phi sorority, and Drew Daniels, a sophomore from the men's cross-country team, were the winners.

This year's proceeds went to Safe Passage, a Guatemalan organization that operates programs to provide medical care, food, clothing and education to all types of people living in Guatemala City.

Hopkins Top Model made approximately $1600 from ticket sales and other donations. Student voting contributed to the amount as attendees "voted" on their favorite contestant by putting money in specified boxes. The two winners each received $100 and $100 for their student groups.

Hosted by VX President Stephanie Geller, and senior Luke Sand, Top Model started off this year with 12 female contestants and 10 male contestants representing various student groups on campus. The first round was called "represent your student group" and gave all 22 contestants a chance to strut their stuff on the catwalk.

At the end of the first round, the audience was directed towards two tables in the back, holding bags with each contestant's name. Every dollar donated counted as one vote towards that contestant. Those donations, along with the votes from the three judges, Carrie Bennet, Susan Boswell and Rob Turning, decided which 10 people (5 guys, 5 girls) would move on to round two.

Round two was a theme round. Since the proceeds were going towards a garbage dump related organization, the theme for this year was simply, trash. The ten remaining contestants paraded down the runway in various outfits composed of anything but clothing. At the end each person read a fact about Guatemala or Safe Passage such as, "Only six years of education is compulsory with a forty-one percent attendance rate."

At the end of round two, while the audience voted, Adam Jachimowicz, a longtime Safe Passage volunteer gave a short speech.

"Our speaker from Safe Passage was very impressed with the event and I think he really enjoyed being a part of it – especially as we were able to bring the educational aspect about the cause into an event that was fun to participate in and to watch" sophomore club member Phoebe Morgan said.

Round three was the classic formal wear. The six contestants left (three girls, three guys) walked down the runway, and answered a question from one of the three judges. After the last round of voting, winners Hoff and Daniels were crowned.

The response from the community of the event was overwhelmingly positive. Geller was pleased with the outcome of the event. After all of the hard work each member of Vision Xchange put into the event, Hopkins Top Model went off without a hitch.

"You don't see many Hopkins events so well put together. All the models were so great!" freshman Rob D'Annibale said.

"This year was unique — and critical for the continuation of VX in the future — because it was the first year that no one in the group had a personal connection with a founding member of VX. I'm proud of the members of VX for standing up to the task and exceeding all expectations," Geller said.

The contestants were happy with the results of the competition as well.

"I thought that it was a really great way to get the Hopkins community out to raise money for a good cause. I wish there were more events like this where we could do something good while [also] having fun" said junior Michael Setteducato, representative for HERO.

As the show concluded, every VX member had a huge smile across her face.

"I thought it went really well. The event [ran] smoothly and we were able to raise over $1,600 in an hour show, which is really exciting," Morgan said. "I think that Top Model has been a very effective way to teach the Hopkins community about small international causes that really deserve to be heard."  

Vision Xchange is one of Hopkins's many student groups, and presents the Hopkins community with at least two large-scale fundraisers per year.