Name: Colin D’Amelio
Year: Senior
Major: Senior Media Studies and Production with a minor in Advertising
Hometown: East Haddam, Connecticut
HC: What made you try out for Mr. Marist?
CD: I was actually approached by my good friend Nacho – who was on the Mr. Marist Committee – to come and try out for the show. Nacho somehow believed that I would be a good candidate and I thought it would be a fun and interesting new experience. I also had a lot of people who were backing me up and reassuring me that I would be a good Mr. Marist which made me want to be a part of the competition.
HC: Any nerves on the big night?
CD: I love to perform on stage and I’ve been doing it for a long time either in talent shows or plays or more recently with the HuMarists and the shows we put on every semester. However, that being said, I still found myself being surprisingly pretty nervous because this was something I hadn’t ever really done before and I was put on the spot in four or five different ways. I did however make it my goal to have fun with this competition so I think that helped me be a little looser on stage.
HC: Your Marist registration song was genius. How did you come up with that? Have you always been into music?
CD: I don’t think I was expecting this song to be such a big hit but I’m glad everyone liked it so much. I’ve always been a creative person and I like to write songs or comedy bits. At first I just wanted to sing a normal song on my ukulele but I think a lot of people were expecting me to do something funny, so I thought I’d combine the two. I actually came up with the lyrics in a day or two and I tried to think of what were the usual side effects and tribulations that a lot of people go through during dreaded registration time. I’ve always been into music; I love to sing, play the guitar or the ukulele. Music has the ability to influence us and inspire us and I love making it. Even in my career goal as being a film editor, music plays a big role in connecting us with certain emotions and feelings and I love the power that it has over us.
HC: What has winning the competition meant to you?
CD: Winning Mr. Marist has been an exciting experience. I have to say it has been a confidence booster – especially being one the heaviest guys in the competition and winning. It also has been pretty amazing how many people have congratulated me and really liked my song. I really want to thank anyone who has done that and it really means a lot to me. I was just happy that I could make some people laugh and contribute to great show. I also have to thank all the people on the Mr. Marist Committee for doing a lot of work and putting a great show together and also for my lovely escort Jenna Snyder, who made me look more handsome standing next to a beautiful girl like herself. Mr. Marist is quite a cool title but at the same time it’s not as big of a thing as it may be portrayed. I’m honored to have won the title but at the end of the day I am truly just grateful to have such great friends to support me.
You can see Colin at the HuMarist’s show on December 11th at 9:30 p.m. in the Nelly.