Name: Eduardo José Vanegas-Garcia
Major: Finance and Accounting
Year: Senior
Hometown: My hometown is Valencia, Venezuela, but in the United States I consider Chapel Hill, North Carolina my hometown. It’s nice to have two hometowns.
Eddy, a brother in the Delta Tau Delta fraternity who holds the Brotherhood Moral Office chair, recently won the title of Mr. Greek in Alpha Gamma Delta’s annual Greek pageant.
HC: What is Mr. & Mrs. Greek?
Eddy: It’s an annual talent and pageant show held by Alpha Gamma Delta in which one contestant from participating fraternities and sororities compete. This is the eighth year they’ve done this.
HC: What does the pageant consist of?
Eddy: There are three portions: a question portion, talent portion, and Halloween costume portion.
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HC: What did you do for the talent portion?
Eddy: Have you ever heard of the song Mambo No. 5? I sang that and grooved to it. And in between the verse, where it would normally be a trumpet, I decided to play my trombone.
HC: And what was your costume?
Eddy: My Halloween costume was Marty from Back to the Future. I actually made it so it looked like I was hover boarding.
HC: How does it feel to have won the title of Mr. Greek?
Eddy: It feels like, to an extent, I brought the crown back home since, originally, it was Alpha Gamma Delta and Delta Tau Delta presenting Mr. & Mrs. Greek.
HC: Have you ever been to the pageant before?
Eddy: I have been to Mr. & Mrs. Greek before. I never thought I would participate in it; however, I’m really happy that I did, and I encourage everyone to step out of there comfort zone.
HC: Does the pageant have any charitable aspect or does it just stand to bring together the sororities and fraternities?
Eddy: Absolutely. One of the reasons I’m honored to have won [the title of Mr. Greek] is because Alpha Gamma Delta has the same philanthropy as we [Delta Tau Delta] do, which is the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation [JDRF]. All of the money that went into it, minus the prize money, went to their charity.
HC: Does your fraternity have any philanthropic work coming soon?
Eddy: Right now JDRF is our main focus, as it’s coming up in November. However, stay tuned for our annual McGregor 5k which is in the spring. It is in the honor of a brother killed in a car accident in the mid-2000s.
HC: What else are you involved with on campus?
Eddy: I volunteer with Centro Hispano, and the program I’m involved in called Mi Casa was actually honored by the White House. With Mi Casa, a select few seniors from the local high schools become a part of this program. They get a mentor, such as myself, and I’m trying to get my mentee, Adam, to college because when I was in his position I didn’t know if I was going [to college]. It’s one of the more rewarding things I do.
[Photos courtesy of Eduardo Vanegas.]