Millikan’s annual Ram Pageant has been cancelled this school year.
The Ram Pageant is by far one of Millikan’s longest running events, ever since in the 80’s, Millikan seniors have come to compete for the title of Mr. and Mrs. Ram. Even current Millikan staff who are Millikan Alumni have competed and won the pageant like Mr. York, Mr. Lange, and Mr. Robinson.
Grant Robinson, Millikan’s Activities Director and ASB advisor stated, “Usually we get around 30 applicants, this year we got 5-7.” Despite the longevity of this tradition, Ram Pageant was cancelled due to the lack of interest from seniors.
“It’s basically like a talent show, and people vote on one male winner and one female winner and they become Mr. and Mrs. Ram,” says Nora Burst, a COMPASS senior in Millikan Stage Crew who has helped put on the event during her time in Stage Crew. Nora says Ram Pageant is not a “serious” pageant like Miss Universe, it’s silly, more like a “goofy talent show.”
To apply for the pageant, seniors filled out a Google Form and would then be blind-interviewed by a panel of six to eight teachers and this year ASB received an underwhelming amount of Google Forms. A minimum of 10 contestants are needed to create a good show, but only 5-7 forms were submitted.
Daisy Grundhauser Mrs. G., the “ASB Mom,” has been helping put on Ram Pageant since 2016 and when asked about the disinterest among seniors she says, “I feel like since Covid, it’s been kind of dwindling down a little bit. Back when it was attached to Homecoming, we used to have 20 people out of 54 that applied.” This means that 54 students would apply for pageant and 20 were chosen to actually compete.
Mrs. G. speculated that because of Covid, students, especially underclassmen, were unaware that the pageant was a thing. Last year, ASB tried to entice students to apply and to show underclassmen what the pageant was through giveaways. ASB gave away formal tickets, prom tickets, yearbooks, grad nights tickets and more to get people interested in the pageant, to get seniors to apply and to get underclass excited to apply in future years.
Due to the very small number of applicants this year, the pageant cannot be put on the same way it was in the past, and there was hope for a different looking Ram Pageant, a different show, but this year it will not be possible.
Mrs. G. adds, “I have to talk to Mr. Robinson to see if we can reimagine it or how we could do it because it’s been a Millikan tradition for so long, I would hate for it to die and not happen anymore. But if we don’t have the participants we can’t make it happen.”
For this year Ram Pageant has been cancelled, but this doesn’t mean that the tradition of Ram Pageant has died forever.
Joshua • Mar 6, 2025 at 11:40 am
March 6, 2025
Dear Corydon Editor,
On March 5, 2025, Aubrey Calderon wrote an article titled “Ram Pageant 2025: Cancelled”. The cover image for this article was strong at making me curious to why a man holding a trophy and wearing a crown is frowning. The title is simple and gets to the point. Though the title is okay, it is suggested to improve it to strengthen the hook to catch readers. I suggest making the title match the tone more with the cover image and use a little bit of creativity to strengthen the hook to catch readers. This will benefit the number of readers and help make it so the photo is not the only thing relied on most of the time.
In the article Calderon mentions both the importance and history of the Ram Pageant. I was shocked to know that it had been going on since the 80s. That’s when my own mother was still learning how to walk! Calderon also does a great job explaining the reason behind the cancellation of the Ram Pageant, saying Mr.Robinson stated that the cause was the lack of applicants from seniors for the pageant. I was also surprised to learn that Mr.Robinson is an alumni who won a previous Ram Pageant.
Already knowing what the Ram Pageant is, I appreciate Calderon explaining what it is and the process to applying to the Ram Pageant when you are a senior for the students who, like Calderon said Mrs. G stated, “were unaware that the pageant was a thing.” She then progresses onto tactics that were used to get people interested in the pageant through giveaways but ultimately failed. She then ends off with hope, saying how the tradition has not yet died.
Sincerely,
Joshua Lide
Sasha Foreman • Mar 5, 2025 at 3:43 pm
On March 5th, 2025, Aubrey Calderon wrote an article titled “Ram Pageant 2025: Cancelled”. I found this article very informative and intriguing because of the cancellation of a popular tradition in our school. Sadly, only 5-7 people filled out a form to apply when usually there are over 30 applicants. From my perspective, I think the Ram Pageant is a fun way to get students out of their comfort zones and it’ll be sad to see that there will be one less exciting event to look forward to from our school. I think the “silliness” of the talent show would make it more interesting for seniors to join, but still, very few applied this year. I hope that next year the tradition will continue for my senior class if more applicants apply. Overall, the writer did a great job not only informing students about the Ram Pageant’s cancellation but also providing the thoughts and perspectives of the faculty who usually run the show annually.
Savannah Thy • Mar 5, 2025 at 1:30 pm
On March 5, 2025, Aubrey Calderon wrote an article titled “Ram Pageant 2025: Cancelled”. Calderon writes her articles based on the tragic story of important news which is the cancellation of the annual Millikan Ram Pageant. I admire this writer’s ambition to cover such a tragic story and make it comical. Calderon makes it comical by inserting a picture of Mr. York (a previous Mr. Ram) with his crown, looking disappointed. What I appreciate the most about this article was the many quotes given from interviews of many important people in the Ram Pageant. In order to get the full “scoop” on these types of stories you have to go to the source itself which would be Mr. Robinson and Ms. G (Daisy). The writer beautifully explains the cause of this problem most likely being how during COVID the seniors now were online underclassmen, making them not engaged with this event. This is the leading factor of the cause of there being no Ram Pageant.
Calderon beautifully explains the tragedy of this news by sharing the tradition this school event has. She supports this thought by listing the many Millikan Alumni and now Millikan Teachers who have won the Ram Pageant. The writer ends the article giving the readers hope that there will hopefully be more Ram Pageants in the future. Overall, this was a beautifully short and sweet article that was straightforward and informative.
Owen Kaplinsky • Mar 5, 2025 at 1:16 pm
On March 5, 2025, Aubrey Calderon wrote an article titled “Ram Pageant 2025: Cancelled”. I like this article because it delivers the information in a clean and precise manner which is easy to understand. In my first 2 years at Millikan, I was one of the people who did not know that the Ram Pageant existed. I think that the pageant should be more publicised; I agree with what Mrs. G. stated about how Covid might have been the reason why many people are unaware of the pageant. Possibly a good solution is to have teachers speak to their students about the pageant when sign ups start to spread awareness?
I wonder if it being attached to homecoming once again would boost the attendance and applications up to what it used to be when they were connected. I wonder what the reason was for why they decided that the two events should stop being connected.