Arun Thalody, a junior biology major at Seton Hill University, was crowned the 2018 Mr. Seton Hill on Feb. 13 in Cecilian Hall. The competition, hosted by the Griffin Guides, is in its second year and shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
“Winning wasn’t really on my mind, it was just to put on a good show,” said Thalody. “I went in to just have a good time and not win. But once you are up there, once they are about to announce the winner, you just naturally feel nervous and excited.”
After moving from Connecticut to Bucks County, Pa., Thalody attended Central Bucks East High School in Doylestown where he was a member of student council and participated in his school’s version of Mr. Seton Hill, known as Mr. East. While not an official member of many clubs or activities, Thalody explains that he was “always just doing stuff.”
That willingness to participate continued when Thalody came to SHU where he joined the Volleyball Club, became the vice president of the class of 2019 and became involved in other activities such as the Lip Sync Battle and dodgeball tournaments.
“I didn’t even know [SHU] existed until I started looking for schools,” said Thalody, who chose SHU for its affiliation to LECOM. “I am convinced that everything happens for a reason and I am just so grateful I came here. I’ve made so many close friends and overall I am a more confident and positive person.”
“I’d say I am more of a loud and outgoing person. So it didn’t really surprise me when they came to me and asked me [to participate in Mr. Seton Hill],” said Thalody. “I did not see myself winning. I just did it to have fun and make people laugh, but then as I did advance more I was like ‘oh, maybe I could win.’”
Thalody said the highlight of the competition is the talent portion and that’s all he really cared about making it to. Having competed last year, but falling short of the crown after being eliminated during the Q&A portion, Thalody said he was determined to make it to talent this year. “I took the questions and answers much more seriously this year, I had an answer for all of them.”
After successfully making it through the Q&A, Thalody proceeded to take his talent very seriously as well. He started off his talent signing “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” by Frankie Valli. When the song came to end and the audience started clapping, Thalody changed up the mood and turned on his dance moves with “SexyBack” by Justin Timberlake.
“It was honestly a team effort. I couldn’t have done it without the group of girls [who came on stage during the second portion of his talent],” said Thalody. “It was really fun practicing with them. They were so high-energy and happy to be there. It’s their energy that kept it alive and made it special. And I think the audience received it really, really well.”
Thalody said that at the end of the day, Mr. Seton Hill is just about putting on a show to get people excited and smiling. “It’s really special because it’s a stage where people from all different demographics join. We had people all the way from Hogwarts Club to football coming. That’s just honestly really unique and makes it so successful.”
After graduating in 2019, Thalody will go on to complete the program at LECOM where his dream is to become a successful physician. “Interacting with people is what I love most, and being able to do that and just knowing that people are coming to you because they can completely trust you and feel safe with you, that’s just a really beautiful thing,” said Thalody.
Published By: Stephen Dumnich