By Destiny Nowlin–

The men being auctioned off included new members of Collegiate 100 and SCORE, who cosponsored the event.

Many people looking for a Valentines day this year got lucky at the Collegiate 100 annual date auction on Thursday, Feb. 7th. To participate in biding, women paid two dollars and men paid five dollars. The men being auctioned off were some new members of Collegiate 100, as well as members of SCORE, who cosponsored the event.

Collegiate 100 is an auxiliary organization of the 100 Black Men of Louisville that extends to college and university campuses. Collegiate 100 became a RSO at UofL in spring 2004. Their mission is to empower African-American youth and they believe in giving back to the campus and the Louisville community.  Last year, Collegiate 100 had over 500 accumulated service hours.

Camesha Carman, a freshman at U of L commented about the event saying, “I thought it was fun. It was entertaining, especially when the guys danced or took off their shirts to get higher bids. I would go again next year and I might even buy someone.”

One of the men being auctioned off, Jerren Beasley said, “Being up there was very nerve racking. I’m still shaking! But it’s for a good cause.”

The proceeds went to the Harriett B. Porter Cancer Education and Research Endowment, established in 2004 by Woodford Porter.

Collegiate 100 is an organization for men, but each year they elect a female member as Ms. Collegiate. Ms. Collegiate 2012-2013 is Erica Lee, “It took a lot of hard work to put the program together. SCORE, LIFE and Pack of Wolves Premium clothing line sponsored the event. We publicized the event using Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and any other social network to get the word out. I was pleased by the turn out.”

The highest bid was $125 for sophomore, Jordan Williams. “I was completely nervous but excited at the same time. I didn’t know what to do so I just started dancing,” Jordan said, when asked about getting up on the stage. After getting the highest bid, Jordan said, “It was honestly awesome. I knew my friends were going to bid on me either way. But the way the night was going with previous bids, I just didn’t know. But the bid just kept getting higher and higher and to think we raised that money for cancer research means that much more.”

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Photo by Destiny Nowlin