The Duncan Ballroom never looked more decorative than last night at SAC’s first annual Chocolate Fest.

The ballroom was completely filled with everything chocolate. Students came to try out everything from chocolate ice cream with chocolate topping to chocolate fondue with strawberries, bananas, marshmallows, and pound cake.

The first category was a chocolate recipe competition in which participants made 100 samples of some form of chocolate for the judges and spectators to try.

The other category was a chocolate art competition in which the participants created something out of chocolate. Participants included Women in Communications, Photography Club, Visual Arts Society, Alpha Delta Pi, Zeta Tau Alpha, Sigma Sigma Chi, UTM Athletic Training Society, UT Martin Writer’s Guild, PRSSA, and individuals Christopher Bennington and Sabrina Mosley.

There were two other competitions throughout the evening.
The first competition was a chocolate carving contest in which participants were given a glove, a carving knife, and a block of chocolate. Coming in third place in the carving contest and winning two free passes to the annual All-Niter was LeCharra Yarbrough, a freshman criminal justice major.

Second runner-up winning an All-Niter t-shirt was Ashlae Abraham, a senior art education major from Hendersonville, and placing first in the carving competition and the winner of $25.00 was Josh Long, a senior music major from Summerville.

The next competition was a chocolate pudding-eating contest. Winning the pudding contest was Lance Fuhramen, a freshman parks and recreation major from Fairview and Mike Sargent, a freshman biology major from Lobelville.

Placing third and winning $25.00 in the edible category was the chocolate covered biscotti prepared by Zeta Tau Alpha, second place winning $50.00 was Sigma Alpha Iota who prepared chocolate mice figures on top of shortbread cookies, and placing first and winning $100 was PRSSA who prepared cream cheese brownies covered in chocolate and nuts. Placing third in the chocolate art competition and winning $25.00 was Christopher Bennington who made a very interesting chocolate creation called “Man’s Ruin.”

Second place winning $50.00 went to the Brothers of Sigma Sigma Chi who made a replica of their shield out of chocolate. First place in the art competition and the winner of $100 went to the Photography Club who prepared a type of log cabin made entirely out of chocolate bars, Hershey Kisses, and chocolate wrappers. Spectators were enthralled to see the creativeness of the entries and the possibilities of chocolate.

The donations from the evening totaled about $200 that SAC will gladly donate to John Nicholas White, who has had three life-threatening heart surgeries since he was six days old ,and his family. “I thought this event was truly amazing,” said Jessica White, John Nicholas’s mother. “I was astonished to see all the students come out, and we are truly thankful to UT Martin and SAC for holding this benefit for John Nicholas.”