The Vietnamese Student Association held its third-annual Mr. Asia pageant in the Mandela Room on Sunday night, welcoming five talented contestants representing various Asian countries and cities to compete for the winning title.

While VSA has hosted Miss Asia nearly every fall for over a decade, it recently established Mr. Asia to provide the same platform for male students looking to showcase their culture through enriching personal narratives and entertaining performances.

Themed after “SpongeBob SquarePants,” this year’s roster included students representing the Philippines, Indonesia, Korea, Enping and Guangzhou — the latter two being cities in southern China’s Guangdong province. In addition to an audience vote, the contestants were evaluated by a panel of presidents from other VSA chapters at the national and regional levels, including Rutgers University and Stony Brook University.

“This marks the third year we’ve hosted Mister Asia, and I’m ecstatic to show how far the event has come since its inception,” Winston Ong, VSA’s president and a senior majoring in mathematics, wrote in a pamphlet distributed to attendees. “If you attended Miss Asia 2024, don’t expect the same show — we have not only new contestants, but also different games, prizes, and even brand-new performances. Tonight is going to be sensational. On behalf of the Binghamton Vietnamese Student Association, we’re thrilled to have you here and hope it’s a night to remember.”

The room was darkened by ambient blue light to submerge attendees underwater, with SpongeBob-inspired decals like jellyfish and flowers lining the walls to imitate the deep-sea city of Bikini Bottom. Interns took turns emceeing the event with rehearsed commentary after first shouting out all the organizations in attendance, including five external VSA chapters from across the Northeast.

Mr. Asia featured five total rounds: the first walk introducing the contestants to the audience; the cultural walk highlighting traditional attire and a performance of their choice; the talent walk; the costume walk where they dressed as different SpongeBob characters; and the final walk featuring a Q&A session covering Asian American and Pacific Islander issues. Each contestant strutted onstage to Bruno Mars’ “24k Magic” wrapped in their respective countries’ flags, pausing to pose for applause.

In between the walks were three mini-games, all themed after SpongeBob plot points and characters. “Mr. Krabs’ Money Grab” entailed unraveling the most money tucked between the layers of a meticulously plastic-wrapped ball.

During the “Brainrot Quiz,” players scribbled out answers to trivia questions from an A.I.-generated SpongeBob persona, whose likeness overlaid a screen recording of Subway Surfers gameplay. In “Caught on Krabby Cam,” one of VSA’s senior advisors chased participants around the stage in an inflatable Patrick Star costume as they tried to avoid being captured by his phone camera, while the footage was streamed in real time from his point of view.

Most of the cultural walk performances combined elements of traditional dances with modern flair, creatively integrating instrumental beats into their choreography. Inspired by the Filipino Maglalatik dance where performers strike coconut shells together as a rhythmic prop, Mr. Philippines transitioned into a high-energy number soundtracked by Doechii’s “NISSAN ALTIMA” and Saweetie’s “My Type.”

Mr. Korea performed upbeat, contemporary K-pop choreography to hit songs like BTS’ “Boy With Luv (feat. Halsey)” and TWICE’s “The Feels.” Mr. Indonesia showcased an island folk dance with resounding percussion while Mr. Enping leaped across the stage, twirling silk ribbons through the air as C-drama dialogue played in the background.

Mr. Guangzhou deviated from the other contestants with an instrumental performance, gracefully playing a hulusi — a reeded wooden Chinese wind instrument shaped like a gourd — as vintage visuals of Chinese landscapes flashed in the background. He also vocalized along to a karaoke video for Chuan Zi’s “Jin Sheng Yuan,” a Chinese song about friendship popularized on social media in early 2025.

Keeping with a longstanding tradition at VSA’s yearly pageants, the Rutgers Vietnamese Cultural Dance Crew performed its iconic lion dance, a trademark at festivities across Chinese diaspora communities. Dressed in colorful, elaborate two-person costumes, dancers vigorously maneuvered the heads and tails of the lions in sync with the music.

During the talent walk, many contestants chose to further demonstrate their musical prowess. Mr. Philippines sang a cover of beabadoobee’s “Glue Song” and played an electric guitar, while Mr. Indonesia delivered a spirited, crowd-rousing rendition of Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” with his harmonica. Mr. Enping acted out a dramatic lyrical dance interpretation of Chase Atlantic’s “Swim.” Mr. Korea’s talent was cooking — assembling, cutting and plating a kimbap roll blindfolded narrowly under three minutes.

Iden Li, Mr. Guangzhou and a junior majoring in global public health, took to the stage accompanied by his teammates from Binghamton Bhangra and the Philippine American League, fusing two dynamic Latin and Indian dance styles in a medley.

“For my talent walk, I wanted to demonstrate an ability I was most comfortable with and grew with at Binghamton, naturally deciding with dance which I picked up as a student here,” Li wrote in an email. “As a contestant in Mister Asia, my goal was to try and offer a multicultural representation of what it means to be a student at Binghamton but also an Asian American. Because of this, I used my past experiences in dance to create choreography for my talent walk, incorporating salsa that I learned through the Philippine American League’s annual Barrio Fiesta, and bhangra which I found interest in upon joining my team, Binghamton Bhangra.”

Following a dance performance from the current VSA E-Board and interns later in the night, contestants answered questions that delved deeper into their experiences as Asian men. Many acknowledged that as minorities, they previously rejected their heritage due to the fear of being different but are working to mature from that mindset.

“Growing up, the Indonesian population, for a student body, was typically in the single digits and if not, just me,” Christopher Taufan, Mr. Indonesia and a sophomore majoring in cinema, said. “And that made me really embarrassed about my culture because I was the one that was different.”

“But my mom attended Indonesian church groups, and she was very active in that community,” he continued. “And every Easter, every Christmas, we would celebrate with huge festivals just like this one — celebrating Indonesian culture, celebrating dance. And as I grew up, understanding that these people were happy to share that culture and share this single unit, it really changed who I am today. I can pursue my confidence and celebrate who I really am. It’s okay to be different!”

As determined by the audience, Mr. Indonesia won crowd favorite, Mr. Guangzhou won social media favorite and Mr. Enping won best costume. After a final Q&A session about their connection with their ethnic identity and the legacy of Mr. Asia beyond the event, the three finalists discussed how they would use the title to advocate for social equality for the AAPI community and amplify underrepresented Asian cultures.

At the end of the night, Mr. Guangzhou was crowned Mr. Asia. As an active member of VSA since his freshman year, he reflected on the significance of representing his community and described his experience as “certainly quite special.”

“I loved seeing the vibrant displays of culture as an audience member for the past two years, so being able to switch roles and craft a performance as a contestant was a full circle moment for me,” Li wrote. “I wanted to participate in Mister Asia because I wanted the chance to proudly display my cultural background and identity, something I didn’t have the privilege of doing so growing up. I also knew former contestants that competed in past Miss and Mister Asias, so I wanted to take a chance at making my own mark in the event’s history as well.”

“I had a wonderful time creating ideas for how I could authentically portray my story while also getting to know VSA’s executive board and bonding with my amazing fellow contestants,” he added.