“Why Was Jeff Deaf?”

Several years ago, Jeff Bracken laid in bed pondering possible answers to that question, which spun from the common saying, “What Would Jesus Do?”

The Lexington junior was born with a bilateral hearing problem and faced many challenges growing up, such as being teased and not being accepted in social groups.

Nickiah Mantlo took the stage at DUC Theater Tuesday night wearing knee-high boots, a black halter-top dress, a curly brown wig, a red garter around his stocking-covered thigh and makeup. He shimmied his fake breasts and shook his booty to Lindsay Lohan’s remake of “Edge of 17.

Codie Bennett’s pink hair and flair for cosmetology left her with a job offer after a friendly visit to N-Style Salon almost four years ago. Although her hair is now brown, the Princeton senior still works at the on-campus salon – cutting, coloring and styling hair, waxing eyebrows and acting as what she calls an “underpaid shrink.

Johnny Castro may be more than 1,600 miles away from home, but he’s brought the sounds of home with him to Bowling Green. Castro, a senior from Bonao City, Dominican Republic, has introduced reggaeton to this area of Kentucky. He has been performing reggaeton, which blends Jamaican influences of reggae and dancehall with Latin American and hip hop music, for about a year and a half now.