From April 2 to 9, West Chester University Greek Life celebrated the 31st annual “Greek Week.”
Each sorority and fraternity is randomly matched up with one another as they spend the week competing in various events in the hopes of being known as the 2016 Greek Week Winners.
Each year, Greek Week has a different theme that all activities are focused around. This year, the theme was “GREEKelodeon,” which is a spin off of Nickelodeon. It allowed each paired organization to pick a Nickelodeon television show to represent themselves for the week through T-shirts and activities.
Third-year business major Jessica Elias is the director of activities for Zeta Tau Alpha. She explained how the week is not all about being the winner.
“Greek Week also has a number of events that raise money towards Camp Dreamcatcher, which is Greek Life’s philanthropy as a whole. It makes the week mean a little more to us knowing we get to donate towards a bigger cause,” said Elias.
Camp Dreamcatcher is an organization that has provided free therapeutic and educational programs for HIV/AIDS infected and/or affected youth for almost 20 years. All money raised throughout the week went towards this cause.
Some events of the week included field games, including a series of relays. Greek Week also included a can food sculpture where students were challenged to make a creation out of cans that reflected the television show they were representing. After this event, cans were transported to the food bank for donation.
The two most popular events of the week are the lip sync competition and Greek God and Goddess.
“Lip sync gives members of each paired organization the chance to come up with a lip sync dance that incorporates Greek unity. It is an event where I think the participants had a great time using their imagination to create a fun and silly performance as well as the audience by cheering them on,” said Elias.
Elias also described the Greek God and Goddess event.
“One member of each sorority and fraternity were chosen to show off a special talent like singing, playing an instrument or even dancing. After the performances, Greek members voted on whom they believed should be crowned ‘Greek God and Goddess.’ This is an interesting event because you see talent from people you would never expect it from,” said Elias.
After the events throughout the week, Greek Life was able to announce that the brothers of Alpha Tau Omega and the sisters of Alpha Xi Delta were the winners of Greek Week 2016.
Kiara Garcia, a senior communication studies major and sister of Zeta Tau Alpha, touched on how she felt Greek Week has changed her college career.
“Being randomly paired up with an organization each year gives my sorority the opportunity to meet new people and get involved on campus or within the community. Greek Week has been one of my favorite events in my college career because I can get the opportunity to have fun, meet new people and donate to the amazing cause Camp Dreamcatcher provides for people,” said Garcia.
If any student is interested in learning more about Greek Life, students are encouraged to look on the office of Fraternity and Sorority Life’s website at www.ecupa.edu_services/stu.greeklife.
Devin Gerber is a fourth-year student majoring in communication studies with a minor in journalism. Contact her at DG781831@wcupa.edu.