The unity of Gannon University’s Greek organizations will be put to the test for this year’s Greek Week, which begins Sunday and ends Friday, April 8. Greek Week serves as the opportunity during the year for students in social Greek organizations to compete with each other in an assortment of events.
The biggest event during the week is the annual “Greek Dance,” in which the organizations perform a series of dances choreographed by members of their respective chapter.
The performances are traditionally done in pairs, with a social sorority and fraternity being matched together for the dance.
Allison Adkins, a junior liberal arts major and member of social sorority Phi Sigma Sigma and vice president of programming for Gannon’s Panhellenic Council, said that Greek Week is a great way for the Gannon community to see what Greek life is about – without the stigmas.
“It’s great for the community to see us all work together and interact in a setting that isn’t the stereotypical party scene,” she said.
A part of Adkins’ duty as vice president of programming for Panhel was to plan Greek Week, along with Jeff Slater, a junior chemistry major and member of social fraternity Zeta Beta Tau and the respective chair for the Inter-Fraternity Council. This year’s theme is “Gannon Greeks on the Big Screen,” and Adkins said she and Slater chose the theme after researching what other universities had done for their Greek Weeks.
“We thought this particular theme would be a good one for the organizations to all encorporate differently,” she said. “It really leaves a lot of room for creativity, and I’m excited to see how everyone puts their ideas together.”
This year, returning events to the week include volleyball, dodgeball, the chariot race, the raft race, Greek Dance and Greek God and Goddess Talent Show. New events this year include the “Human Pyramid,” whiffleball, a splash contest and “The Amazing Journey,” which Adkins said she is most excited for.
The Amazing Journey is a play on the popular TV show “The Amazing Race,” but in this version, teams will go to each fraternity and sorority house and answer movie trivia questions.
Clarissa Garay, a sophomore nursing major and Greek Week chair for social sorority Alpha Sigma Tau, said she is excited to have some friendly competition with the other organizations.
“Greek Week really promotes unity within each individual chapter, but among the entire Greek community as well,” she said. “I’m excited to show everyone what we’ve been working on.”
As Greek Week chair, Garay’s job included making up the dance for her sorority and their respective fraternity, making sure that everyone is signed up for the different competitions throughout the week and keeping things organized.
Garay said Greek Week is an important one for the social Greek community because it’s one of the few chances during the year outside of community service when all of the individual chapters get to work together.
Heather Roberts, a junior pre-physical therapy/sport and exercise science major and member of social sorority Alpha Sigma Tau, said that Greek Week is important because it helps promote competition among groups, which is healthy.
“You need competition sometimes to encourage everyone to band together to achieve the same goal,” she said. “It promotes good team work. Besides, anything that we as a community can do to band together isn’t anything but positive.”
Greek Week begins Sunday with the raft race at 4 p.m. in the Carneval Athletic Pavilion. For a full schedule of Greek Week events, log onto the Gannon Portal.
