With psychedelic banners outlining the temporary greek arena in

Lantz Gymnasium on Saturday night, the eyes of the audience and

judges were graced by the presence of well known stars ranging

from the Backstreet Boys and Prince to the cast from Willy

Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, during Greek Week’s 2001

airband competition.

Eastern students, family members and Charleston residents were

all in attendance to see what the participants had up their

sleeves, as the airband teams kicked off the first night of

“Greek Stock.”

Sigma Pi, took first place in the fraternity division, sending

their message to all of the girls of Eastern that true love can

be found sometimes where you least expect it, as they opened

with “The Call,” by the Backstreet Boys.

The members of the Pi Kappa Alpha airband team won second place

in the competition, using a selection of Prince songs in their

revealing routine that incorporated ripping off their Prince

symbol shirts.

Placing third in the competition were the members of Sigma Phi

Epsilon, who focused on bringing a childhood movie back to life

with the orange faces of the “Umpa Lumpas.”

In the sorority division, first place was won by Sigma Kappa,

followed by Alpha Phi for second and Kappa Delta for third

place.

The Sigma Kappa airband team kept their routine based on

Forrest Gump, a secret until their performance choosing to

surprise everyone, including their own house, said Liz Hoyner,

a junior marketing major.

Hoyner helped choreograph and coach the Sigma Kappa airband

team with Jen Galant, a junior elementary major, to victory.

The idea of using songs from Forrest Gump came as a sort of an

epiphany the night before the theme was due for their routine,

when the team was brain storming ideas, said Hoyner.

Suddenly it hit them, according to Hoyner, let’s use the

Forrest Gump theme. “I felt really good about it, we had really

good energy,” Hoyner said. “The girls were excited, they really

worked their butt’s off.”

It has been two years since the Sigma Pi’s have won airband,

according to Paul Kreiner, a senior speech communication major.

Kreiner, who has been on Sigma Pi’s airband team for four

years, said that they practiced about three hours a night

working with Dave Chow, a senior speech communication major,

who choreographed the routine.

“All of the practice paid off,” said Dave Naruszewicz, a senior

cardiac rehabilitation major, and a member of the Sigma Pi

airband team. According to another member, Mike Condon, a

senior speech communication major, the experience was “totally

awesome.”