For more than a month, individuals have been training for Greek Week; however, the sure way to win the week lies with participation in every event along with preparation.

Laura Newman, the president of the Panhellenic Council and a senior business management major, said they encourage everyone to participate in every single event because the real way to earn the most points is to be involved in the most events.

“Each event is worth so many points and even the small things that go into bingo or Dance Dance Revolution are the same amount of points as the bigger events like Airband, Tugs and Greek Sing so it evens out,” Newman said.

The point values are similar for each event. For example the chapter that wins first place in the Tugs event will receive five points and if chapters have at least five members participate in Unity Bingo they will receive five points.

Jodi Matheny, one of the three overall chairs for the Greek Week Steering Committee and a senior family and consumer sciences major, said they wanted each chapter to have an equal shot at winning Greek Week.

“We made the point values fairly equal because we don’t want people to put more effort in one event than another since some of the smaller chapters don’t have enough members to participate in events like Greek Sing,” Matheny said.

Matheny said she thinks the letter-writing campaign event is the most important event to participate in during Greek Week because it has the largest turnout and it is going to a good cause.

“The chapters can earn a large amount of points by participating in the community service and philanthropy events like the letter-writing campaign so they are more motivated to help the community and people in need,” Matheny said.

Newman agreed. “I think that the letter writing and the canned food drive are the more important events because they focus more on the community and they show, philanthropically, that Greek Week isn’t just one big competition.”

And that we are trying to make a positive impact on the lives of others,” Newman said.

Newman said in past years for Greek Week, proceeds from fundraising have gone to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, but this year the money will be going to different organizations in the Charleston community.

“For the campus we come together and do community service projects throughout the week and we do activities that involve Greeks and the campus as a whole,” Newman said. “However, some chapters put more time and focus on the more popular events like Tugs, Airband and Greek Sing.”

Chapters were not permitted to start practicing for Greek Week events until February 1.

“Some chapters think it is a good strategy to do better in Greek Week by having longer practices and making sure they know exactly how they are going to do the day of the event by practicing hard with team members,” Newman said. “We try and keep it on a level playing field by starting practices on the same day so that way it’s not like some teams have been practicing since December or anything.”

Newman also said many chapters have tryouts for events like Airband, Tugs and Greek Sing.

Ashley Baker, the president of the National Panhellenic Council (NPHC) and a senior business management major, said the NPHC has not shown as much participation in Greek Week compared to other Greeks.

“Each NPHC chapter has their own week dedicated to celebrating with programs, community service and creative activities so they spend time preparing for that instead of Greek Week,” Baker said.

Baker said this year NPHC is becoming more involved in Greek Week by having two chairs on the Greek Week Steering Committee.

“This year we will be participating in Unity Bingo and the trivia night and NPHC plans to get more involved in Greek Week with unity and building relationships as the years go on,” Baker said.

She said she thinks the Greek Week competition is friendly and a good time but it is always good to win.

“Greek Week is a good way to realize we are a whole community and not just separated chapters,” Newman said. “Anybody on campus can come to the events and see what we have been doing for the past few months.”

Greek Week Points:

Airband

First Place- 5 points

Each participating chapter receives 5 points

Greek Sing

First Place- 5 points

Each participating chapter receives 5 points

Tugs

First Place- 5 points

Pyramids

First Place- 5 points

Trivia

First Place- 5 points

Unity Bingo

3 points (if chapter has at least four members present during six random roll calls)

Unity Softball Game

3 points (if chapter has at least 20 members in attendence)

Unity Banner

Possible 5 points

Possible 2 bonus points

Unity Dance Dance Revolution

5 points (If have minimum of five participants)

Unity Canned Food Drive

4 points (If collect 151-200 cans)

Community Service

Informational meetings- 3 points

Jefferson Fun Day- 6 points

Donating toys for St. Jude’s- 3 points

Participating in all drives- 6 points

Philanthropy

Coin Wars First Place- 5 points

Rachel Rodgers can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected]