A Halloween-themed Greek Week ended Saturday after days of competition, fundraising and community service events.
The week’s events included volunteering with KidFest, Greek Games on Kogan Plaza, trick-or-treating with UNICEF, a skit night, date auction, game night, a party at Heritage and a barbecue on University Yard. Greek-letter governing groups the Interfraternity Council, Panhellenic Association, Multicultural Greek Council and National Pan-Hellenic Council were all involved in Greek Week.
IFC President John Och, a senior, said he hoped that Greek Week would “open up to the greater GW community and get everyone involved.”
Panhellenic Association President April Black said chapters received points throughout the week based on attendance at the events, the amount of money each chapter raised throughout the week and placement in the top four for Skit Night, Greek Games or Date Auction, events where certain fraternity and sorority members compete on behalf of their chapters.
The competition aspect is “an incentive for chapters to attend the events, raise money and serve as a tool to keep enthusiasm high throughout the week,” Black said. Winning chapters Alpha Phi and Sigma Chi received an award and recognition from their respective council at Saturday’s barbecue in University Yard.
“I’m happy to see that this year’s Greek Week had a lot of focus on (community) service,” said Dean Harwood, director of Greek Life. Chapters raised about $9,000 for UNICEF just from Wednesday’s date auction for the nonprofit organization that works internationally to defend children’s rights, survival and development.
Greek Games included a pie-eating contest, pumpkin carving, a mummy wrap and an apple bob relay. Also, the first round of the Greek God and Goddess competition was held where representatives from each chapter are judged based on costume creativity and a question-and-answer segment.
One of the week’s most popular events was the Skit Night held Monday evening in Lisner Auditorium. Fraternities and sororities choreographed short dance performances for the event, many to popular hip-hop songs.
“Skit night was the biggest hit. I really liked the dances,” said sophomore and Phi Sigma Sigma member Jennifer Hertberg.
The Phi Sigma Sigma sorority presented a candy-themed dance complete with angel and devil costumes. The Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity performed a spoof of jingle bell rock from the movie “Mean Girls.” Performances to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” were also popular choices for the evening.
The Date Auction was held Wednesday night in Columbian Square along with a talent competition.
“People were trying to sneak in just to see it,” sophomore Kristen Walker said. “(We) managed to raise a lot of money through the date auction.”
Each sorority or fraternity was given the opportunity to sign up two participants to be auctioned off as dates. The dates won points for their chapters based on how much money they raised and additional points if they were one of the top four best dates.
On Thursday evening, Greek-letter leaders from the MGC and NPHC hosted Game Night at the Multicultural Student Services Center. The two councils provided food, card games, twister, GW Monopoly and more. This is the first event either council has hosted in conjunction with Greek Week.
“The MGC was really looking forward to Game night,” said Andrew Tonioli, a junior. “It has been a really good year for us.”
Greek Week concluded Saturday afternoon with a barbecue on University Yard. The event also included a canned food drive donation in conjunction with the Office of Community Service.
