Opinion

Greek Week celebrates spirit of competition with ‘Scare Games’

By Rachel Molitor

April 24, 2014

It has happened again! That weeklong event where Greeks celebrate the spirit of competition that is known by the descriptive title of Greek Week.

Greek Week Chair Alexa Rarick says, “I feel that the purpose of Greek Week is to celebrate and strengthen the bond we all share as collegiate [Greek] members through a week filled with exciting activities and events.”

This year’s Greek Week theme was Monster University and so many of the events were centered on the Scare Games.

Every day of Greek Week began bright and early with a scavenger hunt and the theme this year was a pig hunt. The Greek community got a clue for the location of the pig at 8 A.M. and then proceeded to race around the campus looking for the palm-sized pink animal. Here are the results of the pig hunt:

• Monday: Phi Mu, found pig at first roundabout
• Tuesday: Alpha Gamma Rho (AGR), found pig at Ag Sci building
• Wednesday: Delta Theta Sigma (DTS), found pig at amphitheater
• Thursday: AGR, found pig at KFA building

The first day of the Scare Games began with an all-Greek, potluck-style picnic. The purpose of this day was simply to get to know the other chapters and their members. Following the picnic, there was a pudding-eating contest for the chapters’ monster, a person who had to participate every day and was the mascot of the chapter. At the ‘go!’ the monsters smashed their faces into the chocolate pudding and started eating. The winner was the monster that finished their pudding first and AGR and DTS tied for first place.

Tuesday’s overcast skies brought with them a day of physical competitions; fraternities competed against fraternities and sororities against sororities. The Greeks gathered first for the pyramid contest. This test of endurance and teamwork lasted over thirty minutes as chapters gradually fell out of the contest. The end result was AGR winning for the fraternities and Sigma Alpha for the sororities.

The next event was the chariot race. Each chapter had to find and decorate a man-powered vehicle which could hold a passenger. AGR won the fraternity race and Alpha Omicron Pi won the sorority race.

Wednesday’s rains sent the Greeks inside where they competed in relays, hula hoops and an egg toss. The egg toss was very close, with many chapters breaking their eggs in the same round. However, Phi Mu won the sorority egg toss, and after a re-do with AGR, Theta Chi won the fraternity competition.

The relay was moving, via spoons, one cup of M&Ms to another. The chapters had to use speed, teamwork, and steadiness in order to succeed in this challenge. AGR won the fraternity relay, and Alpha Omicron Pi won the sorority relay.

Finally, it was the last event of the day: the hula hoop contest. The fraternities started first. Several competitors survived a few minutes, and so the Greek Chair asked them to start walking. After several steps forward, Theta Chi won. The sorority hula hoop challenge lasted longer. Once the girls started walking, it was down to Phi Mu and Alpha Sigma Alpha. The Chair had them walk around the floor and then take laps. Neither girl faltered. Finally, with the challenge of two hoops, Alpha Sigma Alpha won.

Then, it was the much anticipated lip-sync contest. For several chapters, this was the main event. For three to six minutes, the chapters were to compile a routine to several songs, sometimes related to the theme of the week. The chapters’ order depended on the number they drew from a hat. The chapters all gave good effort but in the end, Theta Chi won the fraternity lip-sync and Alpha Sigma Alpha for the sororities.

This year’s Greek Week had 2 winners, one for sororities and one for fraternities. Alpha Gamma Rho won the fraternity Greek Week and Alpha Sigma Alpha the sorority.

Reflecting back, it was a long, but fun week. The celebrating of Greek pride is never dull, and getting to know the diverse group of people that call themselves Greek, reveals that the stereotypes could not be more wrong. UW-River Falls has a good group of people here, and the Greeks exemplify that.

Rachel Molitor is a student at UW-River Falls.