Over the week of Sunday, May 11 to Saturday, May 17, the Lawrence sororities and fraternities gathered to celebrate Greek Week, a tradition held annually during Spring Term at Lawrence. This year’s Greek Week programming included events aimed towards fundraising and acts of community service, all the while creating connections among Greek Life and the greater campus community. Each day of the week, there was at least one event dedicated to giving back to the Lawrence and/or the Appleton community.
“Greek Week is a celebration of the longstanding traditions of Greek life fraternities and sororities that come together and provide their philanthropy to other organizations,” Beta Psi Nu (BYN) member, junior Lee Hendricks-Richman says. “It’s a means of getting us all connected.”
The week began with the Greek Week Kickoff on Sunday, May 11, followed by Delta Gamma’s (DG) AnchorSlam the same evening. AnchorSlam was a glow in the dark volleyball tournament held on the Quad aimed to fundraise and gather together the broader Lawrence community. According to DG member, junior Annika Urness, the event was well attended, with many teams signing up to compete. To Urness, the event was significant both as a philanthropic effort and as a way of bringing attention to Greek Life at Lawrence.
On Monday, May 12, BYN gathered in the Center for Spiritual and Religious Life to cook and donate meals to COTS, a local homeless shelter in Appleton. This event was followed by a Pancake Breakfast hosted by Beta Theta Pi on Tuesday, May 13.
On Wednesday, May 14, Kappa Alpha Theta (KAO) collaborated with the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern culture club Aspelia to host a Marbling event, with tote bags, bookmarks and marbling paints provided on a table outside the Warch Campus Center (WCC), according to a post on Aspelia’s Instagram. BYN hosted a Photo Booth and Scrapbooking session on the same day in Memorial Hall. According to Hendricks-Richman, students were invited to take and decorate Polaroid photographs during the event.
On Thursday, May 15, KAO held two events in support of the National Court Appointed Special Advocates organization (CASA), an organization providing support to children experiencing abuse or neglect in the foster care system. Lawrence’s chapter held a CASA Letter-Writing Campaign at the WCC. KAO members helped students write letters to local representatives about the recent funding cuts to CASA and urged Lawrentians to make donations to the organization. KAO later hosted Pickleball for CASA at the Buchanan Kiewit Wellness Center, with all proceeds being donated to the same organization. The sorority then hosted mini golf outside of WCC on Friday, May 16, according to the Events Calendar.
All of Lawrence’s Greek organizations gathered in the Wriston Art Center Amphitheater on Friday, May 16, for a lip sync battle. At the lip sync, sponsored by Sorority and Fraternity Life, each fraternity and sorority competed, performing one or several songs for the other groups, according to Hendricks-Richman. BYN ended up winning the competition, performing several choreographed dances in coordinated outfits. According to Hendricks-Richman, the group spent weeks practicing and preparing for the event, and they believed the preparation paid off. DG came in second place, performing choreography to songs such as “I Kissed a Girl” by Katy Perry.
Greek Week concluded with events such as Dunk-a-Delt on Saturday, May 17, where students from Delta Tau Delta rented a dunk tank and invited passerby to take a shot at the target. Also on Saturday, students from several fraternities and sororities tabled at Zoo Days from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Kappa Kappa Gamma (KKG) sold hot dogs, pickles and Arnold Palmers to support the JED Foundation, an organization dedicated to protecting mental health among young people in the United States. Beta Theta Pi sponsored a petting zoo and donated all the proceeds to Appleton’s Saving Paws Animal Shelter. BYN sold popular Latin American foods and beverages such as elote, aqua fresca and tres leches at Zoo Days.
According to Urness, Greek Life has gotten a bad reputation on a national scale, which she says Lawrentians in Greek organizations are working to fix. She explained how DG is trying to ensure that their sorority has a positive impact on campus despite these connotations.
“It’s important to do it right,” Urness said. “Greek Life, especially in the south, has roots in classism and racism and I think we work very hard to make it clear that we are not associated with that.”
Hendricks-Richman believes that throughout Greek Week, Lawrence’s Greek organizations nourished community while spreading awareness about the goals and significance of Greek Life. Although fundraising was a major focus among most Greek Week events, Hendricks-Richman claims that community engagement is equally vital. The small size of the Lawrence student body means these organizations can make the greatest impact when they come together, Hendricks-Richman concluded.