Greek Week has raised over $30,000 for charities each of the past three years, and on Monday the annual week got going again. Fifteen fraternities and eight sororities at the University of Miami will team up throughout the week in a variety of competitions to benefit United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) of South Florida.
At the week’s opening ceremonies Monday afternoon on the Lakeside Patio, members of Greek life were introduced to the organizers of the week, co-chairs Kelsey Johnson from Zeta Tau Alpha (ZTA) and Bryce Burton from Sigma Phi Epsilon.
Johnson and Burton spoke about the benefits of Greek Week as they organized the week’s blood drive that runs from Monday to Wednesday and raises $6 for UCP for each member who donates.
“This is a fun time for Greek life to come together. You are paired with different teams each year so you get to meet new people, collaborate on fun events and raise money toward a worthy cause,” Johnson said.
The theme Mix-It-Up was chosen based on the mixers that Greek life usually host.
“We wanted an original theme that the students are familiar with,” Burton said. “There are a lot of mixers in Greek life so we picked something they would be engaged in. So we picked the most cliché mixer themes possible and called it Mix-It-Up.”
Each team, with the exception of one, is composed of two fraternities and a sorority and named after a single theme that is commonly used in mixers, including: decades, superheroes, wild western, Hawaiian luau, high school stereotypes, America, rescue me and Greeks of the Caribbean.
“Mixers in Greek life are where fraternities and sororities go out to a venue to socialize with a theme for the get-together,” Vikesh Patel, the treasurer of Greek Week and Student Government President-elect said. “The themes see the members dress up to whatever was told and do activities relating to it.”
With the goal of winning Greek Week and raising the most money for philanthropy, members will work together to gain points by representing their teams in a range of events, which include the talent show Gods and Goddesses, cheering competition Organized Cheer and athletics competition Olympic Day.
Additionally, if members dine at one of the sponsored restaurants such as My Ceviche, Shake Shack or Bagel Emporium, 20 percent of the money they spend will benefit UCP.
Johnson provided a list of the teams, listed below.
Decades: Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Zeta Tau Alpha, Delta Epsilon Psi
Hawaiian Luau: Sigma Phi Epsilon, Delta Gamma, Phi Mu Alpha
Superheroes: Sigma Chi, Sigma Delta Tau, Sigma Alpha Mu
Wild Western: Alpha Epsilon Pi, Tri Delta, Zeta Beta Tau
High school stereotypes: Phi Delta Theta, Chi Omega, Delta Lambda Phi
America: Beta Theta Pi, Alpha Delta Pi, Alpha Sigma Phi
Rescue Me: Kappa Kappa Gamma, Kappa Sigma, Lambda Chi Alpha
Greeks of the Caribbean: Delta Phi Epsilon, Pi Kappa Phi