Jinkies Monmouth. We have another Greek Week on our hands!
Every year the Greek Week Committee, composed of campus officials and representatives from each Greek life organization, come together for a week of events and competition.
With Scooby Doo as the theme, this year’s Greek Week was led by Cullen Marshall, Monmouth College and Sigma Phi Epsilon Alumnae, who recently accepted the position of Coordinator of Campus Events and Student Engagement.
“Planning Greek Week overall was a great experience. Our Greek Week directors and other students helped immensely, whenever I am working with fraternity and sorority life members they are always very organized. There weren't official pairings for competitive events this year, so everyone was able to mingle and cooperate with everyone. We tried something new, and it felt cohesive and cooperative.” Marshall said.
Greek Week events officially kicked off on Sunday, beginning with Fred’s Community Service event. Each organization takes care of an area on campus to clean up, and was assigned points for up to 5 participants per chapter.
On Monday, chapters participated in Shaggy’s Blindfolded Taste Test. Each chapter chose five members, one to participate in each round of tasting. Each participant tasted five items from each category and had to guess its flavor. These categories included chips, drinks, frosting, and cookies. Points were awarded to members each time they guess ed a flavor correctly.
On Wednesday, the Greek Week Committee and ASAP teamed up to put on Daphne’s 70’s Mini Golf. Each organization gained points for overall chapter percentage that came, and additional points for dressing to the 70s theme.
On Thursday, Velma’s Jeopardy Tournament kicked off with teams of two from every organization competing in Scooby-Doo themed trivia. Points are awarded varying in amount by place, with first place being awarded the most points.
Starting on March 16th, members from each organization gained more points by donating in a campus blood drive hosted by Elizabeth Smith (Kappa Kappa Gamma Alumnae) and ImpactLife. There were 48 donors in total.
The Penny Wars competition allowed each organization could donate pennies into their bucket for positive points, and any silver coins or cash into other buckets for negative points. The organizations collected $663.49 throughout the week that was donated to Western Illinois Animal Rescue (WIAR) in Monmouth.
Each morning for Scooby’s Hidden Dog Tags, Greek week directors Luis Castillo (Junior, Zeta Beta Tau), and Kaitlyn Fox (Senior, Pi Beta Phi) sent out a riddle directing members to an office around campus in which they could find their organization’s dog tag and turn it in for extra points.
Greek Week typically concludes Friday night with the annual Fraternity and Sorority Life Banquet. This year, due to unexpected bad weather, the ceremony was moved to Sunday night. The awards given recognize students and faculty members involved in Greek life that excel in their fields. At the banquet, Kappa Kappa Gamma was announced as this year’s champion.
Senior Gabrielle Crothers, former Kappa Kappa Gamma president, said “Sitting at the Greek awards banquet, it really did hit me that this was my last Greek week and many things are coming to an end. It’s bittersweet for sure. It was so fun to finish my last Greek week with a win in Kappa, but I was much more excited to see all the energy and excitement within all Greek organizations this year. I missed a few Greek weeks in my college experience due to COVID, so it was refreshing to feel normal again. Although I will miss Greek life more than anything, I feel good knowing that I’m leaving on a high note with all 7 organizations being incredibly successful.
Izzy Gimm - Contributing Writer