The annual tradition of games and festivities for Greek life took place last week during Greek Week, which was a time of friendly competitive bonding between the houses.

“I love the 90s” was the theme of Greek Week this year. Every year there is a different theme to this week that is meant to build cohesiveness between the different chapters and houses in the Simpson Community.

“Greek Week is sort of like a spirit week for the Greek community that takes place during the spring semester,” junior Allison Lane of the Pi Beta Phi Sorority said.

According to junior Maren Landers, a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority and Greek Week co-chair, the houses are paired together for each event. One sorority and one fraternity are teamed up to compete with other sororities and fraternities for each event. The teams change daily.

Anyone from any house can compete, and each house decides in different ways who will participate in each event, but for most houses the members will sign up for which event they are most interested in. Only Greeks can compete in this week long process, but the events are open for anyone to come and watch if they want to.

According to Landers, Greek Week activities can sometimes be big draws for potential members.

“If people are interested in Greek life, this is a great time to come out and see what they could be involved in,” Landers said. “It’s kind of a thing we tell people when they are going through recruitment because only Greeks are allowed to participate in it.”

There are various activities each house can participate in and different events for people of every talent throughout the week. Events range from dodgeball and olympics to jeopardy and a scavenger hunt. There is also a banner decoration competition. Points can also be gained for each house by nominating different individuals for different awards such as most involved new member or best president, Landers said. A non-Greek committee then decides the winners of those events.

Junior Collin Harrison, Greek week co-chair and Sigma Alpha Epsilon member, said that there are events that chapters were required to participate in throughout the week, such as an all-Greek photo. Chapters attended a speaker over issues pertaining to college and Greek life, an awards ceremony and Campus Day. Greek Week normally lines up with Campus Day week.

“The lip sync is definitely the most popular event,” Harrison said. “It is the final event of the week and is the one that takes the most time to coordinate and get ready for the chapters. Everyone really seems to love it.”

The lip sync contest took place last Thursday before the awards ceremony.

Kappa Kappa Gamma was crowned the champion of Greek Week 2009. Pi Beta Phi and Sigma Alpha Epsilon received second place.

The winner is presented with a trophy that they get to keep in their house until the following year’s Greek Week.

“The most points all around sometimes gets a plaque, but mostly just bragging rights,” Junior Alissa Baswell, member of Kappa Kappa Gamma, said.

According to Lane, each winner of an event and the runners up get points toward determining the grand champion.

The different events take place throughout campus.

The Greek Week chairs, Landers and Harrison, along with Lindsey Hunzelman, assistant director of student activities, started planning Greek Week about a month before it actually took place.

In that month they sent out information to the other chapters about the week of events.

The planning was fairly simple, Harrison said, because many of the events are traditions held each year.

Landers and Harrison coordinated Greek Week as part of their duties as vice presidents of Panhellenic Council and Interfraternity Council, respectively.

“Greek Week is great, and I love being one of the people in charge of it,” Harris said. “It is something that everyone involved in Greek life looks forward to because it is a fun way to bond as a community while still having the competitive nature that gets people excited.”

According to Hunzelman, Greek Week is one of the most important and longest running traditions to the Greek community on campus.

“I love participating in Greek Week because it not only allows you to have fun with your chapter but also have a little friendly competition with the other Greek houses as well,” Basewell said. “It is a good opportunity to get to know other houses and Greeks.”