Greek Week this year incorporates old and new philanthropy and competitive events, with the goal in mind of raising awareness about Greek activities and praising achievements in the Greek community.

Greek Week will run April 4-9. It takes place annually, bringing together over 300 Simpson students to “build community and recognize each organization’s (fraternities and sororities) achievements,” said Nicole Modianos-Stumo, assistant director of student activities.

Sophomore Josh Brown and senior Sara Bieker are the chair persons of Greek Week this year. They came up with new ideas and developed a different Greek Week altogether.

New events that will be present this year are Can Castles, Campus Chalking, Survivor Challenge, Retro 5K Run and the Bowl-a-thon.

Brown is personally excited for the Bowl-a-thon and the Retro Run because the benefits go to the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Children will be present at the Bowl-a-thon for Greeks to meet and to participate in a fun activity.

Freshmen Anan Smith, member of the fraternity Lambda Chi Alpha, is excited for the Can Castles and the lip-sync event. Lambda Chi Alpha is doing a rendition of the music from the Academy Award winning movie “Moulin Rouge”.

Modianos-Stumo’s favorite event is lip sync because it involves a lot of people and it is an all-around exciting event.

Houses do not do all these events alone; fraternities and sororities are paired up with each other to compete together against three other teams.

These teams usually have exchanges beforehand and do events to get to know each other before they compete together.

Lambda Chi Alpha is paired up with Pi Beta Phi. According to Smith, they had an etiquette dinner recently where they went to each other’s houses for etiquette practice and getting to know each other.

Although exchanges are popular, there are other ways to get prepared for Greek Week. Modianos-Stumo said that this preparation may start weeks or even months before Greek Week.

Usually houses elect someone to be in charge of Greek Week and they go to meetings and give weekly reports. Houses also get together to plan and organize for the different events.

While houses get ready for Greek Week, Brown and Bieker are preparing themselves. As de-affiliated members of their respective fraternity and sorority (Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Kappa Kappa Gamma), they set everything up and made final arrangements. This is for fairness reasons, so they can not cheat or make unfair rules. They will make sure all teams are following the rules and working towards their purpose of unity and pro-Greek representation, said Brown.

Greek Week is not exclusive to campus Greeks. All students are welcome to watch any events, according to Modianos-Stumo. Also, faculty and staff get involved as judges and are voted as Greek God and Goddess. The titles of Greek God and Goddess are granted to faculty who are supportive of the Greek community.

For more information about Greek Week or this week’s upcoming activities, contact Brown or Bieker.