Two new events, Trivia Night and Karaoke Night, highlighted the 2019 Greekfest, held at UTM Monday, Jan. 28 – Friday, Feb. 1.
Trivia Night, which kicked off the weeklong array of Greek Life events, was held in conjunction with Discovery Park of America. Greek organizations went head to head in testing their knowledge across six categories, with 10 questions in each category. Questions such as “What are the beaches of Normandy?” kept organizations on their toes. The winners of this event were Alpha Delta Pi, Phi Beta Sigma, Kappa Alpha Order, Alpha Kappa Alpha who were awarded points for participation.
Service Night has been part of Greekfest for seven years and focuses on community and service rather than a competition. The 2019 service project focused on food insufficiencies and how that issue affects the Martin community. On Tuesday night, the UTM Fieldhouse was packed with 491 Greek students, which is about two-thirds of the Greek community.
Over the course of two hours, Greek students packed about 15,000 bags of macaroni and cheese meals to distribute to various food banks, such as We Care Ministries in Martin.
Karaoke Night, the other new event, didn’t earn Greek organizations any points but instead encouraged Greek students to come out and take a break from studying and/or practicing from other events. There was a Beyoncé and Jay-Z duet performed and other favorites where the crowd joined in.
The goal of Line Dance, held Thursday, Jan. 31, is for an organization to loop a song , choreograph a dance to go along and dance around a 45-by-20-foot square.
For sororities, Alpha Delta Pi won first place in the CPC division with a 1990s theme and a routine to Wannabe by the Spice Girls. Sigma Chi won first place in the IFC division for fraternities with an anything-but-average routine and inspiration from the 2004 movie Dodge Ball.
In the NPHC Division, Delta Sigma Theta sorority danced its way to first place and Alpha Phi Alpha placed first for the fraternities.
The Step Show is the final event for Greekfest each year. The IFC and CPC organizations compete against each other in their divisions. This event is significant because stepping is not a typical part of IFC/CPC organizations and merges differences among the groups. Most groups are paired with a coach from one of the NPHC organizations to help create a step routine.
In the IFC division, Kappa Alpha Order came in first place with a step routine inspired by the 1993 movie The Sandlot. In the CPC division, Alpha Omicron Pi took first place with a construction theme.
Typically, the goals of Greekfest are cited as organizations working together as a Greek community and incorporating the importance of Greek life. Trivia Night focused on the Greek pillar of scholarship and academic excellence, while Step Show focused on the pillar of sisterhood and brotherhood in Greek life. Service Night met the pillar of service.
