[media-credit name=”Photo courtesy of the Greek Week Committee” align=”alignleft” width=”741″]
[/media-credit]As the mud and sweat dried on participants of this year’s Tug, they couldn’t help but commiserate with their fellow brothers and sisters over the feeling of shared physical strain during the heat of competition.
Months of preparation led up to the day’s event, and while the outcome was not what some had hoped for, the preparation for and hardships of that day served the main purpose of Greek Week – to foster closer relationships within and between the different Greek chapters.
“When you are holding onto the rope it’s just extremely comforting to know that your brothers have your back, and it really encompasses the main idea behind Greek Week, which is to create trust between your brothers and sisters,” said Matt Waples, a member of the Delta Chi fraternity and a first-year MSE major.
This year’s festivities included traditional events like Tug, a tug-of-war in a mud pit, and Greek Sing, a singing and dancing competition, but also featured several new events including the Bromance Challenge, which was a hit among participants.
Modeled after “The Newlywed Game,” a late 80s TV game show, Bromance required participants in teams of two to demonstrate how much they knew about each other’s lives, the goal being to showcase how well chapter members knew one another.
A unique change to the format of Greek Week this year involved the added option for chapters to collaborate with others on select events, which would give them the opportunity to earn more points and get to know other members of other chapters.
Altogether, nearly 50 Greek chapters and over 2300 people participated in events during Greek Week, including those from the Collegiate Pan-Hellenic Council, Interfraternity Council, Multicultural Greek Council and the National Pan-Hellenic Council.
Greek Week concluded on Thursday night following Greek Sing, in which chapters demonstrated their musical talents for judging. An overall tally of points to determine the overall winner of Greek Week competition was unavailable at the time of press.