Sergio Sandoval

Phi Sigma Sigma member Vienna Interiano vigorously pulled the rope.

Katie Hillier
Antonio Foncillas
Alexandra Lozano
Staff Writers

Rosy cheeks and fresh eyes filled the classrooms of La Verne on Monday as another Greek Week was laid to rest and students got some much-needed sleep.

As usual, Greek Week took over the campus last week and transformed it into a circus of games and entertainment.

“I think Greek Week showed the competitive side of sororities and fraternities,” said Michelle Ajemian, a sophomore public relations major and a member of the Iota Delta sorority.

Proud fraternity brothers and sorority sisters competed against each other for those treasured points that could eventually win them the ultimate prize as the winners of Greek Week.

“It was my first year as an active sister in Iota Delta and I got to experience what Greek Week was all about,” said Vanessa Avilez, a sophomore public affairs major.

It all began on Monday when the fraternities and sororities joined together to paint the rock.

Later that night, there was a meeting where everyone was informed about the rules of the week and each organization turned in a flag that they created to be judged.

Kourtney Brumfield

Phi Delta Theta’s Chris Weedon and Matt Cordova act out a fight scene from “West Side Story.”

On Tuesday, it was survival of the fittest as the games began.

In the morning, there was a letters competition where each organization found a creative way to showcase their letters within the theme of “what it means to be Greek.”

This competition turned out to be interesting when Sigma Kappa created a treasure hunt around campus that included the involvement of President Stephen Morgan.

Another organization that spiced up the day with its letters was Phi Delta Theta that set up couches and had a barbeque after a game of volleyball that lasted until dark.

This competition lasted all day and in the end was won by Sigma Kappa.
In an unexpected victory, Sigma Kappa also came out on top that day in a brutal game of tug-of-war—apparently their unique strategy involved a form of “sitting and scooting.”

Kourtney Brumfield

Ellen Luu, Michelle Hu and Jessica Vergara wait at the end of their treasure hunt to present their letters to the judges.

This was a very popular event, but it left many participants badly beaten up.

The dunk tank also highlighted the day as fraternity and sorority members tried to dunk the presidents of each organization.

However with the help of a faulty dunk tank, this task was a little easier than expected.

In the end Phi Delta Theta won.

As Tuesday drew to a close, students gathered together with blankets and pillows to watch the classic Greek movie “Animal House” and recover from the day’s activities.

But by Wednesday, the physical games came to a pinnacle with an evening of dodge ball.

Teams were made up of a mixture of fraternities and sororities and in this competition a team comprised of members of Phi Delta Theta and Iota Delta prevailed that evening.

Kourtney Brumfield

Kelly Stanlan and Stephanie Guerro share some last minute encouragement before beginning the Greek Olympics.

“Everyone was sharing the points ... it was more about inter-fraternal peace that night,” said Alex Wong, a member of Phi Sigma Sigma and the organizer of Greek Week.

Penny wars, a competition that went on all week, came to a close on Thursday with an energetic fight.

This competition got confusing as the donation of pennies earned each organization points but a contribution of silver change and dollar bills would count against each group.

As greenbacks were tossed into the jugs of various organizations, Greek members sweated it out to see who would reign victorious in this penny war competition.

“It is interesting to see who will feel the heat of penny wars,” said Mercy-Faith Kimbwala, the president of Phi Sigma Sigma.

Because of a missed deadline, Phi Delta fraternity was unable to participate in this competition so it was only between the sororities.
After the tireless counting of pennies Iota Delta was named the winner of penny wars.

Iota Delta was now on their way to fight for winners of the week.

Kourtney Brumfield

Phi Delta Theta fraternity humored the audience at the lip sync competition last Saturday in Founders Hall. Chris Skraba and Zach Lord show off their Greek pride and dance moves to the audience as “The Men in Tights.”

Whether a sorority or fraternity won or lost penny wars was of little importance because all the money was given to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

There was also a book drive benefiting the Literacy Clinic on Thursday for the Greek organizations to see which one could acquire the most K-12 books.

Sigma Kappa won this competition with a landslide victory of more than 6,000 books; this was more than all three other Greek organizations combined.

Leo’s Den was crowded with stacks of books that could be seen from across the street. And with this being Sigma Kappa’s fourth win of the week.

Sigma Kappa were now on a victory roll.

The most popular event of the week was lip sync, which happened on
Saturday night and drew very large crowds of support.

“Lip sync dominates Greek Week and each organization vies to be No. 1,” Kimbwala said.

Kourtney Brumfield

Cristina Ortiz, Julie Hadfield and their Phi Sigma Sigma sorority sisters closed their lip sync with an emotional tribute to Nereyda Iniguiez, the Phi Sigma Sigma member who recently lost her battle with leukemia.

Each fraternity and sorority created their own theme for lip sync and performed a musical medley within their theme.

This year Phi Sigma Sigma had a road trip theme, Sigma Kappa had a “Gilligan’s Island” theme, Phi Delta Theta had a classic movie song theme and the Iota Delta did a traveling theme.

All participants spent weeks rehearsing for this one moment to shine, and perhaps even win over the judges.

Audience participation was key at this event, and the large crowds that showed up that evening proved this point.

Hooting and hollering from the audience encouraged the performers and also the judges.

Sergio Sandoval

Phi Delta Theta fraternity brothers, Johnny Botkin and Eddy Geenan struggle to beat the Phi Sigma Sigma sisters Thursday.

The winner of lip sync was not announced that night but at an awards ceremony that was held on Sunday evening.

By the week’s end, all fraternity and sorority members were exhausted from all the events but they all managed to come together once more for the final awards ceremony at the Sheraton Hotel.

According to Chip West, this was the first year that the ceremony was held off campus.

Prizes were passed out for various feats including organization of the year, lip sync winner and Greek Week winner.

Sigma Kappa was named the winner of Greek Week and Phi Sigma Sigma was named organization of the year as well as the winner of lip sync.

“The overall feeling was one of friendly competition, but there was also a desire to tell (people) about the philanthropies we were raising money for,” Wong said.

Kourtney Brumfield

Iota Delta Corina Dubon brings Elvis back to life as she lip syncs Viva Las Vegas at last Saturday's lip sync competition.

Each of the fraternities and sororities in the end were all winners because the money they raised is set benefit various philanthropies.

However what was important was not who won the games but how that week instilled a strong sense of unity among the Greek organizations.

“The purpose of Greek week is for Greeks to come together and showcase all the great things Greek life offers,” said Ken Colby, president of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity.

“Although sometimes it turns into more of a competition than that; I believe that the purpose is inter-fraternal peace,” Colby added.

Katie Hillier can be reached at khillier@ulv.edu.
Antonio Foncillas can be reached at boueron_11@hotmail.com. Alexandra Lozano can be reached at himelozano@juno.com.

Kelly Rivas

Lauren Moon, Deborah Grumbach, Raquel Chavez and Amanda Shaw sing along to “Welcome to the Jungle.”