The Greek Court found itself added to this year’s festivities to add to the competition of Greek Week and representation of Greek life.

Each Greek chapter nominated a representative for the court. Throughout the week, the court members can be distinguished by a white sash.

“They’re gonna represent not only their council or chapter but Greek life as a whole,” explained Austin Rogers, vice president of communications for Order of Omega. “Throughout the week, they’ll be getting points for attending events, and then overall, Order of Omega will be watching them throughout the week, and however many votes they get from Order of Omega members, whoever has the highest number of points at the end of the week is gonna be selected as Greek God and Greek Goddess, and they’re gonna be an overall representation of Greek life.”

Being selected as Greek God or Goddess will contribute two points to the overall total of that person’s team.

Each chapter could choose its own method for selecting a nominee. Johnathon Phan, a member of Sigma Tau Gamma, explained that his fraternity used a poll to make him their representative.

“We saw who wanted to be involved with it and who wanted to be one of the representatives, and from that, we took people, and we had a little poll,” expressed Phan. “We voted on who best represented Sig Tau for this event.”

Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. nominated Kyriel Felton as its representative.

“We voted on who would be the best for the position and who would have the most time for it and who would be dedicated to it,” said Felton.

Past involvement in Greek life put Tyler Olivier, a member of Kappa Alpha Order, on the court.

“I was a past president, and I have had pretty good attendance at these events in years past, so the chapter felt I would be a good person to represent the chapter,” stated Olivier.

Jill Munchausen, a member of Alpha Omicron Pi, shared how she became her chapter’s representative.

Munchausen explained, “We thought it would be good to select a person that was kind of well known, also one that participates in a lot of events and is a good representation of what we stand for as a chapter, so that’s why they selected me to be our nomination.”

Receiving the nomination was an honor to Munchausen.

“It makes me feel good that my sisters appreciate me in that way, and it makes me feel very loved and happy that they want to support me on a bigger scale than just something within our sorority,” expressed Munchausen.

Sitting on the court means being familiar with Greek life. Felton discussed how she came to know her sorority.

“I would go to things on campus and see Greek life and see what they do, see what they’re about, find out information about them and do my research on them,” stated Felton.

Olivier described his fraternity as his family.

“If I’m having a bad day, they’re there to pick me up,” explained Olivier. “If I’m having a good day, they’re there to celebrate with me. They are what got me to decide to stay at Southeastern. They’re the reason I’m finishing school.”

For Olivier, the Greek Court emulates Homecoming Court.

“The purpose of it is kind of to show a little more significance of those individuals who do a lot through Greek life in a similar manner to how Homecoming Court shows a select few across all school life,” shared Olivier. “Given that this is Greek Week allows us to show some of those who have a bigger influence more directly related to Greek life itself.”

Felton discussed the addition of a court to Greek Week.

“I feel like it’s gonna promote more people to want to do Greek life and want to try to be their best so they can do it,” said Felton.

According to Munchausen, the court also serves to show Greek life in a positive light.

Munchausen stated, “It’s a representative of everything you stand for as a group but also everything your council stands for. So, I feel like it helps bring more of a positive light to what we do instead of ‘They just party,’ or ‘They just buy T-shirts’ or whatever. I feel like it brings more attention to the good things, and it’s like here are some good examples of what we do.”

The idea for the court developed from seeing the practice at other schools’ Greek life.

“We really just wanted a good representative from each chapter because the whole point of Greek life is bring everybody together so they collectively know one another,” explained Rogers. “So, doing that makes each chapter step out there and have that representative go speak with everybody, but overall, it’s just another fun competition for people.”