Greek Week 2013 made a splash like none other before it. The week long competition in which Greek fraternities and sororities participate took on a completely goal-oriented approach this time around, according to Order of Omega secretary and member of Delta Tau Delta Christopher Simoneaux.
“This year we completely revamped the Greek Week schedule,” Simoneaux said. “In the past, the events we participated in did not exactly facilitate growth and teamwork. Now, each activity encourages the teams to work together to come out on top.”
According to Simoneaux, representatives from both the Special Olympics and the University of South Florida came out to observe how the local Special Olympics office is ran in Hammond, La. The representatives also acted as judges for the cupcake bake-off.
At the culmination of the week, guest speaker Wynde Fitts gave a special presentation on the most important things Greek students should base their values on: scholarship, leadership, service and friendship. However, some new changes also earned points for the teams.
“We also had a scavenger hunt this year that included letters that spelled out the word G.R.E.E.K.,” said Simoneaux. “This was an opportunity for each team to get extra points aside from the actual activities.”
For general studies senior Dante Bidwell, it was his first Greek Week, along with his first appearance at the Greek Step Show.
“We’ve been practicing every day for the last two weeks,” Bidwell said about the demanding schedule of practice leading up to the step show. “I wanted to say we only didn’t practice for like two days out of the past two weeks.”
Team Action, made up of Pi Kappa Alpha, Alpha Psi Omega, Alpha Sigma Tau and Kappa Alpha took first place not only in the step show, but in the overall competition as well.
Simoneaux noted that setting up for Greek Week had its own share of difficulties.
“One of the biggest challenges we faced this year was rewriting the rules. As Greek Life at Southeastern grows we have to facilitate bigger organizations,” said Simoneaux. “This makes it hard because we have so many more people who want to participate. Therefore we have to make the activities bigger and better than the previous year. That has always been and will always continue to be, one of the biggest hurdles we face.”
Still, with help from the Order of Omega, things went off without a hitch.
“We had a great team of student leaders who are a part of Order of Omega who very willingly devoted their time to make this week a huge success. Order of Omega went above and beyond in making sure the activities ran as smoothly as possible,” Simoneaux said. “Participation this year was through the roof, and we are so proud to be representatives of such wonderful organizations.”
While Team Action has the rest of the year to revel in their accomplishments, it remains to be seen what Greek Week 2014 will have in store for the students of Greek life next year.