Lauryl Bakke
Staff Writer
Sher Porter
LV Life Editor
Lip sync made its return to campus Friday when Greek Week, themed The Best Greek Week Ever, took place.
The week began with competitive activities like dodgeball, the Greek series of pop culture and a “Family Feud” style game.
It ended on Friday with each Greek organization giving their own lip sync performance.
At the end, the organizations saw who was given the individual awards and the ultimate title of Greek Week champions.
“All the good stuff outweighs the bad stuff on Friday,” said Naime Laskar, junior business administration major and co-coordinator of Greek Week.
Greek organizations began preparing for lip sync months in advance. They had to create a theme, choose songs and create dance routines that would keep the audience entertained. Each performance was judged on such criteria as enthusiasm, props and creativity.
“It was a lot of work. It took lot of time and effort but the finished product was amazing,” said Annie Parker, a senior psychology major and Greek Week chairwoman for Phi Sigma Sigma.
The plans that each organization had were kept secret until the day of, in fear that ideas might be stolen.
The night started with an introduction from Greek Week coordinators Laskar and Alan Hernandez.
Then it was time for the first performance of the night, the women of Alpha Omicron Pi, who did their interpretation of “Alice in Wonderland” called “Alice in Hip Hop Land.”
After the lights went out, Alice searched for her friend and ended up in Hip Hop Land with hip-hop versions of “Alice in Wonderland” characters.
Then it was time for the first set of awards for the night. Amanda Romero of Alpha Omicron Pi received the New Member of the Year award, Outstanding Service and Outstanding Scholarship went to Iota Delta and Greek Advocate of the Year, went to Alpha Omicron Pi’s adviser Mike Laponis.
Next the women of Phi Sigma Sigma’s performed their version of “Wizard of Oz.” Dorothy was trying to find her way back to her sisters saying, “There’s no place like Phi Sig,” when she clicked her heels.
Following, were the women of Sigma Kappa, who took the crowd through each month. They started with summer and ended with spring, following the alignment of the school year.
The next couple of awards were Greek Man of the Year which went to Alan Hernandez of Phi Delta Theta, Greek Woman of the Year which went to Cerina De Souza of Iota Delta and Greek Adviser of the Year which went to Phi Sigma Sigma’s adviser Wendy Lau.
Then it was time for the announcement of who won the can competition.
The can competition was a way to combine philanthropy and competition.
This year a percentage of the money raised in the competition went to the Ortega family that was devastated by a Christmas Eve shooting that left nine dead.
The standings were Sigma Alpha Epsilon in sixth, Alpha Omicron Pi in fifth, Phi Sigma Sigma in fourth, Phi Delta Theta in third, Iota Delta in second and Sigma Kappa in first. In all, they were able to raise more than $1,600 for the Ortega family that was in attendance to accept its check.
“I think it was a great philanthropy,” said Antoinette Borders, a senior criminology major and member of Sigma Kappa. “Sigma Kappa raised a lot of cans and it was very productive.”
The other percentage went to Sigma Kappa’s philanthropy of choice.
Then it was back to the performances, with Phi Delta Theta up next. They performed a rendition of “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure,” with Bill and Ted traveling through history finding the men in tights and the Spartans.
Following them were the women of Iota Delta, who had four women meet monsters an ghosts at night while walking through Founders Hall.
The last performance was from Sigma Alpha Epsilon.
They did their own performance of “Scooby-Doo” with two men dressed as women and one dressed in heels and a tight, short dress.
After all the organizations performed, they waited for the results to be tallied.
Associate Dean of Student Affairs Ruby Montaño-Cordova said some words as the audience waited.
Then the last but most prestigious awards were announced.
Iota Delta was named the Greek Organization of the Year.
Then it was the announcement of which organization won Lip Sync and the tension in the room could be felt by everyone.
The standings were: Iota Delta in sixth place, Alpha Omicron Pi in fifth place, Sigma Kappa in fourth place, Sigma Alpha Epsilon in third place, Phi Sigma Sigma in second and Phi Delta Theta in first.
“It was a great experience and I will remember it for the rest of my college experience,” Roddy Cobb Jr., a junior psychology major and member of Phi Delta Theta, said.
“I’m speechless at how well we did,” Parker said. “It was a lot of fun.”
To finish the night the winners of the entire week and the Greek Week champions were announced.
After all the scores were tallied up and the presenters were done stalling for time, it was finally announced that Phi Delta Theta was named the Greek Week champion.
They got first in several competitions and got one hundred percent participation in Wednesday night’s mandatory comedian performance and lecture event.
Cobb said their dedication and determination helped led them to be victorious for the week and for lip sync.
After months of planning, practice and late night rehearsals and a week of wins and losses, Greek Week was officially over.
“It was difficult but it all paid off at lip sync,” Laskar said.
Lauryl Bakke can be reached at lauryl.bakke@laverne.edu.
Sher Porter can be reached at sher.porter@laverne.edu.
