The Greek organizations on campus hosted the community-wide event, Go Greek, at the Gerhard Fieldhouse on March 31. Go Greek kicked off Greek Week 2019, which is an annual tradition involving a full week of daily activities relating to sorority and fraternity life on campus.

This year’s Greek Week will continue through April 7. Other events taking place during this year’s Greek Week include Greek Trivia, Philanthropy Dodgeball, and the Aly Raisman Lectureship event.

The purpose of the annual Go Greek festival is to introduce the different fraternities and sororities to the local community, as well as to first-year students who are considering going through the recruitment process.

“Like all other freshmen, I am extremely nervous about recruitment. The Go Greek event helped calm my stress. All of the sorority girls were extremely nice and welcoming to all prospective members,” Natalie Notz ’22 said.

The event featured inflatable bounce houses and slides, in addition to other games and free t-shirts for everyone in attendance. Students also enjoyed free barbecue food and desserts which included pulled-pork sandwiches, burgers, and cookies. A student band performed throughout the day to provide music for the event.

Each one of the seven active fraternity chapters and ten active sorority chapters had a booth run by current members of the organization. Members of Greek life discussed the goals, values, and philanthropic work of their chapter with various students and community members in attendance.

Each Greek organization also offered activities for students and community members to participate in which represented their chapter’s philanthropy efforts. From Alpha Chi Omega sorority’s beaded bracelets to raise awareness for domestic violence to Alpha Xi Delta sorority’s decorated puzzle pieces to benefit Autism Speaks, the chapters offered crafts that allowed students to interact with members while learning about important volunteer efforts that each organization is involved in.

“I liked how each table had their own activity so you could complete the activity while getting to know the sisters,” Notz said.

Although Go Greek is not a formal recruitment event, it allowed prospective members to familiarize themselves with the different chapters in a relaxed setting. It also gave representatives from different organizations the opportunity to learn more about one another.

“I really liked that I was given the opportunity to meet and talk to brothers from different frats in a casual setting without the pressure that comes with going to an official recruitment event. The event as a whole was just really fun and exciting,” Jack Magarelli ’22 said.