Monday, April 4th: the sun was shining, a breeze was blowing, and hundreds of st
udents in Greek apparel were chanting at the top of their lungs on the festival lawn. As much as it may seem like Greek Life launched a full-scale siege of JMU’s campus last week, they were simply participating in Greek Week. The long-standing competition between the ten sororities and fifteen fraternities takes place every April and consists of multiple events that connect the community as a whole under the motto, “Unite, Involve, and Serve.” Despite what occasionally seems to be a cutthroat competition, the week is devoted to serving the Harrisonburg and Rockingham communities through service projects, donations, and multiple fundraisers, highlighting the hard work of our Greek students. HerCampus™ is here to give you the play-by-play as well as the inside scoop on why Greek Week is way more than a cute t-shirt!
The week began on Sunday with all organizations gathering at Memorial Hall for a kick off event and kept the momentum going for Monday’s famous “Shack-A-Thon” in which teams squared off to build structures out of common materials such as cardboard, plastic, duct tape, and spray paint. For the most part the structures followed the theme of Greek Week, which was “Gatorade”, and were judged on creativity, durability, and sportsmanship. Some of the creations included a giant “gator,” a recreation of JMU’s Bridgeforth Stadium, and an oversized Gatorade bottle. Alpha Phi, Alpha Epsilon Pi, and Delta Sigma Theta (aka Red Rain Blue Thunder) took home the gold for their adorable “Love shack,” symbolizing the values and creeds of their organization.
During this hectic week it was still important for Greeks to maintain their excellent grades, so Tuesday’s event consisted of study hours at both Carrier Library and ECL. Participation points were given out for each member of a chapter present and students had a chance to catch up on school work and projects just in time for Wednesday’s field day competition. The field day was comprised bracket style, with teams competing in three legged races, hula hoop contests, water balloon tosses and more. Once again, team Red Rain Blue Thunder showed true greek pride and placed first in event.
Thursday marked the culmination of the competition with the much anticipated song and dance contest known as Greek Sing, where participating organizations showcase a themed performance in order to raise money for charity. The environment was highly energetic, with students chanting for their chapters and elaborate props and choreography. All performers gave a fantastic show that highlighted the year long hard work of each chapter but Delta Delta Delta and Delta Sigma Phi took home the coveted first place award, with Alpha Sigma Tau and Alpha Epsilon Pi earning a very respectable second place spot.Â
 Throughout the week the chapters participated in various service projects, such as attending bingo nights at a local nursing home and creating care packages to send to soldiers overseas. There were also events to collect canned food for local shelters and raise money for relay for life. The organizations also raised money for the Harrisonburg Rockingham Child Day Care Center.
One of the four Greek Week coordinators, Rachael Palumbo, cited the week as a “a chance for the greek life community to unite together and break down stereotypes,” where students teamed up to support the multiple worthy charities and centers throughout Harrisonburg. Rachael also spoke of a new addition to the Greek week program, “We started a new tradition by including the organizations housed under the Center for Multicultural Student Services (CMSS). We hoped that by including JMU’s entire greek week community it would lead to breaking boundaries and defining our future.” The Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life is also working on founding a scholarship that, once endowed, would award one male and one female student who embody strong greek values and leadership.
If you missed it, be sure to congratulate the overall champions of the week – Alpha Phi, Alpha Epsilon Pi, and Delta Sigma Theta! Congratulations to all chapters who worked extremely hard at making this year’s week a record-breaking event.