Greek Week sees changes and higher turnout

This past week, Penn Greeks decided to mix things up a little.

The Interfraternity Council, the Panhellenic Council and the Multicultural Greek Council brought about some new changes to Greek Week, which takes place every semester. “This year’s committee worked really hard to come up with new things that would be interesting for students,” said Scott Reikofski, director of the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life.

Two new events were introduced during the week — a speaker series and a dodgeball fundraising tournament. The speaker event, which replaced the usual faculty tea, invited three professors and provided an opportunity to “bring in the academic community and highlight the academic side of Greek life,” said College senior and IFC President Andrew Turell. Twice the number of people expected — about 200 total — showed up to the event.

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The second new event was a dodgeball fundraising tournament for the B Foundation that raises money for children’s cancer research. “The tournament was a way to engage the various fraternities and it spoke to the philanthropic side of the Greek community,” Turell said. Sixteen teams participated, which exceeded the council’s expectation of about 12. The team registrations raised approximately $500.

The usual Meet the Greeks barbecue also saw some changes this semester. The barbecue, which was held on Locust Walk in previous years, was moved to High Rise Field. “It was an interesting take from the years past,” College senior and IFC Executive Vice President Chris Weidner said. “We found that Locust Walk wasn’t as exciting or effective.”

Gallery: Greek Week 2013

Weidner said that the concentrated area for the barbecue helped Greeks have a better area in which to interact with each other. They also invited the freshman class to learn about the Greek chapters. Several tables were set up at the event displaying various chapters — 20 IFC chapters, all eight Panhellenic chapters and four to five MGC chapters were represented.

The Rena Rowan 5K that took place on Sunday has raised over $2,000, and donations continue to be tallied. Over 500 Greek members were present at the event.

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According to Reikofski, student turnout this semester was higher than expected and greater than last semester. He attributed much of the success to the excitement over new events that were introduced throughout the week.

“We inherited something that had been in place for about five to 10 years and we gave our successors a good program to improve upon,” Weidner said.

In order to foster the success of future Greek Weeks, the three councils will be creating a Greek Week manual that will outline events that have been done in the past and serve as a guideline or springboard for new ideas. “There’s more potential in both of these events and we want to pass institutional knowledge to future Greek community leaders on which they can improve,” Turell said.

Now that Greek Week has come to a close, the councils will be turning to more serious business as they begin to prepare for council elections.

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