Greek Week: five days of Panhellenic and Interfraternity chaos

Delta Delta Delta members Samantha Jimenez (left) and Alexa Hallock (right) dunk their sorority sisters in water to raise money for Greek Week at a March 11 tabling event. MADDIE MANTOOTH, Staff Photographer

Damian Lemagnen kicked his Monday off by getting drenched in paint.

The sophomore business major stood in front of the Pi Beta Phi (Pi Phi) table in the Attallah Piazza, dripping in red, blue and green paint for the sole purpose of helping his fraternity, Phi Delta Theta (Phi Delt), raise money. 

“I’m covered in paint for Greek Week,” Lemagnen said to the crowd. “I’m soaked, but I’m drying off, and hopefully, I don’t get shot (with paint) again.”

Greek Week is an annual series of competitions where Panhellenic sororities and Interfraternity Council (IFC) fraternities are paired to raise money for philanthropic purposes and to create lasting bonds and memories among chapters. Chapman University’s 2022 Greek Week theme was the Olympics. 

Monday was the first day of Greek Week, focusing on tabling to raise money for each sorority and fraternity pairing’s philanthropies. As a member of Phi Delt, Lemagnen tabled with sorority Pi Phi on Monday to raise money for the Malala Fund. Students could Venmo Pi Phi to shoot paint at a Phi Delt. 

Delta Delta Delta (Tri Delta) and Phi Kappa Tau’s (Phi Tau) fundraisers were similar, with “Dunk a Delta” and “Flood a Phi Tau” both involving water and a member of Greek life. The sororities and fraternities raised a collective $2500 from tabling.

”I have (been dunked) twice,” Clements told The Panther. “It’s very cold out, so it’s been very interesting.”

On Tuesday, an obstacle course was held at the dorm courts, which included a cardboard boat race, tug-of-war and spikeball. The standout of the three events was a tug-of-war match where Pi Kappa Alpha (Pike) and Gamma Phi Beta (GPhi) went head-to-head with Delta Sigma Phi (DSig) and Kappa Kappa Gamma (Kappa).

After the match, Nick Vamis, a junior business administration major, puked into the sand. Immediately after Pike and GPhi secured first place, Vamis crouched and heaved, but he stood up minutes later to rejoice with his brothers over their victory. 

“Honestly I feel awesome; a little sick — threw up a little bit,” Vamis said after the victory, out of breath. “But we brought it home.”

Vamis was still hunched over, attempting to recover when another Pike member asked him what he ate before the match.

“Jimmy Johns — hello, Jimmy Johns,” Vamis said. “It’s all out on the field right now. But it was well worth it.”

The third day of Greek Week encompassed a talent show on Wednesday, which featured the musicians, dancers and stand-up comedians of Panhellenic and IFC. Delta Gamma member Alyssa Runyeon, a freshman screen acting major, kicked off the talent show by singing Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheats,” while two members of Phi Gamma Delta (Fiji) played the drums and guitar. 

The crowd fell silent in order to hear Runyeon’s voice, powerful even without a microphone. 

“It was really fun. I was just really nervous, especially because all of the technical stuff had (taken) so long to set up,” Runyeon said. “That was a little disappointing. I wish I would have had a mic. I feel like that would have been a lot more comfortable, but I think given the circumstances, we did pretty good.” 

Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) and Alpha Phi (APhi) won first place with their medley of “Something” by The Beatles, “Landslide” by Fleetwood Mac and “Adore You” by Harry Styles. Augie Isaac, a junior film production major, performed alongside APhi Dylan Mattingly, a freshman vocal performance major, and AEPi guitarist Aiden Glikmann, a junior film production major, in creating what felt like an indie band. 

Glikmann told The Panther the group chose to sing love songs because “we need more love in this world.”        

Though they did not place, Phi Delt and Pi Phi’s performance had the crowd cheering the loudest. 

From left to right: Pi Beta Phi (Pi Phi) member Bella Birkhofer, Devin Goodwin and Marcelo De La Maza — members of Phi Delta Theta — and Pi Phi Isabel Edwards perform Justin Bieber’s “Beauty and a Beat” for the Greek Week talent show March 9. EMILY PARIS, Staff Photographer

Phi Delt member Marcelo De La Maza, a sophomore double majoring in business administration and public relations and advertising, sang “Beauty and the Beat” by Justin Bieber alongside Pi Phis Bella Birkhofer, Isabel Edwards and Phi Delt Devin Goodwin. De La Maza threw off his jacket midsong, which made the crowd scream even louder. 

“The only things we planned out were who was going to sing what and (who was) dancing, but we didn’t really plan the moves,” De La Maza said. “We just (went) for it in the moment.”

Across all fraternities and sororities, the last event on Friday — called chant — was the event that everyone was anticipating the most. Chant is a cheer done by members of each sorority and fraternity pairing that includes shoutouts for all the chapters.

The girls of Kappa wore bows and skirts while the boys of Delta Sigma Phi wore dark blue jerseys and red sweatbands for their “High School Musical” themed chant. 

AJ Miranda, a freshman applied human physiology major and DSig’s Greek Week chair, said DSig and Kappa focused on unity.

“We wanted to do something that represented unity, so we thought of ‘High School Musical’ and ‘(We’re) All In This Together’ and sports, like ‘Get’cha Head in the Game’ and stuff like that,” Miranda said.

The winners of chant and Greek Week overall were Pike and GPhi. Their chant began with the tune of “Power” by Kanye West, but the repeated lyric “aye, power” was replaced with “Pike, Gphi.” The cheering from observing GPhi and Pike provided the extra power to those participating in order to secure the win.

Lexi Hernandez, a senior environmental science and policy and sociology major and a member of GPhi’s chant, told The Panther that the excitement for this year’s Greek Week was special.

“I think there is more excitement now (than my freshman year), because we haven’t had (Greek Week) for two years, so you have a lot of seniors that are my year that are like, ‘This is our last chance,’” Hernandez said. "We are all just super excited to have one last year, one last chance at it before we graduate.”