Carnegie Mellon Greek Life
AnchorSPLASH!
Saturday October 24 was Delta Gamma's annual Anchorsplash, a competition with six aquatic events held in the University Center pool. Each year, the event is held to raise money for Delta Gamma's national philanthropy, Service for Sight, an organization which spreads awareness about blindness and provides aid to the visually impaired. This year, through entry fees Anchorsplash raised a respectable total of $500.
The competition consisted of six events: relay races, a spoon pick-up contest, a breath holding contest, a handstand contest, a belly flop contest and lastly a synchronized swimming contest. Each event was either timed or judged based on various criteria. Out of the eight teams participating, the team "Wet Dreamz" won the overall event. The team, consisting of members of the men's swim team, was awarded a personalized trophy, Delta Gamma Anchorgames jerseys, and iTunes gift cards totaling $60. The runner-up team was the Fraternity Kappa Sigma. Many Greek chapters were able to participate, including Beta Theta Pi, Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa Sigma, Phi Kappa Theta, Delta Tau Delta and Sigma Phi Epsilon.
All of the 56 participants enjoyed themselves immensely and the sisters of Delta Gamma were very pleased with the turnout. Delta Gamma's Vice President of Foundation, Kristen Chou, says, "I think Anchorsplash is a great way to reconnect our chapter with our philanthropic mission. It's an event that unites the chapter to work towards a greater cause while having fun." The spring complement to Anchorsplash, Anchorslam, also serves as a fun and purposeful philanthropy event for the Greek community.
Every team participating had a lot of fun representing their chapter or organization and contributing to a greater cause. Chou says of the benefits of friendly competition at events like Anchorsplash and the recent Donut Dash held by SAE, "Friendly competition gets people excited and motivated to raise money for good causes. It's also a great way to connect different Greek houses and give people a chance to socialize with people who they wouldn't have met otherwise." We look forward to representation by many Greeks and non-Greeks at similar fun events throughout the semester!
SAE Donut Dash
By Hannah Post
The Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity recently hosted its first annual Donut Dash, a pastry-filled fundraiser for the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. On the morning of October 3, 2009, 85 people participated in a race around campus and doughnut-eating competition. The goal of $5,000 was surpassed with a total of $5,219 raised for the Children's Hospital. The event was a complete success, with representation by many Greek chapters and other organizations on campus.
A total of 23 teams and 26 individuals participated in the event. The competition consisted of a one-mile race around the perimeter of the university, which ended at the UC, where both teams and individuals ate up to a dozen doughnuts before continuing. Participants then ran the second mile to the finish line, where they could enjoy music and refreshments until prizes were given to the top performers.
Participants included teams from Greek chapters, other campus organizations, and individuals. SAE's philanthropy chairman Alonzo Benavides says, "It absolutely brought together the community. We had participation from about half the Greek chapters. After the event was over, we were able to bring a good crowd to the first Greek Week event (the BBQ at the fence)." The event served both as a kick-off for Greek Week and a great way for Greeks and non-Greeks to engage in fun, light-hearted competition on a Saturday morning. Whitney Ladzick, a participant in the race, agrees that the event brought people together, "The best example of this was during the national anthem when the performer forgot the words to The Star Spangled Banner and the entire crowd joined in and sang along before setting off in a dead sprint down Frew Street." Benavides hopes that this worthwhile event will be brought back annually as a way to raise funds for an admirable cause and, of course, to have fun!
The $5,219 will go directly to the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh to develop new patient facilities. SAE will work in conjunction with the hospital to distribute the funds. Benavides enjoyed "seeing 85 people from different communities around campus, all ready to run and eat doughnuts for a great cause. Not many people would want to run 2 miles on a Saturday morning, much less eat 12 doughnuts. Yet people were excited to be there." The goal of $5,000 and the worthwhile cause inspired people to come together to run, and of course devour countless Krispy Kreme doughnuts.
For more information about Carnegie Mellon's Fraternities and Sororities, look at the 2009-2010 Greek Brochure.
