Campus sororities, fraternities hold a week full of events to promote values

Greek Week is a time for all Northwest sororities and fraternities to get together and commemorate their values. This is the first time since 2017 that Greek Week has been celebrated at Northwest, this break was due to a lack of interest in the week from members and COVID.

The last week of March was dedicated to events and fundraising that brought the groups together. Everything they did throughout the week represented different values that Greek organizations have, like civic engagement, scholarship, accountability, community and leadership.

Greek Life Coordinator Annie Punt graduated from Northwest in 2022 and is an alumna of Alpha Sigma Alpha - Phi Phi chapter. Greek Week is something celebrated on many college campuses during the springtime since they have so much going on during the beginning of the year. She said the week's whole purpose is to return to the roots of Greek life.

“It’s a way to make our values fun,” Punt said. “So that they’re still remembering the reason why they are in Greek life and then having fun while doing it.”

Northwest has six sororities and 10 fraternities. Punt asked two members from each chapter to get together and plan out Greek Week. They started planning in January — Punt said she was surprised to see how much work they put into planning these events and how engaged they were in making it memorable.

The chapters opened up the week with "Chariot Races" and "Greek Family Feud" afterward March 27. Presidents participated in a "Dunk Tank" March 28. They played Capture the Flag at Bearcat Stadium March 29. Then the annual “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” event, sponsored by the Interfraternity Council, was held March 30. This event is dedicated to recognizing sexual assault by having men walk a mile in women's shoes, specifically, red heels.

Punt said it's supposed to show that these men are there and support women, especially through dating and domestic violence. April 1 they hosted a "Field Day" where members participated in activities like dodgeball and three-legged races at the Student Rec Center. Ending the week, April 2 with "Lip-Sync Battles," "Stroll Show" and an award ceremony.

Chapters also sold cupcakes and puppy chow for the New Nodaway Humane Society. Punt said she hopes this pushes them to do more in their affiliations.

“I hope they get closer, I think recruitment in the fall is a big competitive thing,” Punt said.

Junior Robbie Keays is part of Sigma Phi Epsilon - Missouri Lambda. He participated in the “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes.” Keays and other fraternity men walked from the Memorial Bell Tower to the Nodaway County Courthouse. Sorority members walked with them and had conversations with them about sexual assault. Punt said hopefully they learn something new about sexual assault awareness. Keays said he walked alone to reflect on what it means as a society to be able to put yourself in someone else's shoes.

“I think it really important to raise awareness for sexual assault because it happens everywhere,” Keays said. “It's not talked about enough. The victims need to know that we are with them always and that we love them and cherish them.”

Greek Week was open for students to come to watch. Punt said this week was also a recruitment tactic and hopefully students see the sense of belonging that all of the chapters have.

Punt said she learned how to lead through being in a sorority. She said she also learned how to delegate things and put on different hats at different times. Punt made life-long friends in her sorority, and she said it gave her the opportunity to understand more about herself.

Freshman Emma Tabor is part of Phi Mu - Zeta Lambda Chapter. She attended most of the events and said she had a lot of fun. Tabor's favorite part about Greek Week was watching the fraternities walk a mile in heels. She said it's for a good cause, and it was cool to see them walk in women's shoes.

“I learned that we need to do more things like Greek Week and getting together,” Tabor said. “When we are together, everyone has fun, and I think we need to break the stigma of Greeks being pinned against each other.”

Throughout the week, all the chapters were given points on attendance, sportsmanship and on-event wins. After the lip-sync battle, awards were given out, but the overall winner from Greek Week was Pi Kappa Alpha - Mu Phi Chapter.

There has been an increase in a switch to a four-day school week in rural areas in effort to increase teacher recruitment and retention. Rural areas tend to produce more challenges for teachers, they receive lower wages than suburban areas. Wage isn’t the only issue, housing can be a challenge and employment opportunities for teachers’ spouses tend to be lower. 119 out of 518 school districts in Missouri attended school for four days in 2021-2022.

“I feel like we are in cycle, you know anything we can do: the four day, better pay, better benefits, better insurance,” Blackford said. “The better off we all will be to get more quality educators.”