2021 Greek Week at ASU supports local organizations

Every year, sororities and fraternities at ASU participate in Greek Week, a weeklong philanthropy competition that builds community and raises funds for organizations doing incredible work around the Valley and beyond. 

This year’s Greek Week was held in April. ASU fraternity and sorority men and women squared off into teams and engaged in friendly competition to raise money for Valley of the Sun United Way, and Amanda Hope Rainbow, perform acts of service for their community and educate themselves on different cultures present in Greek life.

Sam Teplitz, a senior majoring in engineering management, helped organize this year’s Greek Week as a member of Theta Xi. Teplitz said philanthropy is an important part of Greek Life.

From left: Thea Mushro from Kappa Alpha Theta and Wyatt Folley from Theta Xi collecting Greek Week awards for their chapters

“It's important for us to fundraise for Valley of the Sun United Way because there are over 7,000 homeless people just in Maricopa County. Donations of $5 are able to send 25 meals to a food bank and donations of $100 are able to keep a family in a shelter for three days. We want to help our community out as much as possible, so we are trying to fundraise as much as we can,” he said.

To aid the work of Amanda Hope Rainbow Angels, Teplitz also says they created "chemo covers" for children with cancer. 

“Chemo covers are fun and inspiring covers that children can place over their chemotherapy machine so that they don't feel so intimidated while getting treatment,” said Teplitz. “It's important for us to create these covers so that we can bring smiles to these children’s faces and help them with their battle against cancer.”

Sun Devils participated in Greek Week both virtually and in-person this year. A few of the activities included:

A blood drive at the Tempe Sun Devil Fitness Complex, where students came in-person to donate blood or help with the operations of the blood drive.

An on-campus, socially distant fundraising event where teams competed against each other to raise the most amount of money in a two-hour time frame.

A virtual panel with the CFO of Valley of the Sun United Way, where students could hear about the impact Greek Week is having for Maricopa County.

A virtual Among Us Tournament, where teams received a list of ways to score points and become the victor in nine games. 

The final event of Greek Week was the Greek Sing competition. This year’s theme for the high-energy song and dance competition was the Masked Singer. In typical years, the fraternity and sorority teams would perform their dances live at Gammage, but this year teams made videos of themselves performing their dance.

Teplitz led the planning committee this year and was ecstatic to be able to put his ideas on how to keep the traditions of Greek Week alive in a COVID-safe way into place. 

“Greek Week has been an activity I've participated in since I became a freshman here at ASU. I've continued to do it every single year because it allows me to do something great for my community, meet others within it and have a lot of fun,” he said. 

Winners were selected based on a combination of competitive scoring opportunities and fundraising. The top fundraising chapter for the 2021 event was Lambda Sigma Upsilon Latino Fraternity, Inc., which raised $1,003. The team that raised the most was Theta Xi, Alpha Delta Pi and Kappa Alpha Theta, which together raised $2,263.  In total, the community raised $14,000 for the Valley of the Sun United Way. 

Greek Week winners were

1st: Theta Xi, Alpha Delta Pi, Kappa Alpha Theta 

2nd:  Alpha Omicron Pi, Fiji, Delta Gamma 

3rd: Alpha Chi Omega, Sigma Kappa, Zeta Beta Tau

Greek Sing winners were

1st: Theta Xi, Alpha Delta Pi, Kappa Alpha Theta 

2nd: Kappa Delta, Theta Delta Chi, Kappa Kappa Gamma

3rd:  Alpha Omicron Pi, Fiji, Delta Gamma