If you were on campus last week, you may have noticed students, dressed in all black, lurking near buildings and, at times, running across the Quad. But there was no need to alert campus security to this suspicious activity — it was all part of a game for this year’s Greek Week.

The students dressed in conspicuous garb were participating in a campus-wide game of “elimination,”  a new event for Rockhurst’s annual Greek Week. Within the game each Greek organization was tasked with “eliminating” players from other organizations by hitting them with a colorful, plastic ball and capturing the encounter on video.

Each organization had 10-20 active participants with other members acting as “spies” around campus. The elimination event was held from 7:45 a.m. to 8 p.m.  Tuesday. So, from sun-up to sundown, campus with enlivened by these student-participants.

Elimination was one of many Greek Week events. Greek Week is a three-day event on campus held every April among Rockhurst’s fraternities and sororities. At the end of the week, one organization is crowned with the title of Greek Week Champions, the group earning their name on a plaque in the Student Development office.

This year Greek Week was held from Monday to Wednesday. The week kicked off on Monday morning with a colorful chalk-drawing competition on the Quad outside Massman. Nearby the chalk were the “banners,” painted sheets, of each organization as part of the banner competition.

For these creative components, members were encouraged to incorporate the week’s theme – “Super Greek Bros” – a play on the name of the popular video game Super Mario Bros.

Monday night featured four riveting rounds of “Greek Olympics,” beginning with tug-of-war and egg toss on Lower Bourke. Then into the Mason-Halpin Fieldhouse for dodgeball and the Convocation Center for volleyball. For each of the Olympic events, fraternities and sororities were paired together, providing each organization with the opportunity to fraternize, literally.

At the conclusion of Monday’s events, the men of Alpha Delta Gamma had taken the lead, with the women of Gamma Phi Beta close on their heels. The fraternity secured first in banner and Olympics and tied with sorority Alpha Sigma Alpha for the principal spot in the chalk competition.

Following Tuesday’s rounds of elimination was a presentation by Tim Mousseau from CampusSpeak. Mousseau, whose arms are adorned with tattoos, spoke about his journey through Greek Life and into adulthood. He shared how his bodily art represents the various experiences of his life and have helped him through tough moments.

Attendance to certain events, like the speaker, earned the Greek organizations points toward their weekly total.

Greek Week concluded on Wednesday following a service project and a dance competition. The service project involved packing donation boxes for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Kansas City. The organizations collaborated to donate hundreds of dollars in food and household items.

Wednesday night’s dance competition featured, not only dances, but, cheers, athletic stunts, tumbling, and creative costuming. The dance competition was one of many events judged by Rockhurst faculty and staff. Glenn Young, Ph.D., has judged Greek Week for several years. Young commented on how this year’s dance competition, replacing a skits competition of years past, was revamped and revitalizing.

With an outstanding performance in the dance competition and throughout the week, the women of Gamma Phi Beta swooped the title of 2018 Greek Week Champions. Alpha Delta Gamma secured second place. Alpha Sigma Alpha was a close third, followed by Zeta Tau Alpha, Theta Phi Alpha, Beta Theta Pi, Pi Kappa Alpha, and Sigma Alpha Epsilon.

The 2018 winner of Greek Woman of the Year was announced as Natalie Wolfe, ’19, member of Zeta Tau Alpha. Greek Man of the Year was awarded to the two-year president of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Christopher Booker, ’18.

There are nine Greek organizations on campus, however, only four of the fraternities participated in Greek Week this year. Fraternity Tau Kappa Epsilon is new to campus, again, after a few years of respite. The organization is in its formative days but the men are looking forward to participating in future Greek Weeks.

With changes that were made to better fit the needs of our campus for Greek Week this year, the future of the week on Rockhurst’ campus is surely in good hands and in good spirits.