After coming back from Spring Break, the three nationally-affiliated Greek councils at Murray State competed and united for Greek week.

Re’Nita Avery-Meriwether, director of Student Life and the Curris Center, said the All Greek Assembly was a huge success and that everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Rachel Ross, freshman from Murray and a member of the winning stroll off team, said winning stroll off for Alpha Gamma Delta was a great experience because it was the first time their team was rewarded for their hard work.

“We have being working hard since Christmas so we were ready to compete,” Ross said. “Alpha Step Off is a big deal to (our chapter) and with five members of our team being freshmen we felt the pressure.”

“It was great to share the win with each of my sisters and not just the eight of us,” Ross said. “We all win and celebrate together, and those are lifetime memories.”

Ross said Greek Life at Murray State is being a part of a community that acknowledges similar values.

“I see Greek Week as an important part of the year because it’s one of the only times when we all celebrate our success together,” Ross said. “There are so many fantastic movements happening in different organizations that I would unaware of if it weren’t for certain events during Greek Week. Being aware of my community helps me to be the best Alpha Gam I can be.”

Josh Johnston, president of Sigma Pi, said the members of his organization pride themselves on brotherhood, so winning the outstanding brotherhood award exemplified something they have always felt.

“All of our Greek chapters here at Murray State are great at something, and Greek Week allows us to come together and discover these things about each other,” Johnston said. “From attending Greek Week events such as the All Greek Assembly and philanthropic activities such as Sigma Pi’s ACE Project, the canned food drive, and Alpha Phi Alpha’s Step Off, we are able to strengthen our fraternal bonds and build up our community as a whole.”

While all Greek organizations on campus are encouraged to participate in Greek?Week events, Sigma Alpha Iota and Phi Mu Alpha were not present at Monday’s All Greek Assembly.

Lindsey Muskopf, member of SAI and junior from Belville, Ill., said even though SAI and Phi Mu Alpha are not social Greek organizations, she thinks that they should be equally involved with Greek Week.

“I didn’t even know it was Greek Week or about the All Greek Assembly until after it happened,” Muskopf said. “It’s just frustrating that the Greek community at Murray State doesn’t seem to accept us as true Greek organizations even though we compete in the step show and host All Campus Sing.”

Muskopf said she wishes SAI and Phi Mu Alpha were made more aware of Greek events on campus.

“We’re still just as Greek as the social organizations,” she said. “We don’t want to be closed off from the Greek community just because we are musically based fraternities. We have girls in SAI who are also a part of social Greek organizations. We are very open to them, we just want the same in return.”

While SAI and Phi Mu Alpha were not at the All Greek Assembly, they still participated in other Greek Week events such as the stroll off and Alpha Step Off.

In between stroll off and step show, Wednesday was the canned food drive for Needline and more than 1,500 cans were brought in as donations. Alpha Delta Pi brought the most cans with 834.

Thursday night, students packed Lovett Auditorium to watch the annual Alpha Step-Off, and students ended Greek Week Friday night with an All Greek social event.

Story by Meghann Anderson, News Editor