The sound of foot beats on hardwood floor drummed through campus as Greek organizations united at Alpha Phi Alpha’s 15th annual Step Show in Lovett Auditorium Thursday night.

Sororities and fraternities across Murray brought their A-game and stepped together at the Step Show.

Alpha Delta Pi took first place in the sorority division of the competition with their take on circus culture, as well as drawing on themes from shows such as carnivals to create their “Emporium” theme.

Sigma Alpha Iota took the second place position for sororities with their alien theme. The fraternity Alpha Sigma Phi won first place in the fraternity division with their “Star Wars” theme, beating out Phi Mu Alpha, who won second place for the fraternity division.

Kearron Smith, president of Alpha Phi Alpha and chair of the Step Off, said newcomers to the competition had many theatrics to look forward to with this year’s production.

“The audience can expect a spectacular and entertaining show with lots of excitement,” Smith said.

Each year, all of the organizations choose their teams in the fall and begin work on their routines with their Alpha Phi Alpha coaches.

“Each team is given an Alpha liaison to make sure the show is in good taste and that they are on track for the show time,” Smith said.

Melissa Skiljan, who stepped in the show Thursday night said the ending of the competition was one of her favorite aspects of the night with announcement of the awards.

“When they called the name for first place, it felt so great,” she said. “We were a very hardworking team. We played the roles … and truly could not have asked for a better outcome.”

  The money from tonight’s event goes to Alpha Phi Alpha’s philanthropy the March of Dimes, which is a charity that helps mothers achieve full-term pregnancies and researches problems that effect the health of babies. Murray State’s chapter has collected the most money for the charity for the past two years with the help of the Step Show.

The fraternity had hoped to have around 1,500 people in attendance to the event and by the appearance of the crowd that packed Lovett Auditorium, the fraternity fulfilled their wish.

Other themes that were represented during the competition were Alpha Gamma Delta with a Gotham theme, Alpha Omicron Pi with a “Saw” theme, Phi Mu Alpha with a “Ghostbusters” theme, Sigma Sigma Sigma with a gypsy theme, Kappa Delta with an imaginary friend theme and Alpha Sigma Alpha with an “Alpha Angels” theme, a play off of “Charlie’s Angels.”

However, the overall winner of the entire week of events including not only the Step Show, but the Stroll Off, Change Wars and the banner competition was Alpha Gam.

Story by Breanna Sill, Features Editor