Greek life came together on Feb. 24 for the annual ‘Lip Jam’ competition to raise money for child hunger, Alpha Gamma Delta’s philanthropy.
The ladies of Alpha Gamma Delta organized a night full of lip singing, dancing and entertainment for students and family at the Green Music Center.
While the grand total of amount raised will be unknown until late in March, a projected $30,000 from ticket sales alone will be donated to Meals on Wheels and Feeding America.
Every year has a theme, and this years’ theme centered around TV shows. Each active Greek organization put on a five-minute performance based on a TV show of their choosing. After deciding between cartoons or sitcoms, the competition for Most Comedic Relief, People’s Choice, Best Portrayal of the Show, 50-and-Under Overall Winner and 50-and-Above Overall Winner was on. Although no monetary prize was given, a trophy and bragging rights were on the table. Tau Kappa Epsilon took home the Comedic Relief title, Alpha Epsilon Pi earned People’s Choice, and Alpha Sigma Phi earned Best Portrayal of Theme and Overall Best Performance with Less than 50 People.
For Overall Best with More than 50, the ladies of Alpha Xi Delta danced into victory with their rendition of “Orange is the New Black.”
Alpha Gamma Delta hosted the event with two Lip Jam coordinators in charge of planning this years’ festivities, Alpha Gamma Delta members Tina Pham and Katie Medlin. The coordinators made a few alterations to the usual competition.
“This year we decided to change up the awards. Normally we have first, second and third place, but we decided to have two Lip Jam champions this year,” Medlin said.
According to Medlin the competition divided teams into two categories based on how many participants they had. One category was for teams with 51 or more particpants, and the other was for teams with 50 participants or less.
“There were a few times throughout the night that the audience was so loud that I couldn’t hear the music from the performances because everyone was cheering for their friends or family on stage,” Alpha Sigma Phi member Will Baggarly said. “I’ve been to Lip Jam the past three years, but this was probably the most entertaining one yet.”
From the costumes in Alpha Xi Delta’s “Orange is the New Black” performance with their jumpsuits and tattoos, to Alpha Psi’s fairy costumes and magic wands for their show “The Fairly Oddparents,” the props and costumes used in each performance indicated how much preparation was involved.
“When we picked ‘The Office,’ I thought it would put itself together because there’s so much material everyone knows from the show. But being limited to a five-minute performance really challenged us,” said Alpha Sigma Phi member Brian Fritsche.
Along with the creative props and backdrops like the city drops in Gamma Phi Beta’s “Gossip Girl” performance, to the Jello and and CPR training dummy in Alpha Sigma Phi’s “The Office” performance, it was clear every Greek organization had dedicated themselves to putting on the best performance possible.
Alpha Xi Delta paired Beyonce music with stepping dance style to win first place. Member Kimberly Castro said all the long practices made it worth it.
“There is a lot of dedication that goes into practicing for the competition that others don’t get to see,” Castro said. “It is such a great way to bond with people in your own organization as well as come together with others as a whole to raise money to fight hunger.”