Greek Week began with its kickoff event, the Walk Against Hunger in Philadelphia at 7:30 a.m. Saturday.

“Greek Week is a chance for all of the Greek organizations to get out and do some good,” said Molly Martin, fraternity and sorority life advisor, who explained Greek Week as a chance for the fraternities and sororities to unite and have fun as well as raise funds for the fight against hunger. “It’s also a chance to be recognized and be a little bit competitive.”

The Walk Against Hunger is an annual philanthropy event for Greek Week and the first of many events in which fraternities and sororities compete for “spirit points” based on who has the most attendance.

In previous years, the walk has been the final spirit point event of the week and often the deciding factor for the champions.

“It’s a nice event to start off with,” said Chris Lynn, Greek Week chair for Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. “You usually don’t get a lot of attendance by the end of Greek Week.”

According to Tri-Delta Vice President and Order of Omega member Meagan Barrett, a quizzo trivia game on Sunday afternoon was added in response to student suggestions that there be more of an intellectual aspect to Greek Week.

The week is completely student-run by members of Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic Organizations as well as members of Greek honor society Order of Omega.

On Monday, the annual chariot race was cancelled due to inclement weather.

“That is probably the first cancellation of a chariot race due to snow that we’ve seen in a while,” said J.C. Stellakis, the Greek Week chair for Order of Omega and vice president of the Sigma Chi fraternity.

Other events include various indoor and outdoor sports, as well as opportunities for showcasing creativity and performing talents, such as Tuesday night’s skit competition. Delta Gamma, Alpha Chi Omega and Phi Sigma Kappa were skit night winners.

“I think the Tri-Delts have realized the importance of not only winning the events but also getting spirit points for attendance,” Barrett said. “The spirit points go along with the whole idea of getting the community together, and I think a positive attitude is another good strategy of ours for the week.”

“We obviously want to win,” said Mike Lewis, Greek Week chair of Sigma Phi Epsilon, one of the newest fraternities on campus.

He and his brothers are not intimidated despite the fact that this is the fraternity’s first Greek Week. “I’m most excited about our basketball and football teams because we have a lot of athletic freshmen.”

“Football is the big macho event for frats,” Lynn said. The senior said that his favorite Greek Week memory is winning football his sophomore year and has high hopes for winning the entire competition this year. “Hopefully we can create some new memories this year, too.”