With Homecoming right around the corner, sororities and fraternities are gearing up for their festivities.
Abby Mayhew, Kappa Alpha Theta vice president and recruitment chair, is a marketing senior, minoring in sociology. She summed up the roles of sororities and fraternities throughout Homecoming week.
“All in all, it’s just a week of celebration with a fraternity on campus and sometimes sororities will go on their own to do internal sisterhood events to celebrate Homecoming that way,” Mayhew said.
She especially loves the creativity that fraternities use when it comes to proposals. These proposals determine which fraternity a sorority would do Homecoming events with. Mayhew shared that events can be anything from a philanthropy event to just bonding and building community within Greek Life.
“My freshman year was the most authentic Homecoming experience I’ve had because it was pre-[COVID-19]. We were asked by two fraternities that came to our chapter and they made some elaborate proposals. One of them was themed ‘the Bachelorette’ and they brought a bunch of roses and said ‘Will you accept this rose?’ to ask you to Homecoming,” Mayhew said.
Kappa Kappa Gamma President Katie West, a journalism senior with minors in government and public policy and psychology. As president, she seeks to make sure all Homecoming events go according to plan.
“Panhellenic chapters don’t do a ton of planning if they decide to take part in these Homecoming events. I would definitely take on the role of making sure everything is going smoothly, making sure members are being safe, making sure no one’s hurt and making sure no one’s putting themselves in danger. Things like that are what I’m super focused on this year,” West said.
As well as member safety, she also enjoys the school spirit shown throughout the week.
“I personally have a really big connection with the [UA], so celebrating that is super special for me. Seeing everyone getting so involved and the school spirit really shining through is my favorite part,” West said.
Natasha Barton, is a senior studying physiology and Spanish and minoring in biochemistry. As the academics/scholarships chair of Gamma Phi Beta, she helps members struggling with their GPA and rewards those with a 4.0 or higher.
Barton views Homecoming as a chance for members to view the bigger picture of sororities.
“It’s important to kind of remind us that we’re not all supposed to be divided in these different chapters, but rather we’re all kind of together and we all are looking for the same thing within a sorority. We’re just looking for lifelong friends and a way to give back to our community, so I think it’s a good way to remind us that we’re not competing against each other and to get out of our own sorority,” Barton said.
Alumni play a big role in building community during Homecoming. Every year, they connect alumni and current members to mingle, share ideas and build a relationship within the chapter.
“It’s bringing our alumni back, we always just have a lot that come through and we just want to welcome them. [We also want to] Talk with them, and hear about what our sorority was like back then and honestly try to grab ideas from our history,” Barton said.
Barton also reflected how the time leading up to Homecoming is about taking advantage of the time to embrace school spirit.
“For our members that are active and not alumni, we just like to take extra time together, talk about why we chose the [UA], what makes the [UA] special to each of us and kind of just connect it back to Gamma Phi and how we became friends through Gamma Phi,” Barton said.
As much as Homecoming is all celebration, it also poses as a way to meet new people, make new connections and remember your roots.
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