UNM will find out which of its seven sororities and 11 fraternities is the best during Greek Week competitions this week.
"It's all about bragging right," said Jacob Salmon, public relations chairman for Greek Week. "There's not any kind of trophy or anything rewarded to the winning house, just the knowledge that you are the best chapter on campus."
This year's theme is "Greekstock: A week of peace, love and Greek."
"It's all themed to be the '60s and '70s," Salmon said. "From the music at Greek Sing to the events at Greek Games, everything is going to have a retro feel."
The week kicks off with Greek Sing today in the SUB Ballroom at 6 p.m.
"Basically, (Greek Sing) is a great big talent show. In each skit, you can sing, dance, tell jokes or whatever," said Danielle Marquez, president of Alpha Chi Omega. "It's separated into four different categories, and the different chapters compete for points based on the best performances in each category."
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Tess Goering, president of Chi Omega, said the chapters have been busy practicing for the big night.
"I would say prepping for Greek Sing starts three weeks before," she said. "We practice every single night for at least two to three hours, and the week before practice sometimes goes four to six hours. We put in a lot of time to make sure the show goes off pretty smooth."
Admission is open to everyone. Tickets are $5.
The fraternities and sororities also receive points for getting 70 percent of their members to attend the men's basketball game against UNLV on Tuesday and a guest speaker Wednesday.
The week culminates in Greek Games on Friday.
"Greek Games consists of silly games like egg toss, tug-of-war, 'Rock Band' and stuff like that," Goering said. "We're going to be on Johnson Field at night, so we're going to get to make use of the lights."
The week is more than just silly competitions, said Shaylee Beasley, president of Kappa Kappa Gamma.
"The community-service aspect is the point of Greek Week," she said. "Everything we do is community-service oriented. It gives us an opportunity to help out an organization that is not well-recognized and get them some extra money for that year."
The fraternities and sororities volunteered at the Rio Grande Zoo over the weekend.
"We raised money for the new habitat that they are building," Goering said. "Some of us helped build it. Others helped with cleaning, raking and general maintenance. One of the zookeepers told us that all of the work that got done would have taken them five years with all of the people that we had."
Ben Schroeder, president of Phi Gamma Delta, said this week helps remind UNM what Greek Life is all about.
"You get to donate money and help out," he said. "This shows the community that we are here to do beneficial things. It lets people know that we are a contributing force to the UNM community."
