Fraternities, sororities compete in Greek Sing to raise money for charity

Pitt’s Lambda Chi Alpha and Pi Kappa Phi men donned blue sweater vests and comb overs while… Pitt’s Lambda Chi Alpha and Pi Kappa Phi men donned blue sweater vests and comb overs while Kappa Delta’s women took to the stage in house aprons and high-pinned 1950s hairstyles.

In a number that took the audience back several decades, the students performed a swing dancing routine to the classic Elvis Presley hit, “Don’t Be Cruel,” in front of nearly 2,300 audience members at this year’s annual Greek Sing Friday night.

The 10-minute routine quickly picked up the pace with more current numbers, including breakdancing in time with Shaggy’s more recent hit, “It Wasn’t Me.” The music served as background to the story of couples’ relationships unraveled by cheating scandals and infidelity.

The act beat 10 other performances to take first place at Greek Sing,, a part of Greek Week and a Pitt tradition dating back to the 1940s. The event, a collaborative effort between Pitt’s fraternities and sororities, raised money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation through competitive singing and dancing.

With 27 fraternities and sororities competing, this year saw new winners — last year, first place went to Delta Phi Epsilon and Kappa Sigma.

The performances were judged by James Caton, an associate teaching professor at Carnegie Mellon’s School of Drama, Kathy Humphrey, Pitt’s vice provost and dean of students, and Angela Miller McGraw, the program manager for the Hesselbein Global Academy for Student Leadership and Civic Engagement at Pitt.

Backstage, senior Sarah Forsyth, the Kappa Delta captain in charge of organizing the winning performance, was breathless and enthused by the victory.

“This is the first time we’ve won in four years,” said the art history major. “I’m still in shock. It was really all because of all the work of my sorority and the brothers of [Lambda Chi Alpha and Pi Kappa Phi].”

After a victory group photo onstage, Forsyth, still wearing her apron costume, explained that planning for the dance began in October, with dedicated preparation during the month leading up to the event. The group practiced every day during the three weeks immediately before the performance.

“Whatever we pursue, we strive to do the best,” she said, “I just like to plan ahead — that’s my advice.”

Other acts included Delta Delta Delta and Phi Delta Theta, who blended their dancing to the theme of the musical “Mary Poppins,” complete with soot-scrubbed faces and chimney sweep outfits.

By parodying the original musical’s “A Spoonful of Sugar” with Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar on Me” and executing Dick Van Dyke’s “Step in Time,” they managed to snag second place.

Phi Delta Theta brother Barrett Erbe said that night’s performance was one of their best.

“It couldn’t have been better, and it was really fun,” he said.

Sigma Sigma Sigma and Delta Tau Delta’s American Army scheme won Best Choreography. Dressed in military fatigues and singing songs of war and patriotism, the group’s phrase of the night was national pride.

Delta Tau Delta member Michael Olecki, who just returned from serving in Afghanistan as a specialist of the reserve military police unit, introduced the act onstage.

“This [performance] is in honor of something I know everyone in this crowd can take pride in,” he said from the stage. “The greatest country in the world: the United States of America.”

Lauren Jentleson, one of the vice presidents in charge of organizing Greek Sing, said that the event raised almost $25,000 for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, a foundation dedicated to finding medical solutions to a genetic disease that plagues 70,000 people worldwide.

Tickets sold for $15 at the door and $10 for those who bought them in advance.

Rachel Kinney, a 17-year-old high schooler diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis, spoke between acts to raise awareness and show gratitude for the enormous support the event garnered for CF research.

“Thank you from the very bottom of my heart,” she said. “You give me a new tomorrow every day.”

She explained that treating her disease takes three and a half hours and more than 50 pills every day.

“I have to do that just to stay out of the hospital — and I’m healthy,” she said.

Others are not so lucky. Statistically, CF patients don’t live past age 37.

“But I’m planning to outlive that,” she continued, asserting her aspiration to earn an English degree and become a fiction writer.

“Today, there is a cure on the horizon. I may be able to graduate from college CF-free all because of you,” she said.

Angie Kinney, Rachel’s mother and a member of the CF foundation, also shared some words of gratitude.

“I can tell you that the University of Pittsburgh has a very warm place in my heart after tonight,” she said. “We needed you, and you were here. That means the world to us.”

Editor’s note: This article originally ran the incorrect award won by Sigma Sigma Sigma and Delta Tau Delta.