By Christopher Gillett
Greek Sing is coming up this April and will see Youngstown State University’s fraternities and sororities battle it out on the floorboards of Stambaugh Auditorium in a duel of the voices. Only one will win.
The competition will involve each fraternity or sorority performing one or multiple songs while dancing. The winner will be chosen by a panel of judges who will rank the singing and choreography. The event started in 1952, and this will mark its 69th year.
Among those performing is Sigma Alpha Epsilon member and sophomore mechanical engineering major James Desharnais. He joined SAE during his freshman year at the behest of one of his room assistants and has been involved with the fraternity for three semesters. He is SAE’s song chair for Greek Sing. He explained the challenges SAE has dealt with in preparing and practicing for the competition.
“I would say the biggest challenge is scheduling everything together. So, making sure that everyone can get off of work or if someone gets hurt being able to get them healthy and healed while still having them learn everything along with us,” he said.
Sororities are also joining in. Taylor Sebastiano is a sophomore biology pre-med major and member of Delta Zeta. She joined the sorority during the pandemic after she learned about it through email. She explained what she enjoyed the most about it.
“I would say [I enjoy] that they have a different theme every year. That way you kind of work together and you’re like, ‘We should do these songs, this would be a cool dance move to do.’ I know we have some former cheerleaders, and we’re thinking about different stunts, and it’s just really cool to see how people can bring back things they’ve done in the past and show you that they have that hidden talent,” she said.
Some students will be participating for the first time, like sophomore history major Alexander Papa. He is the vice president of health and safety for the Interfraternity Council and a member of Sigma Chi. Papa became involved with Sigma Chi in spring 2021.
“It is pretty competitive. So, I know, for example, we have an outside dance instructor helping us do the stuff for the musical,” he said. “We all pick themes, like certain different musicals to perform … and everyone [in the fraternity] picks them. They’re voted on.”
The Interfraternity Council coordinates bids for new members of fraternities and organizes events like Greek Sing. The sorority equivalent is the Pan-Hellenic Council. Papa became involved after the previous vice president of health and safety resigned. He explained how he brought his previous experience doing part time legal work with his father to work with the council and in his fraternity.
“I come from a family of lawyers,” he said. “I do part time legal work for my dad, so I’ve really helped them work on the bylaws and constitutions of the organizations.”
If interested in getting involved with Greek Life, contact Carrie Anderson at clanderson@ysu.edu
Greek Sing will be held at 6 p.m. Saturday, April 9, at Stambaugh Auditorium and is free to the public.
