Greek achievements rewarded during Greek Week award ceremony

Greek leaders from all around campus gathered in the Ben Franklin ballroom at the Sheraton on 35th and Chestnut streets to celebrate the accomplishments of their peers last night. The awards ceremony was part of Penn’s annual Greek Week, which ends this Saturday.

Greek members, alumni and administrators from the Interfraternity Council, Panhellenic Council and Multicultural Greek Council packed the venue. Awards ranged from recognizing house advisors to recognizing fraternities and sororities with the highest academic achievement.

Scott Reikofski, director of the Office of Student Affairs and Fraternity and Sorority Life, who hosted the event, said this past year had seen a remarkable increase in the number of students rushing Greek organizations. Over a 1,000 members joined the Greek system this year and the Greek community now has 3,296 members.

“Academic performance is up, and philanthropy and community service have been good this year,” Reikofski said.

College senior and outgoing Panhel President Rachel Abeles said the past year has been an “excellent one” for the Panhel community.

“We looked critically at how things were done in the past,” she said, adding that the Panhel executive board changed anAlpha, raising $6,000 for breast cancer and bringing in “amazing speakers” as some of Panhel’s achievements this past year.

Multicultural Greek Council president and College senior Jae Barchus, who also received an awd improved several of their earlier initiatives, including a revamp of the Panhel executive board.

Abeles also pointed to some of Panhel’s other achievements: successfully colonizing Panhel’s newest sorority Zeta Tau ard for outstanding Greek leader, described this past year as a year of “ups and downs, lefts and rights.”

In his short address, he described briefly how the MGC recovered from a lack of leadership this past year, to hold numerous philanthropic and community-based activities, growing as a group all the while.

Wharton senior and IFC President Harris Heyer believed the increased interest in Greek life this past year has been one of IFC’s strongest accomplishments.

“We as the Greek community have strength in numbers, so I was very happy to hear about the numbers that Scott’s been throwing out there,” Heyer said.

Heyer also urged the Greek community to encourage younger Greek members to become involved in Greek leadership, since most current leadership positions are concentrated among upperclassmen late in their college careers.

College senior Jais-Alexis Tollette, outgoing president of Kappa Alpha Theta, who won an award for outstanding Greek leader, said these annual awards are a way to recognize people who often do not get the recognition they deserve.

“These awards are really important because as Greek leaders we do a lot for our community and our chapters,” Tollette said. “It’s hard work, and its not always easy. These awards ceremonies show us that there are organizations who will recognize our efforts.”

Tollette believes she was presented with her award because of the work she and her executive board did after her sorority was put on charter review, which is a form of probation.

“We were willing to make changes and admit we were wrong,” Tollette said. “I think a lot of leaders who were recognized [this] evening won awards for demonstrating a similar trait: we can take responsibility and work hard even when times are tough.”

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