Spring in the greek community is always an interesting sight. Fraternity men wearing stage makeup, costumed people plunging into Lake Laverne, beds on wheels zooming around “Sorority Circle” … the list goes on. What is this madness? To sum it all up: It’s Greek Week!

Started in 1952, this week-long, alcohol-free celebration of Iowa State’s greek community kicked off on Sunday night with a walking taco dinner benefiting Dance Marathon and a concert by local cover band Plastic Apartment. The crowd gathered around a stage set up on Ash Avenue in the cold, drizzly weather to enjoy the festivities.

“The theme of this year’s Greek Week – ‘If this is one week, imagine a lifetime’ – is one that celebrates the lifelong commitments that greek community members have made to his or her organization. During Greek Week, we are creating memories that will last a lifetime,” said Lindsey Priebe, Greek Week Central’s Marketing and Media chairwoman.

Throughout the week, members of greek chapters will compete in tournaments, such as basketball, treds football and the ever-popular rock-paper-scissors, giving competitors the opportunity to interact with other fraternity and sorority pairings.

“Greek Week is a friendly competition,” Priebe said.

And if you’ve been on Central Campus this week, you’ve also probably noticed hordes of collegians sporting greek letter T-shirts and singing karaoke. These letter T-shirts and the lime green All-greek T-shirts get greek members free lunch on campus all week. You may have also seen greek chapter members painting storefront windows on Welch Avenue to show their pride.

Community service is also a huge aspect of Greek Week at Iowa State, and there is no shortage of opportunities to give back to the greek, ISU and Ames communities.

“This year, we have partnered with VEISHEA Service Day to encourage chapters to participate in a campus-wide clean-up effort. This is also the first year that Greek Week will be coordinating community service efforts with the Relay for Life. Greek community members are encouraged to volunteer at the event or be a participant. We have also decided to continue Greek Week’s partnership with the Spring Blood Drive. Greek community members make upwards of 1,400 donations at the Spring Blood Drive, which could potentially save 4,200 lives,” Priebe said.

“Polar Bear Plunge is one of the biggest philanthropies associated with Greek Week. Each year, members receive monetary donations by making the pledge to jump into Lake Laverne. Last year, the greek community raised over $19,000 for the Special Olympics of Iowa through this event,” she said.

All of these activities lead up to the weekend – when high school students will flood into Ames for what is known as Greek Getaway. Danielle Peterson, Vice President of Recruitment for the Collegiate Panhellenic Council, said 90 percent of high school students who attend Greek Getaway join a chapter house upon arrival for school in the fall.

“Students have the chance to stay in a chapter house, watch Greek Olympics and attend Lip Sync Finals. They also are able to attend themed fraternity block parties, including an ’80s dance party, live band and casino night. Finally, prospective students will participate in one of the many community service aspects of greek life through our philanthropy lunch, which benefits the Special Olympics of Iowa,” Peterson said.

On Friday night, these high school students will experience the wacky tradition that is Lip Sync. Fraternity men and sorority women who make it past the first round will perform in skits – all without making a sound. Their music and dialogue is previously recorded and they “lip sync” to that recording.

“I participated in Lip Sync during my freshman year. After a lot of hard work, our pairing made it on to Lip Sync Finals, in which we performed our skit in CY Stephens. I had not been involved in any sort of performance-based activities in high school, nor was I the best dancer, but the rush of pride I felt being on stage and representing my chapter is a feeling I will never forget,” Priebe said.

Saturday is a tribute to the original greeks – the ISU Greek Olympics. Pairings will compete all day in silly contests, such as pyramid building, pie eating and the highly entertaining bed race.

This fun-filled week’s activities and competitions earn each greek pairing points and at the Vespers ceremony on Sunday night, held at CY Stephens, the champion pairing for Greek Week 2008 will be named.

So if you see these shenanigans on campus this week, have no fear – it’s just Greek Week!