If you’re wondering why the Campanile, Memorial Union and several greek houses were lit with blue lights last week, ask any member of Theta Delta Chi and they’ll tell you about Light It Up Blue.

Some have personal reasons and others are involved simply because they belong to the fraternity, but each year, Theta Delta Chi works to get as many greek houses as possible decorated in blue lights for Autism Awareness Month.

This year was the first time it was able to get the Campanile lit up with a blue light as well. Leading the charge on this was Thomas Bombeck, philanthropy chair of Theta Delta Chi.

Along with asking houses to supply their own lights, Theta Delta Chi provided each house with a set of blue lights to hang up. Bombeck estimated that about 20 houses hung up the lights.

“I think [Light It Up Blue] is very important because it’s a great way to get the whole community thinking about [autism],” Bombeck said. “It’s pretty visual; when you walk around at night you can see all the lights.”

Most houses didn’t buy their own lights, Bombeck said, making the week a little less successful than he had hoped it would be.

Josh Lozano, member of Theta Delta Chi, said his favorite part of Light It Up Blue is seeing the greek community come together and get involved in support of Autism Awareness Month.

Lozano has three cousins with autism and has worked on autism awareness campaigns before, so Theta Delta Chi’s national philanthropy being Autism Speaks “was perfect,” he said.

“It’s just great to see the Iowa State community, when one day I’m walking around Central Campus and I see the Campanile lit up blue, it definitely brings awareness about Autism Awareness Month,” Lozano said.

When everything is dying down at night, Lozano said “it’s wonderful” to see blue lights shining on every house. He believes that Light It Up Blue brings awareness to autism and how prevalent it is.

While participation from greek houses has varied in past years, supplying the lights raises the chance of houses participating.

“This year, instead of relying on other houses doing it themselves, we’ve just kind of done it for them,” Wes Ruby, member of Theta Delta Chi, said. “As bad as that sounds, it has a much better participation rate doing it.”

For Ruby, having everyone in the greek and Iowa State communities come together for Light It Up Blue and Autism Awareness Month is one of the best parts of hosting the event.

“The event is strictly for autism awareness,” he said. “It’s a great representation of everyone being aware of our common goal and that’s creating autism awareness.”