It has been 63 years since Greek Week started at Iowa State. Since then, Lip Sync has emerged as the crowning competition of the year for greek members.

This year will include new rules, new teams and the opportunity to take home the first place Lip Sync trophy.

“I think it’s a great showcase of talent and stuff we don’t get to see on a normal basis as college students,” said Sarah Ramundt, senior in journalism and communication and general Greek Week co-chair.

Lip Sync has a different feel this year because all of the performances will take place Saturday instead of having cuts earlier in the week like they have done in the past. The lip-sync competition makes up 20 percent of the final Greek Week score, said Luke Gosse, senior in agricultural business and general Greek Week co-chair.

Throughout the school year, the greek community participates in many events, including Homecoming in the fall, Varieties in the winter and Greek Week in the spring.

“I think Lip Sync allows for the most creativity,” said Billy Marshall, junior in agricultural business and co-chair of Lip Sync from Farmhouse. “The freedoms that we have are pretty crazy.”

Lip Sync involves working with other houses, called pairings, and these pairings have to put together an eight-minute skit and eventually perform it for a panel of judges made up of faculty members from the ISU community.

“We started the day we found out who our pairing was,” said Lauren Nelson, sophomore in child, adult and family services, member of Pi Beta Phi (PI Phi) and a lip sync co-chair. “Lip Sync involves a lot of deadlines, so we focused on them one at a time.”

The teams have eight weeks to prepare for the competition. They have to pick a theme, choose music, create dances and create a script.

“It is totally volunteer based,” Marshall said. “But Lip Sync is something we look at that’s very fun so usually if you’re able to do it you do it.”

Olivia Otis, freshman in pre-business and member of Delta Delta Delta (Tri-Delt), was excited to participate.

“I love Lip Sync,” Otis said. “I think it’s so fun. It brings people together and you get to meet new people. It makes me want to do it every year.”

Co-chairs from Pi Phi, Farmhouse and Delta Delta Delta all said that practices were the most fun for everyone.

“I love the fun practices where we get to be goofy and silly but still get things done,” said Sarah Brangoccio, sophomore in elementary education, member of Pi Phi and a Lip Sync co-chair.

As much fun as practices are though, competition is still the focus of the co-chairs. They have to create the entire show and incorporate the Greek Week theme, which is unity, community and opportunity. Farmhouse won Greek Week in 2015, but Delta Delta Delta won Lip Sync that year.

“We don’t look at it so much as wanting to win, but as always wanting to improve,” Marshall said. “Looking at what we did last year and seeing what went wrong and what we need to change.”

For Delta Delta Delta, the focus was incorporating the Greek Week theme while still making the skit funny and entertaining, said Alex Ritzman, sophomore in apparel, merchandising and design and a member of Delta Delta Delta and co-chair for lip sync.

It is rare for a team to take home consecutive wins in Lip Sync. It hasn’t been done since Farmhouse’s victory in 2011 and 2012.

“I think there’s definitely pressure there,” said Allison Shindoll, senior in interior design, member of Delta Delta Delta and second year co-chair for Lip Sync. “We’re just wishing for the best and trying our hardest to win again this year.”

While lip sync is a big part of Greek Week, members of greek life say that the entire week is a fun and important time.

“It’s good to see all the chapters come together as one,” Gosse said. “This week we are the greek community.”