By Aleksei Pavloff, Sports Editor
Greek life at Ohio Wesleyan University came together to participate in Delta Gamma’s Anchor Splash, and other drives to raise money for a philanthropic cause just last week.
Every spring semester, Delta Gamma (DG) holds Anchor Splash at the Meek Aquatic and Recreation Center. To help raise funds, the sorority also organized some small competitions during the week of Feb. 20-24
The funds raised go towards Service for Sight. According to deltagamma.org, Service for Sight is a non profit created by DG to help the visually impaired.
Alpha Sigma Phi and Delta Zeta were the winners of this year’s Anchor Splash.
“We are happy that we won,” said sophomore Andrew Alaniz who is also a member of Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity. Alaniz said that they lost a lot of points early on in the week but was pleased with how they were able to work together in the other activities.
“Seeing everyone come together for a good cause is something special to see,” said sophomore Maggie Greer. As officer of the Anchor Games Greer was responsible for organizing the swimming events that took place on Friday.
“It was hard at first, but with help I was able to organize and get things together,” said Greer. “It was a great experience.”
Throughout the week leading up to the swimming events, fraternities and sororities collect pennies for what DG calls “penny wars”. Pennies that are collected by specific fraternities and sororities get counted for points. According to Greer, the top three organizations that collect the most get points awarded to their house.
Then comes the banner making where fraternities and sororities compete to see who can make the best one. The banner must to be placed in the atrium in the Hamilton-Williams Campus Center no later than Thursday night.
To qualify for the banner competition, each organization’s banner must feature Delta Gamma or its iconic anchor. The fraternity or sorority that makes the best banner is awarded the most points.
Delta Gamma’s judges emphasize creativity when it comes to designing banners.
“It is really cool to see people be as creative as possible,” said Greer.
Also on Thursday, serenades for the senior members of the sorority were held.
Together, they travel to every greek house where the members of that organization have to sing to them. The songs vary from pop to old time classics. However, extra points are rewarded for those serenades that have Delta Gamma related adaptations.
Throughout the week, participants receive more points through social media shout outs. This includes mentioning DG or Anchor Splash on any of the major social media outlets such as, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Those organizations that participated in the week long activities gathered in Meek to compete in races of various kinds on Friday. One notable competition involved two team members pulling an inflatable whale. In it, a DG member rides on the whale’s back, to the opposite side of the pool where two teammates are waiting to ride it back across.
The funds raised are yet to be fully counted, but Greer approximated that they raised close to $1,000 for this year’s Anchor Splash.