The National Pan-Hellenic Council is coming together to create an end of the semester spring blast for the campus.

The NPHC stroll off is a small scale of the original step show.  This event is held at 6 p.m. on Friday, April 29 in McAfee Gym.

Members of the NPHC organizations will come out and compete with one another to show off their epic routine skills.  The NPHC created this event as a way for each organization to bond with each other.

This stroll includes both fraternities and sororities as a part of the show. Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority and Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority are the Greek organizations people can expect to see performing at the event.

“The NPHC is having this event as a fundraiser to earn money for the necessities for next year’s show,” said JaLisa Smith, vice president of Sigma Gamma Rho.

“It is assumed that the stroll off means stepping, but in reality it is a dance routine that you can have fun with, there is no set formation.”

Christopher Dorsey, the vice president of Omega Psi Phi, said the event is something people are looking forward to.

“Hopping is a different style that basically shows the enthusiasm we have for our fraternity,” Dorsey said. “All of the emotions we feel inside are expressed through the moves that we do.  We are actually the only organization who does not stroll, which makes us stand out from the rest.”

Melanie Dyer, the president of Zeta Phi Beta, said strolling is not an easy task and it takes lots of practice.  She said strolling is a way that takes her out of her comfort zone because she is not a dancer.

“Strolling shows me that you could do whatever you put your mind to,” Dyer said. “For us, it takes about a week or two to plan because we have to get our routines down packed and choose the right music for our performance.”

Darien Ghostone, the vice president of Alpha Phi Alpha, is the stroll master for the Alphas.

“The stroll master means you are the one that teach, so it means a lot to me,” Ghostone said.

The planning aspect for the NPHC Stroll Off is based on the organization and the way they pick up on their routines.

“It was very easy and quick to come up with, for the simple fact we already had a vision in mind,” Dorsey said “To make this vision play out well, all it took was the booking of the gym and a few flyers to get the ball rolling.”

The event is set up to have two rounds.  This includes a slow round and a fast round.  The set up for the show is surrounded with chairs with each organization performing in the middle.

“The way the order of performance is set up is based on the founding of each organization,” Ghostone said.  “We are all about great things and this is one of the fun things that we do outside of our service.”

It is up to each organization to come out and show off their skills in accomplishing these requirements.

The sororities are only allowed to compete against the other female organizations and that goes for the male organizations as well.

NPHC is hoping to brighten up people’s day and it gives the individuals who are interested in Greek life a chance to see each organization, Smith said.

The audience can expect lots of energy and a good show.

“We want the audience to feed off of our energy so we can all be ‘turnt up’,” Dyer said.  “This event gives a chance for people to see what we do.”

An atmosphere of unity is what NPHC is hoping to create.

Last year around this time, the NPHC Stroll Off was re-introduced and it was a great outcome.  This event is held every spring with hopes of it becoming a permanent tradition at Eastern.

Kennedi Carodine can be reached at 581-2812 or kcarodine@eiu.edu