Members of sororities and fraternities on campus have been gearing up for this year’s Greek Week. From April 7 through April 15, sororities and fraternities will compete with each other in a range of activities from physical events to community service.

There are three main events in this year’s Greek Week: Airband, Tugs and Pyramids.

Senior kinesiology and sports studies major Alex Hinzpeter, an Alpha Phi member, said Airband is a competition where sororities and fraternities show off their dancing and choreographing skills. Members of different chapters on campus choreograph a full dance routine to perform.

Pyramids is a competition where chapter members discover which sorority or fraternity can build the fastest human pyramid.

This event requires participants to sprint 25 yards, build a human pyramid and hold it steady for three seconds.

Tugs is the final competition, where participants play a giant game of tug-of-war over the Campus Pond.

Sigma Nu member Jacob Wilson, a junior marketing major, is participating is two Greek Week events this year, Tugs and Airband.

He said he chose to participate in these two events because they are the ones he found the most interest in.

For Wilson, preparation is “(the) most important part” of doing well.

He spends almost seven hours a week preparing for the Airband competition and another seven hours preparing for Tugs. Airband practice consists of learning the dance their coaches choreograph, and practicing and perfecting it until competition day.

Wilson said his preparation for tugs is “very physical.” Those participating do not only practice pulling on the rope, but also do exercises to gain physical endurance and strength before Tugs.

Kappa Delta member Paige Olsby, a sophomore psychology major, is not participating in Tugs this year, but she will be getting on stage to perform for her sorority in the Airband competition.

Olsby is also the coach for Sigma Nu’s Airband team, and has found preparing for the event as a coach to be a little different than as a dancer.

Olsby spends 10 hours a week preparing with her Kappa Delta team and around four hours a week coaching Sigma Nu and preparing them for competition.

For the Sigma Nu team, Olsby chose the music, choreographed the dance, help them decide on costumes and created a script for when she would like the lights to shine on dancers during their performance. All of these things require extra time outside of scheduled practices.

For Olsby, this is part of what she has been working on to prepare for Greek Week.

“There are a lot of deadlines and dates that need to be handled before you (can) actually perform,” she said.

Airband is set for 7 p.m. April 7 in McAfee Gym, Tugs will be over three days, taking place on April 9, 11 and 13 at the Campus Pond and Pyramids is scheduled for 11 a.m. April 14 at Campus Pond. The Tugs final will be directly after.

Maggie Runge can be reached at 581-2812 or mgrunge@eiu.edu.