Pismo Beach saw crowds in the thousands as almost 30 Cal Poly fraternities and sororities gathered to kick off Greek Week Sunday afternoon.
Cal Poly’s Greek Week is an annual spring event where all of greek life joins together to engage in a week of competitive sports and philanthropic events. This year, 30 of Cal Poly’s 34 greek organizations are participating.
At “Beach Day,” teams competed in a volleyball tournament, limbo contest, tug-of-war and obstacle course.
Teams were divided randomly into seven teams based on the size of each greek organization involved. Each team has approximately 300 to 375 members.
English sophomore and Alpha Epsilon member Adina Miller said the Beach Day turnout was huge.
“Everyone has really good sportsmanship, cheering people on and being really supportive,” Miller said. “It’s also been breezy out, which has been really nice.”
Greek Week also gives sororities and fraternities the opportunity to get to know people from different houses, Miller said.
Local companies, such as Albertsons, donated water and bottled drinks for Beach Day in support of Greek Week.
“In my experience, I have found that local businesses do appreciate greek life,” Greek Life Coordinator Diego Silva said. “It’s individuals in government, like city officials, that often have to deal with the negatives of greek life. Sometimes we don’t get a chance to show individuals like that the great things that we do.”
This week, greek organizations will give back to the community by participating in the “Mustang Mile,” donating blood and volunteering at the Prado Day Center. Teams can also earn points in sports events and a SLO Donut Co. eating contest. Greek Week will culminate with a lip sync contest on Sunday.
Because six of the 10 multicultural-based fraternities and sororities are participating in Greek Week this year, the MultiCultural Step Show Saturday night was added to the Greek Week agenda.
“We wanted to show support for the multicultural frats and sororities,” mathematics junior and President of Executer for Greek Week Sarah Ortiz said.
By attending these events and winning sports games, one team will ultimately win at the end of the week. The prize: “You just get to say that you won,” Ortiz said.
There will be a zero tolerance policy for alcohol during Greek Week, according to Ortiz. If anyone appears intoxicated or brings alcohol to events, they will be kicked out of Greek Week.
“Ultimately, I just want everyone to enjoy themselves, nothing to go wrong and everyone to have fun,” Ortiz said. “Everyone looks forward to this week.”