The movies might portray fraternities and sororities as wild and crazy, but the NMU Greeks are starting off the semester on a different note.
Six NMU Greek chapters will be holding a greek carnival called Cirque du Greek from 5 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 19.
The event will take place in the Marquette Room located on the second floor of the University Center to promote all fraternities and sororities that have chapters at Northern.
“The carnival was created to show that there is a strong Greek student body on campus and that we are looking to show people what we are about,” said junior music major Jesse Budzinski.
Budzinski is the president of Kappa Beta Gamma and has had a hand in helping organize the carnival.
Kappa Beta Gamma is only one of the four sororities at Northern. Phi Sigma Sigma, Alpha Gamma Delta and Alpha Xi Delta are the other three.
There are also two fraternities that have chapters at NMU: Tau Kappa Epsilon and Alpha Sigma Phi. All six chapters will be represented at Cirque du Greek.
“The carnival gives each Greek organization the opportunity to show what is unique about its organization and the different philanthropic events that they put on,” Budzinski said.
Philanthropy is a big part of all Greek societies and especially the chapters that are associated with NMU.
Budzinski said giving back to the Marquette community is very important to all of NMU’s chapters and they show that by contributing to various organizations.
“It gives the student body the chance to see us in action and to get to know us,” Budzinski said.
By holding a carnival, the Greeks at Northern hope to get more pledges and raise interest in NMU’s chapters.
The first Greek society in North America was founded in 1776 in Virginia. Other chapters soon popped up all over the United States, and this was the birth of Greek organizations.
“Soon the organizations will be recruiting for the winter semester and we look forward to seeing a lot of people show up at the carnival to see what we are all about,” Budzinski said.
Budzinski said there are negative stereotypes associated with Greek societies.
“One of the reasons that people don’t go Greek is because they don’t know much about it,” said Katie Archambeault, a junior art history major. “We thought that having a fun carnival of sorts would be a fun way to get people informed and interested.”
Archambeault is a representative for Kappa Beta Gamma in the Greek Council.
Each chapter is represented at Greek Council and they meet together and work on ideas together to promote the Greek community at NMU and increase membership.
The idea of a carnival came about in a Greek Council meeting last semester and has been in the works for quite some time.
“It’s much more fun to have a carnival than everyone just having tables up and handing out information cards,” Archambeault said.
The carnival will hopefully get more potential members interested in NMU’s Greek society, Archambeault said.
“We will have some fun activities put on by current Greek members: juggling and other fun little games,” Archambeault said. “We will also have speakers to talk about issues people are concerned about when going Greek.”
Cirque du Greek will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 19 in the Marquette Room in the University Center. There is no entrance fee. For more information, contact Katie Archambeault at [email protected].
