The Flyer

by Kiersten Bumgardner

An event close to Alpha Sigma Tau’s heart is PJ Day.

PJ Day is an evening devoted to raising awareness for lung cancer.

The founder and “rock star” of the PJ Aldridge Foundation, PJ, was a student at Salisbury University years ago and currently resides in Ocean City. He never smoked a day in his life and stayed active with surfing.

One day while vacationing in Costa Rica he experienced shortness of breath while paddling out into the ocean. After receiving the horrible news that he had lung cancer, the doctors told him he had three months to live. He is still here with us today and gave a speech at PJ Day.

Along with PJ’s speech, Alpha Sigma Tau hosted a silent auction with over 30 prizes. The raffle included prizes from Apothecary, Five Guys, Bagel Bakery, Endless Summer, Quiet Storm, Raggamuffin and many more.

Alpha Sigma Tau raised over $400 for the PJ Aldridge Foundation. The money raised will go toward the research of a cure for lung cancer, to educate people of all ages about the disease and improve awareness of the nation’s current leading cause of cancer.

PJ says 70 percent of the reason he is still here is his positive attitude, or as he liked to call it, “mojo.”

Mojo is positive vibes, thoughts, prayers, attitude and love. Mojo is what our sorority gives to PJ, and we hope everyone can realize the difference they can make by coming out and supporting PJ Day.

Alpha Sigma Tau is working each year to make this day bigger because lung cancer takes more lives than any other cancer, but it still has the least funding for research. PJ Day is held every year in April, so Greek Life hopes to see you there next year. Alpha Sigma Tau encourages you to check out PJ’s website, www.pjaf.org, because he is truly an amazing person.

by Phi Mu Members

For junior Dallas Wiles, the term “surgery” is nothing new.

Over the span of her entire life, she has had seven spinal surgeries at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.

Wiles was born with spina bifida, a condition where the backbone and spinal canal do not close before birth. Two of her seven surgeries took place around Christmas, where she has witnessed the power of the Children’s Miracle Network.

Johns Hopkins is a participating hospital with this program, and every year around Christmas, Santa brings things to cheer up the children who are in the hospital.

When Wiles joined Phi Mu, she immediately became involved with the chapter’s philanthropy, Children’s Miracle Network. As Philanthropy Chair, she wanted to give back to the hospital that gave her life and a lifetime of support.

Phi Mu has seen the joy that CMN has given to others and came up with a way to give back to the hospital that helped some of their friends, family, and even a sister.

As a result, Phi Mu will be hosting an 80s-themed Sk8 Date at the Crown Skating Plaza, generously donated by Rick Slatcher, this Friday night, April 13, from 9:30 p.m. to midnight.

The entire Salisbury community is invited to roller skate to 80s music in attire from the decade that brought big hair, shoulder pads and neon colors. There will be raffles and prizes for best costume.

Both entry and skate rentals will cost only $8.50, and all proceeds from this event will go directly to CMN.

by Caleigh Wootten

Greek life is always stereotyped in a negative light because movies portray Greeks as having no morals or goals in life, but that’s not what they stand for.

Every sorority and fraternity has a creed that holds them to strict morals and standards that every individual pledges to uphold.

Greeks stand for philanthropy, education and leadership above all other things. Philanthropy is what binds them all together.

Even though it may not be the same charity, they are all a part of doing something good for the community.

For some, it’s breast cancer awareness and education or the Children’s Miracle Network. Others work with Service for Site or support a school for environmental education. But no matter what the label, it is still community service.

Education is a big part of Greek life but doesn’t get that much attention. Most organizations have study hours or study groups for members to help them connect with those in similar majors.

Furthermore, Greek life is all about leadership. Almost every member of the chapter will at some point hold a leadership position, and what they learn from that position will help them throughout life.

These are the key values that only Greek life will teach you.

With football season in full swing and the recent Salisbury University homecoming, the Greeks come together to celebrate their own tradition.

On Holloway Hall’s lawn, the sororities hosted their annual powderpuff football game. Two teams were created consisting of members from each of the four sororities as they went head-to-head for bragging rights.

The fraternities participated by dividing up as well, allowing them to work together as coaches for each of the football teams, referees to call the game and cheerleading squads to root on the players.

Many SU students can relate to the event because it’s aimed to play off of memories from high school homecomings. To show pride for their school, the guys dress up in hilarious girly outfits and cheer on the girls’ football game. Although, instead of school spirit, the annual event is a celebration of Greek spirit.

It’s also somewhat of a change of pace from typical Greek athletics. Anyone who has played an intramural sport has probably encountered a team of fraternity brothers, which can get more competitive when they face each other.

The powderpuff cheerleading squads allow them to come together and laugh at their sometimes intense competitive spirits.

For the fraternities, Homecoming is a time to reconnect with their chapter’s alumni and show their school spirit.

Unfortunately, this year the infamous Punkin Chunkin falls on the same weekend as Homecoming, and it has taken priority over Homecoming for many of the fraternities. Several chapters have planned to ride buses and meet up with alumni at the event, without much regard to the events on campus.

It takes some organization to fill a bus, so it was clearly a choice made weeks ago. Greeks typically take pride in their campus activities, so why is it that they chose Punkin Chunkin over Homecoming?

“It just sounds more appealing than an SGA block party,” said junior Nate Smith. “Besides, we’ll still meet up with the alumni when we get there.”

Everyone looks forward to both events. It has never been a problem in the past and shouldn’t be in the future.

The Greeks are having their own Homecoming event the following week. The sororities are hosting a powder puff football game where the fraternities will be coaches, referees and cheerleaders.

To show unity as Greeks, the teams will be a mixture of every sorority, as well as the fraternities’ cheerleading squads.

by Amber Kurrle

This month, Kayla Beghtol from Delta Gamma was selected as our Greek of the Month.

Kayla was selected for going above and beyond her duties as the new AnchorSplash director and being an excellent role model. I had the opportunity to meet with Kayla to ask her a few questions.

Q: How has Delta Gamma helped you?

A: It helps you get involved in the community and gives you a support system. You always have someone there that will be honest with you if you think you are doing something wrong.

Q: What advice do you have for anyone who wants to take on leadership?

A: Don’t be scared. Sometimes the best leaders are people who were scared to step up, but did it anyway. It is also very rewarding.

The sisters of Zeta Tau Alpha hosted their annual Mr. Zeta beauty pageant for men last Wednesday.

Each fraternity sent a representative from their chapter to battle against one another and other athletes and individuals. The event consisted of contests of pick-up lines, swimwear, royal wear and a talent portion.

While the event benefitted breast cancer awareness, it stirred up competition among the contestants.

“It’s a pride thing,” said former Mr. Zeta, Haden Carlson. “Who wouldn’t be proud to rock the crown with the Zeta girls?”

Carlson proudly passed down the crown to his brother and this year’s winner, Dave Moran from Sigma Pi.

Moran’s stand-up comedy routine assisted him in claiming the title. But he faced some tough competition from Giacomo Sciuto from Kappa Sigma, who needed no words for his pick-up line and found perfectly witty words for his rap in the talent portion.

Kappa Sigma got loud to make their presence heard as they cheered on their brother and won him bonus points for bringing the largest crowd. Mr. Zeta was hilarious, entertaining and best of all, raised money for breast cancer awareness.

by Tiffany McCabe

Salisbury University Greeks dressed to impress as they piled into the Wicomico Room on Oct. 10, awaiting the results of the Salisbury University Greek Assessment Program (SUGAP) for the 2010-11 academic year.

Each sorority received commendable scores on their annual evaluation of chapter operations, making each chapter eligible for Excellence Awards.

Alpha Sigma Tau received the Alpha Chapter of Excellence Award as well as the Excellence Award for Leadership Development.

Delta Gamma was granted the Beta Chapter of Excellence Award and the Excellence Award for Academics.

Zeta Tau Alpha won three awards including Beta Chapter, the Excellence Award for Academics and Leadership Development.

Phi Mu received six awards, including Alpha Chapter and Excellence Awards for Campus and Community Involvement, Ritual, Risk Management and Academics, as well as the Chapter of the Year award.

“I couldn’t be more proud of our chapter and how far we’ve come in the past year,” said Phi Mu’s Vice President, Nikki Kuhar, in regards to winning Chapter of the Year. “We are honored to receive this award and contribute our success to our hard work and dedication to philanthropy and our sisterhood.”

Congratulations to each chapter on their awards and another successful academic year.

by Catherine Noppenberger

I bet you didn’t know that 48 percent of United States presidents have been Greek.

As we all know, none of these Greeks were beautiful, intelligent females. But not to worry, with the wonderful women here in Salisbury University’s Greek Life, it isn’t hard to believe that the first female president will be Greek.

Looking back in history, many of women’s finest accomplishments were completed by Greek women. Alpha Sigma Tau and Zeta Tau Alpha have had multiple winners of the popular pageant, Miss USA.

Not into pageants? You can also find Greek women anywhere from Broadway to Fox News.

The movie The Help is based off a bestselling novel written by a Phi Mu.

The first woman to be nominated for the President’s cabinet was a Delta Gamma.

Even better, the first female federal judge to swear in a President was a Delta Gamma as well. Zeta Tau Alpha is proud to say one of their alumni was the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize in music composition.

If you want to have a part in shaping history, consider joining a Greek Life organization here at SU.

by Erin Laffey

Everyone knows that the Greeks here at Salisbury University are involved on campus and in the community, but people question what gives us the drive to become involved. My answer is leadership.

What is a leader? What are their qualities? A leader is an influential individual possessing the qualities necessary to set an example that others are willing to follow.

Every day, Greeks face the challenge to step up and be leaders, and quite frankly, skills are necessary to do so. Becoming a successful leader is not something that happens over night; it takes time.

Greeks are given the opportunity to start bettering their leadership skills through philanthropy, community service, volunteering and chapter positions.

Last week, members of Greek life were asked to attend a leadership retreat.

“The retreat taught me to hold onto my obligations in the sorority as not just a sister and friend, but a leader and representative of my sorority,” said Nicole O’Connor, sister of Delta Gamma. “It is important to always live your letters, and leadership is what you do and what you say you can do.”

As a community, Greeks know that the role of leadership is something that comes packaged with our letters, which is why we live by leading.