The Student Union was rocked with foreign sounds, creating a night of culture and community on Wednesday.
The “Meet the Greeks” event was hosted by the Diversified Greek Council, which is a joint governing body of cultural Greek organizations. Twelve fraternities and sororities associated with the council performed skits, dances, step routines and salutes to celebrate themselves and their members.
The event was open to the public and held inside the Pegasus Ballroom. The ballroom was filled with people of all ethnicities and races.
Francisco Mena and Mikayla Morris, both UCF alumni and Greek life members, were the on-stage hosts of the event with the job of keeping the crowd engaged and introducing the next set of performers.
“It was a great feeling to be able to come back as an alumni and host the event and perform with my chapter brothers. Man, it was a phenomenal feeling,” said Mena, Sigma Lambda Beta brother.
The music could be heard all the way from the food court and consisted of sounds and languages from all over the world, ranging from Asia to Africa to the Caribbean.
“I really enjoyed listening to everyone’s different songs during their mixes and performances,” said Aleesha Taylor, Zeta Phi Beta sister and UCF alumna. “Honestly some of those songs I had never even heard of and just getting to see a brief history and taking a step into their organization was really cool.”
The salutes, which are shouted statements while in line formations, were performed by most organizations and provided fraternities and sororities the ability to share information about themselves. Some organizations did these salutes in other languages, many in Spanish. The sorority Mu Sigma Upsilon performed its salute in over 10 languages during the performance.
“After watching all the shows, they definitely incorporated all of the cultures,” Phi Beta Sigma brother and UCF alumnus Adrian Whyte said. “You definitely saw everyone’s origins whether it’s with their organization or their background personally.”
Even after the event had ended, the music did not stop.
“That’s the main reason that I joined an organization in DGC – the culture and just the community,” Mena said. “Everyone comes from different places in the world but if we all come together, we can form one community.”
