By Madalyn Watson | Staff Writer
The Multicultural Greek Council (MGC) showcased many of their organizations to prospective members in their Meet The Greeks event on Tuesday, Feb. 19. They shared their personalities through song, dance and presentation at 7 p.m. in the Barfield Drawing Room on the second floor of the Bill Daniel Student Center (SUB).
Greek life at Baylor is divided into several organizations such as the National Pan-hellenic Council (NPHC), the Interfraternity Council (IFC) and the Panhellenic Council (PHC), in addition to the MGC.
Edinburg junior Gabriela Soliz is the multicultural public relations chair for the MGC. In addition she is the vice president of Hermandad de Sigma Iota Alpha, Inc. (SIA), one of the sororities in the MGC.
“The multicultural greek council is composed of eight different organizations, sororities and fraternities. It’s a place for people to celebrate their culture and find their little niche away from home,” Soliz said.
The showcase format allows for all of the organizations to share their history, key pillars and philanthropy as well as their overall personality.
“We are giving each sorority and fraternity a little time to give their little spiel to [students] that are interested, so they can tell people who they are, what they’re about, what they stand for,” Soliz said.
San Antonio senior Luis Torres, president of the MGC as well as the the vice president of Omega Delta Phi (ODPhi), presented all of the organizations in the showcase.
“We’re out here trying to spread awareness for the diversity at Baylor and showcasing that even people of color can participate in Greek life actively, and that they have a role on campus,” Torres said.
Although all of the organizations featured in the MGC are culturally based, they accept members of all cultural backgrounds and ethnicities.
“None of us are exclusively one culture, we’re open to any people of any culture,” Torres said.
The showcase featured six of the eight active organizations in the MGC. The two organizations that were not represented at the showcase were the Delta Kappa Delta (DKD) sorority and the brothers of Delta Epsilon Psi (Depsi).
The Alpha Kappa Delta Phi (aKDPhi) sorority shared their presentation with the audience first.
According to their website, the five pillars of aKDPhi are sisterhood, leadership, scholarship, service and Asian Awareness.
Although they are no longer looking for new members for this semester, the women of aKDPhi have an upcoming event called the Mr. Pink Pageant on Friday, Mar. 1, where all their proceeds will go towards breast cancer awareness.
The sisterhood of Gamma Alpha Omega (Gammas) performed a dance called a stroll, that combines music, chanting and dancing.
Colorado Springs, Colo. senior Becca Huerta, the president of Gamma Alpha Omega as well as the external vice president on the MGC executive board, was one of the members who “strolled.”
“We are a small Latina founded, but not exclusive sorority. So, we were primarily created because there was a lack of places for Latinas to meet and encourage each other and support each other,” Huerta said.
Huerta said Baylor’s chapter of Gamma Alpha Omega, was the first Latina sorority on campus.
“We always want to encourage people to get through college, to be involved with the Waco community, to be involved in the Waco community,” Huerta said.
The Hermandad de Sigma Iota Alpha, Inc. (SIA) is also a Latina based, but not Latina exclusive sorority.
“What that means is that we do pride ourselves on empowering women, and also our hispanic culture, but we’re also open to other people joining as well,” Soliz said.
The women of SIA will be having a Game Night event with ODPhi on Friday, Feb. 22 at 6 p.m. in the SUB.
ODPHi, a multicultural fraternity focused on serving the community, was founded by Latino men at Texas Tech University in 1987.
“A group of seven individuals saw the need to have Latino men go out from their university and serve as role models to the community,” Torres said.
The other organizations that presented and performed in the showcase were the men of Beta Kappa Gamma (BKG) and the women of Kappa Delta Chi (KDChi).
“This is an event that happened two years ago, so we wanted to bring it back. A lot of the organizations wanted to present themselves in different ways this year,” Huerta said.
The MGC wanted to engage the community more and wanted the organizations to show off their individuality and show off what’s important to them.
“We want to meet everyone, minorities or not minorities,” Huerta said.
