80th annual university Sing competition at OSU themed around 80’s music

The Oregon State University campus will be rocking Friday night.

OSU sororities and fraternities are competing in the 80th annual Sing competition tonight at 7 p.m. in Gill Coliseum.

Sororities and fraternities have paired up and worked over the past several months choreograph a routine for their moms and community members to watch, according to Alec Petersen, Interfraternity Council president.

According to Petersen, Sing began as a homecoming event in the Oregon Agricultural College, the fraternities hosted a singing competition in the Memorial Union lounge. During World War II, when all the fraternities became inactive, the sororities started their own competition.

In 1951, the sororities and fraternities came together to make the event what it is today, a collaborative effort and the main event of mom’s weekend at OSU, Petersen said.

Since the 1950s, the event has moved from the MU to Gill Coliseum and competing fraternities and sororities now wear full makeup and costumes relating to the year’s theme, according to Petersen.

For the 80th anniversary of Sing, this year’s theme is the 80’s, Petersen said.

With this theme, teams will be singing and dancing to the songs of Journey, Bon Jovi, Wham!, Cyndi Lauper and other 80’s artists.

According to Gabi Perez, the Panhellenic president, all teams are given free reign over their practice schedules but are only allowed to practice six hours a week for the competition in the months leading up to the competition.

“We realize this is another commitment added onto being a student and all the other commitments that come along with that,” Perez said.

Alpha Omicron Pi and Delta Chi, a team in the competition, have been practicing their routine since week three winter term, according to Gretchen Leuthy, a coach of Alpha Omicron Pi and Delta Chi.

“Over (sic) this last two terms we’ve honestly gotten really close to our partners, at first it didn’t start out that way, nobody really knew each other and it was really awkward. But we’ve had our chemistry grow a lot,” said Rebecca Albertson, a consultant for the team. “We’ve gotten a lot closer and I think that’s brought us a lot farther.”

According to Albertson, the team dynamic was constructed through a regular schedule, as well as hanging out away from practice.

Consultants and coaches are all members of the fraternities and sororities they are members.

One of the reasons for being a consultant is being able to use their years of training, according to Laci James, a consultant for Alpha Omicron Pi and Delta Chi.

“I have been performing for 15 years,” James said. “I am able to teach them how to perform and teach them how to dance correctly.”

Sing allows students from sororities and fraternities to bond, according to Albertson. The time spent together allows Sing participants to create life-long friendships.

“Outside of Sing there’s not many situations in which you have this much time to really get to know individuals within a different house,” Albertson said. “It’s just one of those college memories that everyone looks back on ten, 15 years from now.”

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