Though the Polar Plunge shows a drastic increase in participation from last year, other years have not been so different. The number of funds raised in 2011, 2012, and 2013 remained within a few thousand dollars of each other.

Panhellenic Council vice-president of communications and journalism junior Faith Krogulecki said this year was a really good turnout compared with past years.

“The event itself was awesome, so many people there dressing up and just having a great time with the whole event,” Krogulecki said.

Yet she said for future Polar Plunges, she hopes people will put more emphasis on fundraising.

“During Greek Week we really try to raise money for every cause we possibly can,” Krogulecki said.

She said the Polar Plunge is for an especially important cause, since it’s more local and directly affects the Special Olympics participants in Michigan.

For the past few years, Krogulecki said they have been requiring at least one member of each chapter’s executive board to jump. She said this has really helped participation.

Still, she said in the future she hopes to see more people coming out to support their representatives.

Journalism and political science junior Katherine Kuhne, who is on this year’s Greek Week leadership team, remains optimistic.

“I would like to think that there is a really good turnout from the greek side for Polar Plunge,” Kuhne said.

She said a lot of people this year were asking to do the event just for fun.

“I do know that a lot of people were interested in participating and so I’m hoping that’s just going to increase exponentially in the upcoming years,” Kuhne said.