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Fraternities test their strength at Sigma Kappa's Sigmalympics, raise money for Alzheimer's

October 19, 2014

On a sunny Sunday afternoon, members of fraternities and other organizations gathered at Patriarche Park in East Lansing for Sigma Kappa sorority’s second annual “Sigmalympics” event, which raised money for Alzheimer’s awareness and research.

Not only did Sigmalympics give fraternity members the chance to mingle and compete against each other, many members of various organizations said they were involved because of personal connections to the cause.

“One of my grandparents actually suffers from this, so I felt like putting my money towards a worthy cause like Alzheimer’s is a good thing,” Huebner said.

The event consisted of an obstacle course, a capture the flag–style game and a race which required members of each team to race down the field and carry their Sigma Kappa coach on their back.

Turner said the inspiration for the event came from the fact that many fraternities host similar events for the women to compete in.

“The boys have all the girls do field day events, and girls never make the boys do the same so we were like, ‘we’re gonna make them do that,’” Turner said.

“We’ve increased our profits so much since last year,” Sigma Kappa philanthropy chair and neuroscience junior Lauren Turner said. “Last year we raised just under $5,000, and this year we have raised more than $7,500 already.”

In addition to the main event, the teams competed in “penny wars,” which involved the groups putting pennies in their team’s jar but sabotaging other teams by putting nickels, dimes, quarters or dollars in their jars. The penny wars alone raised more than $2,000, Turner said.

Members of the greek community were not the only ones in attendance, as Sigmalympics welcomes other organizations as well. Turner said she extended invitations to the men’s rugby and lacrosse teams.

Finance junior and member of the rugby team Adam Plumstead said he and his teammates decided to participate again this year because of the cause and the fun they had last year.

“We have a lot of friends in Sigma Kappa and wanted to help the cause,” Plumstead said. “It’s really humbling to be a part of this ... Whatever we can do to help.”

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