Greeks Give Back

Fall 2013

Claire Usher lights up when she starts talking about Greek life.
Her hand gestures get a little bigger and her voice becomes a little lighter, adding to the bubbly energy that she already radiates. Whether its about the various projects shes involved in as the President of the National Panhellenic Conference, the governing body of the sororities on campus, or simply how she manages to do it all, Usher doesnt hesitate to discuss how much Greek life has affected her experience on campus. Usher joined Greek life after arriving at the University of Wisconsin-Madison three years ago. After volunteering for Misericordia, a facility that houses severely mentally handicapped people, in her hometown of Chicago, she feels that it is important to educate people on the philanthropic aspect of being Greek. Weve noticed that Greeks tend to be leaders in most student organizations. So I feel like leadership and service tend to go hand in hand, Usher said. It would be fair to say that we do as much if not more than the average student. Now Usher oversees the activity of the sororities on campus, including their philanthropic contributions. Sororities typically have national philanthropies that they give time and money to, but occasionally the entire Greek community comes together to raise money for a cause. This is the case with Trick or Treat with the Greeks, an event that lets kids from Madison area after-school programs visit the Greek houses and participate in Halloween-themed activities. One of the houses had bobbing for apples and these kids are so little, Claire said, laughing. They had this deep bucket you know and these kids wanted to get the apples so bad that they were chest deep in the water and then they had to go outside and it was forty degrees out, so the girls all brought their hair dryers and were drying kids off in the foyer. Given that the more than 1500 sorority members under the

jurisdiction of the Panhellenic on the UW-Madison campus are required to complete seven service hours per semester, their contributions add up quickly. However, some women go above and beyond their requirement. When we get in service hours at the end of the semester you see that people are, you know, going and doing community service every week, Usher said. So theyre spending 70 to 100 hours during their semester on service events.

It would be fair to say that we do as much, if not more, than the average student - Claire Usher
Usher credits the large amounts of money the Greek system is able to raise to their ability to strike a chord with their members and create a bond with their community that will last a lifetime. Because many of the donations sororities and fraternities receive come from their alumni, these connections are vital to their philanthropic contributions. Its really awesome to see how people do give back once they graduate and how they want to give back to the members of the current chapter that theyre no longer directly involved in, Usher said. This lasting connection to their alumni, as well as their increasing presence on campus, has helped the Greek community become a major contributor to philanthropy at UW-Madison. Its for these reasons that Claire Usher decided to go Greek and its for these same reasons that her years at Wisconsin, and the impact she made here, will stay with her for a lifetime.

Emma Leuman
Journalism Student @emmaelsewhere

Issue 1 Vol 1