On March 24th the annual Greek Sing fundraiser and competition was held at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall. The audience was entertained by amazing performances as well as by the hosts seniors Jake Yosafat and Harold Kim. Many may think that Jake and Harold had the easiest job in the world: wear snazzy suits and wow the crowd with witty banter. However, they did much more. Besides acting as the hosts for the night, Harold and Jake were the Overall Greek Sing chairs: they ran the operational, financial, and organizational aspects of this event. The Greek Community at Carnegie Mellon University raised over $55,000 for the Children’s Institute of Pittsburgh at the annual Greek Sing fundraiser—making this a night to remember. I sat down with Harold and Jake during their first week of freedom to talk about this momentous occasion and their roles as chairs.
The role of Overall Greek Sing chair started for Harold and Jake when the Spring 2011 semester ended. Greek Sing is not the thing most members of the Greek Community had on their mind at beginning of summer, Harold and Jake had to start planning early. Working with Ariel Weaver, Coordinator for Fraternity and Sorority Affairs, they started contacting the different Greek organizations, booking Soldiers and Sailors for the event, and setting a timeline. There was no time for awkward introductions for Harold and Jake even if they didn’t know each other previously. They quickly learned that they would need to have strong communications in order for things to run smoothly. “We had a rocky start with dividing up roles at first,” explains Jake, “but after a while I took over house financials and Harold took over communications.”
Harold and Jake also had the task of being in charge of the Greek Sing chairs from the different Greek organizations. Harold, who was a Greek Sing chair for his fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE), and Jake, who had not been a chair for his house Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) but had participated in Greek Sing, went into their roles with some knowledge but not fully aware of what its like to be a Greek Sing chair. Some houses are very intense about Greek Sing, which can be intimidating for new Overall Greek Sing chairs. “I was definitely intimidated coming in to this position. SAE isn’t your typical house so I didn’t really know what it was like to be a real GS chair,” explains Harold. “Sure I could help the houses and give them information, but I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to live up to their intensity. When comparing the individual houses’ Greek Sing chair to Overall Greek Sing chair Harold and Jake believe that both can be equally stressful. “House chairs and the Overall chair both work on different things,” says Jake. “For house chairs you are coordinating manpower, while for Overall chair you are making sure people understand you.” “After seeing how much work all the other houses put in I learned that being an individual house chair is a very stressful position for most houses,” says Harold. “Maybe our position would have been more stressful, but our laid back personalities allowed the position to be pretty stress-free.”
Despite having laid back personalities, Harold and Jake still felt some stress. When asked what the most stressful moment was Jake and Harold had different concerns. Harold was more concerned about the organizations. “We had a lot of new organizations this year, either competing for the first time or competing competitively for the first time,” he explains. “I just was concerned about the chairs not knowing what was going on. I wanted everyone to be on the same level.” Jake’s concern was more on the financial side. “I was waking up with cold sweats over spring break,” says Jake. “I was terrified we were only going to give a $10,000 check to the Children’s Institute.”
Both of their concerns were soon lifted as the night of Greek Sing approached. The chairs seemed pretty organized at their dry runs and the donation goal was met. “Jake did a victory lap around Soldiers and Sailors as soon as we hit our donation goal,” says Harold. Both chairs were very excited to have met the $45,000 fundraising goal. They did not expect that the sum would exceed this.
When the final number came in and it was $55,487, Jake and Harold were both near tears. “When Harold asked me in front of the audience if the number started with a 4 and I said ‘Nope,’ just seeing and hearing the flood of emotion that came from the audience…that is a moment I’m never going to forget,” explains Jake. “I don’t know how I wasn’t bawling on stage.” The emotional part did not end when the amount of money raised was announced. Harold says his most memorable moment was when the houses came up to get their awards. “After seeing how hard houses worked, you become attached to them,” explains Harold. “I felt so bad to see some houses recognized for their performances: “It meant a lot when houses were saying thank you to us. I mean I didn’t do anything, they are the ones that put on the amazing show. But to know we helped put together a show that made people so incredibly happy is just awesome.”
Harold and Jake definitely helped put together another successful year of Greek Sing. The buzz after the show along with the record-breaking amount raised is proof of how successful this year’s Greek Sing was!