PULLMAN, Wash. – The Greek Councils at Washington State University held the newly revamped Arête Awards at the Schweitzer Event Center Dec. 3 to honor chapters, individuals, and WSU’s Greek life centennial.
The awards honored the past 100 years of traditions with decades of memorabilia from chapters in the entrance way, honoring past Greek life.
“The Arête Awards are a great opportunity for our university administration and the Greek councils to recognize outstanding Greek chapters and members within our community,” said 2009 Panhellenic President Ali Scott.
Previously, Arête Awards had highlighted excellence in the spring; nearly a full semester after the nominees had finished their term. Recognizing achievements earlier allows the appropriate students to get recognition and also encourages the audience to recognize achievements they can replicate in their own organization.
Greek organizations are built upon four main values: leadership, scholarship, brother or sisterhood and service. Kappa Kappa Gamma won the Exceptional Values Integration Award with their chapter’s focus on living their founding values on a daily basis, by holding workshops from nutrition to interview etiquette.
The awards proved that change within such a large community is still possible. “We saw a lot of growth this year, especially within scholastic achievement,” Scott said. “This year we saw a fraternity with a 3.10 GPA, which is quite a bit above the requirement for fraternities.”
Farmhouse Fraternity won the award for highest fraternity chapter GPA with a cumulative 3.10 grade point average, and Alpha Phi won for sororities with a 3.29 all-house grade point average.
“It was a great way to say goodbye to the outgoing leaders of our community to complete our term on a happy note,” Scott said.
To see a complete list of the individual winners and the chapter and scholastic awards, visit https://thedivision.wsu.edu/pages/publications.asp?Action=Detail&PublicationID=1082.
Note to Editors: Photos available upon request.
