Ashland University’s annual Greek Life event, “Lip Sync,” was held this past weekend in the Hugo Young theatre. All chapters participated, excluding the newest sorority on campus, Theta Phi Alpha. 

For the third year in a row, Alpha Delta Pi won for the sororities, and Delta Zeta took second. However, this year Tau Kappa Epsilon took home the gold for the fraternities, while Phi Kappa Phi took second, and Phi Delta Theta took third. 

Kalie Outwater, Alpha Delta Pi Special Events Chair said she worked a lot on this year’s production. 

“I am pretty much the backbone of the whole operation,” she said. “I brainstorm themes for the chapter to vote on; I put the music together and I coordinate practices with the choreographers. I am also in charge of costumes and props.” 

Chris Beisel held a big role this year in terms of Lip Sync. Not only was he involved with his chapter, Tau Kappa Epsilon, but he also is the Vice President of Programming on Interfraternity Council (IFC), which includes heavy involvement of Greek Week, as well as Lip Sync. 

“From a much more stressful perspective, in addition to my Lip Sync role on IFC, I was also the chairman of the Lip Sync committee for Tau Kappa Epsilon,” he said. “I was in charge of the process, which started with brainstorming a story-line and music selection. Once we were set on our story we were able to select music to depict the story more accurately. Once we had the music, we began choreographing and piecing together the skit. It is certainly much easier said than it is done to successfully put together a Lip Sync skit.”

As part of his IFC position, Beisel also planned a majority of the actual Lip Sync event and said there were many small details to this position. 

“It was part of my title to plan the event itself, monitor the progress of chapters by providing each element of performances with a due date, booking third-party judges for the event, and just making sure everything was smooth sailing,” he said. 

Although Beisel was constantly working on the event, he said the hard work paid off in the end. He said the event was a major success and he was extremely happy with all of it. 

“The event was awesome. It really showed that every chapter put a lot of thought into their performances. It is just nice when the Greek community is brought together for things that everyone can get excited for. While the constant chants of sororities fills your eardrums, I think it is all worth it in the end.”

Outwater is proud of the win and owes her sorority’s success to the other choreographers that helped her make the show possible. 

“Our win this year would not have been possible without the help of these eight other girls,” she said. 

Many chapters work on their lip sync routines for weeks or months at a time. Both Beisel and Outwater said they worked with their chapters for about a month. 

“My brothers and I invested a countless number of hours into Lip Sync this year,” he said. “We began working on our routine over a month before the big day.” 

Beisel said that through this hard work, his chapter comes together, and this is the highlight of the event for him. He said he is very proud of his chapter, especially since they haven’t taken home a win for a few years. 

“My favorite part about Lip Sync is just the unity it builds within my TKE chapter,” he said. “A lot of planning and hard work goes into our routine, but every year it seems like Lip Sync really brings together the brothers of my chapter. We all get excited about going out there, having fun, and making people laugh. To us, that is what it is all about.”

Taylor Zorman worked hand-in-hand with Beisel. She is the Vice President of Programming for Panhellenic Council and said the fraternities and their work surprised her. 

“I think the fraternities really stepped it up this year,” she said. “I was extremely impressed with all of them.” 

All of the money raised from the event goes to St. Jude Children’s Hospital, the all-Greek philanthropy. Zorman said she is extremely happy with the amount of money raised and the overall production. 

“I thought [the event] went extremely well,” she said. “We raised over $2,000 for St. Jude which is the goal of this event. I like when we announce how much we as a community raised for St. Jude; it reminds people of the purpose of this event.” 

Beisel agreed and said he encourages students to attend Lip Sync, for many reasons. 

“Regardless of whether students are Greek, they should attend Lip Sync,” he said. “First off, all of the proceeds from the ticket sales benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital – an incredible cause. Secondly, the evening is so entertaining. You will be impressed, amazed, given goose bumps and left laughing – it is a blast.”