Students dressed in eclectic attire piled into the Memorial Union Building’s (MUB) Granite State Room (GSR) for the annual SHARPP Lip Sync on Tuesday night, Oct. 25. Sponsored by UNH’s Sexual Harassment and Rape Prevention Program (SHARPP), and the UNH Panhellenic Council, this event gave fraternity and sorority members a chance to compete for the title of “Best Lip-Syncers.”
This event had the GSR at full capacity. Students cheered on their favorite groups and enjoyed a night filled with whacky routines, cross-dressing fraternity and sorority members and, of course, hilarious lip-syncing.
Not only did this event provide an exciting experience for the performers and attendees, but also supported SHARPP, as 100 percent of the proceeds went directly to the sexual assault prevention organization.
“SHARPP and the Panhellenic Council co-sponsor this event,” senior health management and policy major, Chi Omega member and Panhellenic President Alicia DelVento said. “We do a lot [with SHARPP] just kind of to get people together to celebrate what [they do] on campus and raise money.”
With approximately 555 tickets bought at $5 per ticket, the event raised almost $3,000 for SHARPP.
According to sophomore communication sciences and disorders major and SHARPP Community Educator Shannon Bryant, October is Domestic Abuse Awareness Month, making the timing of this event impeccable.
“I think we do this event in October because October is a huge month for us, considering we are under the umbrella of relationship abuse,” Bryant said.
However, though it’s for a good cause, according to DelVento, the best part of the evening is the creativity.
“You never know what the chapters are [going to] pull out,” DelVento said.
DelVento wasn’t kidding, as the chapters provided a wide array of entertainment through various genres of music.
These performances included Lambda Chi Alpha’s rendition of “Tik Tok” by Ke$ha, Theta Chi’s take on a Miley Cyrus classic, Chi Omega channeling their inner Cheetah Girls, Sigma Chi reenacting “Shrek,” Alpha Chi Omega’s Backstreet Boys mash up, Sigma Alpha Epsilon flipping on stage, Alpha Phi throwing it back to the Aaron Carter days, Kappa Delta lip syncing “Juju On That Beat,” Kappa Sigma putting Beyoncé to shame and Sigma Phi Epsilon dancing to the mash up of the century.
Though the efforts from all chapters were valiant, Alpha Xi Delta (AXiD) and Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) ultimately took home gold. AXiD took the stage in bright colors while breaking it down to Bruno Mars’ “24K Magic,” while TKE made a tribute to the Wildcats with a rendition of “Get‘cha Head in the Game” from the Disney Channel Original Movie “High School Musical.”
After the winners were announced, both front-runners celebrated in style by leaving the GSR cheering with pride.
According to Alpha Chi Omega member and Panhellenic Vice President of Finance Sydney Mannarino, the Lip Sync has been a huge hit for years.
“It’s definitely an event that a lot of people look forward to,” Mannarino said. “It’s fun…and it’s really good because it’s at the beginning of the year, so a lot of new members from all different fraternities and sororities get to know the older brothers and sisters and get to know each other.”
DelVento later said that this event goes beyond supporting SHARPP and being high-quality entertainment, as it shows members of sorority and fraternity life how important their voices are on UNH’s campus. According to DelVento, the fraternity and sorority community makes up about 15 percent of this campus, making their voices extremely influential on the topic of sexual assault, which is why the partnership with SHARPP is extremely important.
“[Lip Sync is a] really great event,” DelVento said. “We love working with SHARPP.”