MEMBERS OF ALPHABAMMA SIOMA Fraternity string lights aroaad their house at 40th and Hoidrege streets?0™
Greeks light up for children
ByIevaAugstums
Staff Reporter
'Twas the week before
Thanksgiving, and all down greek
raw..
University of Nebraska
Lincoln’s greek system donated
some dough.
Sigma Nu Fraternity asked
houses to help them succeed,
In raising support for the Child
Saving Institute, helping families
in need.
Every year, Sigma Nu
Fraternity sponsors a contest to see
which greek house can decorate
the outside of its house with lights
the best.
“Winter Lights for Kids”
eneourages all greek houses to par
ticipate in raising money for the
Child Saving Institute.
“This is our third year that we
have done this philanthropy, and
we love doing it,” said Troy Smith,
a junior history and philosophy
major and Sigma Nu philanthropy
chairman.
Smith said each house that par
ticipated this year donated $75,
and had until the night of Dec. 3, to
decorate. Prize money of $100 for
first place, $75 for second place
and $50 for third place was award
ed to winning houses.
This year, first place went to
Lamda Chi Alpha Fraternity; Delta
Delta Delta Sorority came in sec
ond and Alpha Tau Omega
Fraternity was third. A total of
$900 was raised.
Chris Lanoha, a junior business
management major and Lamda Chi
Alpha member, took the initiative
this year to make sure his house
was a part of “Winter Lights for
Kids.” Members spent a day and a
half decorating, Lanoha said.
“If anyone knows our house,
it’s architecturally built like a box,”
Lanoha said. “We had to be very
creative, so we just outlined our
entire house with lights. I guess it
worked.”
Chuck Shanahan, a senior mar
keting major and Sigma Nu mem
ber, said a lot of people like to
f—
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v Decorating the house, singing Christmas
carols ... helps make Kappa feel like home”
Adrienne Glaser
Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority member
to see the lights on the houses.
Linda Schwartzkopf, director of
UNL’s Greek Affairs, said the unity
among the chapters this holiday
season is more than she has seen in
the past.
“The campus looked very
impressive last year,”
Schwartzkopf said. “This year is
just as beautiful, if not more, and
Sigma Nu’s light campaign has a
lot to do with it.”
Twelve of the 36 greek houses
on campus participated in “Winter
Lights for Kids,” but nearly all
greek houses decorated for the hol
idays and showed holiday spirit.
Schwartzkopf said the greek
members love to decorate because
it brings holiday cheer and spirit to
the campus. There are no decorat
ing policies mandated by Greek
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Whether it’s lights outside or
inside, garland wrapped around
staircases, or wreaths, holly and
candles placed throughout the
house, greeks donated an evening
to a day’s worth of time for house
decorations.
Every year, Gamma Phi Beta
Sorority allows its new members to
take over the house for decorating.
“It is a yearly tradition that we
do,” Amber Combs, a junior nurs
ing major and Gamma Phi Beta
new member educator, said. “It
gives the pledge class an opportu
nity to do something for their older
sisters.”
Kevin Sagehorn, an agricultur
al education major and Alpha
Gamma Sigma Fraternity presi
dent, said many Alpha Gamma
Sigma members were raised
around small towns, therefore
members were familiar with family
and community traditions.
“Every member likes to bring a
part of his holiday traditions with
him,” Sagehorn said. “Many of die
guys decorate their individual
rooms to reflect their own holiday
traditions”
Sagehorn said AGS members
decorate their Christmas tree dur
ing a Christmas party for the whole
house, but their house mother
takes care of the other house deco
rations.
Adrienne Glaser, a senior psy
chology major and Kappa Kappa
Gamma Sorority president, said
the effort anil time put into deco
rating the house is time well spent.
Christmas is Glaser’s favorite part
of the year.
“I’m originally from Florida,
and I know it is tough being away
from home around the holidays,”
Glaser said. “Decorating the
house, singing Christmas carols
around the piano and drinking hot
chocolate with my fellow sisters,
helps make Kappa feel like a home
to everyone.”
Schwartzkopf said making
each house feel like home is a tra
dition most greek houses don’t
overlook.
“Every chapter is like a fami
ly,” Schwartzkopf said. “The feel
ing of creating a home away from
home and the celebrating of tradi
tions are far too great and would be
missed if they did not decorate.”
Blake Reigert, a senior busi
ness administration major and
Farmhouse Fraternity pledge edu
cator, said the holiday season is a
good time to bring the members
together and create Christmas spir
it in the house. Decorating the
house is one way they increase hol
iday spirit, he said.
“Farmhouse Fraternity is a big
believer in family,” Reigert said.
“Decorating the house and taking
part in traditions during the holi
days make every greek house a
family, whether they like it or not.”
-----;---—-■
Campus dwcflws
dedididrhalk
By Jennifer Walker
Staff Reporter
Making a 10-by-12-foot, box
like room with one window seem
like home is hard.
That hasn’t stopped many resi
dent hall students from stringing
lights around windows, draping
garlands over doors and hanging
ornaments on tiny plastic
Christmas trees.
Decorating for Christmas in a
residence hall is a way to make a
sterile room a little more like
home, said Keesha Kalblinger, a
resident on 9th floor of Pound Hall
and a junior biology major.
“Christmas is a special time,”
she said. “It takes a little time and
effort to decorate, but it’s worth
it.”
For some freshmen, the two
weeks spent at school before
Christmas can be especially try
ing. Micaela Brandt, a resident on
1st floor of Piper and a freshman
biology major, decorated her
room because she knew she would
miss out on the pre-Christmas
decorating her family has always
done together.
“It’s an important family time
for us,” she said, “I’m not even
going to get to pick out the
Christmas tree because I’m here.”
Brandt wrapped her door in
Christmas paper and made name
tags for herself and her roommate.
Margo Rehm, a resident on the
3rd floor of Heppner and a fresh
man political science major, got
into the Christmas spirit after the
women on her floor decorated
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Christmas is a
special time. It takes
a little time and
effort to decorate,
but its worth it.”
Keesha Kalblinger
junior biology major
their hallway.
“In the great shopping mall
tradition, we decorated before
Thanksgiving,” she said. “Then I
just went home and stole decora
tions from my mom.”
Love Memorial Hall on East
Campus has an annual hallway
decorating contest and a
Phrietmae nartv that Qanta flanc
attends, said Heather Swanson, a
junior nursing major.
“There are some crazy, crazy
decorations this year,” she said.
Resident hall students have a
few rules on holiday decorating in
their housing contracts, said Bob
Stine, coordinator for residence
hall administration.
Live trees or branches are not
allowed in residence halls because
they present a fire hazard, he said.
He also recommended that stu
dents not overload outlets when
plugging in lights.
“We want students to have the
opportunity to decorate as they so
choose to, without it being a fire
hazard.”
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