The women from Alpha Phi and the men from Phi Kappa Tau and Delta Upsilon sing and dance to songs from the 1980s at the Awesomely Bad Songfest 2007 Saturday night. Six different acts were performed by the Greek organizations. HEATHER STAWICKI | DAILY KEN

Credit: Jason Hall

The music was bad, the dancing was bad, the singing was worse – and it was still a huge success. Everything went just as planned at Saturday night’s “Awesomely Bad Songfest” competition.

More than 1,300 people packed the Student Center Ballroom to see Inter-Greek Programming Board’s annual philanthropy event.

Each of the six teams, made up of fraternities and sororities, had 10 minutes to impress judges with their singing, dancing and acting ability. Teams were also awarded points for the amount of fundraising dollars they raised before the event.

“They obviously spent a lot of time preparing,” said Marlene Dorsey, dean of the College of Continuing Studies and one of the competition’s judges. “I am enjoying it immensely.”

“The teams really went the distance,” said Brian Green, another one of the judges.

The overall winner of the 2007 Songfest competition was the team of Alpha Phi, Phi Kappa Tau and Delta Upsilon.

“We practiced every single day for two weeks,” said Tara Galloway, member of Alpha Phi and choreographer for the performance. “Winning feels amazing.”

VIDEO Watch members of the Greek community perform.

The group’s performance was a comical spoof of the recent snow day. It told the story of the brothers of Phi Kappa Tau and Delta Upsilon sneaking to the Alpha Phi house for a late night ’80s dance party.

“Often Greek organizations get a bad name,” Dorsey said. “But it is obviously not all about parties. It is about caring for your community.”

It was that caring that made the difference this year.

Because of the fundraising efforts of all the Greek chapters, the Inter-Greek Programming Board was able to present a check for more than $10,000 to Jeff’s Ballpark Tour, an organization started by Jeffrey Newbauer Jr., a Kent State student who died of cancer in October.

“We more than doubled our fundraising goal,” said Jeanette Kletzli, Inter-Greek Programming Board’s Songfest chair. “I am so happy to be able to raise this money for the Newbauers.”

Jeff’s Ballpark Tour strives to bring attention to the lack of research being done in the area of adolescent and young-adult cancer, while also providing a recreational outlet for those suffering with the disease.

“I think this is just awesome,” said Connie Guy, Jeffrey Newbauer’s mother. “I know Jeff is looking down on this and laughing.”

Jeff’s Ballpark Tour, which will soon be changing its name to NEWBEginnings, is trying to raise $2 million for cancer research.

“Jeff always felt like he just wasn’t doing enough,” Guy said. “But he would have been thrilled to see this group rallying like this for the cause.

“They have really outdone themselves,” she added.

Contact ROTC and Greek life reporter Ryan Wilkinson at [email protected].

//