Freshman Adam Leyda and the brothers from Phi Kappa Tau secured first place in the fraternity competition of Delta Zeta’s Lip Sync on Saturday night. Songs performed ranged from Raffi’s “Banana Phone” to Styx’s “Mr. Roboto” to Enya’s “Sail Away.”

Credit: Beth Rankin

Body paint, feather boas, turtles and half-naked men were just a few details that kept the audience and the performers upbeat and excited at Saturday night’s Delta Zeta Lip Sync.

Over 800 people came out to the Student Center Ballroom to raise money for Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., and Delta Zeta’s Sound Beginnings program — Delta Zeta’s philanthropy, which supports the hearing impaired.

Delta Zeta members sold raffle tickets throughout the evening to raise money for the charities. Delta Zeta president Maggie Marx and Philanthropy Chair Jordan Petersen-Fitts moderated the event and also raffled off prizes between performances.

A total of 14 fraternities and sororities performed six- to eight-minute routines. Each group was judged on creativity, choreography, Delta Zeta spirit, costume and lip sync performance.

Each fraternity and sorority took different approaches to their skits. Many of the fraternities spoofed movies, such as: Shrek, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Zoolander. The sororities took a different approach, focusing their skits on choreographed dances and matching costumes.

“You can tell that all of the kids put a lot of time into this,” said audience member Judy Delagrange, the mother of a Delta Zeta member. “It’s nice to see that they all came out to do this for such a good cause.”

Phi Kappa Tau provoked the loudest cheers of the evening, ensuring their first-place victory for the fraternities. The interesting song combination of 1960s “Leader of the Pack,” Big Tymers’ “Everybody Get Your Roll On,” and “Banana Phone,” complete with a man in a grape costume dancing and a man in a banana costume doing back flips, really got the crowd hyped. But it was the ending of their performance that clinched the victory. The men stripped down to diapers and danced to the Sesame Street theme song and Enya’s “Sail Away.”

The overall winner for the sororities, Delta Gamma, chose to go with a less comedic performance and instead impressed the audience with a meticulous dance number. Dressed in black outfits with camouflage details, the women performed a choreographed dance to a collage of popular rap songs, including Destiny’s Child “Soldier” and Ciara’s “1, 2 Step.”

“The night went so well!” Petersen-Fitts said.

The lip sync went off without a hitch, but there were other surprises that made the event memorable.

The evening started off with a bang when Delta Zeta announced they had a surprise for a member of the audience, Delta Zeta alumna Amber Ridge. Ridge’s boyfriend, Patrick McFall, came on stage carrying a dozen red roses. After serenading her, he got down on one knee and asked Ridge to marry him. She said yes to a standing ovation from the crowd.

Another emotional moment came before the performance of Sigma Phi Epsilon, the fraternity that was recently devastated by the loss of two of their brothers, Eric Citino and Brandon Butler, in a car accident. Member Charlie McVan thanked everyone for the support, the food, the cards and the flowers.

“We didn’t think that we were going to be able to perform tonight, but we know that it’s not just about us. We are here for Delta Zeta and their philanthropy,” McVan said. “They [Citino and Butler] are in a better place, and we know they are looking down on all of us smiling.”

Contact Greek life reporter Carrie Rupp at [email protected].