A series of events aimed at building community on campus and raising money for a teen life-skills center in White River Junction will replace Jamboree for the Junction, a philanthropic carnival organized by the Panhellenic Council. For the past two years, the Jamboree took place over sophomore family weekend.
Summer Panhell president Charlotte Kamai ’16 said the singular carnival was split into multiple events to both improve philanthropic efforts and create a stronger campus community.
“We’re putting a lot of emphasis on changing the way the Greek system is viewed on campus,” Kamai said. “For me personally, this is a great opportunity to branch out outside of your house and remember that when a woman or a man decided to join the Greek community, he or she was joining not just one house but also an entire community.”
The Panhell executive board worked closely with Greek Letter Organizations and Societies to coordinate the move away from Jamboree, Kamai said, adding that GLOS supported the change.
The first event of the series — titled “Proud to be a Greek Woman?” — will be an open panel that focuses on both the current state of the Greek community and the female experience within the Greek system.
Summer Panhell programming chair Veri Di Suvero ’16 said the event will allow women to discuss their personal experiences.
“We’re not holding this panel to have a roast of the Greek system or just talk about how great everything is, but it is a way of providing thoughtful dialogue and commentary to see what we can do to improve it and see where we’re at right now,” Di Suvero said. “We’ve had Greek events before — most recently we’ve had the Greek debate — but I don’t think people have had a chance to say how they feel about the issue personally.”
Members of sororities and co-ed houses as well as unaffiliated women will speak at the event, summer Panhell vice president of public relations Simone D’Luna ’16 said.
D’Luna called attention to the question mark at the end of the event’s title.
“We want to honestly talk about whether being affiliated is a positive experience and how the Greek community, for better or worse, influences its members,” she said.
The role of women within the Greek system has been a focus of Panhell’s programming for several years now, said Karen Afre ’12, who served on the Panhell executive board from spring 2011 to fall 2012.
“The focus was always about building a bond between the different sororities on campus,” she said. “We always wanted to have that one single event where we could bring everyone together for a common cause.”
A series of fundraising events, the proceeds of which will go directly to the Junction Teen Life Skills Center, will follow the panel throughout the summer.
Panhell decided to replace Jamboree with several smaller events because Jamboree had not been profitable in the past, Di Suvero said.
She said Jamboree was difficult to organize and that its timing meant it would be difficult for some people to attend.
D’Luna said that spreading out the events will also help foster a sense of community on campus.
“The whole series is an effort to focus on a bunch of campus communities,” D’Luna said. “I think it will be cool to have this spread of dates instead of just one marquee event. I think we’re also hoping for more people to participate, and hoping that women across campus will go to multiple events.”
The charity events will take place on four separate dates to maximize attendance and fundraising potential, Di Suvero said.
This shift from a single, large event to several smaller ones is a move away from what Panhell has traditionally done in the past, Afre said.
“Every term we would have something big,” she said. “In the spring it was always a giant tournament of flag football. I think the lack of something big in the summer term was where the motivation for Jamboree came from.”
Yet Afre said she understands the motivation behind spreading the events out over the term.
“The smaller events will help to decrease how much we’re spending on the event, while giving more people more chances to make it out to something,” Afre said.
The first charity event, titled “Proud to be a Sister,” will be a movie night where food will be sold in order to raise money, Di Suvero said.
Next, “Proud to be Green,” will take place during sophomore family weekend. Run in partnership with the Sustainability Office and a number of other student groups, the event will feature performance groups, a crafts fair, food, a raffle and penny wars — where groups compete to raise money by donating change.
The third event, to take place over Fieldstock, will be titled “Proud to be a ’16.” Student Assembly and Panhell will raise money together, Di Suvero said.
A casual barbecue will cap off the series, during which shirts and food will be sold, Di Suvero said. This event is exclusively for Panhell members.
D’Luna is a former member of the Dartmouth staff.
