U-Sing 2011

Singing, dancing and exaggerated smiling faces. These are the characteristics required of students participating in one of the surprisingly-largest student events at the University of Oklahoma. One week after the Habitat For Humanity event Shack-a-thon was over, the OU Greek system competed amongst each other once again in the annual event U-Sing - an event full of fun and great memories, and plagued with heartbreak. The show dates were November 3rd, 4th and 5th.

The first-place winners of U-Sing 2011 were the Delta Delta Delta sorority and Delta Tau Delta fraternity, whose theme was A Bugs Life (based on the Disney movie.) The Kappa Alpha Theta sorority and Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity came in second place with a theme entitled Revenge of the Nerds. Rounding out the placing was the Gamma Phi Beta sorority and Beta Theta Pi fraternity’s show, A League of Their Own, which took third place.

U-Sing is an annual event put on by the Campus Activities Council (CAC) where Fraternities and Sororities that have teamed up with each other put on a show consisting of acting, singing, dancing – the whole nine yards. Each show has a specific theme. The groups begin practicing choreography at the very beginning of the semester and continue practicing until the days of the shows. The groups perform one show each of the three days. Judges are present to judge each show daily, and make a final decision on the last day ranking first, second and third place.

After months of hard work and preparation, placing in U-Sing provides a satisfaction that makes the effort worthwhile. However, a sour taste is left in the mouths of those not awarded. “We really felt like we were going to place this year,” said Ben Becker, a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. He was one of the directors for Sig Ep’s joint show with the sorority Pi Beta Phi. “We thought we had a particularly strong acapella part of our show. We were definitely not expecting this, but everything is at the discretion of the judges.”

U-Sing is a big deal, to say the least. It demands hours of participants’ and directors’ time throughout the Fall semester and weighs considerably into the formula for the President’s Trophy. The President’s trophy is the award given by the University of Oklahoma’s President David Boren once a year to the school’s ‘outstanding fraternity.’ The formula for the coveted award consists of a mix of placing in U-Sing and the Homecoming Dance, grades, activity in community service projects and more. In the upcoming weeks, fraternities will be asking sororities to partner with them for next year’s U-Sing show; some hoping to repeat this year’s success, others hoping to correct their mistakes and redeem themselves.