OCU Panhellenic is reformatting their annual Festive Feast this year to include Phi Mu, the newest sorority on campus.
Festive Feast is a potluck dinner for members of all four sorority houses. It is scheduled for 8 p.m. Nov. 21 in the Great Hall in Tom and Brenda McDaniel University Center.
In the past, the event was formatted as a progressive dinner, where sorority members moved from house to house on the Panhellenic Quadrangle to sample different courses.
Panhellenic leaders decided to move the dinner into the Great Hall this year in order to include Phi Mu, which does not yet have a chapter house.
Franchesca McDowell, president of OCU Panhellenic, said the new format will benefit all members.
“We wanted to make sure all the houses could participate,” McDowell said. “There are 390 Panhellenic members, and the Great Hall will provide space for all of them.”
Each sorority has been assigned a course to bring to the Feast.
The houses will set up stations in the four corners of the Great Hall.
Alpha Phi will serve appetizers. Alpha Chi Omega will present a main dish. Gamma Phi Beta will cover desserts. Phi Mu will provide hot cocoa and other refreshments.
Instead of using traditional dining tables, organizers have decided to use standing tables scattered around the room to encourage participants to mingle and get to know members of other houses.
The event is planned around the holidays each year in the spirit of celebration and togetherness that the season ushers in, McDowell said.
“This event is all about coming together as a Panhellenic sisterhood,” McDowell said. “You can’t have Panhellenic without all of the houses.
“We are gathering together to celebrate an amazing semester, including our best recruitment ever on the OCU campus.”
The change will benefit all of the houses said Lee Hall, director of student life and Panhellenic adviser.
“Festive Feast is a longstanding tradition, but I think that this change is exciting,” Hall said. “The event has really grown too big for the Panhellenic quad. This gives us more room to celebrate.”
Shelby Brown, acting senior and Phi Mu member, is excited to experience her first Festive Feast.
“I’m even more excited to be a part of Panhellenic after Homecoming,” Brown said. “It was a great introduction, but I think that Festive Feast will really help make Phi Mu a part of the community.
“It’s all about celebrating Thanksgiving as a Panhellenic family.”
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