Collegiate Times

There are few reasons one can have for dressing up like Cyndi Lauper in her heyday, and for the sisters of Alpha Chi Omega, one of them is charity. Every year, the sisters and others get in touch with their inner rockstars through Mock Rock, an annual three-day event that raises money and collects food donations to support victims of domestic violence in the New River Valley.

The event kicked off yesterday with a RockBand video game competition, which will be followed by a wing-eating contest tonight, and ends with the Lip Synch competition finale tomorrow. Sororities and fraternities across campus attend each of these events and receive points based on overall attendance and performance. At the end of the event, Alpha Chi Omega will tally the scores and announce two winners.

 Katie Curran, a senior interdisciplinary studies major and the internal philanthropy co-chair, helped organize Mock Rock and believes it to be one of the largest philanthropies on Virginia Tech’s campus. Though the two winners of this event don’t receive a tangible prize, Curran says the title is a source of pride when it comes to recruitment. To her, nothing gets people excited like a little bit of friendly competition among brothers and sisters.

 The event kicked off with a battle of the mock bands, where fraternities and sororities flocked to Squires Colonial to compete against each other in a RockBand competition. Each team consists of four people, dressed in rock star attire. Teams pick out one song and have approximately four minutes to make a lasting impression. The fraternity and sorority with the highest scores win.

Tonight Alpha Chi Omega will host Wing Warrior, a chicken wings-eating contest at its sorority house. Each fraternity and sorority nominates one member to be the wing eater, then contestants have three minutes to eat as many wings as they can. The sorority sister and fraternity brother who clean out the most wings are crowned the wing warriors.

 Mock Rock will come to a close with the Lip Synch competition. Groups get a three-minute time slot in which they have to incorporate lip-syncing and dancing. Since this competition is the last chance for fraternities and sororities to win points, they usually go to creative extremes and try to outdo last year’s performances.
Particpants continue to feel the heat during the final round of Mock Rock, but they never forget to enjoy themselves.

“It’s been so much fun practicing,’’ said Agnes Chang, a senior human development major who is dancing with her sorority. “It’s a great way for us to come together and show people (that women) are strong. And it’s a good way to get to know other girls better.”
While Mock Rock is fun for particpants, they also have to remember that it ultimately benefits a charity.

Claire McKinney, a junior international studies major, didn’t attend Mock Rock last year, but she is excited to participate in all of the events this year.

“I’ve been to other philanthropies like this last spring, and they’re just so much fun,” McKinney said. “The performances are hilarious to watch, and I love to support them because it’s for a good cause.”
Alpha Chi Omega raised over $16,000 during last year’s Mock Rock, but it has no set goal for this year’s donations.

“If we only get a little bit over $16,000 dollars, we’re fine with that,” Curran said. “We’re just trying to top (what we made last year). We’re just trying to set the bar high for the next group that does it.”