William Jewell College is jammed full of many traditions, from sledding down Browning Bowl to Lighting of the Quad to Jewell Stock. This weekend, another long-standing tradition took place – Jewell hosted its 75th Frat Walk.

The Frat Walk consists of all new recruits of the three Jewell fraternities – Phi Gamma Delta, Kappa Alpha and Lambda Chi Alpha – walking up Jewell’s largest hill to announce to the campus that they are now a part of the Greek Life on campus. Over 30 men participated, but due to social distancing guidelines, only 4-6 could go at once.

On Oct. 23, William Jewell College students gathered in Gano chapel to witness their peers perform in Jewell’s Got Talent. The talent competition was held by Zeta Tau Alpha sorority in support of their philanthropy, Breast Cancer Education and Awareness. 

Six acts representing Phi Gamma Delta, Kappa Alpha Order, Delta Zeta, Alpha Gamma Delta, Lambda Chi Alpha, and the independent students performed. The event followed a similar format to the television talent competition, “America’s Got Talent.” 

Judges included Tom Vansaghi, director of strategic planning; Kristin Wooldridge, coordinator of student activities and greek advisor; and Heath Hase, director of teaching and learning technologies. The panel of judges offered high praise and comedic criticism after each act. 

Prior to each act, a melodramatic video of the contestant’s background and their reasons for wanting to win Jewell’s Got Talent played. These videos were filmed around Jewell’s campus and featured music that fit the mood of the contestant’s personal story. This was done in the style of interviews on “America’s Got Talent.” 

Acts included a song about the trials of nursing school, sung by Ali Shappell, junior nursing and ACT-in double major, dancing routines by members of Delta Zeta and Kappa Alpha Order, a mystic sticks performance by sophomore political science and international relations double major Zachary Mertes, and singing and guitar playing by Larry Dahlsten, sophomore music education major. 

The winning act was a yo-yo dance routine, performed by the representative of Phi Gamma Delta, Blake Barth, senior accounting, economics, and ACT-in triple major. His yo-yo tricks and dance moves earned him a standing ovation from the judges and confetti-enhanced glory. 

At first, Barth did not realize that he had won after his name was called. His fellow contestants had to tell him to go receive his trophy. 

“Yo-yo what’s up, I think Jewell’s Got Talent is a tradition that starts here,” said Barth when the Hilltop Monitor asked about his victory. 

Darcy Sweet, senior psychological science major with an emphasis in pre-occupational therapy, is the director of philanthropy for Zeta Tau Alpha and was in charge of the event.

“I’m so happy that Jewell students came to support their peers and Zeta’s philanthropy,” said Sweet. “Our goal was to raise money and awareness for Breast Cancer Education and Awareness, and we accomplished that.” 

The event raised over $1,000 for Breast Cancer Education and Awareness. Sweet was grateful to the many individuals who helped to make the event a success. 

“It would not have been possible without the amazing contestants, faculty and staff judges, and the support from the students,” said Sweet. 

Lambda Chi is highly excited to be afforded such an opportunity. Chris Seward spoke to the Monitor about LCA’s care for the road.

“We are responsible for cleaning it a minimum of a few times a year. It’s nice because the city provides us with the proper safety equipment needed. We’re just making the highway look presentable and maintaining it throughout the year,” Seward said.

As the first organization to volunteer for Liberty’s Adopt-a-Street program, LCA hopes that by cleaning the road they will not only better the community, but also grow as a brotherhood.

“We are adopting Harriman Highway in honor or Dr. Richard Harriman. He played a pivotal role in our fraternity and William Jewell itself. We’re trying to find more ways to be involved in our community,” Chris Seward explained. “What more perfect way than to honor someone who played such an important role to William Jewell.”

Richard Harriman holds a special place in the hearts of Lambda Chi, Jewell faculty and students alike. Born 1932, Dr. Harriman was a professor at William Jewell and dedicated most of his adult life to thousands of students – especially Lambda Chi as their advisor and mentor.

Lambda Chi Alpha is no stranger to volunteer work and participates in many events that give back to the community.

“LCA just recently had our watermelon bust at William Jewell and this year we actually raised $1,000, netting $550 towards philanthropy,” Seward said.  “In addition to that, we do canned food drives. Our Philanthropy is Feeding America so we work very closely with Harvesters.”

Harvesters and Feeding America are volunteer programs that gather and distribute food to those less fortunate.

“We do canned food drives and try to do as much as we can. Next fall we’re actually doing a service project for Liberty United Methodist Church building a track for their playground.” said Seward.

Other community service events include volunteer work with the Jewish Vocational Service, various nursing homes and Love, inc., a local organization that partners with churches to help people with “material, emotional or relational poverty.”

Chris Seward, along with many other brothers of Lambda Chi Alpha, appreciates the opportunity to adopt Harriman Highway and looks forward to future volunteering work.

Photos courtesy of Josiah Williams. 

“It’s a good throwback to [LCA] tradition. We tried pumpkins, but this is just better, it’s tradition,” said Zak Carroll, senior Oxbridge: Institutions and Policy and international relations major and LCA member, of the event.

In addition to smashing watermelons, LCA offered the opportunity to hit apples with baseball bats, play football and play volleyball. The non-smashing activities were popular, but the iconic watermelon busts were the highlights.

Senior business administration and ACT-In major and LCA member Sutton Porth pitches an apple to senior biochemistry major and LCA member Chris Seward.

The apple busts.

“We’re running out of melons because brothers just don’t know how to stop,” said Ian McBride, junior biochemistry, political science and Applied Critical Thought and Inquiry major, only an hour into the event as destroying the watermelons was already such a hit.

Senior nursing major and LCA member Nicholas Bromley busts a watermelon with a baseball bat.

Senior nursing major and LCA member Nicholas Bromley is propelled backward by the sheer force of the bust.

Despite a one week weather-based delay, the event was a smashing success. Watermelon Bust was originally planned for Friday Sept. 7, but persistent rain led the organizers of the event to postpone it one week.

Due to the delay,  LCA extended the donation portion of the event. For the two weeks before the event, LCA set up a table in the Yates-Gill Union and accepted both monetary and non-perishable food donations.

Donations will be sent to Harvesters community food network, a subsidiary of the philanthropy with which LCA affiliates, Feeding America.

The donation drive kept track of which on-campus organizations donated the most and will donate a portion of the money raised to a charity of the winning organization’s choice.

Zeta Tau Alpha donated the most money at $256 and Alpha Delta Pi donated the second most at over $200. Contributions from the two-week drive totaled over $1000 and netted over $550.

“[I]t was personally inspiring to see the Jewell community come together to support our cause. We receive donations from all Greek life, along with theater, cheer team and the drumline –along with independents of course,” said Chris Seward, senior biochemistry major and director of LCA’s philanthropic efforts. “To see organizations that normally don’t support events, come out and support our philanthropy and unify for a better cause was truly special.”

Harvesters accepts donations year-round for people in need. Their most needed items are listed here.

Photos by Christina Kirk.