The Greek New Member Barbecue was held Monday, Oct. 17 from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. on the Student Center Green Space.
The event had free food from Mike and Ed’s Barbecue for all of the new members of Auburn Greek life, and included a performance by Tim Tyler, a piano act from Atlanta; Aubie also made an appearance.
Kelsey Williams, senior in secondary education, is the director of new member education for Auburn Panhellenic and helped plan the New Member Barbecue.
This is the first year Panhellenic has teamed up with the Interfraternity Council to put on the barbecue, Williams said.
“It’s a yearly event and most of the time it’s been just for Panhellenic, but we wanted to extend it to the entire Greek system this year, so we got them on board this year and just tried to think of ways to include everyone and make it more accessible to the whole Greek community,” Williams said.
Andrew Holder, senior in building science and the co-director of the Interfraternity Council, also helped plan the event.
Holder said the barbecue was a way to help all of the 2016 pledge classes get to know each other.
“We wanted to make sure that all of the fraternities and sororities had the chance to get to meet people they don’t usually have swaps with,” Holder said. “We had close to 500 new members who came out to grab some Mike & Ed’s BBQ, see Aubie and enjoy live music from Tim Tyler.”
The new members seemed to enjoy the event, Holder said.
“They were very surprised with how many new members came to the event,” Holder said. “In the past, the New Member Barbecue has not been attended by many of the new members, but we really were excited about how well the outcome was this year and it gives the next years IFC and Panhellenic Directors something to build upon.”
Nolen Heydon, freshman in pre-wireless engineering, said he talked to new people and made new friends with people in other pledge classes.
“I went because it was an opportunity to meet some new people from different sororities and fraternities and because of some free food,” Heydon said.
Emily Perino, freshman in pre-graphic design, said hearing Tim Tyler perform was one of her favorite parts of the evening.
“He sang a bunch of songs that I liked, like Rocket Man by Elton John,” Perino said. “It was also really fun to meet new people."
Perino said she enjoyed the atmosphere of the event.
"It was clean, sober fun with free food," Perino said. "What could be better?”
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