Splashing, dancing, racing and the feeling of giving back to others took over the HPER Center’s Natatorium this past Wednesday as the ladies of Delta Gamma hosted one of their newest and favorite philanthropy events, Anchor Splash.
Anchor Splash is DG’s annual philanthropic event that was brought to Wittenberg’s campus last spring by Micaela Pohlabel, ‘19, former DG Vice President of Foundations and organized this year by Sami Skelly, ‘19, current VP-Foundations.
It is a competitive swim meet that sororities, fraternities and other campus organizations all participate in to help raise money for Service for Sight, which is a foundation that helps the blind and visually impaired. This year there were five teams competing in four competitions.
“We brought Anchor Splash to campus because it was an event that could grow into something much bigger, and its something that’s totally different,” Pohlabel, current Vice President of Recruitment, said. “I love that DG has gone all in for these events; it means the world to me see all of the hard work continue to grow and help do good for others.”
The event began with six individuals from each team competing in the save the mermaid contest. One member of DG sits in an inner tube while groups of two race to see which team can pull her to safety first. Next, things quickly transitioned into the second contest that had seven members of each team race across the pool, one at a time, carrying a spoon with ping-pong balls sitting on it. The Delta Tau Delta team crossed the finish to take first place in both contests.
“Anchor Splash is always a blast and has to be one of my favorite events on campus because of how unique it is,” Joey Barns, ‘20 and a member of the team Brass Monkeys, said. “My team got dead last, but we don’t care. Everything went to a good cause and we loved getting to help out in a fun way.”
At this point in the evening, it appeared Delta Tau Delta knew exactly what they needed to do to win the rest of the events. However, the team “Billy Ray Cyrus” wouldn’t go down without a fight and proved that by winning the third event. A crowd of over 100 members from the Wittenberg community showed their excitement when one member from each team danced off the diving board to see who could make the biggest splash.
The crowd showed the most excitement of the day during the final event, where all five teams took turns competing in a four-minute synchronized swimming and dancing competition. During each performance, the crowd was bursting out in laugher as teams gave their final attempt to carry the title of Anchor Splash champion and win the grand prize of a $100 gift card to Los Mariachis Mexican restaurant. In the end it was Delta Tau Delta leaving as the champions by winning three out of the four events.
The event helped raise $1,151.82 to support Service for Sight. Along with Anchor Splash, DG also hosted philanthropy events like Anchor slam, DeltaGamburger and the sorority’s “Do Good” week on campus. Because of these efforts, Delta Gamma is one of the leading organizations when it comes to giving back to the community.
