Applause filled Humphrey Coliseum on Sept. 26 as Sigma Phi Epsilon and Phi Mu won Chi Omega’s annual dance competition, Limelight, which is expected to raise over $40,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Twenty-five Mississippi State University Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic organizations performed in the competition. This year, the face of the event was three-year-old Lee Thorne, whose wish to go to Disney World will be fulfilled because of donations made to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Allison Tyler is the president and CEO of the Mississippi chapter of Make-A-Wish. Tyler mentioned the average cost of a wish is $6,500; the event raised over six times that.
The dance competitions involved the fraternities and sororities dressing up in themed costumes and performing dances based on franchises such as “Men in Black,” “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “Batman” and “Power Rangers.”
The winners were scored based on the banners they created for the competition and their dance routines. Sigma Phi Epsilon and Phi Mu were the competition’s overall winners.
Kappa Delta’s “Poison Ivy” and Sigma Phi Epsilon’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” won first place in the performance category. Two organizations were also awarded for their banners — Delta Gamma’s “Descendants”–themed banner and Delta Chi’s “Megamind”–themed banner were awarded first place.
For the first time in competition history, a special award was added to the list of winners. After all of the performances, Lee and his family took the stage to announce which performance had won “Lee’s Favorite Dance.”
Kappa Sigma’s “One Hundred and One Dalmatians” performance won Lee’s heart. They were awarded a picture of their dance that Lee drew with crayons.
Cole Monahan, a junior aerospace engineering major, was a part of the BYX performance based on Disney’s “Hercules.” Monahan said he enjoyed performing at Limelight.
“It was a lot of fun,” Monohan said. “It was my first time doing it, and I enjoyed being out there with my brothers and having a good time.”
Monohan said he was proud to have done his part for a Make-a-Wish event come true for young Lee.
“I think it was awesome that we get to do such a fun thing, but it is such a good thing at the same time,” Monohan said. “Make his wish come true, as well as the other two kids tonight. I think it was an awesome goal and way to reach it.”
For three hours, the sororities and fraternities danced repeatedly to Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy” and Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out For A Hero.” The audience laughed at the outrageous costumes that appeared on stage and gasped at the stunts the Greek members practiced for hours.
Julie Henderson is the mother of Delta Gamma member Abigail Henderson. She said she was proud of her daughter’s involvement in the performance.
“I thought it was great,” Henderson said. “It is a great organization and a great fundraiser. It was filled with different performances, and they were all unique.”
Auggie Henderson is Julie Henderson’s husband. He attended the event to see his daughter’s involvement. Auggie Henderson stated that he saw the event positively affecting everyone involved.
“It seemed like a very unifying event for the university,” Mr. Henderson said. “So many different people having a good time around, everybody together.”
Limelight is the biggest sorority philanthropy event on the MSU campus, with close to 5,000 tickets sold.
Chi Omega has been hosting Limelight for the last 20 years. Over those two decades, it has raised over half a million dollars for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
The Make-A-Wish Foundation’s mission is to create and grant wishes to children with critical diseases or illnesses. Since its founding in 1984, it has granted more than 2,500 wishes for Mississippi children and over 350,000 wishes nationwide throughout its 59 chapters.
According to their website, research has shown that wishes can help improve a child’s health quality and give them something to look forward to outside of the mental, emotional, and physical toll that their illness takes on them. Wishes give them a sense of normalcy and a reason to look forward to their future.
As one researcher wrote on their website, “It is possible that wishing enabled these children to dream about that seemed unobtainable, out of reach, and thus created an experience of achieving the impossible.”
