Laney Mikes, a first-year student majoring in nursing, and Maddy Mika a senior majoring in marketing at the Ambassador Crawford College of Business and Entrepreneurship, served as co-chairs for the Annual Delta Zeta Lip Sync, a philanthropic event that raises money for children with speech and hearing impairments. The 2024 friendly competition between the Kent State fraternities and sororities raised over $47.8K in support of the sorority’s philanthropic programs and service-oriented volunteer initiatives—Starkey Hearing Institute, American Society for Deaf Children, SeriousFun Children’s Network, Global Ambassador Society, Heart for Hearing and Speech, and regional organizations selected by the chapter—Battered Women’s Shelter of Medina and Summit Counties.
More than 600 people attended the event, which was held on Saturday, March 2, in the Kent State Student Center Ballroom. Through entertaining skits that featured singing and choreographed dancing, participants provided the audience with facts about speech and hearing. The skits were judged on the highest fundraising and top overall performance.
“When I joined Delta Zeta last fall, I was very interested in their philanthropy efforts and I knew I wanted to take on the responsibility of a leadership role,” said Mikes. “This experience has shown me that I lead with integrity. Whenever I delegated a task to another individual, if I noticed they needed the extra support, I was right there to lend a hand. We couldn’t have put this on by ourselves. It was very much a collaborative effort within the sorority.”
Leading up to the big event, Mikes explained she and Mika planned mini-events to educate others about Delta Zeta’s philanthropy endeavors.
“We had a Dip-Off night where people paid an entrance fee to sample a variety of dips and vote on their favorites,” said Mikes. “We also held a game night for the Kent State fraternity and sorority life community.”
According to Nicole Kotlan, Ph.D., senior director, student progression and college operations and Delta Zeta’s campus advisor, the Kent State chapter continues to be one of the top three chapters out of the 165 active collegiate chapters nationally for total money raised year-over-year.