Members of the Divine Nine fraternities and sororities gathered in the Reng Student Union for the annual Stroll-Off, a competition where students in the National Pan-Hellenic Council fraternities and sororities show their skills in strolling.

Coordinated with the Multicultural Center, the Stroll-Off invited high school students to attend to give them a taste of the NPHC organizations at A-State. Forty-one high school juniors and seniors from Jonesboro High School, Conway High School and Marion High School were in the crowd. 

DeAnna Jones, a junior communication disorders major from Jonesboro and a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., said it was fulfilling to see her old high school, Jonesboro High School, visit and benefit from the event. 

Jones hosted the Stroll-Off alongside Jaden Flanigan, a senior sports management major from Jonesboro and a member of Alpha Phi Alpha.

“As someone who went to the high school and to see them get those experiences that I didn’t necessarily get, it was really fulfilling for me. I actually got the chance to talk to a lot of them and a lot of them were inspired by it and wanted to come back to campus and see what else we have in store for them now,” Jones said. 

Strolling is where members of a Divine Nine fraternity or sorority move together in a line to different beats while expressing pride for their organization. 

Participating Divine Nine organizations were Kappa Alpha Psi, Zeta Phi Beta, Sigma Gamma Rho and Iota Phi Theta. Organizations were judged on their versatility, ability to stay together as a unit, overall creativity, and crowd engagement. 

Sigma Gamma Rho came in first for the second year in a row. Kappa Alpha Psi came in second and Iota Phi Theta came in third. 

“I was so ecstatic just because this is going to be my last Stroll-Off because I am a senior,” said Dulce Vicente, a senior social work major from Bryant, Arkansas and member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. “Last year was our first Stroll-Off that we had participated in and we won. We were trying to one-up ourselves and push ourselves so we could get the win again and I’m very excited that we did.”

Members of Sigma Gamma Rho were dressed in yellow shirts and baggy, blue pants. A few wore blue bucket hats. Amber Yates, a junior communications studies major from Salem and member of Sigma Gamma Rho, said the look was based on popular girl groups from 1995-2005, particularly Destiny’s Child. 

This year’s theme was Back to the Basics, which saw participating organizations strolling and stepping to songs from 1995-2005. The organizations competed in two categories, Slow Jams and Get Lit. Organizations have been practicing for the competition as early as the semester’s start. 

“It takes a lot of time and practice, late nights, early mornings,” Flanigan said. “You also got to remember, there’s other organizations competing and so you want to make sure that you’re bringing your A-Game because they’re going to bring theirs.”

For some participants, this was their first time participating in the Stroll-Off. Demarkus Hamilton, a junior exercise science major from Memphis and a member of Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc., said participating was exciting and fulfilling. 

“I just like being around the same group of people. They all share the same mindset of coming together and bonding over strolling. It is a good feeling to have,” Hamilton said. 

Some participants faced technical difficulties during their performances. During Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc.’s performance, the music cut out halfway through.

“We just kept going, we didn’t know what else to do. We just did the show,” said Yasmine Aly, a senior criminology major from New Orleans. “Once everybody started singing along it encouraged us to keep going and it was really nice having that support.”

Adrian Everett, director of the Multicultural Center, said the event not only benefits the attending high school students but also the college students involved.

“It’s bragging rights for the organization but it also is a recruiting tool for them,” Everett said.”Our whole campus is invited out to the event. It gives the Greek organizations the opportunity to showcase what they do on a fun social side and then also help with recruiting new members to the organization.”

Anna Cox, sports editor, contributed to this report.

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