Alpha Omicron Pi sorority was crowned the 2024 CASA Encore overall champion on Thursday, Oct. 10 at the Sandy and John Black Pavilion.
CASA is an annual fundraiser competition among all the UM sororities. All earnings are given to the Court Appointed Special Advocate program for children, also referred to as CASA. The UM College Panhellenic Council sponsored the event.
Sororities compete in three categories: fundraising, dance and banner. Opportunities for bonus points, such as participating in a blood drive, donating to hurricane relief and registering for RebelTHON — among other chances to secure points — were available leading up to the event.
Alpha Omicron Pi raised $87,780 to secure the win in the fundraising category. Overall, the sororities raised more than $460,000 for CASA. For their performance, Alpha Omicron Pi members dressed as characters from Disney Pixar’s “Inside Out” and danced to themes from the movie’s musical score.
Cait Mayo, a freshman on Alpha Omicron Pi’s team, was excited about her sorority’s win. Though she was competing against the other sororities on campus, she appreciated that they all came together for CASA’s cause.
“Fundraising is potentially the most rewarding part, especially with how much we were able to raise in such a short amount of time tonight and every other night,” Mayo, a public policy leadership major, said. “And it was really incredible to watch all of the sororities come together to put so much money into CASA as a cause.”
The first-place trophy for the dance portion was awarded to Delta Gamma for a crowd-pleasing Ole Miss-themed performance complete with portrayals of Lane and Juice Kiffin. Second place in the dance category went to Kappa Kappa Gamma for a “Shrek”-themed show, while Kappa Delta ranked third for a galactic-themed “Star Wars” performance.
Other themes throughout the night included an opening “Top Gun” performance by Alpha Phi, a “Lorax” portrayal by Alpha Delta Pi, an ocean-themed “Shark Week” show by Pi Beta Phi, a Super Bowl show by Chi Omega, a nostalgic Disney Channel performance by Alpha Chi Omega and a bird-centric presentation of “Rio” by Delta Delta Delta.
Phi Mu, whose members performed a Super Mario Brothers-themed show, won first in the banner category.
Junior integrated marketing communications major Dick Wynslow had a great time watching what the sororities had to offer.
“This is not my first experience with (CASA) Encore, but it by far has been my favorite,” Wynslow said. “I feel like the energy was really brought this year by the sororities as well as the Panhellenic Council.”
