Eight National Pan-Hellenic Council organizations stepped and strolled to introduce themselves to the Class of 2028.

The Minority Mentorship Program and the National Pan-Hellenic Council hosted a Greek Expo on Aug. 28 at the Ida Waldran Auditorium to showcase each Greek-lettered organization.

Travis Johnson, assistant director of the Office of Student Advocacy and Community, said, “The Minority Mentorship Program is a group that started in 1991, and it’s based on students that are of minority heritage to be able to have an easier transition to college.”

“We group about 50 mentors with mentees and that helps the freshmen have the resources that they need to ask the questions that they may feel like is a crazy question to somebody that’s already been around the block a few times,” Johnson said.

Johnson said events like the Greek Expo help students understand what Greek Life is. 

“The Greek Expo exposes students that have never seen Greek Life to know the history behind it, what it is and they’re going to see a lot of it throughout their college life. So we try to give them a glimpse of that while we can.”

The NPHC sororities include Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Zeta Phi Beta and Sigma Gamma Rho. The fraternities included Alpha Phi Alpha, Kappa Alpha Psi, Omega Psi Phi and Phi Beta Sigma.

Johnson said events like the Greek Expo are important to campus life and diversity because UCA wants students to “have a space to be themselves.”

Johnson said MMP holds events after Welcome Week and that they are geared towards helping students succeed in college.

“We host Transition Week every year, which is after Welcome Week, but it is geared towards helping the students transition into college life,” Johnson said. “So we do that through a slew of events. Some of those are educational, but the first week most of the things will be fun, and we try to keep them engaged throughout the entire year to raise the retention rates and get graduated students.”

Junior PJ Denkins, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha and exercise science major, said events like the Greek Expo are important to campus life because they “bring the community out” and give minority students “a feel that they have a presence on campus.”

“I know we get called a predominantly white institution a lot, but we do have minority students on campus,” Denkins said.

Kendall Peyton, a senior psychology major, said the Greek Expo shows “minorities on campus their community.”

“Since it’s a PWI [primarily white institution], it allows them to navigate and focus on their culture. It allows you to see different — well, for this specific event, different Greek organizations, different communities they can be a part of,” Peyton said. “For other events through MMP, it could show them a broader community and kind of get them involved in it.”

Denkins’ favorite part of the Greek Expo was “getting money raised for more events like this so we can give people of our culture more things to do on campus.”

Peyton said her favorite parts of the event were the step performances and the strolling.

“I like stepping. Well, I like strolls. When they do little music breaks and everybody’s strolling. That’s my favorite part,” Peyton said.