The third annual Sets on the Beach event took place outside of Crescent residence hall on Saturday, Sept. 26. The event featured a volleyball tournament, along with raffles, a DJ, grilled cheese and ice cream. The tournament was sponsored by Phi Sigma Sigma and Pi Kappa Phi. All money raised will go to their philanthropies.
Pi Kappa Phi’s philanthropy is The Ability Experience, which raises money and awareness for people with mental and physical disabilities. Phi Sigma Sigma’s philanthropy is School and College Readiness, which gives school supplies and tutoring to underprivileged children. Phi Sigma Sigma’s head of philanthropy, Nicole Kalish, fondly remembered helping kindergarteners learn handwriting and sentences.
“It’s very fun working with kindergarteners, because they are not very focused, but they love school, so they’re very energetic, so getting them to calm down and do their work is a little bit of a challenge, but it worked out, ” Kalish said. Alex Tonkonogy, the philanthropy chair of Pi Kappa Phi, is currently organizing a trip to volunteer at a nursing home and preparing for Pi Kappa Phi’s fundraising concert, the Electric Ability Carnival. However, his giving back to the community isn’t strictly related to The Ability Experience.
One of Tonkonogy’s favorite times helping out involved a local museum last year. “[When] we went over, the museum was just a disaster, outside and inside, [so] we really cleaned up the entire thing and made it look almost like it was brand new,” he said.
Tonkonogy was also a part of one of 30 teams that played during “Sets.” Each team had six players, competing in the single-elimination tournament to see who was the best of the best.