Thurtene carnival

Thurtene Honorary is an honorary society for junior students at Washington University in St. Louis and hosts an annual carnival on campus in each April.

History

Thurtene Honorary was formed in 1904 as a secret society of men chosen for their leadership, character, and participation in campus activities. Membership varied in the early years from 4 to 14, then finally settled into a consistent 13.

It 1991 Thurtene Honorary became co-ed, as it remains today. Recently the group has come underfire for keeping the amount of money donated to charities secret. Such secrecy has led to accusations of embezzlement and other questionable activities. Hazing accusations have also come to light in recent years

Thurtene found its purpose in 1935 when it was asked to rescue the floundering student circus from the senior honorary Pralma, which had merged with another group. The only year the carnival was not held was 1943, when the war devastated the honorary to the point where the 13 sitting members voted to replace themselves with an entirely new class of 13 students.

Today the carnival serves as a community event that brings together over 50 students groups to provide a unique and fun event for the greater St. Louis community. Thurtene Carnival is the oldest student run charity in the United States.

Charities

The main purpose of Thurtene carnival is to serve as a community event that brings together a multitude of student groups and brings the outside St. Louis community on to campus for two days of food, rides, and other entertainment. Greek organizations on campus spend an entire week, dubbed "Lot Week," building elaborate facades and booths where they put on plays, musicals, and other assorted entertainment shows.

In addition to being a community-outreach event, Thurtene Honorary selects a local St. Louis Children’s charity to partner with for the carnival. The partnership allows the members of Thurtene Honorary and other members from the Washington University community to volunteer with a worthy organization. It also allows for Thurtene and other organizations that take place in the carnival to give a charitable donation at the conclusion of the carnival to a worthy organization.

2007 Carnival

The 2007 carnival was held April 21 and 22 in the North Skinker lot, directly in front of Brookings Hall.
The Burmeister Award for Overall Excellence was given to the fraternity/sorority team of Theta Xi and Pi Beta Phi.

Links

[http://media.www.studlife.com/media/storage/paper337/news/2003/04/15/Opinion/Thurtene.Dont.Disclose.Donation-418231.shtml?sourcedomainwww.studlife.com&MIIHostmedia.collegepublisher.com> Newspaper Op-Ed from Student Life, April 15, 2003]

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