The Raider Round-Up and Chili Cookoff event is a yearly tradition during Wright State University's Homecoming. Lots of student organizations, many of them associated with Greek Life, come out to showcase the chilis their members have concocted. Four organizations are recognized every year, with judges picking their top three, and the attendees voting on the people's choice award.
Cookoff contestants
WSU's 2025 chili cookoff had twelve organizations signed up to present their chili.
Delta Zeta is one of WSU's six College Panhellenic sororities, and their friendly faces were the first that attendees saw when they went down the line of competing chilis. Their table was filled with various topping options from sour cream to jalapenos, making sure to offer options to guests who prefer all levels of spice. Their chili had all of the iconic ingredients, including multiple types of beans and seasonings.
The Residential Community Association is an organization that works to improve the lives of residential students at WSU by providing free on-campus events. In recent years, RCA has come to the cookoff consistently to compete and engage with the community. Their executive board members made their chili, featuring beans, beef and lots of spicy ingredients, such as Frank's Red-hot sauce.
Kappa Phi Lambda is another CPH sorority, though they are unique in that they are a multicultural organization focused on Asian interest, but open to all. Their members spent lots of time using multiple types of actual chili peppers and making these into a paste for their chili. The result was a Texas style chili that the organization's president and fellow chili cooks were all proud to have made.
Zeta Tau Alpha is a CPH sorority that works to raise funds for preventing breast cancer. Their table was filled with pink awareness ribbons and cute decorations, making for an aesthetic set-up. Their chili was described as sweet and spicy, with key ingredients ranging from spicy sausage to light brown sugar. They were also one of the few organizations to give their chili a fun name, "Berry Best Chili," which earned them bonus points.
Sigma Phi Epsilon is one of the fraternities at WSU, and one of the two men's Greek organizations to partake in this year's chili challenge. Their table offered cheese for a topping. The ingredients that they used included beef and bell peppers, and the chefs shared that watching "Impractical Jokers" was a key part of their cooking process.
The African American Alumni Society came to WSU's chili cookoff for the first time this year. They were excited to spread awareness to students about their society, and to partake in the beloved annual Homecoming tradition. Their chili, "Ra Ra Raider Chili," was named for the excitement that attendees would feel when they tasted their recipe. It was filled with beans, lean beef and lots of delicious seasonings.
Alpha Xi Delta, another CPH sorority, also gave a fun name to their chili. Using one of their symbols, Betsy bear, and the middle Greek letter of their name, they created the title "BetXi's Best" for their chili. They served a wide variety of side items, from dairy additives to bacon to cornbread, making their table an aesthetic and delicious-looking spread of treats.
Kappa Delta, yet another CPH sorority, described their chili as a labor of love. Their "Shamrockin' Chili," was a buffalo chicken flavor, using Frank's Red-Hot Buffalo sauce. It also contained a variety of vegetables, cream cheese and beans. The beans were a key part of the recipe, the president shared that she originally forgot to buy them and had to make another trip to Walmart. Other than that, they were confident in their cooking process.
Phi Kappa Tau is the other fraternity that competed in the cookoff. They offered several topping options to attendees who stopped by their table, including sour cream, cheese and oyster crackers. Their chili was a concoction of many types of peppers and beans, also including popular secret ingredients like lemon juice and cocoa powder.
Alpha Omicron Pi was the last CPH sorority in the chili cookoff lineup, but they were certainly not the least. While it was made of the typical ingredients of beans, beef and spices, the story behind it stood apart. The chef behind the chili shared that this recipe was a key part of her childhood, and that her parents always made it when someone got sick, and it made them feel better. Its flavor was classic and healing.
Student Veteran's Association was the last organization, but their setup was aesthetic and elaborate, conveying a lot about their values and purposes at WSU. Their table was distinct for its nice decorations and for the additives that SVA offered. To tweak the flavor of the somewhat spicy chili, there were two jars of honey available. One was normal, to make it sweeter, and the other was hot honey, to make it spicier.
Behind the scenes
While there were many preparations that the chili chefs had to undergo, putting on the event itself required even more of an effort.
Jacklyn Neer is the Vice President of Fraternity and Sorority Council, which is the head of all WSU's Greek Life councils. Last year, Neer served as Vice President of Inclusive Excellence and Unity, which the position traditionally in charge of putting the chili cookoff together. This year, however, there was no one in that position, so Neer stepped up to plan to cookoff for the second year in a row.
"I was like, I did it last year, and it was a lot of fun. I loved it. So, I was like, I'm gonna do it again this year. And so, here it is, and I mean, it turned out [great]," Neer said.
The turn out for this year's cookoff was very good, and everyone was excited from the start to try all of the different contenders. People enjoyed the music and sat at the many tables as they sampled the organizations' chilis. There were also inflatables in the room for children, or the young-at-heart, to enjoy.
"I like [how organizations] come, and they usually end up [realizing] it's not that hard. And everybody talks to each other, and then kids at home, they're excited about it. So, it's just like, people are excited about it. And I love that," Neer said.
Courtney Laukitis is the assistant director of student organizations and served as one of the judges for the chili cookoff for the third year in a row. She and the other judges are the ones who determine the first, second and third places for the competition.
"Flavor is number one, but not spicy. I don't like spices, but like something that is a little pizzazzy, but not hot [where] I need to chug milk. [I] like beans in it. I like lots of peppers and onions and good beef and stuff like [that] I just need something good and, chunky, you know, not in a weird way, but just in a good way," Laukitis said, when asked what she looks for in a chili.
While she might judge the chilis and pick her favorite, Laukitis expressed that her favorite part of the cookoff is the community aspect. She enjoys that this is part of Homecoming and appreciates seeing how everyone chooses to concoct their chilis.
"I'm actually more impressed in just like, the variety of recipes that people bring, because sometimes it's from the back of the soup can, sometimes it's their mom's recipe. Sometimes they just find it on Pinterest. Like, it's always interesting how the students interpret the challenge," Laukitis said.
While not every chili can win, there are four lucky organizations that get to go home with the bragging rights of whichever title they earned in the cookoff.
And the winners are...
Third place was awarded to RCA, whose chili had much of what Laukitis described. The group was happy for their hard work to be acknowledged by the board of judges, and to spread the word about their organization and all of their upcoming events.
RCA, 3rd place
SVA took home the silver this year, taking a step up from last year when they took home bronze. While the cook hoped for the gold this year, it seems that their chili is on a steady incline, meaning that next year might just be their time.
The people's choice for best chili was Alpha Xi Delta, their chili also known as "BetXi's Best." Attendees were charmed by the versatility brought by the tasty chili and all its topping options, as well as its stand-out flavor.
Chloe Johnston is a member of Alpha Xi Delta and was the main person behind her sorority's beloved chili. She shared a lot about the process of making her chili, including that it took seventeen hours.
"[I] cook everything in the bacon grease, which I think, I don't know, it just brings out a lot of flavors. [And] a little bit of soy sauce to really bring up the umami and the chili. Lots of beans [and] bell pepper forward, is how I kind of describe it, heavy bell pepper flavor," Johnston said.
The grand prize of first place went home to Zeta Tau Alpha. Fittingly, one of the sorority's symbols is a crown, which aligns perfectly with their chili ranking. This win was well-deserved, as it was clear that this group put a lot of time and love into creating their chili this year.
Sunshine Roush, a member of Zeta Tau Alpha and the head chef behind the organization's chili, shared how she and her sorority sisters came up with the fun name they chose for their chili.
"It's called 'Berry Best Chili,' because one of our symbols is a strawberry," Roush said. It is clear that the judges agreed with the name when they crowned Zeta Tau Alpha as the winners of this year's competition.
WSU's chili cookoff is a fun opportunity for organizations to showcase the community they offer, as well as their chili skills.
