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→Highlights of 2011-2019
==Highlights of 2011-2019==
In 2011, 54 new members were initiated - Eta Gamma'''Housing:''' s largest new member class to date. In 2011, the USD campus welcomed two new Greek organizations; Kappa Delta and Phi Gamma Delta.
==2012==
Immediately after their first week in Kappa, new members began getting to know the sophomore pledge class better through "Sapphire Sis" dates. Our chapter's New Member chairman paired each new member with an older girl each week over the course of 6 weeks, so that new members could begin figuring out who they would choose as their Big sisters and who the sophomore pledge class would pick for their Little sisters. The dates were left up to the sophomore pledge class, but usually involved eating out, grabbing coffee, or even activities like bike riding or stand-up paddle boarding. In March, the big sisters give clues to their little sisters over the course of a week, leading up to a small ceremony where the Big sis reveals herself and her family to her new Little Sis.
The time immediately following Big Sis Reveal marks the beginning of Initiation. Girls strengthened the bond with their families as they went through Inspo Week, the week leading up to initiation. Each day was defined by a different color, and new members received gifts from their big sister's with different meanings on each day. This also gave active members the opportunity to explain to new member's exactly why they enjoy being a part of Kappa. On Blue Night, little sisters present handpainted keys to their big sister'Chapter Convention Awards:''s, and big sister's give their little sisters pillows. This night helps girls to realize how Kappa has made a difference in the lives of other members. Following Blue Night, we have Fireside the evening prior to initiation at a YMCA in downtown San Diego. The following morning we iniated 54 beautiful new members.
In the past year our Kappa chapter held many philanthropy, social and sisterhood events. After our Presents dance, we held a "Drop It Like It's Yacht" mixer with Fiji and Lamda Chi Alpha fraternities, and our spring formal. This fall we held a mixer with Phi Kappa Theta themed as "High School Cliques", and we also held a "Kappa Klue" date dash, where girls invited guys and dressed as costumed pairs, like Barbie and Ken. We finished off the semester with our winter formal, held outdoors at the Boat House in Pacific Beach. Besides our dances, we held many sisterhood events as well as our annual Mom and Dad's weekends. We spent an entire day at Disneyland in November, and an evening shopping at Brandy Melville in Pacific Beach. We also spent a day at Balboa Park in Mission Beach, getting to bond and know each other better as sisters. Last semester we held a Bunco Night, and had prizes for people who won the Bunco games. We also had a sisterhood dinner, where large groups of girls got to know each other better at restaurants over yummy food. We also had a hypnotist come to campus and hypnotize some of our members, which led to many laughs and fond memories. Last spring also held our annual Mom's Weekend. The weekend began with cake decorating on campus, where girls and their mother's mingled with other girls from different pledge classes. The next morning, everybody met up at Torrey Pines park to go for a hike. To end the weekend, girls and their mother's went to brunch at a hotel in Pacific Beach. In the fall, we held Dad's weekend. The weekend started off with mini golf and a go karts outing, the next day featured a kayaking excursion and then the weekend ended with a beach harbor cruise.
Kappa followed through with its' commitment to philanthropy in 2012 by hosting many philanthropy events. We continued to hold our three main philanthropies: Ballers for Children, Journal Buddies, and Breastival. We held our annual Breastival in the fall. Breastival, a breast cancer themed carnival with activities such as "Nipple Ring Toss", "Milk Pong", and "Guess the Celebrity Cup Size". Throughout the semester we continued to hold our philanthropy, Journal Buddies, with underprivileged school children in the area. Each child is paired with a member of Kappa and they keep a journal throughout the semester in which they can communicate. At the end of the semester, we have a Journal Buddy Party, where the kids can meet the women that they have been writing to. We also held our Ballers for Children basketball tournament in the fall with the men of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. Three on three teams compete in a bracket tournament to raise money for the Children's Hospital of San Diego. We had a great turn out, and many dressed up their teams with themes.
This year, Kappa also held a new philanthropy event with the men of Phi Kappa Theta fraternity. Called Survivor, teams could register to participate in an obstacle course race at Mission Bay Park. Although it was helf on a windy day, we managed to raise over $10,000 to benefit Orange County Children's Hospitals. We also held a raffle that benefited charity with prizes like giftcards to local restuarants and shops. We also participated in Greek Week with FIJI fraternity along with Sigma Theta Psi, the multicultural sorority, where all proceeds benefitted St. Jude's Children's Hospital. We got second place in Greek Week skits overall, and were a heavy contender in Penny Wars, with a light and friendly rivalry with Alpha Phi. Our skits were to the theme and music of the 80's, 90's and today. With the participation of FIJI men, we had a great time doing our skit, with costumes and fun backgrounds.
As always, we were eager to help other fraternity's and sorority's with their own philanthropic causes. We had a team of girls compete in Alpha Chi Omega's Kick It tournament, girls who walked in Alpha Delta Pi's fashion show, and a large team of girls who competed in Alpha Phi's powderpuff football tournament. We also had our president, Kendall Gilmore, be nominated for Beta Theta Pi's Sweetheart,
With so many great accomplishments, our Kappa chapter finished off the year strong. We grew as a chapter, both physically and figuratively, and became a lot closer. We worked hard and celebrated our academic accomplishments as well as each an individual member and the assets that she brings to the chapter.
This year, USD Greek Life was joined by Kappa Delta. Our chapter was eager to support them in their colonization, by attending their socials and informationals. Another exciting change was that our chapter was asked to be the "Big Sister" chapter to Kappa at Chapman University. Sisters are already planning how to help them during their recruitment and are thrilled to have the opportunity to create an entirely new Kappa chapter.
This past year, our chapter was put under an Academic Focus Plan. However, our sisters rose to the occasion and spent countless study hours together in the library and coffee houses on campus. This plan inspired a permanent change in sisters study habits- mandatory study hours became fun in library when groups of sisters were there. We finished the year second in GPA in all sororities on campus and third overall in all of Greek Life. It was a goal of ours to improve academic excellence in 2011 that was accomplished in 2012. It has helped us to become closer and to recognize our sisters' academic strengths.
Our chapter excelled this year on campus, and was awarded University of San Diego's chapter of the Order of Omega's Dean Trophy. This trophy is given to the best chapter on campus based in five different categories: academic excellence, social justice and selfless service, leadership, sisterhood and high social standards. Award winners are evaluated on how well these values are incorporated into the everyday life of our members. With a lot of hard work, our registrar, Kalie Flansberg, compiled a profile of every single member in our chapter to show just how great we are. It was an enormous accomplishment and something to truly be proud of.
Eta Gamma was also awarded the privilege of The Gracious Living Award at Convention this year. It was another achievement to be celebrated in 2012.
==Highlights of 2020s:==