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Pi Deuteron

2019-06-18T20:38:26Z

Michellelearle: /* Highlights of 2018: */

{{Infobox Fraternity
|Name= Pi Deuteron
|GreekSymbol= Π<sup>Δ</sup>
|Image= [[File:Pi.jpg|200px]]
|Founded= {{start date and years ago|1880|05|22}}
|College= [http://berkeley.edu/ University of California at Berkeley]
|Location= Berkeley, CA
|Homepage= [http://chapters.kappakappagamma.org/pi/ Pi Website]
|Media= [http://wiki.kappakappagamma.org/index.php?title=Category:Pi_Deuteron Media related to Pi Deuteron Chapter]
}}

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'''University of California at Berkeley established in 1868, Berkeley, California'''

'''Founded May 22, 1880; Closed Spring 1885'''

'''Reinstated as Pi Deuteron on August 5, 1897'''

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'''5 charter members:'''
Ella Florence Bailey, Belle Davis, Frances Mary Davis, Annie Caroline Edmonds, Anna Sevier Long, Nathaniel Northtrup Ridge

'''12 deuteron charter members:'''
Mary Elizabeth Bell, Edith Putnam Dart, Grace Esther Dibble, Elizabeth Florence Gray, Ella Aileen Guppy, Edith Valerie Henrici, Florence Elizabeth Mason, Ethelynd Harriet McClymonds, Alice Stuart Rising, Ruth Lawrence Rising, Gertrude May Scott, Blanche Roberta Terrill

'''2,785 initiates (as of June 2018)'''

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</tr></table>

'''Fraternity Officers:'''

Felicity Meu, Leadership Consultant 2002-2003

'''Fraternity Loyalty Award Recipients:'''

'''Alumna Achievement Award Recipients:'''

Emma Moffat McLaughlin, 1951; Officer and director of numerous organizations, boards and campaigns
Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman, 1947; National tennis champion; founder/donor of Wightman Cup Trophy
Helen Wills Roarke, 1960; Tennis star; author
Ruth Leach Amonette, 1949; First female vice president of IBM Corp.
Maureen Orth, 2006; Broadcast journalist, author

'''Additional Outstanding Pi Deuteron Alumnae'''

Maureen Orth
Journalist, Vanity Fair correspondent (1993–present)

Helen Wills Roarke
Professional tennis player, won the French Championships four times, the U.S. Championships seven times, and Wimbledon eight times

Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman
Professional tennis player, won the U.S. Championships in 1909, 1910, 1911, and 1919

'''Historical excerpts:'''

Kappa Kappa Gamma was the first sorority founded at UC Berkeley - dating all the way back to 1880. Designed by Julia Morgan, the first licensed female architect in California, our chapter house was originally built for Chancellor Gayley before being renovated for its current use. Our home includes 126 actives in total whose interests extend to include such activities as PAD (a pre-law fraternity on campus), Berkeley Consulting (a prestigious consulting firm on campus), International non-profit work with the organization Invisible Children, and Cal athletics (Crew, Water Polo, and Lacrosse) along with everything in between. The diversity and dedication of our women are what make Kappa Kappa Gamma the incredible house that it is. Our chapter's mission statement incorporates the ideas of friendship, support, respect and understanding - traditions that have thrived for over the past century during our existence here at Cal, and which will continue to flourish with every new member that joins our fraternity.

== The Early Years ==

The parent university of the California complex was chartered by the state March 23, 1868. In 1880, at the time of Pi’s founding, there were 213 men and 55 women student, and 36 on the faculty.
The 1930 History of Kappa Kappa Gamma records that Pi was established by Grand Charter from Epsilon, May 22, 1880, and in the spring of 1885 it came to an end. Its five years of life were marked by faculty and administration opposition; some lack of chapter harmony; difficulty in finding members among the few women enrolled; and complete isolation from other members and chapters of the Fraternity, as well as Fraternity officers.
Before the charter was given up, and “reluctantly accepted” by the Council, 24 members had been initiated.
The chapter had been founded in an unorthodox fashion. Anna Long (Brehm) and Ella Bailey (Bruns), after a skim through of Baird’s Manual, applied to Kappa Alpha Theta for a charter which the Thetas refused to grant to a group with fewer than six members. The two girls acquired another foursome and then, after talking things over with some fraternity men, decided that a Kappa charter was what they wanted. The Theta charter was left in the express officer for two weeks before it was returned. Then they applied for a Kappa Charter.
As if to contradict the impression that fraternity men had anything to do with their decision, Pi’s January, 1882, letter to The Key insisted, “We were aided by no counsels and urged forward by no promptings.” The letter reported proudly that on June 2, 1880, the key was worn for the first time in California; that two seniors had been graduated; and that the four remaining members found themselves facing “strong, steady, quiet opposition.”
The Golden Key of January, 1884, carried the only other Pi letter. The chapter sent greetings to all other chapters and expressed “wishes she could know them better.” Better? Pi knew only Pi! The annual banquet had been held; Flora Beal had been chosen class essayist; and the first Pi wedding had been celebrated between Sarah Ellery and Fred Ostrander.
Although the ingredients were always available, it was more than twelve years later that a second Pi was put on the Berkeley campus.

== '''Pi Deuteron Chapter''' ==

Paradoxically the Kappa Alpha Theta charter, which had gathered dust in the express office in 1880 when “Old Pi” was founded, returned to the Berkeley campus and was put to use seven years before Pi Deuteron was installed. It was 1893 when a group decided to apply for a Kappa charter and was approved by Beta Eta at Stanford University as well as original Pi members, only to discover that another group already applied. The second group persisted in its efforts, however, because of its Kappa sponsorship. While they waited, the girls formed a local society, called “Sorosis,” under the patronage of the San Francisco Sorosis in 1894.
Grand Council was not eager to grant the new charter, thinking of convention expenses connected with far away California, and the former prejudices on the campus. In 1895 Bertha Richmond (Chevalier), Φ—Boston, grand secretary, wrote: “I feel that the increase in numbers would not add materially if at all to the strength of the Fraternity…I think that the Fraternity cannot afford another chapter in the Far West.”
Two years later, as grand president, she reversed herself with, “I think that our Fraternity is neither so large, nor so strong, that it could not be benefited by the addition of a new strong chapter.”
The installation and initiation provided joyous ceremonies for members of the first Pi, for sponsoring actives from Stanford, and for the charter members who had made Sorosis strong. Music by Schumann backed up the service which was conducted by Annabel Collins (Coe), BZ—Iowa, grand treasurer. Visitors, having been feted and taken up Mt. Tamalpais, were still surprised by the zeal of the rushing season in Berkeley, without the benefit of Panhellenic contract.
In October, 1897, The Key placed the good news of the reestablishment on its first page, and mentioned the University of California at Berkeley as “the greatest conservative college of the west.”
In honesty, The Key mentioned that the nine college buildings on the beautiful site were “nothing of which to boast,” but then the author, Mary Bell (Morwood), went on to boast of the 35 marble and stone buildings near completion and of the philanthropic woman, Mrs. Phoebe Hearst, who had just been added to the Board of Regents, who had established so many scholarships, and “who is about to give a large proportion of her fortune to us.”
Students used the ferry to come over from San Francisco; other students lived in boarding and fraternity houses. It was easy to place the men students in their class rank. Freshman carried new equipment; sophomores swung their canes; juniors wore battered white plug hats decorated with class and fraternity symbols; and the black silk hats of the seniors looked like “worn out accordions.” They were often handed down from one class to the next.
Women’s dress was less distinctive. In the beginning they had worn their mortar boards after their freshman year, but in 1897 this was outmoded. Some social events also were considered old fashioned. At the senior ball, which was still popular, the girls dressed in calling costumes and hats and danced only with “a few favored friends.” YMCA and the YWCA (a Pi member was a founder) were strong on campus. There was still feeling about coeducation, but popular girls could receive a number of invitations to men’s fraternities on class day. White duck trousers and organdy dresses were everywhere and later there would be a general visit to Co-Ed Canyon for extemporaneous entertainment, then dinner and a glee club concert. Graduation was a let-down after the excitement of class day.
There was a marked difference between Stanford and the University of California. One was built on science and the other on the classic tradition, where Latin and Greek were common prerequisites and examinations were becoming more and more rigid. The women of Berkeley had been wearing their hats and gloves to class for 25 years—“as if they were visitors.” The Stanford girls were much amused. The Berkely girls could relax only in the gymnasium or the ladies room.
In spite of their conservatism the Kappas of Pi Deuteron held important positions on the campus. And they had a three story house, owned by the patroness, the mother of a member. The house was known for two outstanding features, named for Sorosis members who did not live to see Kappa’s reinstatement: the Alice Dewey Michaels Memorial Library and the Mabel Worthington Sullivan Memorial Art Collection. During their first term as a chapter a reception was given for Mrs. Hearst, and two members organized Prytanean, the women’s honor society.

== ''A New Century'' ... ==

On April 18, 1906, at 5:13 a.m. the locks and life of college, chapter, and homes stopped short. San Franscisco was hit by an earthquake and fire. Students, released from classes, were active in relief work. This work continued into the summer, although the senior class came back for “quiet graduation exercises.”
Many chapter members lived at home and only a few lived in the house on Fulton Street. There was one move after another during the early years. One year there were no seniors; factions developed; scholarship and participation went down, although there were always a few outstanding members. Pi was lucky, too, in Kappa visitor and affiliates, girls like Cleora Wheeler, X—Minnesota, who was “like a chapter sister,” and Almira Johnson (McNaboe), H—Wisconsin, who many years later became a Fraternity vice president.
In 1912 a move was made to 2725 Channing Way, Pi’s own house at last. It was the beginning of a turn for the better. Now there was harmony, unity, and accomplishment.
The 1920s were great years. The isolation of the early Pi was a thing of the past, distances were overcome. In 1925, 10 members went to Los Angeles to help install Gamma Xi.
Fraternity officers came from Pi regularly; Elizabeth Gray Potter was editor of The Key 1906-1910. She was also the librarian at Mills College and author of two books on San Francisco. Eva Powell and Eleanor V.V. Bennet were grand presidents and there were many province officers. Irene Hazard Gerlinger became a regent of the University of Oregon (1914-1929) and the women’s building there was named in her honor.
Two members of Pi Deuteron were known the world over, and both were in the same field. One was Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman, born in 1887 of pioneer California stock. She was a national tennis champion, donor of the Wightman Cup and several times captain of the team, author, and Kappa Achievement Award winner in 1947. The other was the Kappa she coached so successfully, Helen Wills Moody, Roarke, who won Kappa’s Achievement Award in 1960. Together they won two Wightman Cup doubles matched, two U.S. championships, the tennis championship at Wimbledon, and an all-England championship at Wimbledon. Helen Wills won the American championship each year from 1923-29 except 1926 when she didn’t compete, and the Wimbledon title eight times. She wore white stockings in England because Queen Mary hated bare legs.
Much to the pleasure of California Kappas, the 1926 Convention took place at Mills College in Oakland. Nearly 700 attended the convention and those arriving on the special train from Chicago were given baskets of fruit and flowers as the train passed through Sacramento. Pi’s Myrtle Sims Hamilton handled the funds so that well more than $600 was turned over to the Fraternity Endowment Fund at the end of convention.
In 1925, at the time of the installation of Gamma Xi, there was an informal conference of the three California chapters, but the first real province convention was not until 1929 at Stanford.
In 1929, the chapter house was remodeled and refurnished downstairs. IN 1949, the former home of Professor Galey on Piedmont Avenue became the chapter house. It was renovated and a two-story wing added.
In 1958, the Chicago Tribune announced that as the result of a survey, the Berkeley campus was rated as one of the most distinguished in the nation. A report in The Key, Mid-Winter, 1960 stated, “The student at Berkely has an ever-expanding, almost unlimited field of endeavor.” Said Tracy Innes (Stephenson) and Louise Dunlap, Pi actives and authors of the article, “A new student can be overwhelmed by the size and beauty of campus…To be a student (here) is a wonderful privilege.”
It was not possible to obtain any history of Pi Deuteron after 1960. A note from the chapter public relations chairman said that she had consulted her adviser “… and she said that, though we have checked before, there isn’t that much of which to speak…A newsletter is being planned to be sent to alumnae and parents,” she added.
Pi Deuteron was installing chapter for Epsilon Omicron Chapter at the University of California at Davis in February, 1975.

== ''The Kappa House'' ... ==
Pi was granted a charter in 1880 and closed by 1885.

Pi Deuteron was re-installed in 1897 and they had a three story house on Fulton Street that housed four members, owned by Mrs. Rising, the mother of members Alice Rising and Ruth Rising.

In the January 1898 issue of The Key, the corresponding wrote in her chapter letter “our chapter house is well established.

In 1912 a move was made to 2725 Channing Way, Pi’s own house at last.

In 1929, the chapter house was remodeled and refurnished downstairs.

In 1949, the former home of Professor Galey on Piedmont Avenue became the chapter house. It was renovated and a two-story wing added.

Jeanne Ley she said when she pledged as a freshman the house was on Channing then moved the following year to Piedmont. According to Jeanne, the house originally was a "lovely shingled and traditional Julia Morgan home", then they added the "hospital wing with that ugly grey floor, and sprayed cement over the beautiful shingles!"....evidently the remodel was not very popular. Until the remodel the girls all had meals at the I-House since there was no large kitchen or dining room. For the remodel the house was raised, the chapter room, dining room and kitchen added as the ground floor, and the entire structure moved forward on the lot to create the back courtyard. Jeanne said she remembers them doing all this from Christmas through the summer, and the girls moved back to Kappa in the fall!

==Highlights of the 1980s:==

The chapter succesfully upheld its founding principles during this ten year period. The members of Kappa Kappa Gamma were extremely busy with academics, sports, internships, and jobs, while at the same time made tiume for social activities including the annual ATO picnic and father daughter dance. During this time period many intelligent, dedicated, outgoing, amazing members encouraged one another and motivated each other to work towards the Fraternity's potential.

Much needed improvemnts to the house were made thanks to those who supported the Fire Sprinkler Campaign and to the careful management of our capital improvement's budget. These improvements included installation of fire-safe floors, bedrooms and halls were painted and recarpeted, the House Director's apartment was expanded and refurbished, and the attic storage space was rennovated to provide a better study space for the girls. We also succesfully satisfied each area in "The Challenge to Excellence" that was issued by the Regional Directors of Kappa to assist in smoothly operating each chapter.

==Pi Deuteron - Celebrates Their Centennial==
From the first notification of the upcoming birthday, to the last tearful goodbyes on May 22, 1980, Pi Deuteron Chapter at the University of California, Berkeley, actives and alumna worked to create a special celebration of Pi's first I00 years.

From November 1979 when Pi Board was first informed that House Board began work immediately. Didi Moore Boring 53 was appointed chairman, and a chapter committee was co-chaired by seniors Erin Biggs and Carol McKnight. Early on it was decided to have an open house during the day (May 22 1980), and a banquet that evening. “This Chapter ln Time” was chosen as the theme for the day, and a logo was developed.

The challenge was to reach as many as possible of Pi's over 1,000 initiates and to offer them a way to become a part of the celebration if they wanted to. First notification was through the chapter newsletter The Pi Piper; official announcements went out in March asking alumnae to reserve the day. Many who could not attend the festivities, contributed to the University through the Emma Moffett McLaughlin Scholarship Fund in honor of a Pi Kappa who had been an outstanding leader in community and University affairs. Additionally, a gold charm depicting the logo was offered; each sold for $50 and proceeds went to the Chapter House Fund.

The day of May 22nd saw many reunion luncheons before the open house at the chapter. People came from all over California, as well as from Oregon and New York! The House was beautifully decorated with help from the Mothers' Club; actives gave tours of the campus, and tea was served. In the chapter room, scrapbooks and early photos were displayed by decades. A wealth of historical photos of the classes of '02 and '03 and of the first chapter houses was provided by Jean McLaughlin Doolittle. The banquet was held at the Marriott Inn in Berkeley with about 180 attending. Guests were surprised by visits from the Cal StrawHat Band and Oshi, the silent Cal mascot, who really got the evening off to an enthusiastic beginning. Seating was assigned by initiation classes. After the mistress of ceremonies, (Helen) Sally Walker Lyding, gave a humorous history of the chapter, she asked everyone to rise. As she called off the name of each decade beginning with the 80's, those who had been initiated in that decade sat down. Left standing at the conclusion were the oldest initiates, all who had been Kappas over 50 years. The oldest there was Elva Christie Hughes, initiated in 1910, two of whose three Pi daughters were also present that night. The collegians gave the early initiates a great round of applause.

Representing the Fraternity, Marjorie Cross Bird, BM-Colorado, then director of field representatives, presented a $1,000 scholarship to the University of California in honor of Pi Deuteron Chapter. A special scholarship committee under (Alice Marian) Midge Oliver Zischke had earlier determined the two winners on the basis of need, high scholarship, and chapter community contribution: Amie Mosher, a Kappa, and Monica Whitlock, a Tri Delta. The banquet speaker was Joseph A. Moore, Jr., then vice-chairman (now chairman) of the Board Regents of the University of California, and father of Centennial Chairman, (Marilyn) Didi Moore Boring. The evening came to a close as we heard of the collegiate activities from chapter president Stacy Black, and were treated to a performance by singers Marilyn Hoffman and Ann Forbush. All joined in the singing of Kappa songs, led by the actives and the closing ceremony.

Pi is indeed fortunate to have the spirited, dedicated group of alumnae and actives presently involved in the chapter. The Centennial offered an opportunity to enlarge the group of friends, refresh some perhaps dimming memories, and to participate again in creating a new memory, one which will last until the next big occasion, the 150th, in 2030. Will you be here?

==Highlights of the 1990s:==

San Francisco Bay area earthquake 1990 … chapter house not damaged but it was “mayhem in the chapter house with 60 girls screaming, things falling off shelves,” said the Philanthropy Chairman at the time. “There were minor bruises but no injuries. No one realized how serious it was until we later saw it on TV.”
Spared from damage and injury, Pi Deuteron was eager to help with the relief. They gave $900 to the Red Cross, money they had been saving for an exercise bicycle, and collected clothing. A few members worked on Red Cross clean-up crews. They had already been organizing blood drives, so this was promoted to replenish blood supplies during the aftermath of the earthquake. (From The Key, 1990)

==A New Millennium-- Highlights of 2000-2010:==

'''Philanthropy:'''
During the summer of 2009, one of our Kappa sisters was diagnosed with Lung Cancer. With the guidance of Jill, our chapter helped to organize the first annual "Jog for Jill" took place in Berkeley, CA during the spring of 2010. The event drew hundreds of people from various sororities, fraternities, and athletic teams from the campus.

Jill also was the inspiration for the "Just like Jill" campaign through the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation. Shortly after graduating, Jill passed away, but her legacy still lives on. The chapter continues to be involved in Bonnie J. Addario events, as well as "Jog for Jill." In fact, two of our Kappa sisters are members of the Jill's Legacy Board through the Bonnie J. Addario Foundation.

==Highlights of 2011-2012:==
(scholarship, group honors/awards, special events, philanthropy and service projects, etc.):

Our chapter won multiple awards at Pi Province this past year. We raised over 2,000 dollars for our national philanthropy Reading is Fundamental and continued to work with Emerson Elementary school kids on their reading skills once a week. A lot of our members also participated in other philanthropy events throughout the greek system including DG's basketball tournament, Pi Phi's arrowbands competition, and Sigma Chi's Derby Days. Some highlights of the year included Jog for Jill, Monmouth, Kappa Karoake, and initiation of 40 new members.

This past school year our chapter heavily focused on academics and in doing so we raised our overall GPA from a 3.32 to a 3.39. We acconplished this by requiring all members to log in 3 study hours per week.

'''Events on campus:'''

In 2011 UC Berkeley students participated in the "Occupy Cal" movement in order to protest the privatization of UC Berkeley. Even though this was supposed to be a peaceful protest, several students were arrested upon failing to comply with the university's policy on "no emcampment." There were several rallies and walkouts that occurred in response to this throughout the fall semester of 2011.

==Highlights of 2013==

Our Spring recipient of the Linda Morrison Award, Morgan Fabian recently passed on the honor to the new Fall recipient of the Linda Morrison Award, Madeline Storch. Two more sisters Charlie Reed, and Emily Swarts were also the recipients of the Tali James Scholarship. Additionally, Hannah Hess received the honorable Jill Costello award. Our chapter goals have been aimed towards creating a more effective system of governing the chapter. Some of these obstacles, such as missed deadlines, were minor and have been solved through the use of reminder posters every month of the activities, while major obstacles are being solved through new implementations. For example, we are encouraging more participation for Reading is Fundamental by having a Google doc sign up for those who can attend.

By means of philanthropy we had great attendance at Jog for Jill. The chapter had t-shirts and KKG ribbons made to show our support. Many of the attendees were our newest class of members from our successful recruitment. The Pi Deuteron Chapter was extremely proud and excited to welcome 31 beautiful girls into our fraternity. We also had a very successful year with our event Kappa Karaoke where we raised $5,000 for Reading is Fundamental. With regards to our PanHellenic Involvement, Kappa was involved in a House Decorating Competition for “Big Game Week” and placed. Our reward was to have our letters projected onto the Campanile for a whole night!

The Pi Deuteron Chapter also participated in Pi Provence this past year. Multiple members of the chapter spent the day learning about other Kappa chapters and recognizing outstanding awards for these chapters. The Pi Chapter was also recognized and received the AB Award at Provence.

Lastly our chapter has been focusing on our scholarship and academic success. Most noticeably we have Study Tables every Wednesday night in the Chapter Room in order to provide a safe, quiet environment conducive to studying. In Spring 2013, the Pi Deuteron Chapter maintained a 3.40 G.P.A compared to the PHC average of 3.37 and the All Greek Average of 3.27.

The most recent change on campus is the “Breathe” Initiative. The campus has officially become tobacco free environment. Construction on Lower Sproul has been occurring for the past semester. Due to the construction site, the student store has been relocated across the street on Bancroft in the meantime. As I mentioned previously, the nature of our chapter’s recent changes has been towards a more efficient and productive way of running the chapter as a whole. We have created solutions for the areas in which our chapter survey showed weaker links and we look forward to improving the chapter as much as we can.

==Highlights of 2014==

The year 2014 was full of events that allowed our chapter to grow individually, in the community, and philanthropically. At National Convention, we received an Honorary mention for Recruitment and for the Gracious Living Award. We had high attendance in our yearly fundraiser Jog for Jill. This event supports the Bonnie J. Andario Lung Foundation. It is an annual tradition that allows us to support our sister, Jill Costello, and show support for our community by raising money and participating in a 5k run across our campus. We also put on Kappa Karaoke, a singing event that attracts performers like the Berkeley Men's Octet and raises money for Reading is Fundamental. We also put on a joint BBQ with Sigma Chi, again with the goal of raising money for Reading is Fundamental.

Along with these events, we visited Emerson Elementary School twice a week to read to a first grade class. Furthermore, we held a very successful book drive to donate new reading materials to this elementary school. Inside our chapter, we had four goals to strengthen our development. They include developing professional and academic skills, encouraging personal responsibility to the chapter, utilizing committee meetings more effectively, and understanding our chapter's role in the larger community. Overall, understanding our chapter's need for improvement and recognizing our accomplishments has made the year productive and eventful.

Our campus is currently undergoing renovations on Lower Sproul Plaza, the central part of our university. Our new bookstore and student centers are expected to be completed in Fall 2015. Along with this, our Panhellenic Council has been emphasizing the education of members about issues concerning the Greek System as a whole. These include safety, health, assault, and alcohol consumption awareness. The overall nature of our chapter reflects the diversity and involvement of each member of the house. We have members on the Cal Dance and Cheer teams, Panhellenic council, student athletes, members of the honors fraternity Honor of Omega, participants in the internship program Cal in the Capital, officers in service organizations such as Global Brigades, and more. The variety of activities we are involved in allow our chapter to foster relationships internally and among our campus.

We hold our meetings in our chapter owned house near the UC Berkeley campus. The house that our chapter owns today provides room and board for approximately 69 members each semester. Prior to our current house on 2328 Piedmont Avenue, we owned one other house.

==Highlights of 2015==

The year 2015 has been an exciting addition to the Pi Deuteron chapter. From the events we participated in to the new members we received, our chapter continues to flourish. Many traditions in our chapter, like presenting the Jill Costello Award and Linda Morrison Award to exceptional members, were continued along with our annual philanthropic endeavors and campus involvements. Our chapter council worked toward accomplishing goals and improving the chapter as a whole.

This past year we have been working on five goals as a chapter council. Our first focus was to make standards more welcoming and have more of a positive presence. To do this, we made the standards room a more welcoming environment, we had standards do a programming to go over procedure, and they worked to be more transparent throughout the semester. The next obstacle we wanted to tackle was the lack of emphasis on ritual in the house. We had monthly ritual reviews, started meetings with an inspirational quote or a piece of Kappa history, and held special ritual reviews for the newest initiated pledge class. Our third goal was to make pre-recruitment work week more effective and enjoyable. We decided to hold two pre-recruitment meetings during the Spring to learn the recruitment songs, we created MVPs of the day and gave out prizes to those who were positive and working hard during work week and we decided not to move on to another song or dance until we knew the one we were previously working on. Next, we wanted to work on getting the house more involved on campus. We started spotlighting a member of the house each week for their accomplishments and involvement, we listed the philanthropies other houses were hosting a month in advance and created a list of what different clubs girls in the house are involved in. Finally, we decided we wanted to work as a chapter council to lead by example and be effective and efficient. To do this, we worked on communicating everything we were working on during Chapter Council meetings, we encouraged the house to be more involved and worked hard to help one another whenever we could.

Finally, our chapter continued our varied member’s involvements through campus led groups and events. These include clubs like ONE for social justice, Active for Alzheimer’s, Order of Omega, and Berkeley Consulting. Our involvement extends through the athletic department with members on the dance, cheer, crew, sand volleyball, and other sports teams. Additionally, our chapter wide GPA average continues to rise each semester, showing our dedication to academics. With such a rich and all-encompassing group of members, our chapter never has a lack of philanthropic, academic or extracurricular commitments.

The construction of the Lower Sproul area has been completed and now houses the Student Union Complex, a lively, 24/7 student center. Students are now able to engage in social and academic activities in a vibrant and safe area at all hours of the day. In regards to our chapter, our PanHellenic Council continues to highlight the importance of educating members on relevant and important issues concerning all aspects of the Greek System, such as safety, health, assault, and alcohol/drug consumption awareness. The nature of our chapter reflects the dynamic and dedicated involvement of our members both in the Greek System and on campus. Our chapter includes members from the Cal Dance and Cheer teams, other athletics such as rowing, lacrosse and soccer, members of the honors fraternity Honor of Omega, participants in the internship program Cal in the Capital, and much more. The chapter’s participation in a myriad of activities allows us to cultivate strong relationships both within and outside the Greek System.

What organization(s) has your chapter historically/traditionally raised money for, or donated hours to, in your community?

Our chapter continues to participate in diverse philanthropic, academic and worldly endeavors. This year our chapter was able to raise $2,000 for our philanthropy via Kappa Karaoke, as well as participate in external philanthropy events such as a football tournament, diamond cup, AOPi spike out and many more. In addition to these external philanthropy events, members also participated in Jog For Jill in memory of Jill Costello. We had members researching and studying abroad in countries such as Kenya and India. In addition, we had members participating in Cal’s Zero Waste Initiative, spreading awareness on measures to decrease both personal and chapter waste.

Why did your chapter choose this organization(s) to support?

Reading is Fundamental is the motivation behind a majority of our events. Kappa Karaoke is an event dedicated to raising money for this cause, and it is our largest philanthropy event of the year. The wide scope of the philanthropy allows us to run book drives, donate our time, and fundraise, all for a concise cause. Furthermore, we enjoy having a hands-on support approach to improve childhood literacy by traveling to a local elementary school to read to children every week. Being able to see the difference we are making in children’s academic success is a special and valuable opportunity. For these reason we continue to partner with Emerson Elementary.

==Highlights of 2016:==

2016 has been a year of growth and expansion for the Pi Deuteron chapter. Our new members, as they do each year, added diversity in experiences, backgrounds and personality to our chapter. Many traditions in our chapter, such as presenting the Jill Costello and Linda Morrison awards to exceptional members, were continued. In addition, we continued our participation in our annual philanthropic activities as well as our campus involvement. Overall, our chapter council this year worked toward bridging Pi Deuteron’s history and tradition, as well as working toward inspiring chapter participation and enthusiasm in chapter events.

A main goal for this years’ chapter council was to increase chapter awareness of Pi Deuteron history and ritual. Both the Marshal and Registrar worked together to engage members in our history. At each Monday night, we made it a goal to share a scrapbook with the chapter, as well as give a brief comment about the time period each scrap book was created in. The goal was to share chapter history as well as bridge the past and present, showing that Kappa ideals, goals and values have been sustained and consistent throughout history.

In addition to the scrapbooks, our Marshal led us in engaging ritual review, making sure to define the significance and origin of our traditions. Another goal of our chapter was to increase chapter participation and excitement in our activities and history. Chapter council decided to create “Kappa Kash” as a way to increase involvement in our chapter.

Involvement in philanthropic activities as well as answering trivia questions could lead to Kappa Kash. At the end of the academic year we will put all the Kappa Kash earned in a raffle, and those who have the most Kappa Kash will be most likely to win prizes. So far this has increased involvement in chapter activities such as Girl’s Academy and other philanthropic events. In addition, chapter council worked towards making standards more transparent and approachable, holding mock standards meetings during meeting and emphasizing clear communication between members and the standards committee. To continue sisterhood bonding our activities chair scheduled chapter outings.

Finally, we decided we wanted to work as a chapter council to lead by example and be effective and efficient. To do this, we worked on communicating everything we were working on during Chapter Council meetings, we encouraged the house to be more involved and worked hard to help one another whenever we could.

Our chapter continued our varied member’s involvements through campus led groups and events. These include clubs like ONE for social justice, Active for Alzheimer’s, Order of Omega, and Berkeley Consulting. Our involvement extends through the athletic department with members on the dance, cheer, crew, sand volleyball, and other sports teams. Additionally, our chapter wide GPA average continues to rise each semester, showing our dedication to academics. With such a rich and all-encompassing group of members, our chapter never has a lack of philanthropic, academic or extracurricular commitments.

==Highlights of 2017==

The January 1 through December 15 period was a very exciting time for the Pi Deuteron chapter at UC Berkeley because our chapter re-established the Jog for Jill charity 5k run in honor of our sister Jill Costello who sadly passed away from lung cancer. Our external philanthropy leader, Ava Mandelbaum put on an exceptional 5k run around the hills of Berkeley and brought together the whole Greek community as well as people from the Bay Area to raise money for the Bonnie J. Addario foundation, which is the leading charity to fight lung cancer.

In total, the chapter raised roughly $10,000 dollars for the foundation and brought about more information and awareness regarding lung cancer. Along with this, one of our chapter's goals was to get more involved in the Greek community here on campus and one way we started to pursue this goal was to create sign up lists on Facebook having the girls sign up for specific slots to join in on fraternity charity events such as Derby Days where each sorority creates a team to complete a series of Olympic challenges as a way to raise money for the charity of their choice. One of our other sisters, Ruth McGee and Abbie Drobnick led their club in the Solar Decathlon to build a solar-powered house and were able to rank in the top 10, which was a huge achievement!

Since the spring of 2017, UC Berkeley's campus has been politically charged and has needed more safety precautions during scheduled protests. This change has caused the chapter to reflect on how we can learn from these situations on campus and create a more open and active space.

'''Chapter Philanthropy:'''
One of the key charities of our chapter is Reading is Fundamental. Our Chapter for the past year and half has created reading days on Tuesdays and Thursdays where a group of Kappas will go to a local elementary school and read books to students. The ability to see how influential these experiences can have on each student is near and dear to our hearts. Further, the Jog for Jill 5k that we put on April 30, 2017 was a huge success with Kappa raising roughly $10,000 dollars in Jill's name for the Bonnie Addario Lung Cancer foundation for lung cancer research.

Kappa chose Reading is Fundamental as a key part of our philanthropic work because it is a part of our national organization and allows us to see the immediate impact our service has on students in the community. Further, Jog for Jill is our Chapter's own charity that we chose to create and support because it is in honor of Jill Costello who was a Kappa and rower here at UC Berkeley who unfortunately passed away from lung cancer. As a way to honor her, the Pi Deuteron chapter and her roommate in Kappa chose to create the Jill Costello foundation, which donates money to the Bonnie J. Addario lung cancer foundation for lung cancer research to have her legacy live on.

==Highlights of 2018:==

This year Pi Deuteron was lucky enough to win the Academic Excellence Award at convention. At Jog for Jill, this year we raised over $17,000 for the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation. We also created the Jill Costello Award that gives 5% of the proceeds to the Cal Greek community member who most embodies Jill’s spirit by standing up to face adversity and inspiring others in the process and this was awarded to Bryanna Kaufmann a member of Delta Delta Delta. Each year, PHC gives each chapter scholarship money to give to a new member and this year we gave it to Erin Atkinson because she has brought a fun radiance to this house as well as done a fantastic job showing what it means to be a kappa. On January 20th in San Francisco, many of our members walked in the Women's March to support women's rights. At Kappa Karaoke this year we raised $2,018 for Reading is Fundamental, after transaction fees $1,965 will be donated!

'''Describe the recent changes on campus and describe the chapter’s overall nature.'''

Our chapter along with Panhellenic has decided to become more active regarding sexual assault on our campus. In order to limit sexual assault, our Risk Manager has been giving the fraternities Consent Talks before our exchanges with them, to ensure the safety of our members. In addition, we have had whole chapter discussions about how we can inform more people about the seriousness of consent and what we can do to prevent sexual assault. In order to do this, we have implemented the "Event Team" who at each event, their job is to look out for their sisters and make sure their sisters are safe, although every member of this chapter also watches out for their sisters.

'''Chapter Philanthropy'''

'''What organization does the chapter support?'''

Our chapter supports Reading is Fundamental by going to the local elementary school twice a week to read with children. Further, Jog for Jill is our Chapter's own charity that we chose to create and support. Jog for Jill is a 5k run around the UC Berkeley campus and this year after, we had a lunch at the house with live music. In addition, we support the other houses in Greek Life by attending their philanthrophy events.

'''Why did the chapter choose this organization?'''

Pi Deuteron chose Reading is Fundamental because not only is it one of the national organizations, it allows us to see the immediate impact our service has on students in the community. Jog for Jill is in honor of Jill Costello who was a Kappa and rower here at UC Berkeley who unfortunately passed away from lung cancer. As a way to honor her, the Pi Deuteron chapter and her roommate in Kappa chose to create the Jill Costello foundation, which donates money to the Bonnie J. Addario lung cancer foundation for lung cancer research to have her legacy live on.

'''Chapter Facility'''

'''Where does the chapter meet?'''

The Chapter meets in a room in our house that we call the "Chapter Room."

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'''Note to Chapter Registrar:'''
Please refer to your chapter archives including chapter meeting minutes and back issues of ''The Key'' to fill in any gaps in the above historical highlights. If your chapter archives are not complete, please research your university library, campus newspaper and yearbook archives for newsworthy information about your chapter. Please double check your work for accuracy. Contact chapter Advisory or House Board members, local Alumnae Association members, or your Province Director of Chapters for assistance. Your efforts will ensure a complete and accurate history of your chapter for future generations to enjoy!

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Replace this text with chapter history by clicking edit near the top right

Gamma Mu

2019-06-18T20:32:27Z

Michellelearle: /* Highlights of 2018: */

{{Infobox Fraternity
|Name= Gamma Mu
|GreekSymbol= ΓM
|Image= [[File:Gamma_Mu.jpg|200px]]
|Founded= {{start date and years ago|1924|06|07}}
|College= [http://oregonstate.edu/ Oregon State University]
|Location= Corvallis, OR
|Homepage= [http://chapters.kappakappagamma.org/gammamu/pages/welcome.php Gamma Mu Homepage]
|Media= [http://wiki.kappakappagamma.org/index.php?title=Category:Gamma_Mu Media related to Gamma Mu Chapter]}}

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'''Oregon State University (formerly Oregon State Agricultural College) established in 1868 in
Corvallis, Oregon'''

'''Gamma Mu founded June 7, 1924'''

'''2,479 initiates (as of June 2018)'''

------------------------

'''Charter Members:'''

Louise Arnold, Enid Beal, Flossie Mae Blackburn, Ruth Cleland, Edna Belle Cobbledick, Wava Farley, Ida Granbreg, Cleda Hilderbrand, Frances Jones, Ann H. Karlson, Dolores Kelsey, Doris Elnor Lake, Helen Leonard, Ruth Lyon, Jessie McDonald, Vida McKern, Marie McNair, Helen Edythe Miller, Thelma Jean Miller, Edna Morback, Ruth Price, Mary May Swarm, Eleanor Thomas, Irma Van Hollebeke, Mildred Wallace, Kathryn Wightman, Zelia Zigler.

'''Fraternity Council Officers:'''

Susan McGinty Riches, Director of Alumnae 1998-2000

'''Fraternity Loyalty Award Recipients:'''

'''Fraternity Alumnae Achievement Award Recipients:'''

Gladys Miller, 1956, Author, consultant, educator and editor in home building and interior design;

Zelma Reed Long, 1996, Winemaking expert, CEO of Simi Winery;

Dr. Carrie Case Worcester, 1996, Director of neonatal intensive care at Children’s Hospital, Orange County, Calif.;

Lou Seibert Pappas, 1998; writer and pioneer in the field of cooking

Mary Carlin Yates, 2002, U.S. Ambassador to Republic of Burundi;

Ruth Shellhorn Kueser, 2006, Architect, urban planning expert (First received the award in 1960)

-----------------------------

==The Early Years (From The History of Kappa Kappa Gamma 1870–1976)==

At the end of World War I when servicemen returned to Oregon State University, Corvallis, in the heart of Willamette Valley, there was a major housing problem.

Small groups of men and women were encouraged to organize. One such group of coeds, living in Waldo Hall, carefully studied Baird’s Manual and Banta’s Greek Exchange. They decided to work toward the goal of becoming a Kappa Kappa Gamma chapter, regardless of the time and effort required. They pledged themselves to accept no other affiliation if Kappa did not accept them.
It was in 1917 that this group took the name Gamma Iota. Gamma for the Gamma of the Fraternity and Iota for Iota Province, the province in which Oregon State was located.

Lorna Collamore Jessup, who gave the fledgling group her wisdom, enthusiasm, and help, found a house for them to rent at 530 NW 11th Street. They floored the attic, which was then filled with two rows of cots to be a dormitory for 20 girls.

==Highlights of the 1920s==

Gamma Iota members were especially active in debate, music, and dancing. From the beginning, emphasis was on scholarship and character. On Homecoming Weekend in 1921, when the big football game between Oregon Agricultural College and the University of Washington was played, the group hosted visiting Kappas and alumnae. The house was in perfect order, the girls gracious and poised, and the guests impressed. They wondered how this small group in a modest house could carry out an extensive program of after-game courtesies, dinner, overnight guests and breakfast without flurry or confusion. The answer was that the members of Gamma Iota were making every effort to show the visitors how hard they were working toward their goal of receiving a Kappa charter.

The petition was presented to the Fraternity in March of 1924 and, in June of that same year, word came that Gamma Iota would become Gamma Mu Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma! F. Marie Leghorn, Washington, was the installing officer and Oregon, the installing chapter. Twenty-seven charter members were initiated.

In 1922, the College Committee on Student Housing approved plans for Gamma Iota to purchase a $24,459 house, using $1,000 the girls saved as a down payment. It took courage to sign on the dotted line. The group moved from the 11th Street house in 1923 to 242 NW 10th Street. This house was in use at the time the charter was acquired and remained the Kappa house until 1935 when the “Castle” was purchased. Often renovated, it is still the house today.

This particular house was financed entirely by the fraternity of Tau Delta and was ready for occupancy by fall term of 1928. The house was truly a castle to the men, and virtue they emphasized in their petition to the national fraternity Chi Phi in 1929. Designed by the Portland architectural firm of Thomas and Mercer, and constructed by Portland contractors Hanson and Hammond, it is one of the largest and most impressive Greek living group houses in the college neighborhood. It was constructed at a cost of $45,000 and accommodated 40 men.

==Highlights of the 1930s==

In March of 1931, Tau Delta became the Epsilon Delta Chapter of Chi Phi fraternity, but the group only lived in this house through the 1934–35 school year. The following year, the house was turned over to Kappa Kappa Gamma.

The Kappa Kastle is one of the finest examples of the Tudor style for fraternity houses in Corvallis. It has changed very little since it was first built; the most noticeable changes are in the mature landscape that surrounds the house. The house maintains very high integrity and is a prominent landmark in architecture in the immediate neighborhood. Its association with the prominent architectural firm and Thomas and Mercer adds to its significance.

In the chapter’s selection of Mrs. George Leekley as House Director in the fall of 1938, the House Board demonstrated remarkable insight for she stayed for 14 rewarding years. Her name became synonymous with good taste and graciousness. Her warmth and competence seemed to personify Kappa ideals to everyone who entered the Kappa Castle. Her hallmark of perfection showed in the lovely teas and the “touch-of-home trimmings” for holiday dinners. She was always compassionate and knew the perfect time for a treat of hot cocoa,. With the help of finance advisers Fern McCroskey Price, Peggy Mulligan Blackledge and Mrs. Leekley’s wise management, the mortgage was ceremoniously burned on March 23, 1944.

==Highlights of 1940s and 1950s==

War risk insurance was discussed during the early months of World War II, and desserts replaced dinners during Membership Recruitment. Elaine Kollins Sewell (Jones) and a Gamma Phi Beta friend co-edited a newsletter for all Oregon State servicemen.

The Kappas won second place in the 1947 homecoming contest with the theme “Reunion After Tokyo,” which treated all the years to follow as post-war years.

The Kappas were the first chapter at Oregon State to install a dishwasher when the outdated kitchen was remodeled in 1950. The dining room’s capacity was increased to 90, and Mrs. Leekley’s suite was improved.

A “appreciation” reception was given for Mrs. Leekley in 1953. A check was presented to her, and a fund for small emergency loans to individuals was set aside and named for her.

The years 1940–1958 have been called Gamma Mu’s Golden Age. During those years, the chapter scholastically ranked first, seven times; second, five times; and third, four times. High grades were emphasized at banquets each term with presentation of awards and a cup honoring Blanche Hinman Smith, Syracuse, longtime Scholarship Adviser.

Carrie Case (Dully), Zelma Reed (Long) and Nancy Austin (McCoy) were scholastically the top three women in the 1965 graduating class. All three were Mortar Board; Zelma was chapter President; Nancy was president of AWS; and Carrie was the only coed ever to win both the coveted Chi Omega and Drusilla Shepard awards. To recognize this trio, the alumnae tapped them for “Hoo’s Hoo” and presented them with scrolls, sterling silver owl charms, and owl glasses. These members sound exceptional, yet the whole chapter was of similar caliber, sharing honors such as Mortar Board, Girls of Achievement, student leaders, scholars, fraternity sweethearts and Homecoming attendants.

Busy Kappas always find time for fun … whether at a Friday afternoon exchange or a solemn initiation ceremony. Black paint, applied to the big engine at Avery Park, good food, and helping hands turned a service project into a date dinner. The chapter maintained a “Rush Closet” … a small room where members could leave outdated clothes. Before a house dance with a “Fifties” theme, eager girls rummaged through it, asking with a laugh, “Did they really wear these?”

One time a love letter was found from one of the long-gone Kappas to her swain. The contents of the closet were a longtime source of delight and were used to dress up for a rushing skit, a scholarship dinner, or even a special date.
--------------------------------
The previous information was excerpted from The History of Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity, 1870-1976. The information that follows has been gleaned from available resources including Chapter History Reports, chapter meeting minutes, letters and comments from chapter members and alumnae, the Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity Archives, and The Key. Each chapter is expected to update its history record annually. Contact Fraternity Headquarters at kkghq@kkg.org with questions.
--------------------------------

==Highlights of the 1970s==

The chapter celebrated its golden anniversary on October 5, 1974, with a luncheon and program. Nine of the original 27 members appeared for a picture, and two others arrived too late. More than 900 Gamma Mus of the 1,100 initiated members were still living then. Mary Lou McKay Green was chairman and Heloise Lee Stewart was toastmistress. Charter members sat at the head table. Gladys Miller spoke of Gamma Iota’s origin and presented the original petition to the chapter for its archives. Jessie McDonald Acklen, first chapter President, read from the Gamma Mu history, revealing the emotion of the day Gamma Mu was chartered. Fashions from 1924 to 1974 were modeled with Eleanor Francis Fouch as commentator. Special honor awards were presented to Peggy Mulligan Blackledge, Fern McCroskey Price, Mary Kollins Reed, and Irene Hazlett Saling for their long service to the chapter.

==Highlights of the 1980s:==

Gamma Mu was very involved on campus and in the Greek system, holding many offices and winning many awards.

A new tradition was started in the late 1980s of developing a chapter goal and motto for each year. Gamma Mu also changed their initiation G.P.A. requirement from a 2.0 to a 2.25 to strengthen their emphasis on scholarship. The chapter also worked to achieve more unity within the house, to be more active on campus, and to improve their relationships within the Greek system. In the fall of 1988, Gamma Mu organized an alcohol awareness workshop for the Greek system. One member won the Miss OSU pageant, and another won Greek Woman of the Year.

Several members of the chapter enjoyed attending the 1987 Pi Province Meeting hosted by Pi chapter at the University of California – Berkeley. A highlight was a ritual workshop presented by Fraternity Ritualist Jean Hess Wells, Georgia, and the Candlelight Banquet. Gamma Mu received the Outstanding Chapter Program award for the second consecutive time. At the 1989 Pi Province Meeting, Gamma Mu received an Award of Merit for Outstanding Achievement in Communications.

An unusual program for the Greek system in 1988 was the “Swap-a-Sis” where girls from each sorority would go live in a different house for a week. The chapter also saved one weekend each term for a house retreat to focus on being good sisters and improving unity.

'''Housing:'''

In 1983, the chapter welcomed a new House Director. Gamma Mu was busy fundraising to pay for a new roof that was put on the “Kappa Kastle” chapter house in 1987. Rooms were repainted and the TV room furniture was repaired and recovered. The House Board successfully encouraged contributions to the chapter by holding a drawing for gifts in three categories. Alumnae were able to use the chapter house for class reunions during the summers.

'''Philanthropy:'''

Gamma Mu hosted a Balloon Derby as a fundraising event for the Oregon Lung Association. They also competed in the Sigma Chi Derby Days, and earned money for the United Way. Another project was to carve Halloween pumpkins for a local retirement center. Money was raised for the Y-Round Table children and Christmas gifts were given to them. Following the earthquake in San Francisco, the chapter sent money to Kappas in that area that needed help. In the spring of 1989, Gamma Mu participated in a community-wide service project of building a children’s park by providing meals for workers during their breaks.

'''Convention Awards:'''

==Highlights of the 1990s==

Gamma Mu chapter continued to be active in campus and community activities and events during this period. They had members in honoraries Panhellenic executive council, ASOSU student government, MUPC student event planning council, Rush Counselors, and volunteer work for local schools and children’s organizations. They also improved the chapter’s GPA, and worked to meet the requirements for the Challenge to Excellence.

At the 1991 Pi Province Meeting held in Eugene, Gamma Mu received the Outstanding Chapter Award. The chapter continued to participate in the Greek system’s Swap-a-Sis program where sororities exchange several members for a week. The chapter members were very involved in campus activities ranging from student government to sports. Other traditional chapter events were the Dad’s Weekend during winter term, and Mom’s Weekend in the spring that included a fashion show.

Scholarship became a focus to increase the chapter’s G.P.A. The chapter received the Greek system’s Sorority of the Year award in both 1996 and 1999. Gamma Mu hosted the Pi Province Meeting in 1999.

'''Housing:'''

The Gamma Mu chapter room was redecorated with new carpeting, wallpaper, paint, tables and lamps, and new upholstery. The second floor study rooms were also repainted, and a second sleeping porch was added. Alumnae class reunions held in the Kappa Kastle continued to be popular.

'''Philanthropy:'''

A Balloon Derby philanthropy continued in this decade as a means to raise money. The annual Kappa Kristmas party continued to benefit a local children’s organization. In 1999, the chapter held a Kappa Klassic golf tournament as a fundraiser. The tradition of Halloween pumpkin carving with the Boy’s and Girl’s Club continued. For another philanthropy project, the chapter invited three local retirement centers to the chapter house to share Thanksgiving dinner.
Convention Awards:

==Highlights of 2000-2010==

(Information from chapter’s History Report: Scholarship, group honors/awards, traditions, special events, changes on campus or within chapter, overall nature of the chapter, chapter goals, challenges and how they were overcome, etc.:)

'''Housing:'''

'''Philanthropy:'''

'''Chapter Convention Awards:'''

2002 – Recruitment Honorable Mention
Philanthropy Honorable Mention
Greatest Scholarship Improvement Honorable Mention
2004 – Chapter/Advisory Board Relations Award
2006 – Standards Honorable Mention
Panhellenic Honorable Mention
Greatest Improvement Honorable Mention
2008 – Sally Moore Nitschke Lifelong Education Honorable Mention
Recruitment Award

==Highlights of 2011-2019:==

(Information from chapter’s History Report: Scholarship, group honors/awards, traditions, special events, changes on campus or within chapter, overall nature of the chapter, chapter goals, challenges and how they were overcome, etc.:

==Highlights of 2012==
The past year for the Gamma Mu chapter of Kappa Gamma has been a busy one as usual. It is nice that a majority of our girls are involved in Kappas but also in a lot of other organizations in the community. It helps bring a lot of diversity and knowledge into the house.In winter 2012, we welcomed a new chapter council and that had a lot of goals. Hilary Drake and Maddie Kaufman made up or President and vice president of standards. Some of the goals that our chapter excelled in was incorporating carpooling to chapter meetings for the new members, enforcing our 5 hour per term community service requirement and changing our communication throughout the house to a blackboard page.

One thing Gamma Mu continues to work on is achieving first in grades. While our overall GPA is higher than the all greek average, we are striving to achieve an overall GPA of 3.02. We are determined to make it happen and all the girls are motivated. Our VPAE has done a great job of creating study tables at the library for an allotted amount of time so girls in our chapter can get studying done in a productive environment. This past year we participated in a numerous philanthropies. Our chapters favorite philanthropy, Kappa Delta’s Mock rock, which occurred in March. While we did not place first in the competition, our house raised the most money for CARDV which is also the local organization we support as well. One fun sisterhood event we did on April 21st was an MS walk that our house participated in. It was meaningful for everyone because a girl in our chapter is dealing with that particular condition and I know it meant a lot to her to have us all support and walk for her. We also did a community service project last spring with Sigma Pi in which we did a park clean at Avery Park in corvallis. There were people who painted park benches, picked up trash and got rid of weeds on the walking path.We had philanthropies in spring and fall 2012.

Our spring term philanthropy, Kick it with Kappa, was brand new to our sorority. Even though it was our first year of the philanthropy it went very well. It consisted of a soccer tournament between sororities and fraternities on campus on Saturday as well as a 5K run on Sunday. We raised quite a bit of money for Center against rape and domestic violence (CARDV). In the fall, we held our Reading is Fundamental philanthropy and that was a success as well. We had a book drive as well as read children in our community. We rewarded the highest placing fraternities with an ice cream social, thanksgiving dinner, or christmas themed meal. This past fall term we also paired up with the corvallis Phi Gamma Delta chapter and helped walk dogs at the local humane society on Sundays. Every year Gamma Mu participates in the all-university sing competition between fraternities and sororities on campus which happens during Mom’s Weekend. We were paired with Theta Chi and received the theme of Beauty and the Beast. Each house worked extensively for months long working on their performances and working through the audition process. Although there were some bumps in the road, our chapter ended up coming in first place! Our house always takes participation in sing very seriously. The last time we had won first place was in spring 2010, in 2011 we got second and in 2012 received first again. A lot of the girls were happy to have the trophy back in its rightful home! During fall term we voted for our 2013 partners and we voted to do it with Phi Kappa Psi who are our neighbors which will be very convenient.

Recruitment this year was also a success for Gamma Mu. For formal recruitment in the fall a lot of changes were made as far as the process of recruitment. They included a philanthropy day which is something that I know a lot of the girls enjoyed very much. Our PDC Amanda Ruffo also was with our chapter for the recruitment process and the girls in the house got to form a close relationship with her. Overall, we received 46 new members and initiated 44 of them! We were so excited to welcome a group of women who embraced Kappa and everything it stood for as well as a group determined to help our grow and thrive.

Our chapter is still located at 14th and Van Buren making it very close to campus which is convenient for a lot of the girls in our house! The overall nature of our chapter is positive motivated. A lot of the girls in our chapter are working hard to not only make Kappas better but also the community that we live in better. Having a lot of motivated girls in the house also pushes other girls to get involved which is never a bad thing! One of the major things that happened on our campus in 2012 was that Oregon State University became a smoke free campus on September 1st.

Another big thing that happened in September was that a new University student success center opened on campus which serves OSU students with study rooms, tutoring as well as many other academic advantages. Oregon State also passed a bill in March of 2012 that is going to allow them to build a new residence hall that will open as early as 2014.

==Highlights of 2013==

The past year was a very exciting one for the Gamma Mu chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma. We have been expanding, growing, and becoming more involved with the community. Last Fall of 2012, one of our members became the Judicial chair for Panhellenic council. This was a huge success and really set off a great year for our chapter. In Winter 2013, we welcomed Kamelyn Bovinette and Alyssa Rollins as our President and Vice President of Standards. With the start of our new chapter council, we came up with a very effective list of goals to help bring our chapter together and work better as a whole. We want to increase our member involvement, encourage each other, and become more academically driven. For the past few terms our chapter has been below the all sorority average. Gamma Mu wants to raise our overall GPA from a 2.93 to a 3.1. With the help of our VPAE, we have set up quiet hours for studying in the house and have reserved rooms in the library for midterms and finals. As a chapter we are determined to raise our GPA and all the girls are motivated.

Over this past year we participated in many philanthropies as well as community service projects. Kappa Delta’s Mock Rock was once again our chapters’ favorite, and this past year we won third place! Since their philanthropy supports CARDV, which is the local organization we raise money for as well, all the girls love to get very involved. Last winter and spring term, we teamed up with another fraternity, FIJI, and walked dogs at the local humane society. This was a great community service project because it benefited the animals and the girls! Along with the dog walking, we volunteered with Habitat for Humanity several times. The girls got to paint a few houses and help build the front patio. We also got to support Kappa at the University of Oregon in their philanthropy last winter.
Our spring term philanthropy was Kick It With Kappa, and it was a huge success. We had a two-day soccer tournament between sororities and fraternities, as well as daily check-ins and activities. Our Kappa sisters from the University of Oregon came up to participate in the tournament and they tied for first place! We raised about $3,000 for Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence (CARDV).

Every year Gamma Mu participates in the all-university sing competition during Mom’s Weekend. We chose to work with Phi Kappa Psi for the years show and got to perform songs from the band Styx. Phi Psi had only participated in Sing once before, but the coaches and members worked very hard over the long months. For the past three years Kappa has placed in the top two, and this past year was no different with a second place win! Our house always takes the competition very seriously and it shows in the final performance. This year we decided to partner with Lambda Chi Alpha, who we have previously won first place with. We have high hopes for this year’s performance and hope to bring the trophy back home!

Recruitment this year was also a success for Gamma Mu. Overall we received 48 girls and got to initiate 43 of them! We were thrilled to welcome a group of young women who were eager to learn what being a Kappa means and help us in our goals for involvement and growth.

Our chapter is still only two blocks from campus, which is convenient for a lot of the girls in our house! Oregon State just started their Freshman Experience campaign, which requires all freshmen to live on campus. Having the Chapter house so close to campus makes it easy for all the New Members in the dorms to come over. In light of this new change, OSU has started building a new dorm on campus, which hopes to open in 2015. They also have continued work on the new Business building and the Student Success Center which both plan on opening later in 2014. Our chapter is a very positive place, and having very motivated members keeps the house involved with Greek life and the community. We hope to keep the momentum of last year going within our new pledge class and the house as a whole.

==Highlights of 2014==

The year of 2014 was an exciting and busy year for the Gamma Mu chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma. Our chapter takes pride in being involved with the other chapters at Oregon State as well as the community. Last fall, two of our members were selected as the president and vice president for Panhellenic council. These girls represent our chapter wonderfully, along with Kappa Kappa Gamma as an organization. Our new chapter council worked together to make chapter goals and how they would go about accomplishing them. Member involvement and encouragement, academics, and committee use are a few examples of the goals they set. We started off the year with the GPA of 2.99, which is below the all sorority average, and ended the year with an improved chapter GPA of 3.12, which is above the all sorority average and ranked us fourth in the panhellenic rankings. Our VPAE did a fantastic job going above and beyond by meeting with girls, setting up study tables during midterm and finals weeks, and establishing quiet hours in the dining room to give the girls a quieter place to study in the house. As a chapter, we are determined to continue improving our study habits and GPA.
Our participation in other chapter’s philanthropies and community service continues to be a priority at Gamma Mu. Mock Rock, a huge philanthropy of Kappa Delta’s, has always been a chapter favorite and gets the girls excited to raise money for such a great cause. This year, we won the philanthropy with our outstanding participation and fundraising.

We had two philanthropies this past year. During winter term, our philanthropy was a hot wing-eating contest called Too Hot To Handle, which we hosted in our chapter’s parking lot. Despite the cold temperatures, we had a great turnout and time, and raised $2500 for Reading is Fundamental. For spring term, we did Kick It With Kappa, a soccer tournament between sororities and fraternities, as well as daily check-ins and activities. The sunny day and good spirits made it a great day to be a Kappa and raise another $2500 for our chosen charity, the Center of Rape and Domestic Violence (CARDV).

Every year, Gamma Mu participates in an all-university competition called Sing. Sing is held during Oregon State’s designated Mom’s Weekend, and is similar to a Broadway production where coed groups, usually sororities and fraternities, team up and sing three songs all while dancing and stunting to routines. Sing is taken very seriously here at Gamma Mu, with a tremendous amount of hard work, time, and effort put into five months of practicing. Last year, that hard work paid off with a win for both us and Lambda Chi Alpha, the fraternity our house paired up with. We hope to continue this tradition of winning Sing with our freshmen pledge class and many more to come!

Gamma Mu had a successful year of formal recruitment last fall. We received 49 girls and initiated 44 of them. Recruitment is always so exciting because another wonderful group of girls joins our chapter with the same values and morals that we all share.

Oregon State University has been rapidly evolving to fit the high demand of becoming an even more prestigious university and adjusting to the increasingly higher number of students that enroll in the university each year. Our campus has been expanding, and also renovating old buildings on campus to keep up with the demand for classrooms, study rooms, etc. In the fall of 2014, Austin Hall had its grand opening in its own brand new, spectacular building on campus for all of the business students. The construction on Austin Hall seemed to last forever, but the final product of the building was a beautifully modern student oriented building with classrooms, study rooms, cafes, and much more. Located right behind Austin is an enormous building made only for classrooms, with a unique lecture hall that is completely circular, seating 600 students. It is said to be the only fully circular lecture hall in the United States. The addition of a new dorm was also completed this fall to help with the increasing number of students living on campus for their first year as part of the First Year Experience the university projected the fall of 2013. A student experience center is currently in its final chapter of construction on campus as well, which will host the beavers news, student leadership associations, and many other organizations and clubs, all with the goals of creating a more broadened and well rounded student body here at Oregon State.

Gamma Mu is fortunate enough to have a house owned by house board a couple of blocks off of campus where we hold our chapter meetings. Gamma Mu has owned and lived in the chapter house since 1935, marking our 80th year in the house. The house was bought and owned from Chi Phi during World War I when many of their members were drafted for the war. The capacity of the house gives 60 girls the opportunity to live in each year, and is conveniently located two blocks off of campus, allowing for short walks to class. It is usually during a member’s sophomore or junior year when they live in the house.

==Highlights of 2015==

The year of 2015 has been successful for the Gamma Mu chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma. One of our most exciting achievements has been our rise in grade point averages, which went from 3.12 in 2014 to 3.21 this year. Not only were we awarded most improved within the Panhellenic council, we are currently ranked in second place overall for sororities. Our VPAE has put much time and effort into our goal of increasing grades, such as meeting with girls to discuss academics and study plans, organizing quiet study hours for finals week, and overall doing a fantastic job of bringing energy and motivation to academics, inspiring girls to do well in school.

In May we held our philanthropy, Too Hot to Handle, to support our national philanthropy, Reading is Fundamental. This philanthropy consists of a hot wing-eating contest among other fraternities and sororities on campus, and we received great participation. We held the event in front of Reser Stadium to accommodate more people than in previous years, which provided for a great turnout. Fall term was particularly exciting for our chapter because we hosted Kappa Klassic, a golf tournament that we haven’t had at Oregon State for several years. This brought a new and exciting element for both our members and the participants, and we successfully raised money for our local philanthropy, the Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence (CARDV).
The first philanthropy we participated in during the 2015-2016 school year was Sigma Nu’s lip sync competition, and we won the entire event, kicking off fall term to with an exciting start. Mock Rock, Kappa Delta’s philanthropy, has been a chapter favorite for numerous years, and something we also put a lot of value in because they support CARDV as well. We are extremely proud to hold second place in the competition, given how competitive it is among all houses. We also received second place in Anchor Splash, Delta Gamma’s philanthropy.

One of our main goals this year was to increase participation both in other philanthropies and in the community, and we have been making tremendous strides. Our philanthropy chair has created teams throughout the house, and each team will go to different philanthropy events both to participate and support, which has also helped to motivate members on other teams to do the same. She has done an exceptional job of motivating our members to get involved in the community by continuously informing us about new service opportunities.
Every year Gamma Mu participates in Oregon State’s all-university competition, Sing. This competition consists of fraternities and sororities pairing to create teams, in which they will learn a dance/sing routine to perform during Mom’s Weekend. We have a history of taking this competition extremely seriously, and we have received either first or second place for the previous five years. This year, with the help of Sigma Phi Epsilon, we brought home the first place trophy once again and are hopeful for 2016.
We had the pleasure of welcoming our LC into our home for three weeks during recruitment, and she was wonderful to have with us. She gave us insight to the recruitment process as well as chapter organization in general, and also shared a lot of her knowledge about Kappa Kappa Gamma as a whole. We received 44 new members this year, and were able to initiate 41 of them. This group of women is such a great fit for our chapter, and we are proud to have them carry on our values.

Oregon State University is continuously improving in many aspects, both physically and academically. The grand opening of the Student Experience Center was held spring term. The center is designed to foster diversity and cultural engagement, student leadership, and experiential learning. The Learning Innovation Center was a new addition to campus starting fall term, and this holds classrooms and study areas for all subjects.

The house of Gamma Mu is still located two blocks from campus, which is close and convenient for both members living in and for our newly initiated members who are currently living in their dorms.

Chapter Philanthropy:

What organization(s) has your chapter historically/traditionally raised money for, or donated hours to, in your community?

Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence and Reading is Fundamental

Why did your chapter choose this organization(s) to support?

We believe that continuous learning is important for everyone, and reading is a large aspect of that. Everyone should have access to books, which is why we take so much pride supporting Reading is Fundamental. We also take the safety of women everywhere extremely seriously, and believe that the Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence does a great job of supporting women who have been hurt and need help.

==Highlights of 2016:==

2016 was another banner year for the Beta Omega chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma. This year we improved in areas of overall grade point average and rank, and also our awareness of college campus issues such as substance abuse and sexual assault prevention. It continued to be a strong year for philanthropy, sisterhood, and recruitment.

At the beginning of 2016, Beta Omega once again held our winter philanthropy event, Kappa Dodgeball. We are fortunate to have this event increase every year and continue to be the most attended Greek event on campus. This year raising over 10,000 dollars, Beta Omega was able to donate a full playground to our local philanthropy, Early Childhood Cares, which helps children under the age of five with developmental disabilities. Our most successful aspect of philanthropy this year was creating groups within Kappa to attend other Greek life philanthropic events. This created a huge increase in our Greek community involvement and gave more support to all Greek life philanthropic organizations.

In the spring we held our Barn Dance, Spring Fling, and Mom’s Weekend. This year our mom’s club helped raise even money to renovate our living room to be beautiful and recruitment ready!

In the fall we had another successful recruitment gaining 62 wonderful new members into the chapter. Our Bid Day Theme was “Go Kappa Went Kappa” and decorations and food of all shades of blue and blue filled our house as the new members ran to their new home.

On October 13th, we held a Founder’s Day with a dessert celebration and time capsule activity. The members of Beta Omega wrote down their favorite memories and blessing that Kappa has given them, to be opened by the new freshmen on their senior Founder’s Day. It was a sweet idea that gave the graduating seniors time to think of all they have gained from Beta Omega, while the new members were excited to experience Kappa Kappa Gamma for the next few years.

Overall, 2016 proved to be another year of growth for the Beta Omega women, who consistently strive to be good examples of women and sisterhood, and who wear their letters proud.

==Highlights of 2017==

2017 has been a year of notable advancement for the Gamma Mu chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma. For the winter term of 2017, we had many fun activities for our members to attend. One of the most fun events was our house dance, which was a Great Gatsby themed Sapphire Ball. We all had a great time and thought the theme was creative. We also participated in many philanthropies this term to support the causes of our Greek Community. For Sigma Alpha Epsilon, we had a many members participate in their field day, which included the always-muddy tug of war competition. We also participated in Phi Kappa Psi’s philanthropy, which the main event was a game show themed event called Phi Psi feud. An added bonus this term was winning the Barre3 Corvallis Instagram competition, which gave us all a free month of Barre3 classes.

Spring term was busy, yet fun, as always. We hosted our philanthropy, Too Hot To Handle, and the proceeds went to Reading is Fundamental. We hosted this hot-wing eating contest in the Student Experience Center Plaza, and had a lot of chapters from our Greek Community participate. This year we created more of an emphasis on the book drive portion of the event. We donated 250 books and raised $2760 for RIF. We also had our spring Barn Dance this term, which was a great event catered with food and fun. Another highlight of this term was our Mom’s Weekend activities. We hosted our first Mom’s and Mocktails event with food and shopping at the Kappa Kastle. We also participated in Sing with Sigma Alpha Epsilon, which was a great opportunity for our newly initiated members to bond with each other and the fraternity. In June we said goodbye to our lovely seniors and wish them the best in their next stages of life! We also said goodbye to our House Mother, Ms. Liza, and wish her the best as well.

Fall term came up quick after a summer filled with internships, work, and Kappas abroad. Fall term was an eventful term for our chapter. We hired a new House Mother, Windy, a new chef, and got a new houseboard chairwoman. Our chapter had a very successful Fall Formal recruitment. We had a 98% retention rate and received 37 kappatastic women into our chapter. The theme for bid day was Sapphire City, so all of our members were dressed in their most eye-catching blue outfits. We had four women volunteer as Gamma Chi recruitment counselors for our Panhellenic community, so we were excited to welcome them back into our chapter after months of disaffiliation. This term we hosted our Too Hot To Handle hot-wing eating contest for the second time in 2017. We hosted it at our Kappa Kastle and it was a great success. We were able to donate 1200 books and raised $5000. We also had a fun Dad’s Weekend with the men of Pi Kappa Phi. We had a brunch at the Kappa Kastle, and were able to see our families before heading home for Thanksgiving. Before we all left for winter break, we had a Kappa Khristmas party at our house with holiday treats, gift exchanges, and caroling.

As far as grades for 2017 goes, we were consistent with our GPA. We were above the all sorority average by .08 points for winter term. We also had two members each term nominated as academic scholars of the term. We hope to keep increasing our GPA and look forward to being successful in our studies in the future.

==Highlights of 2018:==
Winter term - During our 2018 winter term we hosted multiple different study tables for our
sisters to come to the Kappa Kastle and get homework and studying done to help achieve their
academic goals for the term. On March 3rd, we had a fun house dance with the theme being
Dynamic Duos. We also participated in Delta Upsilons philanthropy and won it! We were able to
put $150 toward the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation from winning their philanthropy. We also
won the Lambda Chi Alpha philanthropy, Watermelon Bash. Sophia Wooley and Laura White
were our scholars of the term. Alessandra Ferriso won the Kappa Kappa Gamma scholarship for
Gamma Mu.
Spring Term- In April we hosted our first ever Kappas in the Key which was a 3 on 3 basketball
competition. It was a very successful philanthropy and in the end we raised $4,000 for the Kappa
Foundation and $2,000 for CARDV. We were able to participate in continuous ongoing bidding
and received 8 new members and also initiated them in the spring. In May we hosted Mom’s
weekend at our Kappa Kastle which included the all university Sing competition on friday night.
The new members were able to establish a close relationship with the men of Delta Upsilon. We
ended the term with a very fun Kite and Key house dance with Kappa Alpha Theta, which only
happens every 4 years at Gamma Mu.
Fall Term- After a summer full of internships, study abroad and new house renovations we
moved back in to the Kappa Kastle to begin our work week to prepare for an amazing Fall
Formal Recruitment. We had a 100% retention rate and received 39 new members, 7 of them are
kappa legacies. Our bid day theme was Kappa Karnival. This theme was really fun as it allowed
members to dress in colorful fun outfits. We even had a bouncy house obstacle course and cotton
candy for the new members to enjoy! We celebrated Kappa Kappa Gammas 148th founders day
with a brunch at the house with the local alumni. We had 8 seniors head up to Portland, Oregon
to attend the Portland Alumnae Association Founder’s Day. November was a busy month as we
celebrated Dad’s Weekend with the men of Delta Upsilon and hosted our annual brunch on the
Sunday of dads weekend. We recently initiated 39 new members and 1 alumnae Jennifer
Stegerholt which was a very special experience for all Gamma Mu members. Our fall term house
dance was themed as a pajama party! It was the coziest house dance we’ve ever had. To end the
busy month we hosted our chicken wing eating contest philanthropy, Too Hot to Handle at the
Kappa Kastle. We raised $6,600 and donated 558 books to children. To end the term before going
home for winter break we had a sisterhood bonding Kappa Khristmakkah at our lovely Kappa
Kastle.
'''Describe the recent changes on campus and describe the chapter’s overall nature.'''
This year Gamma Mu strived to be more involved on campus. All members of Gamma Mu are
currently in or joining clubs on campus as well as working on-campus jobs. We have partnered
more with OSU and the community. We want to focus our attention on improving inclusiveness
in the community.
'''Chapter Philanthropy
What organization does the chapter support?'''
Reading is Fundamental and Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence (CARDV)
'''Why did the chapter choose this organization?'''
We believe that continuous learning is important for everyone, and reading is a large aspect of that. Everyone should have access to books, which is why we take so much pride supporting Reading is Fundamental. We also take the safety of women everywhere extremely seriously, and believe that the Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence does a great job of supporting women who have been hurt and need help.
'''Chapter Facility'''
'''Where does the chapter meet?'''
All Gamma Mu members meet in our chapter room in the basement of our Gamma Mu chapter house, the Kappa Kastle

----------------

'''Note to Chapter Registrar:'''
Please refer to your chapter archives including chapter meeting minutes and back issues of ''The Key'' to fill in any gaps in the above historical highlights. If your chapter archives are not complete, please research your university library, campus newspaper and yearbook archives for newsworthy information about your chapter. Please double check your work for accuracy. Contact chapter Advisory or House Board members, local Alumnae Association members, or your Province Director of Chapters for assistance.

Your efforts will ensure a complete and accurate history of your chapter for future generations to enjoy!

Eta Rho

2019-06-18T20:26:18Z

Michellelearle: Highlights of 2018

{{Infobox Fraternity
|Name= Eta Rho
|GreekSymbol= HP
|Image= [[File:Cal Poly.jpg|200px]]
|Founded= {{start date and years ago|2013|03|02}}
|College= [http://www.calpoly.edu/ Cal Poly San Luis Obispo]
|Location= San Luis Obispo, CA
|Homepage= [http://www.calpolykkg.com/#!about_us/c1ztv Eta Rho Website]
|Media= [http://wiki.kappakappagamma.org/index.php?title=Category:Eta_Rho Media related to Eta Rho Chapter]}}

'''California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, established March 8, 1901, in San Luis Obispo, Calif.'''

'''Founded March 2, 2013'''

'''Number of charter members: 111'''

'''530 Initiates (as of June 2018)'''

-------------

==Background==

California Polytechnic State University or California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, also known as Cal Poly San Luis Obispohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Polytechnic_State_University - cite_note-CSU_styleguide-6 or Cal Poly, is a public university located in San Luis Obispo, Calif. Founded in 1901 as a vocational high school, it’s currently one of only two polytechnic universities in the 23-member California State University system.

Comprising six distinct colleges, the university offers 147 bachelor’s degrees, 49 master’s degrees and seven teaching credentials. The university does not confer doctoral degrees. The university is one among a small group of polytechnic universities in the United States which tend to be primarily devoted to the instruction of technical arts and applied sciences. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Polytechnic_State_University - cite_note-11.

Cal Poly is a member of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges. Cal Poly is known for its “learn by doing” educational philosophy that encourages students to solve real-world problems by combining classroom theory with experiential laboratory exercise. Cal Poly is one of four California State Universities that participate in the Big West Conference in athletics.

'''Some of Eta Rho’s Outstanding Members:'''

'''Fraternity Officers:'''

'''Fraternity Loyalty Award:'''

'''Fraternity Alumnae Achievement Award Recipients:'''

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==The Early Days==

'''Colonization:'''
In March 2012, Extension Chairman Barbara Adams Goettleman, Syracuse, visited the San Luis Obispo campus to explore the possibility of establishing a Kappa chapter. She met with Renoda Campbell, Cal Poly coordinator of multi-cultural programs and services, to learn about the Greek community at Cal Poly which includes Alpha Chi Omega, Alpha Omicron Pi, Alpha Phi, Chi Omega, Gamma Phi Beta, Kappa Alpha Theta and Sigma Kappa.
Renoda gave her a tour of the campus and the town. She pointed out homes that might be rented or leased to buy. To be competitive, Eta Rho will need some type of housing.

The Fraternity and two other women's fraternities were invited to make presentations May 3, 2012. These presentations were open to the entire campus community although the Panhellenic Council decided who to invite to colonize.

Kappa Kappa Gamma accepted the invitation to colonize at Cal Poly on May 8, 2012, and planning began for the colonization recruitment to be held January 10-13, 2013. During the fall former Leadership Consultant Haley Smith, William & Mary, visited the campus to raise Kappa’s visibility on the campus and raise the momentum
Colonization Chairman Emily Langdon, UC Davis, planned Kappa’s colonization recruitment to coincide with Cal Poly’s January recruitment schedule. She was assisted by Eta Rho Chapter Consultant Sarah Ford, Central Florida, and Leadership Consultants Jessie Pereira, Santa Clara, and Rebecca Shaw, Virginia Tech, who staffed an on-campus information booth. They told interested students about Kappa and encouraged the women to attend the Kappa Kasual information sessions which were held the next two evenings. Kappa alumnae participated in interviews held on Friday and Saturday.

On Saturday, the UC Santa Barbara undergraduates assisted with an evening party. They sang Kappa songs, visited with the potential new members and closed the evening with a preference-type ceremony.
Sunday was a busy day for the colonization team. It included a brunch with a lovely preference-type closing. The potential new members signed bid cards after which the pledge ceremony was conducted for 126 pledges.
A celebration of the culmination of this exciting colonization recruitment was held at a bowling and pizza party. Everyone was thrilled to welcome Eta Rho’s new members and looked ahead to installing the chapter in March.

The colonization team was composed of Fraternity History Chairman and 2006-2010 Fraternity President Denise Rugani, UC Davis; Installation Chairman Carol George Sanders, Cal State Northridge; Regional Director of Chapters (RDC) Region 7 Hannah Meehan Spector, Utah; Pi South Province Director of Alumnae (PDA) Nancy Vandenburg Westcott, Idaho; Pi North Province Director of Chapters (PDC) Amanda Compton Ruffo, UC Irvine; Kappa North PDC Lauren Nogy, UC San Diego; Pi South PDC of Chapters Diane Jones, Fresno State; Pi North PDA Nicole Carvalho, Central Florida; Coordinator of Chapter Development Laurie Hollinger, Arizona State; Molly Bechtel, UC Davis; Joan Minneman Cannon, Kansas State; Sea Gill, UC Merced; Kristin Hlubik, San Diego; Meredith Radke, British Columbia; and Headquarters staff members Extension Coordinator, Lisa Lunney Thomson, Bowling Green; and Fraternity Social Media & Communications Specialist Claire Davis, Auburn.
This colonization was the first time the Fraternity’s new colonization marketing plan Be Kappa was rolled out. It included a Facebook page where potential new members could access recruitment information and schedule times for alumnae interviews.

'''Installation:'''

Fraternity Installation Chairman Carol George Sanders oversaw the details for the installation with assistance from Chapter Consultant Sarah Ford and Coordinator of Chapter Development Laurie Hollinger.
The Fireside was held Friday, March 1, and the Installation Service was conducted Saturday, March 2, at the Embassy Suites San Luis Obispo. Presidents of four Kappa chapters and active members from Cal State Northridge, UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara, UC Merced and Santa Clara took part in the Installation Service.
A beautiful installation luncheon was held at the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo. Extension Chairman Barb Adams Goettelman was the speaker. University representative Renoda Campbell welcomed Kappa to the campus and spoke about how the Fraternity fits into the Cal Poly Greek system. Also attending the luncheon was Cal Poly Panhellenic President Anca Todor.

Central Coast Alumnae Association President Stevia Wilson Shaw, New Mexico, presented the President’s Badge to Eta Rho president Jenna Stack at the luncheon.

The members of the installation team were led by Installation Chairman Carol George Sanders, and included Fraternity President Julie Marine Leshay; Director of Chapters Collett Beers Rangitsch, Wyoming; RDC Region 7 Hannah Meehan Spector; History Chairman and 2006-2010 Fraternity President, Denise Rugani; Extension Chairman Barbara Adams Goettleman; Ritual Chairman Susanne Wolff Vander Heyden, Washington State; Pi Central PDC Yvonne Kim UC Riverside; 1998 Loyalty Award Recipient Vera Lewis Marine, Colorado College; Colonization Chairman Emily Langdon; Pi North PDA Nicole Carvalho; Pi North PDC Amanda Compton Ruffo; Pi South PDC Diane Jones, Fresno State; Assistant to the Director of Chapters Reece Lofty Juelch, UC Irvine; Leadership Consultants Jessie Pereira, Santa Clara; Becca Shaw, Virginia Tech; Whitney Anderson, Oklahoma State; and Chelsea Dyer, Oklahoma State and Headquarters staff members: Extension Coordinator Lisa Lunney Thomson and Executive Director Kari Kittrell.

The model chapter meeting followed at the Embassy Suites with Fraternity President Julie Marine Leshay presiding. Following her installation as Eta Rho’s president, Jenna Stack presided and closed the meeting
Alumna’s thoughts about being a part of the new Eta Rho Chapter: “Twenty or so alumnae were called together by Fraternity President, Julie Marine Leshay to help to establish a Kappa chapter on the campus of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Most of us did not know each other, and yet the bond was there right away: the trust, the support, the friendship and the fun. We worked and planned and hoped that the dream of a new chapter would become a reality. We held our collective breaths as recruitment took place, and then, the magic moment of the pledge ceremony for 111 new members for a brand-new chapter! Now we work even harder to make sure Eta Rho will be the same wonderful experience we each had, and are now having again. Full circle—Kappa keeps its promise.” Judith Goins Carleson, Oregon State

Charter members’ thoughts about becoming Kappas: One-hundred-eleven female students at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo have had the incredible opportunity to be a part of something extremely unique…being a charter member of a new Kappa chapter. The Eta Rho Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma began with the process of recruiting girls in January 2013. Our current members found out about Kappa’s arrival in many different ways. Some of the girls read about the arrival in our school newspaper, and others saw flyers in our University Union. Personally, I found out about Kappa while being handed a hair tie with KAPPA written on it. That little green hair tie which seemed so insignificant at the time would turn out to be something unexpected and special.
My best friend, Kelsey Suggs, is a Kappa at Stanford University. Whenever I would visit her, her sisters always welcomed me with open arms. Because of the wonderful experiences I had with the Stanford Kappas, I knew that this was an organization that I wanted to be a part of. After attending the informational meetings and deciding to pledge, I knew this would be one of the best decisions I’ve made. I wanted to be the involved in the start of something new and special at Cal Poly.

Now, Eta Rho is a fully established and chartered chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma. While we are officially recognized by campus as a part of the Greek system, we still have a lot of work to do. Our amazing chapter council works hard every week to ensure that we make our chapter the best that it can possibly be. Being a charter member of a chapter involves a lot of hard work. Each member of Eta Rho is embracing this once-in-a-lifetime journey that we are all a part of.

Many of our sisters are very vocal about what Kappa has done for us. Karen Nakaki said, “I have always admired Greek women, but had not found a group I felt was right for me at Cal Poly. So when the opportunity to be a charter member of Kappa Kappa Gamma came up, I knew I had to go for it. I knew Kappa to be a strong national organization, so I knew that as a new chapter, we would have so much support from the alumnae and other chapters at nearby schools. I truly feel as though we've been welcomed into the Kappa family with open arms, and for that I am so grateful and proud to wear the golden key.”

Nina Reyes shares similar feelings. “I wanted to join Kappa because I wanted to be a part of starting an organization that promotes leadership and friendship! I’ve always been interested in joining Greek life, but the timing had never been right. Once I heard about Kappa, I just had this gut feeling that this is it. This is the organization I am meant to be in. I love Kappa!”

Chelsea French expressed her joy of being a new member. “My feelings now for Kappa are something almost indescribable. At first I joined for community, but I have been given something even greater. I have received a knowledge and appreciation for leadership that I could not compare. I have learned commitment, loyalty, and friendship that could only have happened through Kappa.”

Overall, each of us has been touched by Kappa in a different way. Personally, I feel that by being a founding member of Eta Rho, I know I’m leaving behind a legacy at my university that will grow and prosper as the years go on. Katie Ryan, Public Relations Chairman

Preceding information provided by 2010-2014 Fraternity Extension Chairman Barb Adams Goettelman, Syracuse.
Fraternity Announcement:

Kappa Kappa Gamma has announced the official installation of its 139th collegiate chapter, located at California Polytechnic State University, in San Luis Obispo, Calif.

As one of the largest fraternities for women, Kappa welcomed 111 young women as they became charter members of the Eta Rho Chapter on March 2, 2013. More than 150 active and alumna women took part in this momentous occasion.

“Installing the Eta Rho Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma was a special honor,” said Julie Leshay, Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity President. “The charter members are poised and ready to write their page of Kappa history, and all of us are thrilled to welcome these incredible new sisters.”

Kappa’s chapter at Cal Poly is the eighth National Panhellenic Conference group on campus and proudly, joins Alpha Chi Omega, Alpha Omicron Pi, Alpha Phi, Chi Omega, Gamma Phi Beta, Kappa Alpha Theta and Sigma Kappa.

Community service, collaboration and unity are strengths of Cal Poly, and these attributes encourage students to provide service to their campus and community and develop leadership skills while experiencing an excellent education.

“These strengths complement the values that Kappa stands for,” added Leshay. Our already outstanding Cal Poly chapter is a wonderful addition to our organization!”

==Highlights of 2013==

Prior to the beginning of the new school year, Eta Rho’s Charter class enjoyed an exciting sisterhood retreat at Disneyland on September 12, 2013. Following that, the chapter prepared for our first formal recruitment with a spirit week from September 15-21. Each day of spirit week, sisters spent hours practicing how to recruit potential new members, learning new songs, practicing a recruitment performance, and most importantly, bonding. Once school officially began, Eta Rho participated in its first formal Panhellenic recruitment. It was a long and stressful process for the chapter but also a rewarding and successful one. By the end of the weekend, the charter class extended bids to 76 lovely potential new members. Eta Rho’s Charter class welcomed the Beta Class with an exciting “Kappily Ever After” themed Bid Day on October 1, 2013.

Throughout October, the Beta Class went through their new member period with tons of sisterhood events such as Kappa Kappacino hours, farmers markets, sisterhood studies, and shopping at a sorority vendor. The chapter also had fun with other Greek organizations with exchanges and sister twisters. Sisters got a chance to hang out with their families and support Cal Poly football during Parent’s weekend from October 25-27.

November was another packed month for Eta Rho. On the first, there was a fun Disney themed exchange with Delta Chi. On the following day, Eta Rho put on it’s first big philanthropy event, Kappa Kickball. Twelve of Cal Poly’s IFC fraternities participated in the event with us to support RIF. It was an exciting event with Delta Sigma Phi taking first in the tournament. On November 15, 2013, the Beta class had their new member retreat at Ludwick Community Center and was surprised with a Big/Little reveal. The next night, November 16th, was the first annual Kappa Krush date party. After that exciting weekend, the Beta Class continued having sisterhood bonding with I-week events. Their week consisted of a movie night, line dancing, scrapbooking, and a potluck. The week was topped off with their Fireside ceremony on November 22, 2013.

Finally, the new members became an active Beta Class with an early morning initiation on November 23, 2013. The Charter class welcomed 65 lovely newly initiated actives to the Eta Rho family. The eventful month of November was ended with a formal meeting on November 24, 2013, where the new 2013-2014 Chapter Council was elected.

Cal Poly’s Greek Life is alive more now than ever. The Greek Community continues to thrive, grow, and collaborate together through events, philanthropy, and building a strong relationship between chapters. The same sort of community can be seen in our new chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma. Together as a sorority, we make up a very diverse group of women, making the chapter a place where unexpected paths can merge. All members contribute to the dynamic of our chapter in which we all play a role in building an organization based on the Kappa ideals. We all love one another and genuinely care about the well being of our sisters. We are proud to be building “our dear Kappa days”.

==Highlights of 2014==

Kappa Kappa Gamma Eta Rho Chapter spent their second year at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo making strides to develop the new chapter and build a sisterly bond with one another. 2014 marked a time of great growth of the chapter, furthering the chapter in new and exciting ways, and making a difference within the San Luis Obispo County.

The year started off in full force as we elected our second wave of council women to help lead the chapter on January 12, 2014. Within the first few weeks of our Winter Quarter, we began tabling and spreading the word that Kappa was looking for a new Gamma class to call Kappa their home. After a week of tabling in the University Union, Kappa held Informal Recruitment at the House for three days of parties to get to know the girls. On January 18th, we welcomed 29 New Members to become a Kappa and hosted Bid Day at our home. During the New Member period, Eta Rho welcomed the new members with several sisterhood events including Sisterhood Studies, a visit to In-N-Out Burger in Arroyo Grande, a Taco Tuesday Dinner, a Girls’ Night In Event where we painted nails, danced, and had pizza, and much more. During the New Member Period, Owl Pals were set up, which is when Active members were paired with New Members to meet up one-on-one and get to know each other better. As time passed and sister bonding strengthened, it was soon time for Big and Little Pairings to happen! To surprise the soon-to-be Littles, the Bigs made a maze of string for their Littles to trace back to them. The entangled string sent the littles all around the house, but ultimately led to their Big! The event was an exciting and fun way for the Bigs and Littles to revealed to one another. After a week of I-Week activities including yoga, trips to SLO DO CO, Tie-Dying, and a fun Kappa themed Girls’ Night, the chapter was officially ready to welcome in the Gamma Class. A wonderful Initiation took place March 7th and 8th on Cal Poly’s Campus, where we officially welcomed 29 Gammas into our growing chapter.

During the first quarter of 2014, the chapter participated in several Philanthropy events. Eta Rho participated in Lambda Chi Alpha’s Watermelon Bust, Write the Night Philanthropy held in Chumash Auditorium, Sorority’s Best Dance Crew hosted by Theta Chi, Phi Sigma’s Bocce Ball Tournament, a clean up of a local San Luis Obispo street, Hathway, with Sigma Pi, and donated our handmade Alphabet cards to local preschools for children to use. Together, our acts of philanthropy united the chapter while having fun and supporting many important local and National philanthropies and causes.

During Winter Quarter, Kappa Kappa Gamma hosted a Semi-Formal on February 26th at the Embassy Suites in San Luis Obispo. The girls loved getting dolled up to dance the night away with their sisters and dates! Eta Rho also had a “Cats and Lumberjacks” themed exchange with ZBT and Theta Chi at Dairy Creek on February 21st. As an Academic Excellence party, the chapter and AE committee celebrated the women that earned a spot on the Dean’s List for the quarter prior, with a delicious Ice Cream Party hosted at the house. On March 2nd, Eta Rho hosted our fist ever House Dedication Ceremony on our First Birthday! The party was called “Day at the Derby”, so we all dressed up in sundresses and big hats to celebrate all of Eta Rho’s accomplishments. There was a photo booth, a southern style meal prepared by our Alumna, Madonna Inn Cake, and a ceremony in which the President and the House Chair unveiled the KKG letters on our beautiful, new home. We also joined the men from DSP for a dinner on March 13th. Kappa participated in Panhellenic Intramural Soccer, and we came out victorious, placing first among all other sororities. We ended the quarter with several events to ease ourselves and our Cal Poly peers into week ten and the following finals week. We had a Kappa Kappachino station set up on Dexter Lawn on Campus in which we served free Starbucks Coffee to brighten finals week for our fellow Mustangs. Also, thanks to our terrific Parent and Alumna Association, the entire chapter was given a bag of goodies to endure the upcoming Finals week.

Once we all returned from Spring Break, the chapter was ready to start off another quarter and ready to be with their sisters again! During our first week of school, we began our calendar with an exchange with Phi Kappa Psi with an American themed party. On April 10th through the 12th, new students flocked Cal Poly’s campus to preview the school, and to welcome the prospective students, Eta Rho set up tables to talk to parents and new students interested in going Greek. On May 3rd, Kappa hosted our second ever Sapphire Ball at Avlia Beach Golf Resort. The venue was outside right on the edge of the ocean, dinner was provided, and we danced and socialized under the stars! During May 12th through the 18th, all of the Cal Poly Greek Community came together to compete in Greek Week! Kappa Kappa Gamma was a part of Team Green, in a Hunger Games themed competition. Events ranged from Penny Wars to Dodge ball to Lip Synch to participating in blood drives and fundraisers at local eateries. A favorite day during Greek Week is Beach Day, taking place at Pismo Beach where there are Limbo games, relay races, and Hamster Ball races! As the school year came to a close, we hosted a Senior Sendoff Event on June 7th to celebrate our graduating seniors. Seniors gave speeches and the chapter shared fond memories.

During Spring Quarter, Kappa Kappa Gamma continued to partake in philanthropies across campus. On April 5th, three Kappas competed in Iron Chef with Delta Chi, where the sisters worked together to create a Hawaiian themed meal. The chapter formed a beach volleyball team to compete in Lambda Chi Alpha’s Lambda Cabana to raise money. We participated in Gamma Phi Beta’s philanthropy Flags for Frances on April 13th, NAK’s Miss Greek Universe, Walk A Mile In Her Shoes, AEPi’s Dodge ball Tournament, Sigma Nu’s Ducky Derby, Cal Poly’s Relay for Life supporting cancer research, and a carnival entitled ZBT Tahiti hosted by ZBT. During this quarter, the chapter earned their SAFER certification title from the University. By attending educational and fun events, our chapter learned how to live and promote a safe lifestyle. Members of the chapter participated in a Reading is Key events on April 19th and 26th at the Prado Day Center, a community center helping the homeless in San Luis Obispo. Together, we read books aloud, donated books, crafted, and helped kids get excited about reading!

As Summer break drew to a close, the women of Eta Rho met up to reconnect, bond, and prepare for Recruitment by gathering at the Kappa House for Spirit Week. During this time, we talked about why we love Kappa, the special ethics that connect us all, and preparing for Recruitment! During the middle of the week, we were surprised with a Sisterhood retreat to Disneyland on September 16th. Once our week of preparation was complete, we were ready and eager to talk to the girls interested in going Greek! All parties were held at the Kappa House, where we gave the girls tours of our home and shared why Kappa is important to us through conversation, pictures, and videos. At the end of Recruitment, we gave over eighty girls bids, and we celebrated their arrival into the chapter with a “Sweet Home Kappa Gamma” themed bid day! The following days, we had several sisterhood events including another trip to In-N-Out, a sisterhood BBQ, Pumpkin decorating for Halloween, Line Dancing Lessons, a shopping day at a local boutique, and a whole lot of sister bonding!

This Fall quarter was our time to shine and promote our philanthropies with the Cal Poly Community. On November 8th, we hosted our first ever Kappa Karaoke Philanthropy in Chumash Auditorium. Several groups signed up to participate and belt it out on stage. All proceeds of the event supported Kids’ Cancer Research Fund, a non-profit that was established in our very own San Luis Obispo. There was a raffle, a photo booth, games, and entertainment. The event was open to the general public, and several guest speakers spoke, including the founders of Kids’ Cancer Research Foundation! Kappa Kappa Gamma also contributed community service during Cal Poly’s Make a Difference Day. We went to Growing Grounds, a local non-profit whole-sale nursery where we helped in the garden and clean up their land.

On October 13th, Eta Rho celebrated Founder’s Day at the Sea Cliffs Resort on the edge of the ocean! We all gathered for brunch and speeches commemorating our Founding Sisters of the Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity. The first Owl Award was presented to a sister of impressive academic devotion. As fall quarter continued, we had an exchange themed “SLO-Chella” in which we wore our flower crowns and dressed up as if we were attending the famous music festival. On October 23rd, we had a Taco Night Dinner with Sigma Pi at our house. And to conclude our socials, we ended the quarter with Kappa Krush, on November 7th at Petra Mediterranean Pizza and Grill, where we dressed up as the “perfect pair” with our dates.

After getting to know our new Delta New Member Class, Big and Little Reveal was here. After surprising the Littles at Avila Beach during their New Member Retreat, the Littles ran to go find their Big by matching their key to their Big’s lock. Big and Little reveal was followed by I-Week activities including donuts and coffee, a movie night and crafting, which were the final events before the Delta Class was initiated. Initiation of the Delta class took place at the Embassy Suites on November 21 and 22nd. During Finals Week, the AE Committee held a pizza party at the house in which we were divided up by college to allow us to get to know our like-minded peers and sisters a little bit better. The year concluded with nominations for the new 2015 council positions and a chapter-wide gift of a Alex and Ani Bracelet with a Fleur-de-Lis charm!

==Highlights of 2015==

Eta Rho has had such a fantastic third year on Cal Poly’s campus. Through philanthropy
events, sisterhood events, a new chapter council and many other fun activities, we are starting
to really make a name for ourselves as the newest sorority at Cal Poly.

2015 started out with a bang when the new chapter council was installed on January 4th.
It was a beautiful ceremony during our weekly Sunday chapter meeting that we welcomed 18
fresh faced and motivated woman to lead Eta Rho chapter. We are so appreciative of the work
that was done by the outgoing officers, and were lucky to have Leadership Day with them along
with the wonderful Barb Goettelman just a few days later on January 10th on Cal Poly’s
campus. On this day, Barb did some motivational speaking to the outgoing and incoming
officers, along with several advisors. We did a lot of ice breakers and the outgoing officers
shared tips for the incoming officers.

On January 11th, the Academic Excellence Committee held a banquet at the Kappa
house that was catered by Chipotle. At this event, there were tons of prizes given away such as
Victoria’s Secret gift cards for those Kappa smarties who received a GPA of 4.0 for the previous
quarter.

One of our favorite events that we hold every year is our Parents Weekend at the historic
Madonna Inn in SLO. On February 7th, we invited our parents to enjoy the weekend with us
starting out with a fabulous brunch the infamous Madonna cake. The following day we held
house tours at our spectacular house and showed it off to our loved ones. There was hot
chocolate and pastries that were paired perfectly with the Fall weather! This event is held every
year and is put on by our Public Relations chairman who always do a fabulous job.
With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, our philanthropy chairman had a fun idea of
holding a Galentine’s Day at the Kappa house. We laughed the night away with our sisters while
eating all kinds of desserts and making crafts. We also wrote Valentine’s Day cards to give to a
Senior Living home in SLO and hand delivered them to the residents. It really made their day to
have a handwritten note given to them from complete strangers! It’s little philanthropic acts like
this that we pride ourselves in.

Before we knew it, it was Dr. Seuss’ birthday, and with Reading is Fundamental as our
main philanthropy, it was only fitting that we celebrated it to the fullest! On February 27th, some
of the Eta Rho sisters went to the SLO Boys and Girls Club and spent the day reading to the
kids and doing crafts with them like making paper Dr. Seuss hats. We had so much fun bringing
joy to these children on this day and love all of the connections we have with local elementary
schools as well. We hope to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday every year and support Reading is
Fundamental in every way that we can.

Happy birthday to Eta Rho! On March 7th, 2015, we celebrated the installation of Eta
Rho on Cal Poly’s campus for our second birthday (although our actual birthday is March 2nd).
We rented out the roller blading rink in Santa Maria and skated the day away with our sisters!
There was a delicious cake there to help us celebrate our special day that was put on by Danielle Van Skike, our chapter Education Chairman. Each academic class dressed up in generations, from rocking the ‘90’s with overalls to fun neon patterns and jackets for the ‘80’s. Today we reflected on how far Eta Rho has come and all that we have accomplished.

Every year during finals week we try the brighten the days of our fellow student body by
putting on Kappa Kappachino. For this event, we set a booth up on Dexter Lawn at Cal Poly and
give out free Starbucks coffee and scantrons to students! It’s always a huge hit and is great PR
for our chapter. We held this event on March 12th as well as March 13th giving students two
days to enjoy everything that we give out!

Our first exchange of the year was a night to remember. On April 25th, we danced the
night away with the men of Delta Tau Delta and Theta Chi at a Petra restaurant in SLO. With
“when I grow up” as our theme, our girls created hilarious, creative costumes from a chef to a
rock star! Our favorite part about exchanges is getting ready with our sisters and letting off
school stress on the dance floor!

In addition to this exchange, we also had exchanges with Beta, Kappa Sigma, Sigma Pi
and a fraternity dinner with Sigma Pi. One of our sisters, Bibi, is the sweetheart for Sigma Pi
fraternity, so it is always fun to hold events with them. At our fraternity dinner with Sigma Pi, we
held it at our house and ate yummy Mexican food. Complete with a pinata and a few games of
corn hole, it was a night to remember.

One of our favorite things about being a Kappa is the bond we have with our sisters. We
love looking back on all of the sisterhood events that are put on by our Standards and
Sisterhood chairmen. A few of these events include International Night at the Kappa house with
activities originating from different countries, spa sisterhood days at the house with facials and
nail painting, a hypnotist sisterhood on campus and renting out movie theatres to watch
premiers with our sisters. This year we watched the new Hunger Games movie as well as Pitch
Perfect 2.

Our biggest philanthropy of the year was on May 2nd, Kappa Kickball. We hold this
event every year to support Reading is Fundamental. There is a kickball tournament put on
where all of Cal Poly’s fraternities are invited to come out and play in a single elimination
tournament. This year, it was a red, white and blue theme and trophies were given to the
winning team! We raised a lot of money for this organization that is near and dear to our heart.
This was a huge week for us, because just the day after was the start of Greek Week! We had
so much fun with our Greek Week partners playing fun sports games all week and ending it with
Lip Sync, where our team did an awesome memoir to the Breakfast Club. This is such a fun
week for all of Cal Poly’s greek life and thousands of dollars are raised every year for various
philanthropies.

On May 30th, we had our annual Senior Sendoff at the Kappa house. This day is as
equally joyful as it is sad, as we say goodbye to our seniors. We hold “roasts and toasts” and tell
embarrassing stories of our sisters and reminisce on the year we all had together. There are
also senior wills which are items given from the graduating senior to any sister they feel should
be given that item. Examples of this are Kappa shirts, inside joke gifts and small things they’ve
collected from Kappa events throughout the year. The seniors then receive a stein that has
Kappa’s crest on it that is filled with little goodies. This is another event that is put on by the
Education chairman and it is always such a sentimental event!

Not only do we love putting on our own philanthropies to support the organizations that
we love, but we also love attending philanthropy events from other sororities and fraternities.
We participated in a ton this year, and had so much fun doing it. A few of these include Lambda
Chi Alpha’s Watermelon Bust supporting the SLO Food Bank, TKE’s flag football, Delta Chi’s
pumpkin carving event that “carved out cancer”, Phi Kappa Psi’s Sorority Soccer Cup
supporting the SLO Boys and Girls Club, and also attended sorority events like Chi Omega’s
ChiO Casino and Alpha Omicron Pi’s Mr. Fraternity which supported Alzheimer’s research. We
are so proud of the greek community as a whole and all the hard work that goes into a
successful philanthropy event.

It wasn’t long until school was out for the Summer! Our sisters had a blast spending a
few months off from school together and traveling. We got some much needed rest, and knew
that recruitment was right around the corner! Spirit Week was from September 7th to September
18th. During these two weeks, our Recruitment Chairman was hard at work raising morale and
teaching all of us the ins and outs of recruitment that was right around the corner. We learned
our Door Song, which was to the infamous Kappa Rap, played ice breakers with our sisters and
bonded before the stressful week that was ahead. Recruitment ran from September 24th 29th.
After a long week, we were so excited to welcome our Epsilon class of 2015 at our
baseball themed, “Sweet Home Kappa Gamma” Bid Day. We love our 88 new members! They
were initiated on November 21st at a beautiful ceremony that they will remember forever. We
now have five smart, classy, beautiful pledge classes at Cal Poly!

On November 14th, we held our annual Kappa Krush date party at Spencer Makenzie’s
in SLO. The theme every year is “perfect pair” and the girls had so much fun dressing up with
dates. This is one of our favorite events of the year because we get to be creative and shake off
some stress before finals.

We have had another successful year at Cal Poly overcoming obstacles that inevitably
come with being a new chapter. We hope to improve our retention rates and also improve our
chapter involvement amongst our members. We do pride ourselves in the awards that we have
been granted such as Cal Poly’s Outstanding Greek Council Member of the Year given to
Megan Minahan and Cal Poly’s Panhellenic President of the Year given to Hannah Heitzig. Our
sister Kelsy Koenig was also crowned Homecoming Queen at Cal Poly representing the college
of Liberal Arts, and we could not be more proud of her!

Organizations that we have raised money for include Jack’s Helping Hand, Reading is
Fundamental and Together We Rise. Jack’s Helping Hand is an organization in SLO that helps
children and their families if they are diagnosed with cancer or a rare disability. We held a
Kappa 5k Run and invited the community to run with us and raise money for this organization.
We held Kappa Kickball in the Spring that raised money for Reading is Fundamental. We also
decorated “Sweet Cases” for Together We Rise, a nonprofit that helps youth navigate through
America’s foster care system. Sweet Cases are duffel bags that are stocked with hygiene
products, coloring books, crayons and more comforting items.

The 2016 Executive Board will be officially installed into office on January 9th on
Leadership day. Advisors, ingoing and outgoing officers will be present to send the new council
on their way. We are so proud of all of the accomplishments that Eta Rho had in 2015 and are
so excited to watch the new council flourish and make Kappa the best house that it can be.

==Highlights of 2016==
This year marked a pivotal transition year for Eta Rho. The remainder of our beloved Alpha class graduated in spring quarter, leaving us (and one remaining Alpha who is staying for fall quarter) to forge our own path in our fourth year on Cal Poly’s campus.

We started off our year with one of our favorite sisterhood activities--a movie night at the house hosted in the backyard complete with popcorn and candy. We bundled up and welcomed each other back from Winter Break. The next day our new Chapter Council dove right in with Leadership Day, where new officers were transitioned with the help of outgoing council as well as some of our advisors.

On January 10th we hosted our annual catered Academic Excellence banquet to honor the women in our chapter who received a 4.0, Dean’s List, and achieved their academic goals they set for themselves.
This year was the second year we have done winter recruitment. However, this year we took a more casual approach and got coffee with women that our chapter recommended. We got to know them one-on-one rather than doing an entire mini-recruitment at our house. We welcomed our Zeta class of 13 women with a baseball-themed bid day at the house.
February started off with Parents Weekend. Friday, February 5th, we opened our house to show our parents and loved ones. The following day we ate brunch at the Madonna Inn and got to hear about how Kappa has affected women in our chapter and alumni. That Sunday we hosted a hike for all sisters and parents to join.
The next weekend was filled with just as much fun for us. The following Thursday, we had a dinner with Delta Upsilon at their new house. The next day we celebrated Valentine’s day with a “Galentine’s Day” complete with cookies and note-writing. On Saturday we participated in Sigma Pi’s Home Run Derby philanthropy, where our sister Sarah took home first place!

The fun continued through the rest of February with fun social events. We had a librarians and barbarians themed exchange with the men of Delta Tau Delta and Phi Sigma Kappa. We also had our semi-formal, hosted at the Old Port Inn in Avila. We honored our seniors with a senior wine-tasting trip, hopefully a new tradition that the rest of the chapter can look forward to one day.

We celebrated Dr. Seuss’ birthday with a trip to C.L. Smith Elementary School to do a Reading is Key event. Our sisters love interacting with the children and seeing how reading is impacting children first-hand. Our philanthropic spirit continued into March when we participated in a beach clean up with the men of Zeta Beta Tau.
March 2nd fell on a Saturday, which meant we got to celebrate Eta Rho’s third birthday party on the actual day! Because Eta Rho was turning three, we found it appropriate to throw ourselves a third birthday party at our house--complete with party hats, face-paint, balloons, streamers, and other fun childhood games and activities. It was fun to let loose and celebrate our chapter and how much we have grown.

The quarter was almost over, which meant that it was time to participate in our quarterly Kappa Kappacino event. We hand out free coffee, donuts, and scantrons to the students struggling to get through Dead Week. So many of our sisters love this event because it really does brighten up students’ days and we love how thankful students are.
But before we knew it, Winter Quarter was over and it was Spring Quarter, which meant it was time to initiate our Zetas. We got to bond during I-week with Zeta Zumba and a sisterhood trip to the weekly Farmer’s Market. Our Zetas were initiated on April 2nd. We got to celebrate with something a bit unorthodox--a British acapella band made a stop in SLO, coordinated by one of our sisters and her mom. They came to the Kappa house and serenaded us with a beautiful performance! It was so fun (and higher quality than a normal fraternity serenade).
On April 23, we had an exchange with Theta Chi and Zeta Beta Tau. The theme was jerseys and jorts (jean shorts) and it was great to see all of our sisters go all out for the theme. Throughout the year, we also had an exchange with Kappa Sigma and Sigma Pi as well as a dinner with Cal Poly’s men’s lacrosse and rugby teams and another one with Zeta Beta Tau.

The weekend of April 30th, our sisters started a new tradition with participating in Wildflower. Many other Greek organizations pair up and help to volunteer at the marathon, so we joined in on the fun with the men of Beta Theta Pi. In addition to this, we continued serving our community throughout Spring Quarter. The next weekend we helped out with a water station outside of our house for the SLO Marathon. Another fun service and fundraising opportunity, Greek Week, was the following week. May 2nd through 9th was filled with fun activities that we got to enjoy with our partners, Sigma Nu, Alpha Epsilon Phi, and Lambda Phi Epsilon. Greek Week activities were not only fun competition but also raised money for Jack’s Helping Hand, a local charity that our chapter also supports.
Philanthropy efforts from our chapter continued on May 14th when we hosted Kappa Splash. We swapped out our usual spring philanthropy of a kickball tournament for something more unique and interactive. We hosted an innertube water polo tournament between fraternities and it was a roaring success. We had a great fraternity turnout and both the participants and women in our chapter were having fun tanning by the pool, splashing around, watching games, and taking pictures. We even heard participants talking after the event about their excitement for next year’s tournament. We hope that we have started a new era for philanthropy and can continue this positive energy and love for this event!
On June 3rd we hosted our senior sendoff ceremony. This bittersweet time is always hard for our chapter, but this year it was particularly hard to say goodbye to the women in the Alpha (and some Beta) class who were so influential in making our chapter what it is today. We thanked them for their courage to start a new chapter and we promised we would carry on their legacy.

Because we were so busy during spring quarter, we held our formal on June 4th. It was at the Avila Beach Golf Resort and made for beautiful pictures. We danced the night away under a beautiful tent with string lights that overlooked the beach. But, formal was bittersweet because it was the last time a majority of our chapter was together before school was out for summer!

Before we knew it, it was time to pack our bags and come back for Spirit Week. We went over logistics like how to line up, how to do pickups, how to introduce yourself, and how to walk down our front steps without looking down and without tripping. But Spirit Week is so much more than logistics. We held workshops where we got to bond with our sisters and get to know more about each other. Spirit Week is a time to come closer together and learn more about each other as well as yourself. Ice breakers, emotional note-writing, and silly activities helped to strengthen our sisterhood and ensure that we were ready to welcome new women into our chapter. And, of course, Spirit Week means our sisterhood trip to Disneyland!

Recruitment started on September 28th and proved to be the long hours we anticipated. However, all of the time and sleepless nights were worth it when we welcomed home our beloved Eta class with a Vegas themed bid day at La Cuesta Ranch on October 5th.

The Etas kicked off their new member period right away with a sisterhood trip to farmer’s, a fraternity dinner, and an In-n-Out takeover. Our chapter was kept busy with many sisterhoods as well as our annual Founder’s Day celebration, this year held at the Madonna Inn with a theme of “something blue.”
Once again, our Philanthropy Chairman blew us away with our fall philanthropy. Last year we decided to do a “Kappa Kostume Run” and we decided to take it on again this year, except we wanted to go much bigger and improve turnout. We could have never expected the turnout we got--over 300 people participated and we raised over $4,000 for Jack’s Helping Hand (to put that in perspective, that’s about as much as all of Greek life raised during Greek Week).
The fun continued with our annual Kappa Krush date party was held on November 11th at the Embassy Suites this year. We stuck with our theme of “perfect pair” but tried to do the dates differently this year--we suggested that our members ask a date for their buddy.

Finally, we held a very successful I-week the week before dead week of fall quarter. We watched our women win the championship of soccer intramurals on our team with Beta Theta Pi, watched Moana at the drive-in, and held our first ever senior/new member night where the seniors got to pass on words of wisdom and advice to our chapter’s future. We initiated our Eta class on December 3rd.

Although we faced challenges this year, we are so proud of how far we have come. We received the President’s Community Service Award for an on-campus organization that does outstanding service. This was a big year for our philanthropy and we have finally started to establish ourselves on campus. We take pride in our strong sisterhood and the genuine women we have in this chapter. We have worked on improving our retention rate and are working on using our committees to improve chapter involvement. Council meetings have had almost every seat filled because of members coming to actively participate. We are so excited for our next executive board to take on leadership. We can’t wait to see what they have in store and how they will help us continue to grow!

Approved by the Eta Rho Chapter on 12/4/2016

==Highlights of 2017==
Eta Rho has reached its fifth year at Cal Poly with an exciting and successful year! Our chapter continues to grow and evolve as we establish ourselves and make our presence known on campus. Our philanthropy events—Kappa Splash and the Kappa 5k run—have raised thousands of dollars for Reading is Fundamental and Jack’s Helping Hands. We hope to continue raising more money every year to help make a difference in the San Luis Obispo Community and the whole country!

We started off 2017 with our new council members and the excitement of Winter Recruitment. We invited amazing women to our preference night at the house after meeting them for a coffee date earlier in the week. Informal recruitment was a success with our newly recruited eight wonderful Thetas that have shown to be an amazing addition to our chapter. We celebrated our new members with a fun bid day at the house with desserts, snacks, and sisters! Our first event with the new members was a dinner with the men of Beta Theta Pi. The rain did not stop us from having a great time and we always enjoy spending time with their fraternity! Our first sisterhood event with our Theta class was a space themed bowling night with pizza at Mustang Lanes. We had such a great time meeting our great new additions to the chapter at both the dinner and sisterhood!

As February approached, so did Parents Weekend! We kicked off the weekend by hosting an open house at the Kappa house where families were able to tour the house and meet the ladies that live in. We hoped the parents would now understand why we love our house so much after seeing it for themselves! We finished off the weekend with brunch at the Madonna Inn. Our families arrived with hundreds of books to donate to Reading is Fundamental and it was great that we could get our parents involved in our national philanthropy and show them how much it means to our chapter! During the meal, we introduced our chapters council members and sang for our families. We loved being able to introduce our families to each other and be able to show them what Kappa is all about!

Before we knew it, semi-formal season was upon us! The theme was Kappa Kappa Gatsby and it was at the Marriott. We danced the night away with our dates and sisters, and had an awesome time. On March 3rd, we celebrated Eta Rho’s fifth birthday with an event at Suspended Aerial Motion. We split up into two groups and had the opportunity to climb, flip, and twist on silks. It was an amazing experience that most of our sisters had never even heard of before, let alone attempted!

Winter quarter sped by and before we knew it, it was initiation week! We kicked off I-Week with a Zumba class at the Rec Center, an In-n-Out takeover the following night, and finished the week with a movie night watching Neighbors 2. Fireside and Initiation were beautiful and the Thetas were finally initiated into our amazing sisterhood. As winter quarter came to an end, we hosted our quarterly Senior Sendoff at our chapter meeting. It was bittersweet because we are going to miss our sisters so much but we know they are going to do amazing in the next chapter of their lives. We finished off the quarter with a day of service with the men of Zeta Beta Tau at Growing Grounds in San Luis Obispo. We were split up into different groups to perform different tasks for two hours. They are always very gracious when we go to volunteer and our sisters always work hard at these events!

Spring quarter finally arrived and we jumped right back into Kappa! We attended Farmers Market on the Thursday before the Cal Poly Open House in our cute Kappa tanks to show the Potential New Members how strong the Kappa sisterhood is. The following Saturday we joined the rest of Greek Life at the club showcase for open house where we setup our booth and chatted with PNMs and their families. We encouraged women to consider Greek Life because of the amazing opportunities that we are given with meeting new people, getting involved with community service, and being able to make the large Cal Poly campus seem a bit smaller.

Our busy spring quarter continued with a sisterhood event at the movies to see Beauty and The Beast. We then hosted our annual Kappa Splash Tournament, with proceeds going to Reading is Fundamental. The event went very smoothly and the men of Zeta Beta Tau won for the second year in a row! All of the participants loved the event and are looking forward to next year. After our philanthropy, we hopped right into competitive mode for the start of Greek Week. Our team was “Back to the Future” and the theme of the week was “Battle of the Classics.” We did an amazing job, winning many of the sports including bowling, basketball and flag football. Unfortunately, our team came in second place, but we improved greatly from last year and there is always next year to take home the victory! Our busy quarter did not slow down even when we neared the end. We hosted a Jolyn trunk Show, which was a huge success and girls really enjoyed it!

We also had a movie night at the house with In-N-Out and Magic Mike, followed by senior sendoff the next morning. Many girls came to “Roast and Toast” our seniors and it was a great sendoff. We are so proud of the amazing women who graduated and are excited to see what the future has in store for them!

Formal came the weekend before finals and it was well worth the wait. It was at Edna Valley Vineyards and catered by Taqueria Santa Cruz. The food was amazing and the venue was absolutely stunning with rolling green hills in the background, a perfect backdrop for pictures! It was a great event, just like all the other ones we had so far this year! We reached finals and had to part our ways from our sisters for summer, already anticipating the reunion in fall for recruitment!

Over summer, our sisters went off and did some amazing things! Some ladies were studying abroad, others were traveling, a lot of women had amazing internships, and many stayed in SLO and were able to be together all summer. As much fun as we had this summer, we were eager to come back and begin recruitment! We started off the school year with spirit week! We trained for the various days of recruitment, bonded with different activities, and even made time to take a trip to Disneyland. Recruitment was long and tiring, but completely worth it. We recruited some amazing women that are going to be great additions to Eta Rho and keep the chapter moving in the right direction! We hosted our fall bid night on a ranch with ice cream, donuts, dancing and lots of pictures. It was a great night and a great introduction to Kappa for our New Members!

For the Iota’s new member period, we planned as many events as possible in order to make them feel comfortable and welcome in Kappa. Our first event with our New Members was going downtown for Farmers Market. Actives drove our new sisters downtown to eat food and mingle with the new members. Our next event was a fun beach day, where we really got to know our new members a little bit better. We also had a bonfire on Grover Beach a few days later where we roasted s’mores, watched the sunset, and got to know the new members even more!
At our chapter meeting on the following Monday, we had formal pledging for our Iota class. They were given their New Member pin that they are to keep until the new member period is over in November. The following weekend we celebrated Kappa Kappa Gamma’s founders day at the Madonna Inn. It even featured a Kappa rap from our advisor Judith! To finish off October, Kappa volunteered for Cal Poly’s “Make a Difference Day” where we helped clean the kitchen of a summer camp called Granite Ridge in Creston with the ladies of Chi Omega. One of our most anticipated events of the quarter finally arrived, Kappa Krush! Everyone dressed up in “Dynamic Duo” costumes and had a great time chatting, dancing, and eating at SLO Brew at the Rock. The new members loved being apart of the event and are so excited for next year!

Initiation week was finally upon us! We kicked off I-week with the Senior/New Member spa night and continued the week with our popular In-N-Out takeover and going to the drive-in theatre at Sunset Drive-In where we watched Thor and Guardians of the Galaxy from the comfort of our cars! The week ended with Fireside and afterwards the New Members went to the Kappa house for a sleepover. This year, we decided to also have an active sleepover in order for the actives to also bond during this special week of the quarter. It was a great time and have now decided to make it into a tradition. On Saturday November 11, the Iota class was initiated and they could not be more excited. Girls went to brunch after initiation with their Kappa families to celebrate being an active member of Kappa! With initiation behind us, the quarter is coming to an end.

We can't wait to install our new executive board and ready ourselves for another exciting year in KKG! Our fraternity had great success this year with our recruitment, philanthropies, and events. We cannot wait to see what 2018 has in store for us and the excitement that’s yet to come!

Approved by Eta Rho on 11/13/2017

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'''Highlights of 2018:'''

Eta Rho’s 6th year on Cal Poly’s campus started out strong. The start of a new year came with the training of our new council at the annual Leadership Day where each council member got to learn from their predecessor and bond with the other girls who will be beside them every step of the way for the next year. All our members couldn’t be more excited to get the new year rolling.

We started off the quarter enjoying a dinner with the men of Sigma Pi. The next weekend in February we hosted our annual Kappa Parent’s weekend where girls get to show their parents around our beautiful home and introduce them to some of their Kappa sisters. The main event for this weekend is the brunch we host for all the families. In the past we have had the brunch at Madonna Inn, but this year we decided to switch it up and have the brunch at Slow Brew Rock, which was an absolute hit and might just become our new tradition.

The month of February had many more fun events that followed. We had a dinner with Theta Chi that was “Jarty in the USA” theme, our annual sisterhood movie in Atascadero where our sisters gathered to watch Fifty Shades Freed, and a sisterhood event where we volunteered at Growing Grounds to help our community. Then we moved into the first weekend of March, which was filled with Kappa everything. We started out the weekend with our Reading is Key event at CL Smith Elementary. The kids love when we come in to read and do crafts with them, and we also donate books that they get to keep and take home. That same day we had Eta Rho’s 6th birthday party at Central Coast Sports Arena in Santa Maria, where we dressed up in our best 70’s decade’s outfits, ate our weight in Buffalo Wild Wings, and roller bladed with our sisters. The following day we had our Semi formal at embassy suites. We finished out the month of March with another dinner, but this time with the men of Beta Theta Pi.

April was just as exciting and filled with a variety of events. We had an impromptu acai sisterhood, a senior spa day at Sycamore Hot Springs, and a Lulu sisterhood. The seniors raved about how amazing their spa day was and loved the chance to get to bond with their fellow seniors, as well as be provided with a nice get away where they could relax and forget about the stress of graduating and entering the real world in a few short months. Whereas, the Lulu sisterhood was a hit because we could all bond over our obsession for cute workout clothes and get a huge discount on many of our favorite items.

The rest of spring quarter we had the opportunity to really reflect on what Kappa means to us and why we chose to join this amazing organization. We were able to reflect on ourselves, take the time to be with our sisters and focus on our relationships and giving back to our community, not just our social events that often become our sole focus at times.

We had a few more events to finish out the school year. The seniors had a senior day where they got food at Libertine, bonded, and finished out their day with senior

pictures with the lovely Matthew Lalanne. We also had a big sisterhood event in place of our usual Spring formal at Santa Margarita Ranch. The event was carnival themed including face paint, glitter tattoos, cotton candy, tacos and our senior sendoff “Roast and Toast.” Lastly, we finished the quarter with our annual philanthropy Kappa Splash. The men of Zeta Beta Tau won for the third year in a row, and we were able to raise over $1,500 for Reading is Fundamental. Everyone loved spending the day at the pool, tanning, hanging out with friends, competing, and most importantly raising money for a great cause.

It was now the bitter sweet time of summer break where everyone is excited to be on break from school, but sad to be separated from their sisters for 3 months. Girls went in all directions for summer break. Some stayed in SLO, some went abroad, some had amazing internships, and others just had a nice relaxing summer at home. No matter where everyone ended up, we all couldn’t be more excited to be reunited in the fall.

Two weeks before the start of school in the fall, our sisters returned to SLO to attend our annual fall sisterhood retreat. We usually make this trip to Disneyland, but this year we decided to switch it up and do a cabin retreat at Big Bear Lake. Girls got to stay in cabins and have sleepovers just like when we were younger, have bonfires where everyone told stories or played games to get to know each other better. There was a plethora of fun activities to participate in each day. Some of the activities offered were archery, a high ropes course, and a rock climbing wall. In addition to an impromptu soccer game and yoga with one of our sisters leading the class.

When everyone returned from the retreat it was time to jump right into Spirit Week. The Iota class had a few days of practice just for them to go over the basics of recruitment and offer them time to ask any specific questions they may have, but more importantly a time to bond with the members of their pledge class before we welcomed our new Kappa class. Then, a few days later, the entire chapter joined the Iotas and we all practiced for the much anticipated and biggest event of fall quarter. Although the week was spent practicing for recruitment in order to best prepare us to recruit the most amazing and genuine girls we can, we also had mini sisterhoods every day after training to allow for us all to get to know every single girl and become closer as an entire chapter. This year’s Spirit Week was one for the books and definitely something to be emulated in the future.

The first week of school we kicked off our annual fall photo off with Asia Croson. She always takes amazing photos for us and all the girls that were able to attend the photoshoot were so excited to receive her pictures. Recruitment this year was split into two separate weekends in order to minimize class conflicts and hopefully help manage people’s stress with balancing school and recruitment right at the start of the new school year. The first weekend of recruitment went so well we couldn’t wait to get the next weekend started, but we were also happy to have a break during the week to be able to catch up on sleep, schoolwork, and give us the energy and motivation we needed to finish out the second weekend strong and recruit some amazing new girls into this sorority. Bid Day finally came around on October 8. It was blue and blue themed at Higuera Ranch, and we were so thrilled to finally welcome home our new Kappa pledge class! The theme and decorations were such a hit that this might just be a recurring theme in the future. Everyone came decked out in anything blue they could find. Some

girls even wore blue wigs to show their dedication and love for our new Kappas.

The new members had so many events to go to during their first few weeks that gave us the opportunity to show them how great Kappa is and teach them to love it just as much as we all do. Their first event was Founder’s Day at Madonna Inn on October 13th, followed by our new fall philanthropy, Kappa Karnival, and a dinner with Zeta Beta Tau and Kappa Sigma the next two weeks.

In the past we have done a 5K run for our big fall philanthropy that benefits Jack’s Helping Hand, but this year we wanted to do something new. We decided to put on a carnival for other Greek Life to compete in games against each other, and then after the competition open it to the public to provide fun games and prizes for our community to participate in. All proceeds from the carnival were donated to the Central Coast Autism Spectrum Center, and we raised over $7,000 in our first year! We have high hopes for this philanthropy to expand even more in the future and get more of the SLO community involved in such a great cause.

We finished off October by volunteering at Growing Grounds once more because they are always very accommodating of our large number of girls wanting to help and we love giving back to them in any way we can. The next month was packed full of even more fun events for the new members including two more dinners with California Philanthropy Group and Tau Kappa Epsilon, as well as our date party Kappa Krush and the much anticipated Big/Little Reveal!

Big/Little reveal is usually every girl’s favorite part of fall quarter because the new members find out who their big is, the actives get their littles, and everyone’s family grows a little bigger. This year the new members were at their new member retreat at the Kappa House and were told they were going to Mitchell Park down the street for a bonding activity, but little did they know their bigs were patiently awaiting in their boxes they decorated, ready to jump out and surprise them! The Kappas were all so amazed when they walked up and saw all the boxes, making Big/Little Reveal a huge success. After the event, everyone went out with their new families to bond and get some food.

Later that same night was Kappa Krush. Kappa Krush this year was at Grillhouse, but we switched up the theme a little from the past two years. In the past we had everyone dress up with their dates as a dynamic duo or perfect pair, but this year we thought it would be fun to dress up with our dates as a rhyme without reason. The best part of the night was trying to figure out how everyone’s’ costumes fit together and rhymed. This was our last event before we left for Thanksgiving break, and when we came back from break we jumped right into I-week and the initiation process for the Kappas.

I-week began with the returning of the new member pins where we catered Buffalo Wild Wings for the whole chapter to celebrate the start of the initiation process for our soon to be new actives. The week continued with a bowling night at mustang lanes for the entire chapter, a Zumba class at the rec center, and finally a movie night in downtown SLO to watch the new Grinch. Fireside was finally here, and we held this at The Guild Hall on Friday November 30th. All of the Kappas and New Member Chairman had a sleepover at the Kappa House after Fireside and couldn’t be more excited to finish out initiation Saturday morning. We continued with the initiation of the Kappas on Saturday December 1st in the Performing Arts Center on campus; they were no longer new members and officially become active members of Eta Rho. This year we even had

a few family members of the new members drive to SLO to help initiate their sister, which was very special for those girls. The Kappas were all so excited to finally be active members of Kappa Kappa Gamma and celebrated by going out to brunch with their families.

We finished out Winter quarter by electing our new council, and we couldn’t be more excited to see where they lead Eta Rho next. We have high hopes for their success and know they are all so eager to take on their new roles. We can’t wait to see what 2019 has in store for us!
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'''Note to Chapter Registrar:'''
Please refer to your chapter archives including chapter meeting minutes and back issues of The Key to fill in any gaps in the above historical highlights. If your chapter archives are not complete, please research your university library, campus newspaper and yearbook archives for newsworthy information about your chapter. Please double check your work for accuracy. Contact chapter Advisory or House Board members, local Alumnae Association members, or your Province Director of Chapters for assistance. Your efforts will ensure a complete and accurate history of your chapter for future generations to enjoy!

Eta Nu

2019-06-18T20:23:05Z

Michellelearle: Highlights of 2018

{{Infobox Fraternity
|Name= Eta Nu
|GreekSymbol= HN
|Image= [[File:Eta_Nu.jpg|200px]]
|Founded= {{start date and years ago|2009|01|10}}
|College= [http://www.scu.edu/ Santa Clara University]
|Location= Santa Clara, CA
|Homepage= [http://santaclarakkg.wix.com/kappalove Eta Nu Website]
|Media= [http://wiki.kappakappagamma.org/index.php?title=Category:Eta_Nu Media related to Eta Nu Chapter]}}
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'''Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, Calif., established 1851'''

'''Eta Nu Founded January 10, 2009'''

'''77 Charter Members'''

'''547 initiates (as of June 2018)'''

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Some of Chapter’s Outstanding Alumnae: (If you have chapter alumna who have received recognition in any of these three categories, please list them with the date(s) of recognition.)

'''Fraternity Council Officers:'''

'''Fraternity Loyalty Award Recipients:'''

'''Fraternity Alumnae Achievement Award Recipients:'''

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==History of University==

Santa Clara University, founded in 1851 by the Society of Jesus as Santa Clara College, is California’s oldest institution of higher education. It was established on the site of Mission Santa Clara de Asís, the eighth of the original 21 California missions.

The college originally operated as a preparatory school and did not offer courses of collegiate rank until 1853. Following the Civil War, enrollment increased and by 1875, the size of the student body was 275. One-third of the students were enrolled in the collegiate division; the remainder attended the college’s preparatory and high school departments.

Santa Clara experienced slow and steady growth during its first 60 years, becoming the University of Santa Clara in 1912 when the schools of engineering and law were added. In 1925, the high school was separated from the university, taking the name of Bellarmine College Preparatory in 1928.

For 110 years, Santa Clara was an all-male school. In 1961, women were accepted as undergraduates, and Santa Clara became the first coeducational Catholic university in California. The number of students tripled over the next decade. The size of the faculty also tripled, and the university began the largest construction program in school history, building eight residence halls, a student union and the athletic stadium.
In the early 1970s, the board of trustees voted to limit the size of the undergraduate population, an action that was intended to preserve the character and ensure the quality of the university for generations to come.
In 1985, the university adopted Santa Clara University as its official name.

The 106-acre campus is located in Santa Clara, Calif., at the southern tip of the San Francisco Bay, approximately two miles from San Jose International Airport. The university enjoys a moderate climate year-round; the sun shines approximately 300 days a year.

At the center of the campus is Mission Santa Clara de Asís, surrounded by the roses and palm trees of the historic Mission Gardens. The more than 50 buildings on campus include residence halls, two libraries, a student center and extensive athletic facilities.

==Colonization==
The colonization Recruitment was led by Joanie Cook Cohen, Colorado, and assisted by Coordinator of Chapter Development Amanda Compton Ruffo, UC Irvine; Chapter Consultant Jessica Myers, Washington; Leadership Consultant Kate Greene, Ohio State and Tara Singhal, Creighton. Also participating in this Recruitment were members from big sister chapter UC Davis assisted by the UC Berkeley and Stanford chapters. Recruitment events were held on the Kappa Alpha Theta patio, at St. Clare’s Catholic Church and in the tent Delta Gamma used for Recruitment. Kappa’s colonization Recruitment was a true Panhellenic experience.

Interviews for the charter class were conducted at the Starbucks immediately off campus as no events could be held on the campus where Greeks are not recognized by the university. Exceptional support was received from the members of the San Jose and East Bay Alumnae Associations as well as other associations in the Bay Area who eagerly participated in new member interviews and assumed positions on the advisory and house boards. Cristin Carone Sanchez, UC San Diego, opened her home for the planning and membership selection meetings.
Eta Nu’s preference brunch and formal pledging were held at the San Jose Doubletree Inn where 87 new members were pledged on October 18, 2008.

The months before Eta Nu was installed were a unique period for the charter members of Eta Nu Chapter. The new members were able to bond and nourish the new chapter in a short time. These women worked hard to build a strong Kappa reputation on campus and build strong relationships with the Greek community at Santa Clara. They looked for philanthropy to support and developed a strong feeling of sisterhood. One of the chapter’s first social events was a lovely semi-formal held in November.

As a new chapter on campus, Eta Nu faced several challenges. Where to hold the weekly meetings was solved by making arrangements with St. Clare’s Church near campus. As the new kids on the block, the members faced judgments from those who were not ready to accept a new group on campus. The new members had to learn to open up and accept each other as sisters. This was accomplished very quickly and easily. They accomplished this by dividing the new members into small groups each week, meeting together and sharing stories about themselves. Through this, friendships were formed and the groups felt more comfortable with each other.

==Installation==

Eta Nu Chapter was installed on January 10, 2009, in a ceremony held in Berkeley. All ceremonies for this installation were held in the chapter house during the UC Berkeley winter break when the chapter members weren’t in residence. This made it possible for the Santa Clara charter members to spend the weekend nights sleeping in sleeping bags in the chapter house which gave them the experience of living in a chapter house. Several additional members from the other province chapters joined the charter members for this slumber party.
The 77 charter members were warmly welcomed into the traditions and history of Kappa Kappa Gamma during their initiation.

Fraternity President Denise Rugani, UC Davis; Chapter Consultant Jessica Meyer, Washington and Pi Province Director of Chapters Amanda Compton Ruffo, UC Irvine, led the new members through a beautiful and memorable initiation. Extension Chairman Joanie Cook Cohen, Colorado, oversaw the installation planning.

Following the Fireside Friday evening, as everyone enjoyed dessert, the chapter received gifts from chapters and alumnae associations. A badge to be worn by the chapter president was given to the chapter by the San Francisco Bay alumnae associations; the philanthropy badge was presented by Joanie Cohen on behalf of the Denver Alumnae Association to be worn by the philanthropy chairman and a scholarship dangle to be worn or presented to a member as the chapter decided was presented by Carol George Sanders, Cal State Northridge.

The installation brunch followed the installation at the Clark Kerr Conference Center atrium and banquet room on campus. Chapter members from the UC Davis, UC Berkeley and Stanford chapters assisted with the installation. Members from the other Pi Province chapters and associations were there to welcome Eta Nu as the Fraternity’s newest chapter. This was a beautiful, sunny northern California weekend. This installation would not have been possible without the exceptional support of the UC Berkeley chapter, its house board, advisers and alumnae. It was a fabulous Kappa effort.

At the first chapter council meeting, Chapter Consultant Jessica Myers presented and displayed the archives which the Fraternity sent to Eta Nu to start its chapter archives. After initiation, the women continued to make an effort to establish the chapter’s role on campus as well as in the community. During the spring, the chapter held its first informal Recruitment and pledged 16 new members. These women were initiated as the quarter came to an end.

==2009-2010==

After a wonderfully relaxing summer, the members returned to campus refreshed and excited for the new year. One of the biggest changes and most exciting moments was getting its own chapter house. The house had been completely renovated during the summer and was beautiful with creative decorations such as small fleur-de-lis tiles in the floor. Seventeen amazing Kappas lived in the house this first year. The house made a huge difference in strengthening the chapter. The members were able to spend more time together and have a place for the meetings and sisterhood events.

The members were excited to plan and hold the chapter’s first official fall Recruitment. The themes for three of the days were Kappa is a Girl’s Best Friend, Dr. Seuss and the Secret Garden preference party. On October 14, 2009, Eta Nu pledged 41 new members.

In addition to a semi-formal, the chapter carried out several philanthropic activities. These included Kappa Kare Packages. Several groups of women put together small baskets of items such as decorated baby bibs, diapers, bottles and pacifiers. These baskets were given to a women’s shelter in San Francisco where they were given to 15 women with babies.

The chapter was composed of a diverse group of women who participated in all school events and were leaders, scholars and athletes who exuded compassion and leadership throughout the entire campus. After initiation in January 2010, the chapter had 118 members.

Since the chapter was only a year old, it was extremely difficult to make itself known and respected as those qualities come with time. Another hardship the chapter experienced was the dwindling participation in non-mandatory chapter events. The chapter made it a priority to be more involved and supportive. During that year, the members demonstrated through their actions and dedication that although a young chapter, it was a group of extremely strong and intellectual women who individually were amazing but together were unstoppable. The women of Eta Nu progressed immensely in 2009 and became stronger as a united unit which showed the true meaning behind sisterhood.

The 2010 year was one filled with chapter development and sisterhood events for the women of Eta Nu. Following winter break on January 9, 2010, 41 new members were initiated. The UC Berkeley chapter graciously welcomed Eta Nu to its chapter house for a beautiful initiation ceremony. Following this initiation, Eta Nu celebrated the chapter’s first anniversary.

Winter 2010 was filled with philanthropic and sisterhood events. The chapter had two teams participate in Alpha Phi’s star search and helped contribute to their philanthropic efforts. Eta Nu continued to show a campus-wide presence with a large turnout for Kappas to the Game and a successful parents weekend meet-and-greet at the chapter house. The winter Reading is Fundamental (RIF) event was a successful chapter book collection followed by reading to second-grade students in a nearby elementary school. Eta Nu brought home first and second place in Kappa Alpha Theta’s dodge ball tournament and proudly displayed the trophies in the chapter house. The annual Sapphire Ball was held at the beginning of February in the beautiful Corinthian Grand Ballroom in San Jose.

Spring quarter started with the chapter’s first on-campus Relay for Life and its first Kappapalooza event which raised more than $2,500 for an organization called Four Pearls and the Kappa Foundation. Eta Nu wore matching Kappapalooza tank tops and danced the night away with fellow students, sold auction tickets and manned the busy kitchen. The chapter won first place in Sigma Chi’s Derby Days. An Eta Nu member was chosen as the Derby Darling after a stellar performance in the athletic activities. At the spring Panhellenic awards event, Eta Nu won the award for Chapter Progress, and its member Christine Ahlstrom was elected Panhellenic President.

==2010-2011==

Fall Recruitment was successful resulting in welcoming 54 new members. The chapter celebrated the new pledge class with an interactive sisterhood at a sports venue filled with trampoline walls and floors.
The chapter celebrated Founders Day with the San Jose Alumnae Association, and the fall pledge class was initiated November 13, 2010.

Eta Nu’s chapter house was located one block from the Santa Clara campus which made it the perfect gathering spot for the 160 members and their activities.

In addition to seeing the Kappa sisters, many incentives to attend the non-mandatory events such as apparel distribution and baked goods were instituted to emphasize the importance of attendance and reiterated what was considered a valid excuse.

Another challenge was getting to know each other in a chapter that had nearly tripled in size in three years. To assist with this, several small sisterhoods were held.

==Highlights of 2011==

In 2011, Eta Nu continued establishing itself as a leading fraternity on campus. It joined in every possible philanthropy event hosted by other Greek organizations, took an active role in the campus Panhellenic and fully involved itself in several clubs on campus. Eta Nu celebrated the second anniversary of its founding and looked forward to another building year.

Winter quarter 2011 began with the chapter hosting a Fraternity Trainer whose topic was developing bonding and trust between the members.

The chapter members participates in several philanthropies this year including Alpha Phi’s philanthropy Star Search, Jog for Jill walking in support of the late Berkeley Kappa Jill Costell, Mr. Casanova and Panhellenic’s fundraiser. To support RIF, Eta Nu supported Dr. Seuss Day by reading and making hats with children at a local elementary school.

Spring quarter began with a visit from Fraternity Leadership Consultant Kristin Hanricka. The members hosted an alumnae event at the Kappa Kastle chapter house. This was a huge success, and the members hoped it would become an annual event.

The chapter took part in several philanthropies this quarter including Theta dodge ball where it placed third and later that day its Evolution of Superior Being mural took first place; Sigma Chi hosted its Derby Days and Eta Nu took first place in the Fashion Show; Kappa held its Relay for Life and Delta Gamma hosted its annual Anchor Splash. Kappa Karnival was a huge hit and included a dunk tank and water obstacle course.
The Greek Awards event was held in downtown San Jose where Eta Nu received the following individual awards: Greek Scholars Robin Landis and Carolyn Linck; Spirit of Service Ellen Thompson; Panhellenic Award of Distinction Megan Sopko and Charlotte Allen; and Outstanding New Member Dominque Troy. Eta Nu also received the Outstanding Chapter Program Award.

Fall quarter began with Recruitment and a visit from Leadership Consultant Kelcey Schmidt, Georgia Southern. The chapter celebrated its successful Recruitment with a 1980’s-themed bid night where the 57 new members were taken ice skating and to a potluck at the Kastle. This year the chapter celebrated Founders Day 2011 at the Kappa Kastle with many local alumnae

The chapter had now grown to 160 active members, and the chapter received an Academic Focus Letter from the Fraternity Council. Eta Nu met the challenge, and all its members shot for Pi, a new academic plan developed by the Vice President Academic Excellence.

==Highlights of 2012==

2012 was a great year for Santa Clara Kappas! We have officially established ourselves as a presence among the campus, enough so that our Panhellenic Council was able to add another sorority after our successful charter. Kappa joined in every possible philanthropy event that was hosted by other Greek organizations as we support all our other sorority sisters and try to keep the sense of community alive. Eta Nu was an active part of our Panhellenic delegation as well fully involved in various clubs and leadership roles around campus. Eta Nu celebrated its 3nd birthday of the Chapter's installment and looked forward to another successful year keeping our foothold as one of the top sororities.

Eta Nu’s winter quarter began quickly as our first week back was Initiation Week! Planned by our wonderful Marshal, the week was filled with bonding experiences for the Epsilon Class as well as the “families” within Kappa. Girls decorated they key boxes so that after receiving their keys, they would have a safe place to store them which would be unique to them. That Friday, Fireside was hosted at our wonderful Chapter House and then all the New Members as well as some actives drove to Sarah Bedford’s house in Hillsboro in order to have a sleepover before Saturday morning initiation. The remaining actives drove out the next morning bright and early to help set up and participate in the ritual. Many advisors and family members came and even some alumnae from the area. We were especially blessed to have the mother of our new sister, Erin Root and the sister of Ellie Mcquestion in attendance as well.

After that Eta Nu settled back into a regular routine. We elected our new officers and had a smooth transition period and officer voting that was overseen by Sareena Helton, the LC, when she came to visit us. Her trip was filled with fun adventures including the aquarium. Following a page from last year, we had a wonderful Sisterhood event to see the movie “The Vow” and there was not a dry eye in the theatre. Kappa supported Delta Gamma’s philanthropy event “Anchor Slam” by cheering on the competitors. Other philanthropies that Eta Nu was represented at included Jog for Jill: walking in support of the late Berkeley Kappa, Jill Costell as well as Alpha Phi Star Search where Eta Nu was able to show off our amazing dance-moves and support a great cause. Eta Nu also hosted a wonderful brunch and house tours during Parent’s Weekend as we left old shirts and pictures of events around the house so our parents could see the bonds we had formed.

March held two important events including the ever anticipated Sapphire Ball as well as our RIF day. To promote RIF, Eta Nu supported Dr. Suess' day by reading and making hats at a local elementary school where the Principal is a mother to a kappa. We also partook in a joint effort with Sigma Chi to host a team for Relay for Life so we could have people walking all 24 hours of the event. After working hard on our academics, Kappa placed 1st in the Panhellenic Compilation so we were able to compete in all events in the Spring as we were no longer on our “Focus Plan” - way to be academically excellent girls!

Spring for Eta Nu started off with the taking of the composite pictures. We had a wonderful date Dash of “Dynamic Duos” and girls were ever so creative. Kappa Alpha Theta's philanthropy, Theta Dodgeball, which allowed Eta Nu to demonstrate our athletic ability as we won after a fiercely competitive final round versus Alpha Phi. In keeping with our Philanthropic support, Kappa had multiple teams participate in Sigma Chi’s “Derby Days” where the senior team took first with their can construction of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Frattiness” design. The Juniors wow'd in the fashion show with their bathroom, and the rest of Eta Nu showed their talents during the Sigma Sing-Off. Kappa placed second overall at the event which we were very pleased about as we always enjoy supporting great causes.

Next, Eta Nu supported Sigma Pi’s philanthropy by participating in their All-Day Volleyball Tournament where after a heated battle, we placed 2nd overall. Congrats Girls! As spring is always filled with philanthropy events, Greek Awards are hosted reward all of our hard work as a Panhellenic Association. This year, Kappa was recognized for Outstanding Fraternity Values, Outstanding New Member Program and Outstanding New Member, Cynthia Baricevic. Our biggest honor was being named Outstanding Chapter of the Year! This was our first time and hopefully not our last!

For sisterhood, we took a wonderful hike up and around Palo Alto and some of our pictures made it to the cover photo for the Kappa Kappa Gamma Facebook page. We were very excited about this! Kappa Karnival had a record of 34 teams participate and continues to grow as our annual event gathers more awareness. The day was perfect weather to walk around the carnival-like events and eat popcorn, snow-cones, and cotton-candy. We were able to raise over $700 at the door and over $2000 from the teams! We were even dubbed with the title of being Sigma Chi’s “Favorite Event of the Spring Quarter”. While Karnival may have been Sigma Chi’s favorite event, the girls favorite event was our Kappa Kandyland themed Spring Semi-Formal Dance. The venue, located in downtown San Jose overlooked the city which gave us some gorgeous views when we could tear ourselves away from the dance floor. To end the night, the juniors, sophomores and freshman sent our seniors off in style with a VERY enthusiastic O-Pat. We were sorry to see them graduate in June, but very excited to see how they continue to stay apart of Kappa Kappa Gamma!

As always, Fall Quarter began with a multitude of recruitment practices leading up to heavily anticipated Fall Recruitment! We had a surprise sisterhood to Santa Cruz for a fun day at the beach and of course, an opportunity for some wonderful pictures. This was a great way to let off some steam and catch-up before school started. Eta Nu’s attitude was always positive and it paid off as we received a fantastic Zeta Class of 51 members!

We could not have asked for a better group of girls to accept into our family after a fun-filled night of bowling during Bid-Day and everyone wore our adorable Recruitment/Bid-Day Shirts to “Stay Golden”. The New Member program began shortly after that and continued throughout the fall quarter. After recruitment, Eta Nu was blessed with a phenomenal visit from LC, Kristi Watts. We loved her Southern Charm and her ability to connect with every girl she met in our chapter. She met with all council members and was able to co-teach a Zumba class with one of her fellow Texans at the house, Eta Nu definitely has some moves! We were sad to see her leave but look forward to her upcoming visit in the Spring.

Fall held a varieties of mixers including ones with fraternities as well as a Cookie-Exchange with the newest addition to Santa Clara Panhellenic, Alpha Delta Pi. This was a great way for Eta Nu to help show their support of the new Sorority as well as meet their Charter Class. We also supported a local philanthropy, Project Open-Hands, as girls served meals to the homeless.

For Founders Day, Eta Nu was invited to attend the Brunch hosted by the San Jose Alumnae Association. We had so much fun getting to mix and mingle with them as well as bring goodies and food to help celebrate. Our Panhellenic Delegation arranged for a speaker to talk to all the Sororities about how to protect ourselves, “Girls Fight Back”. Many girls loved the enthusiasm the speaker showed as well as the audience participation and the sound effects.

Another Panhellenic event, Greek Gatsby was hosted and Kappa participated by donating a basket for the silent auction as well as having girls attend the event. It was a fun-filled night for the greek community and Panhellenic was able to raise money for a wonderful charity. One of the highlights of Fall Quarter was our new annual fall Semi-Formal event, Kappa Korral! Hosting a western-themed dance in the backyard was extremely fun as girls tried to two-step the night away with their dates. Hay-bales and saddles were generously donated for the night so pictures could be taken highlighting our theme. Girls enjoyed the atmosphere, music and the wonderful snacks! Our Fall closed with Big/Little Reveal Week! As always, this week was filled with presents, surprises, sweat, tears and QUITE a few late nights. It went off without a hitch and all the families welcomed everyone their clan in a varieties of outfits and surprises. We are glad that everyone was able to participate!

Eta Nu was also recognized on the national level for Honorable Mention for our Risk Management program. This was the first time that Eta Nu was recognized on a national level. We are very excited for what is to come in 2013.

This past year, our Panhellenic Council added a new sorority, Alpha Delta Pi. This makes five total sororities associated with our Panhellenic council. Alpha Delta Pi rushed after the other sororities had met quota and had quite a turnout. They have been a great addition and we are excited about the expanding greek life. Eta Nu is located approximately one block from Santa Clara University's campus. Our chapter house is home to 18 girls and our house mother and is a welcoming home for all our sisters. While we are only associated with the city of Santa Clara, all our members attend Santa Clara University. Santa Clara University is located in Santa Clara, California where palm trees and flowers cover the campus.

The campus is extremely picturesque and has over 5,000 undergraduate students as well as an additional 3,000 graduate students. Undergraduate students are in one of three schools: The College of Arts and Sciences, the Leavey School of Business, or the The School of Engineering. Additionally for graduate students there is a school of Law and the Counseling Psychology, Education, and Pastoral Ministries program. Students have an array of 44 majors to pick from as well as many other minors. Santa Clara University is continually growing and improving their academic reputation.

==Highlights of 2013==

2013 was an outstanding year for the Santa Clara Kappa Kappa Gamma Eta Nu chapter! We not only were active in all possible philanthropy events, but Eta Nu really showed that we were Panhellenic women as demonstrated through our overwhelming support of our fellow Greek organizations. We also help various school leadership positions and continue to be involved in a variety of organizations and clubs on campus. Eta Nu celebrated its 4th birthday as a Chapter and look forward to the many memories that lie ahead for us!

Our winter Quarter began again with Initiation Week. This was a great way for all the girls to return after Christmas break and catch up with our sisters who had returned from studying abroad and really focus on what Kappa meant to each of us. Activities for the week ranged between decorating boxes for their new badges as well as family dinners and movie nights. This year, Initiation took place at the University of California Berkeley house. All the girls drove up on Friday afternoon and Fireside took place as to begin the process. Many family members of actives and new members were able to attend and it really made the ceremony special for everyone involved. Saturday morning, initiation took place and all the young ladies were added to our Eta Nu chapter! We could not be happier to call these ladies are sisters, “not four years, but for life!”

The next big step for Eta Nu was officer elections and transitions. The Nominating Committee really took the time and effort to consider our next future leaders of the chapter and we could not be happier with our Chapter Council. Our girls did some fantastic dancing in support of the Alpha Phi’s “Star Search” as well as the Panhellenic throwback event, the “Greek Gatsby.” Eta Nu proudly supported both these causes through our participation and donations. The First annual “Kappa Karoke” took place, our new winter Philanthropy event. We had an overwhelming response and our campus and fellow Greeks really rallied behind the cause and made it a fantastic success. For Parents’ Weekend, Eta Nu held an open house reception so girls could show their parents our house and what “being a kappa” meant to them. A variety of t-shirts, photos and food were all on display to welcome the parents. This was a huge success especially with all the baked goods our girls contributed! Also, some of our members were invited down to the installation of Eta Rho Chapter in Cal Poly. We loved being involved and supporting other chapters in the area and are looking forward to keeping close relations with them.

Spring quarter is always a busy blast for Eta Nu. The sun is shining and the Greek system really comes out in full force! Spring for Eta Nu started off with the taking of our composite pictures. Later that week we all bonded over a showing of “Bridesmaids” in our wonderful Kappa Kastle. We all gathered in our cozy little room and shared a night of fun and laughter. A week later, we had the pleasure of hosting our LC, Kristi Watts, for the second time. Our Chapter loved spending the week with Kristie through ice cream dates, country concerts, and movie marathons! That weekend Eta Nu had the pleasure of attending Pi Province. Many of our sisters attended and had the opportunity to experience one of the great opportunities we have to get to know our sisters in our area. Eta Nu was so excited to receive two awards: Standards Award and Most Improved Academics Award. We were the only Chapter to receive two awards, proving to be a very proud moment for us as a Chapter!

It was a great day filled with fun memories for all! Later that week, our Chapter was surprised with an America Themed Date Dash! What we thought would be a workshop, quickly turned into girls scrambling around, finding a date, and pulling out our red, white, and blue! Sisterhood for Eta Nu continued as we gathered in the “Rose Gardens” for a day of fun activities and bonding. Our sisters love being outdoors and enjoying the sunshine in the Spring. That week Eta Nu celebrated with our Spring Semi-Formal- Kappa Kaliente. It is always a wonderful to dance the night away with our sisters. To end the night, the juniors, sophomores, and freshmen sent the seniors off in style with a VERY enthusiastic O-Pat. We were sorry to see them graduate in June, but very excited to see how they continue to stay apart of Kappa in the future! We were very busy that week as our big philanthropy event, Kappa Karnival, was that Saturday. The day was perfect weather to walk around the carnival-like events and eat popcorn, snow-cones, and cotton-candy. We were very proud to raise over $1600! Sororities, Fraternities, and other organizations love to participate in our philanthropy events, as we do in theirs! Spring is filled with many Philanthropy events for our Greek System. Kappa Alpha Theta’s philanthropy, Theta Dodgeball, allows Eta Nu to demonstrate our enthusiastic athletic ability!

In keeping with Philanthropic support, Kappa had multiple teams participate in Sigma Chi’s “Derby Days.” The week was filled with exciting events, followed by a fashion show in which our Kappa Seniors dressed up as various board games and stole the show! Next, Kappa supported Sigma Pi’s philanthropy by participating in an all day beach volleyball event. We all loved having some fun in the sun while supporting a great cause! As Spring is always filled with many philanthropy events, Greek Awards are hosted to reward all of our hard work as a Panhellenic Association. Eta Nu was honored to receive Outstanding Chapter Development and Outstanding Philanthropic Commitment. Every year we look forward to these awards as they acknowledge all the hard work or our Greek community! As the quarter came to a close, the seniors celebrated their wonderful memories in Kappa Kappa Gamma by having a Senior Brunch and Tea. The seniors had a chance to gather together and reflect on how special their experience has been in Kappa thus far.

As always, Fall Quarter began with a multitude of recruitment practices leading up to a heavily anticipated Fall Recruitment! Our quarter started off with an exciting date dash with the theme “Opposites Attract.” It was so fun to see our sisters get creative and come up with silly costumes for the evening! Our Quarter continued with a visit from our LC, Page Tompkins. We loved getting to know Page and were so lucky to have her with us during our week leading up to Recruitment! Our hard work and passion throughout Recruitment proved to pay off when we received a fantastic Eta class of 46 members! We could not have asked for a better group of girls to accept into our family after a fun-filled night of bowling during Bid-Day and everyone wore our adorable Recruitment/Bid Day Shirts. The New Member program began shortly after and continued throughout the fall quarter.

Soon after Bid Day, Eta Nu gathered to celebrate our Founder’s Day. We celebrated at our beautiful house with brunch, bonding, and learning for all! That week, our sisters gathered with Sigma Chi and had our second annual Powderpuff Football Game. The week was filled with fun activities such as our team draft, Thanksgiving Dinner, and intense practices all leading up to the big game Saturday. The day was filled with enthusiasm and fun for all, but the best part was that throughout this process we were able to collect school supplies to send to a school in the Philippines.

Philanthropy continued with visits to Project Open-Hands, a local philanthropy that serves meals to the homeless. Every year Eta Nu loves going back and supporting this organization. That week, Eta Nu was surprised with a Sisterhood to Sky High! This was a wonderful night filled with jumping on trampolines, intense games of dodgeball, and chances to catch up with new and active members. Eta Nu LOVED our visit to Sky High and hope to go again in the future! Our quarter continued with our Fall Semi Dance- When In Rome. The girls loved the venue, food, and dancing. Semi dances are always a favorite memory for Eta Nu! This took us to Thanksgiving break and followed with one of the most anticipated weeks of the year…Big Little Week!! As always, this week is filled with presents, surprises, sweat, tears, and QUITE a few late nights. It went off without a hitch and all the families welcomed their new addition to the clan with an array of silly outfits and surprises. We are glad everyone was able to participate and share in one of the best nights of the year!

Eta Nu is located approximately one block from Santa Clara University's campus. Our chapter house is home to 18 girls and our housemother and is a welcoming home for all our sisters. While we are only associated with the city of Santa Clara, all our members attend Santa Clara University. Santa Clara University is located in Santa Clara, California where palm trees and flowers cover the campus. The campus is extremely picturesque and has over 5,000 undergraduate students as well as an additional 3,000 graduate students. Undergraduate students are in one of three schools: The College of Arts and Sciences, the Leavey School of Business, or the The School of Engineering. Additionally for graduate students there is a school of Law and the Counseling Psychology, Education, and Pastoral Ministries program. Students have an array of 44 majors to pick from as well as many other minors. Santa Clara University is continually growing and improving their academic reputation. There was construction along our front drive leading up to the mission and now it is a pedestrian walkway with a gorgeous fountain in front. Our campus continues to improve itself and rise in rankings not only among the most beautiful campuses across the nation but as well as academically.

==Highlights of 2014==

2014 was an outstanding year for the Santa Clara Kappa Kappa Gamma Eta Nu Chapter! Eta Nu remains to stay active in all possible philanthropy events and our Santa Clara community. Eta Nu Kappas participate in various school leadership positions and continue to be involved in a variety of organizations and clubs on campus. We are so proud of everything we have accomplished this past year and only hope to grow and succeed in the years to come!

Our Winter Quarter began quickly with Initiation Week. This week is very special to our Chapter as it gives us the chance to catch up with our sisters who have returned from study abroad. Our Eta Nu family is together again and we can focus on what Kappa means to each of us. Activities during the week ranged from decorating badge boxes to family dinners and movie nights. For the third year in a row, Initiation took place at the University of California, Berkeley house. The weekend began with Fireside on Friday night followed by Initiation on Saturday morning. Many family members of actives and new members were able to attend, making it very special for our Chapter. Eta Nu was very excited to initiate 44 young women into our sisterhood.

Winter quarter continued with officer elections and transitions. As always, the Nominating Committee spends a lot of time and effort in considering the next future leaders of the chapter. We could not be happier with the group of women that came together to lead Eta Nu through another successful year. Keeping busy in our community, our girls did some fantastic dancing in support of Alpha Phi’s “Star Search.” Eta Nu proudly supports philanthropy events through our participation and donations. Eta Nu was very excited to hold our Second Annual “Kappa Karaoke” event. Eta Nu raised over $600 for the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation! We had a great response from our community in support of the event. Everyone had so much fun at the event and we look forward to more successful years of Karaoke.

For our Winter Sisterhood Event, Eta Nu came together and made Valentine’s Day cards for members in our chapter. Each member was assigned another member at random and hand made a cute card for the girl. Not only was the day filled with crafts and fun, but we had Chipotle to feed our hungry stomachs! The following week Eta Nu celebrated with our annual Sapphire Ball Formal Dance. This is a favorite event for Eta Nu as it gives us all the chance to come together and have a wonderful evening of fun and dancing.

For Parents’ Weekend, Eta Nu held an open house reception for girls to show their parents our house and what “being a kappa” means to them. A variety of t-shirts, photos, and food were on display to welcome our parents. As always, our “KKG” letters were placed outside the house for our sisters and parents to take pictures together!

Every year our Chapter looks forward to visiting local elementary schools in support of Reading is Fundamental. In 2014, we had a huge turn out of girls who wanted to participate in the event. As always, Eta Nu goes on Dr. Seuss Day! This is such a fun way to be creative and silly with the children. This year we were thrilled to be able to supply every child with 2 books! Our Chapter Council was excited to make a team for Delta Gamma’s Philanthropy Event, Anchor Slam (a basketball tournament). We were even more excited when our girls won the entire event and brought home a winning plaque to hang in our living room!

As our quarter came to a close, our Academic Excellence VP kept us all in check by putting a strong emphasis on Academic Excellence Month. Academics stayed on our minds through the various events planned for us. From ice cream to guest speakers, Eta Nu was happy to talk about how to better our academics and achievements!

Spring quarter is always a busy, yet fun time for Eta Nu! The sun is shining in beautiful Santa Clara and many philanthropy events take place! Spring for Eta Nu started off with the taking of our composite pictures. Later that week a few girls from our Chapter traveled and helped with Princess Project. This event gives high school girls the opportunity to pick out prom dresses and accessories. Eta Nu always looks forward to attending this event and helping the girls look beautiful. That same day, other Kappas were busy supporting Alpha Delta Pi’s Philanthropy Event, Country Club Cup. It was a beautiful Spring day filled with fun, laughter and country club games.

A few weeks later, we had the pleasure of hosting our LC, Page, for the second time. Our Chapter loved spending the week with Page. Soon after, Eta Nu celebrated together with our Spring Fling Semi Dance. It is always a wonderful event to dance the night away with our sisters. To end the night, the juniors, sophomores, and freshmen sent the seniors off in style with a very enthusiastic O-Pat. We were sorry to see them graduate in June, but very excited to see how they continue to stay apart of Kappa in the future! We were very busy that week as our big philanthropy event, Kappa Karnival, was that Saturday. The day was perfect weather to walk around the carnival-like events and eat popcorn, snow-cones, and cotton-candy. We were very proud to raise $6,367 for Lymelight Foundation! The Lymelight Foundation is very close to Eta Nu’s heart as it was founded by one of our member’s family who suffers from Lymes disease. Sororities, Fraternities, and other organizations love to participate in our philanthropy events, as we do in theirs!

Spring is filled with many Philanthropy events for our Greek System. Kappa Alpha Theta’s philanthropy, Theta Dodgeball, allows Eta Nu to demonstrate our enthusiastic athletic ability! In keeping with Philanthropic support, Kappa had multiple teams participate in Sigma Chi’s “Derby Days.” The week consisted of various events ranging from a can drive, fashion show and sing off. We were so happy as our Junior Team won the weeks events! Next, Kappa supported Sigma Pi’s philanthropy by participating in an all day beach volleyball event. We all loved having some fun in the sun while supporting a great cause.

Later that Spring, Greek Awards are hosted to reward all of our hard work as a Panhellenic Association. Eta Nu was happy to receive The Outstanding Scholarship Award. Some of our members won individual awards such as the Outstanding New Member Award, Greek Scholar Award, Spirit of Service Award, and Panhellenic Award of Distinction. Every year we look forward to these awards as they acknowledge all the hard work of our members and Greek community! As the quarter came to a close, the seniors celebrated their wonderful memories in Kappa Kappa Gamma by having a Senior Brunch and Tea. The seniors had a last chance to gather together and reflect on how special their experience in Kappa has been thus far.

As always, Fall Quarter began with a multitude of recruitment practices leading up to a heavily anticipated Fall Recruitment! Chapter Morale started high as our President announced we received honorable mention for Recruitment and won the Gracious Living Award at Convention 2014! Our Chapter was very excited to be recognized for our hard work and we only hope to continue to grow and live up to our full potential. We were so excited to welcome our LC, Whitney, into our house. From beach adventures, movie time and talking about Kappa, we loved getting to know Whitney. We had such a fun week with Whitney and hope she comes back for a visit with us soon!

Our hard work and passion throughout Recruitment proved to pay off when we received a fantastic Theta class of 48 members! We were beyond thrilled to welcome such a genuine, thoughtful and fun-loving pledge class into our family. We all celebrated with a fun-filled night of Bid-Day bowling. Our Bid Day Theme was “Only the Best Get Picked.” Everyone wore our adorable Recruitment/Bid Day Shirts and flower headbands. The New Member program began shortly after and continued throughout the fall quarter.

Soon after Bid Day, Eta Nu gathered to celebrate our Founder’s Day. We celebrated at a Kappa Alumni’s beautiful house with brunch, bonding, and learning for all. The following weekend, Eta Nu was thrilled to have our very first New Member Presentations. The day was filled with breakfast treats, family, friends, and recognizing each individual member of our Theta Class. This is a tradition Eta Nu looks forward to continuing in the future!

Soon after, our sisters gathered with Sigma Chi and had our third annual Powderpuff Football Game. The week was filled with fun activities such as our team draft, Thanksgiving Dinner, and intense practices all leading up to the big game Saturday. The day was filled with enthusiasm and fun for all, but the best part was that throughout this process we were able to donate toiletries and diapers to Next Door, a women’s shelter. Philanthropy continued with a visit to Milpitas Food Bank, a local philanthropy that serves meals to the residents of Milpitas.

Later that week, our New Member Chairman held our annual New Member Retreat. The girls engaged in group-bonding exercises where the Theta class was grouped off and asked to brainstorm what Kappa means to them and then shared their answers with their class. All in all, the retreat served as a bonding opportunity between the Theta class members and was a very successful event. The quarter continued with our Fall Semi Dance- Fall Ball. The girls loved the venue, food, and dancing. Semi dances are always a fun night for the ladies of Eta Nu.

This took us to Thanksgiving break and followed with our last week before Christmas break. Eta Nu was surprised at Chapter with a Christmas Cookie Decorating Sisterhood! It was so fun to see everyone in their Christmas gear and share our holiday cheer before Christmas Break. We took a Chapter Christmas card photo that was sent to all our family and friends! As always, the last week of Fall Quarter is also Big Little Week! This week is filled with presents, surprises, sweat, laughs, tears, and many late nights for the big sisters. The week was great and all the families welcomed their new addition to the clan with an array of silly outfits and surprises. We are glad everyone was able to participate and share in one of the best nights of the year!

Most of the changes Eta Nu Chapter has experienced in the past year has been due to shifts in The Panhellenic Council. Since we are not affiliated with Santa Clara University, our community relies heavily on this council to manage our Greek community. Over the last year, Panhellenic Council went from having one advisor to having two new advisors. Furthermore, Panhellenic Council has changed the way the council positions are elected. Positions are now elected by an annual rotating system amongst sororities, with Panhellenic President and VP Recruitment elected by the Panhellenic Council itself. We hope that these changes will help Panhellenic Council to become more efficient and successful in the future.

Eta Nu Chapter would be described as a group of genuine, educated, and passionate young women. We constantly thrive to better ourselves and our community through chapter education, community outreach, and sisterhood bonding. Our Chapter values taking care of one another and looking out for the best interest of our members. We value and appreciate the differences between one another. We hold true the importance of our sisterhood and care we have for one another. We are a strong group of young women that strive to continuously push ourselves and reach our full potential.

Our chapter meetings take place in a rented facility, The American Legion, about 5 minutes away from our chapter house. Eta Nu has lived in our beautiful house for the past 5 years. All members have the opportunity to live in the house. We rent our house from a local realty company, Real Source Property Management. 18 sisters can live in the house at a time. Our chapter has always lived in the same house.

==Highlights of 2015==

Santa Clara Kappa Kappa Gamma Eta Nu Chapter had an excellent year in 2015! Eta Nu Kappas continue to
participate in various school leadership positions and stay involved in a variety of organizations and clubs on campus. Eta Nu remains to be active in all possible philanthropy events and in our Santa Clara community. We are very proud of everything we have accomplished this past year and only hope to grow and excel in the coming years!

Winter Quarter started off strong with Initiation Week. This week is very special to our Chapter because it gives us a chance to connect with our Kappa sisters and values. It also allows us to catch up with our sisters who have returned from their study abroad adventures. Having our Eta Nu family together again reminds us of the important role Kappa plays in each of our lives. Activities during the week range from an ice skating sisterhood event to family dinners and a ceremony for the return of the New Member pin. For the fourth year in a row, Initiation was held at the University of California, Berkeley house. The weekend started with Fireside on Friday night followed by Initiation on Saturday morning. Family members of actives and new members were able to attend, making it very special for our Chapter. Eta Nu was very happy to initiate 48 young women into our sisterhood. Winter quarter continued quickly with officer elections and transitions. As always, the Nominating Committee spent a lot of time and effort in considering the next future leaders of the chapter. We could not be more pleased with the group of women that have come together to lead Eta Nu through another strong year as a chapter. Keeping active in the Santa Clara Greek Community, our members showcased some fantastic dance moves in support of Alpha Phi’s “Star Search.” Eta Nu proudly supports other philanthropy events through our participation and donations. Eta Nu celebrated our successful quarter with our annual Sapphire Ball Formal Dance. This is a favorite event for Eta Nu as it gives us all a chance to come together and have a wonderful evening of fun along with lots of singing and dancing. The following week Eta Nu was very excited to hold our Second Annual “Kappa Karaoke” event in which other
students create teams and perform. Eta Nu raised over $1,200 for the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation! We had a great response from our community in support of the event. Everyone had so much fun at the event, we look forward to our future events held for the foundation. For Parents’ Weekend, Eta Nu held an open house reception for girls to show their parents our house and what “being a kappa” means to them. A variety of t-shirts, photos, and food were on display to welcome our parents. As always, our “KKG” letters were placed outside the house for our sisters and parents to take pictures together! In addition to showing off our house, we raised over $250 for books that we donated at our Reading is Fundamental event. Every year our Chapter looks forward to visiting local elementary schools in support of Reading is Fundamental. In 2015, we had a huge showing of girls who wanted to participate in the event. As always, Eta Nu goes on Dr. Seuss Day! This is such a fun way to be creative and silly with the children. This year we were thrilled to be able to
supply every child with 2 books! Our chapter is looking forward to reading and playing with the children again next year! Girls from our chapter were excited to make teams for Delta Gamma’s Philanthropy Event, Anchor Slam (a basketball tournament). As our quarter came to a close, our Vice President of Academic Excellence kept us all in check by celebrating Academic Excellence Month. Academics stayed on our minds through the various events planned for us. From ice cream to guest speakers and daily study rooms, Eta Nu was happy to talk about and support the bettering of our academics and achievements!

Spring quarter continues to be a busy, yet fun time for Eta Nu! The sun is shining in beautiful Santa Clara and many philanthropy events take place! Spring for Eta Nu started off with our smiling members taking their composite pictures. A few weeks later, we were lucky enough to send some of our Chapter Council to the Regional Leadership Conference in Fresno, CA. Officers were able to talk to other Kappa’s from all over the West Coast and get ideas on how to better each chapter. We had the pleasure of driving back from our conference with our lovely LC, Riley. Our Chapter loved spending the week with Riley and enjoyed gaining new insight on how to make Eta Nu the best it can be. Soon after, Eta Nu celebrated the end of the year together with our Spring Fling Semi Dance. It is always a wonderful event to dance the night away with our sisters. To end the night, the juniors, sophomores, and freshmen sent the seniors off in style with a very enthusiastic O-Pat. We were very busy that week as our big philanthropy event, Kappa Karnival, was that Saturday. The
day had perfect weather to walk around the carnival-like events and eat pizza, snow-cones, and chicken wings. We were very proud to raise $8,738 for Lymelight Foundation! The Lymelight Foundation is very close to Eta Nu’s heart as it was founded by one of our sister’s family, as she suffers from Lymes disease. Sororities, Fraternities, and other organizations love to participate in our philanthropy events, as we do in theirs! Spring is filled with many Philanthropy events for our Greek System. Kappa Alpha Theta’s philanthropy, Theta Dodgeball, allows Eta Nu to demonstrate our enthusiastic athletic ability! In keeping with support throughout the Greek community, Kappa had multiple teams participate in Sigma Chi’s “Derby Days.” The week consisted of various events ranging from a can drive, fashion show and sing off. Next, Kappa supported Sigma Pi’s philanthropy by participating in an all day beach volleyball tournament. We all loved having some fun in the sun while supporting a great cause. Later that Spring, Greek Awards were hosted to reward all of our hard work
as a Panhellenic Association. Eta Nu was happy to receive awards for outstanding scholarship, outstanding new member education, and outstanding sisterhood. Every year we look forward to these awards as they acknowledge all the hard work of our members and Greek community! As the quarter and academic year came to a close, the seniors celebrated their wonderful memories in Kappa Kappa Gamma by having a Senior Brunch and Tea. The seniors had a last chance to gather together and reflect on how special their experience in Kappa has been thus far. We were sorry to see them graduate in June, but very excited to see how they continue to stay apart of Kappa in the future!

After a long summer, Fall Quarter began with a multitude of recruitment practices leading up to a heavily
anticipated Fall Recruitment! Chapter Morale was high after a fun week filled with bonding activities in preparation for recruitment. We were so excited to welcome our LC, Whitney, into our house. From park adventures, movie time and talking about our Kappa experiences, we loved getting to know Whitney. We had such a fun week and hope Whitney comes back for a visit with Eta Nu soon! Sisterhood day of recruitment was a themed day and our chapter wore lavender and white outfits. The backyard was decorated in lavender, white, and grey decorations. We had 325 PNMs come to Kappa that day. The next day was Philanthropy Day, and we were allowed to invite back 198 PNMs. The second day we wore different shades of blue dresses and made Dr. Seuss decorations for the backyard. Our assistant philanthropy chairman and a fellow junior gave a presentation to the PNMs about the different philanthropies we help. The next night was Preference Night and we had 98 girls come back to our house.

The actives wore navy dresses and the theme was "A Golden Opportunity" so there were plenty of gold and glittery decorations in the backyard. We read surprise letters to the actives and made a toast to Kappa--it was a really lovely night. Our hard work and passion throughout Recruitment proved to pay off when we received a fantastic Iota class of 52 members! We were beyond thrilled to welcome such an involved, gracious and cheerful pledge class into our family. We all celebrated with a fun-filled night of Bid-Day bowling. Our Bid Day Theme was “Kappily Ever After.” Everyone wore our adorable Recruitment/Bid Day Shirts and all sorts of girly tutu’s and tiaras. The New Member program began shortly after and continued throughout the fall quarter. Soon after Bid Day, Eta Nu gathered to celebrate our Founder’s Day. We celebrated at our house with brunch, bonding, and Kappa trivia bingo! Soon after, our sisters gathered with Sigma Chi and had our fourth annual Powderpuff Football Game. The week was filled with fun activities such as our team draft, Thanksgiving Dinner, and intense practices all leading up to the big game Saturday. The day was filled with enthusiasm and fun for all, but the best part was that throughout this process we were able raise money and donate to RIF and the Julian Street Inn, a homeless shelter. Later that week, our New Member Chairman held our annual New Member Retreat. The girls engaged in group-bonding exercises where the Iota class was grouped off and asked to brainstorm what Kappa means to them and then shared their answers with their class. They also made an adorable introductory video that was sent to all of the girls studying abroad so that they can start to learn the names of all the new Kappa’s!

All in all, the retreat served as a bonding opportunity between the Iota class members and was a very successful event. The quarter continued with our Fall Semi Dance- Fall Ball. The girls loved the venue, food, and dancing. Semi dances are always a fun night for the ladies of Eta Nu. This took us to Thanksgiving break and followed with our last week before Christmas break. As always, the last week of Fall Quarter is also Big Little Week! Most Bigs spent their breaks excitedly crafting away for the new members of their Kappa families. This week is filled with presents,surprises, sweat, laughs, tears, and many late nights for the big sisters. The week was great and all the families welcomed their new addition to the clan with an array of silly outfits and surprises. We are glad everyone was able to participate and share in one of the best nights of the year! We are very proud of the successful year Eta Nu had and cannot wait to see what will come in 2016!

Most of the changes that Eta Nu has encountered in the past year have been due to adjusting to the new
Panhellenic Council. Greek life is not affiliated with Santa Clara University, so we rely heavily on the
direction from our Panhellenic Council to manage the greek community. Eta Nu had three representatives
on the Panhellenic Council this past year: Panhellenic Treasurer, Secretary, and our Panhellenic Delegate.
With the advocacy of these members, Kappa Kappa Gamma continues to be as well informed as we can be about upcoming events and happenings.

The women of Eta Nu can best be described as caring, genuine, academic, personable, and involved individuals. We emphasize the importance of bettering ourselves individually and as a chapter through our community involvement, chapter education, and sisterhood bonding. Our chapter never fails to take care of one another and look out for the best interest of each member. We value and support the differences between each other. It is important for us to hold true to our sisterhood and care that we have for each and every member. Eta Nu is a group of strong women that strive to support each other in order to reach our full potential.

'''Chapter Philanthropy:'''

The organization in our community that Eta Nu supports is the Lymelight Foundation. This
organization raises money to provide grants children in order for them to receive proper
treatment, as well as raise awareness. The reason Eta Nu chose this organization is because it
was founded by one of our sister’s family, as she suffers from Lymes disease. As a Chapter we
wanted to show our support for our sister and her family as they strived to help others who
suffered from this disease. To raise money for Lymelight Foundation, Eta Nu hosts our
annual Kappa Karnival during Spring Quarter. This past Spring we were able to raise $8,738
for Lymelight! We also show our continuous support to the Kappa Kappa Gamma
Foundation and to Reading is Fundamental. In order to raise money for Kappa Kappa
Gamma Foundation, we host Kappa Karaoke in Winter Quarter. Eta Nu was proudly able to
raise $1,224 for the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation! Our main form of donation for RIF
is donating books to a local schools. Eta Nu’s favorite event in supporting RIF is when our
sisters have the opportunity to visit Briarwood Elementary School on Dr. Seuss Day. In
preparation for this event we had sisters and their parents donate books at our Open House
during Parents’ Weekend. Our Chapter collected a total of 65 new books for this event and
raised $255 for RIF! On this day we read to kids in three different classrooms, do Cat in the
Hat crafts, and this year we were able to send each child home with 2 books! Eta Nu is very
proud for all of the hard work that we put in to raise money for our organizations!
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==Highlights of 2016==
Eta Nu started off 2016 strong with an academic and event-filled quarter. “I-week,” or initiation week, was held the first week back to campus where the older girls prepared for the upcoming rituals of initiation and the new member class bonded together decorating their pin boxes and spending time with their families. At Santa Clara, we are in a unique position where most of our juniors go abroad during fall quarter—we had 23 out of 35 members of our Eta class studying outside the U.S. in 2015! They were welcomed back with open arms and were thrilled to meet the new “littles” of their families. Per initiation tradition, the Eta Nu chapter traveled to the Kappa Kappa Gamma house at UC Berkeley on a Friday afternoon to host Fireside the night before initiation. The newest pledge class had a night full of bonding and after a short sleep, got initiated alongside their other Eta Nu sisters and Kappa family members who made the trip to Berkeley to celebrate with their loved ones. On the rainy morning of January 9, 2016, 51 new members were welcomed into our lovely chapter.

During I-week, our chapter hosted a philanthropic sisterhood event where we made fleece tie blankets for a local children’s hospital in support of Project Linus. It was a great opportunity to relax and spend some time catching up with each other after a long winter break while supporting our community.
January continued with nominating and appointing new Council members where we were reminded how lucky we are to have such hardworking and dedicated sisters working behind the scenes to make our chapter as successful as it is.

Moving on and making a change from the previous winter philanthropy, Kappa Karaoke, Eta Nu had held in past years, we were pleased to introduce Kappa Kakes: a breakfast for dinner, Valentine’s Day themed event. Hundreds of pancakes and pounds upon pounds of bacon later, our redesigned fundraiser raised $900 for both the Kappa Foundation and Reading is Fundamental. This was a huge success for our chapter as it demonstrated the strong philanthropic passion we have and our ability to be innovative with our events. While the event itself only lasted two hours, many hours of prep work were key to its success. February also celebrated our chapter’s academic excellence and newly awarded title of highest Panhellenic GPA for the 6th quarter in a row! As February was nearing an end, our Sapphire Ball formal was held on the 24th. Taking place at the Corinthian Grand Ballroom in downtown San Jose, Eta Nu danced the night away, taking breaks to gobble up the delicious food and enjoy the lovely venue. The last weekend of February was Santa Clara Family weekend—the perfect weekend to host our New Initiate Presents. Visiting parents were introduced to the Kappa Kastle and gained insight to the bond between the newest set of bigs and littles in the chapter. With posters sharing fun Kappa memories and an introduction to GIRLS Academy, family members saw what KKG is all about and helped us raise a majority of our donation goal of $2500 for GIRLS Academy.

A final event in winter quarter was reading to children for Dr. Seuss day at a local elementary school, Briarwood. We had 14 girls from our chapter go in the middle of the day during their busy week to read to and spend time with 60 students, guaranteeing each had a book to take home. As the quarter came to a close, our academic committee continued to support our studies with frequent library study rooms and snacks to get us through the finals grind.

Another key success from winter quarter was how quickly we filled the house. With the newly appointed house chairman available to answer questions and discuss the option of living in, the house was full by the end of February! For the 2016-2017 year Kappa has 19 girls in the Kastle. We also learned a couple weeks after the quarter was over that Eta Nu had, once again, earned the highest GPA in the Panhellenic community-7 quarters in a row!

Spring quarter started off busy with a visit from our first Leadership Consultant of the year, Sarah, from April 3-8. Council members, Kappa Kastle live-ins, and other Eta Nu members welcomed her to our campus with frequent lunch and dinner dates and the occasional workout class. At the end, council worked together to evaluate her visit according to her helpfulness to the chapter and council as well as her values of inspiration and friendliness. We were pleased and flattered with the compliments she gave Eta Nu in regards to our organization, professionalism, and overall chapter unity- qualities we pride ourselves in. Sarah gave council members a unique closing activity where each position was given both compliments and advice from fellow members to help her with her roles going forward. Following the LC visit, our Spring Sisterhood event came up quickly on April 10th. While we indulged in Kara’s cupcakes, a couple girls shared personal stories about themselves and their families, thereby encouraging smaller table discussions that promoted trust, friendship, and deep communication.

Alongside the other Panhellenic chapters at Santa Clara, Eta Nu was happy to participate in a Panhellenic baseball game competition where we tried to get the most members to go support the Broncos. In terms of more official business, we got our budget approved after earlier versions showed incomplete House Board costs. Our treasurer and her advisor worked tirelessly to get those done. On campus, Kappa also had a Relay for Life team April 16-17th and multiple Kappa’s worked as team leaders and leaders on the organization board of the program! April continued to be jam-packed with a Spring Recruitment Workshop to prepare girls with expectations in terms of time commitments and responsibilities as well as recruitment outfit information. Our recruitment chair also implemented recruitment committees this year, such as “craft” and “house,” to motivate girls to work on what they truly cared about, and this workshop gave us all the opportunity to rank how we would like to spend our work week and recruitment practice. This year, Panhellenic was striving for a “values-based” recruitment, and it was helpful to get a presentation on how to (not) interact with potential new members during the first weeks of school and how to promote a “go greek!” attitude.

On May 2nd, the Santa Clara Panhellenic community hosted the Greek Awards in downtown Campbell, and Eta Nu was honored to not only have handfuls of seniors recognized for their high honors, but also for our chapter awards of Outstanding New Member Education and Outstanding Scholarship. The night was a great way to see the other houses and recognize achievements from all Panhellenic chapters.

Our annual Spring Fling dance was held on May 4, and thus given the theme of Star Wars (may the fourth be with you!). With our newly renovated backyard full of white roses and clean fences, Eta Nu was happy to host a “Pre-Key” event full of pictures and snacks before the night began! The venue of the semi-formal was at the Loft Bar and Grill in downtown San Jose, which provided space for chatting, dancing, and fun photobooth memories. Keeping on the trend of annual traditions, Kappa Karnival was held on May 14th; it was a sunny and laughter-filled day with 141 of our actives participating. We even had our sisters from the local Kappa Kappa Gamma chapter at UC Santa Cruz, Eta Mu, come join us for the day! Some of the games of the day included a sack race, find the bubble gum in the whipped cream, tug-of war, and a bouncy house relay race. As Karnival is the philanthropy that Eta Nu chooses where to donate the money, we continued to support LymeLight for our graduated Eta Nu sister Sarah Bedford who had Lyme disease herself and whose family co-founded The LymeLight Foundation. Teams from all around campus, such as orientation leaders, dorm groups, and other Panhellenic chapters, came out to support us and our philanthropy and made it a truly wonderful day. In the end, $5000 was raised, which is a tremendous accomplishment.

Nearing the end of the quarter, on Week 8 Kappa Kappa Gamma and Sigma Pi got “married” for wedding week. With a fun rehearsal barbeque before the official wedding on Friday, May 20, our chapter was able to destress before the final stretch of the year and spend time with another Greek organization.

Spring came to a close with our wise owls keeping busy in study rooms organized by our VP of Academic Excellence and her committee. With a raffle incentive to win prizes for attending these study rooms, Eta Nu worked to motivate girls to keep a focus on their academics while supporting their fellow sisters who were doing the same. All the studying paid off with our 8th quarter in a row of the highest GPA within the Panhellenic community at Santa Clara. The Standards Committee also helped to reduce stress by invited a Kappa Alum and Advisor to host a fitness class after chapter. We left for summer with a sense of accomplishment in all that we had accomplished the past couple months at Eta Nu and excited to see all of our sisters again for Work Week at the beginning of September!

Over the summer our Eta Nu girls stayed happy and busy. With some sisters studying abroad in locations such as Copenhagen and London and other girls working with internships, it is clear that the driven spirit of Kappa stayed strong. At the biennial Kappa Kappa Gamma convention, Eta Nu was extremely honored to have been given the award for “Outstanding New Member Programming” as well as honorable mentions in finance and academic excellence! We understand the rarity of receiving these awards, and could not be prouder of our chapter.

On September 12, Work Week began one week before classes, per tradition, to help our chapter prepare for recruitment before the craziness of the school year. The house was buzzing with chatter of summer activities and how good it was to be back as we worked on crafts, learned the songs, and got the low-down on voting procedures. For sisterhood, the girls all went to Santa Cruz and enjoyed a day at the beach with some pizza, bonding games, and lots of picture-taking. Everyone was reminded how much recruitment truly is a team effort.

As the school year started, our chapter met up a couple times a week to reinforce songs, learn the dance for our mash-up song on Sisterhood day, as well as finalize the crafts for each day of recruitment. Our Marshall also led important voting workshops to make sure everyone—particularly the Iota class who had not been through recruitment before—understood and felt comfortable with the procedures. The two weeks until recruitment flew by, and before we knew it the active members were wearing their peach and white outfits, singing “rah rah for kappa” for over 300 girls who came to the house on Sisterhood Day. All the girls who had previously done recruitment served as mentors for the Iota class during the different parties and during voting. After day one, we were seeing tons of excitement from our members who were ready to meet more girls at Philanthropy Day and get to know some girls better on Preference Night. Philanthropy Day, as always, was centered around the main Kappa philanthropy, RIF, or Reading Is Fundamental. The house was decked out in Dr. Seuss day decorations, including a poster with the phrase “one fish, two fish, blue and blue fish,” which promoted our lovely colors blue and blue. The goldfish that acted as our centerpieces for they day were happily taken in as pets by some of our sisters.
On Pref Night we were thrilled to see familiar faces walking back up to the Kappa Kastle, and the night was full of smiles, laughs, and emotions. Per tradition, active members had the opportunity to write letters to their sisters that they then surprised during the Pref Night ceremony. At the first of the two parties, we had four girls who wrote a letter to our very own Recruitment Chair, as well as other letters from Kappa families and friendships.

The next day, with all of our actives all dressed up in our “new bids on the block” bid day theme, Eta Nu welcomed 51 excited new members as they ran down Lafayette Street to the little yellow house on the corner! It was also great to have our recruitment counselors back after their hard work with Panhellenic over the previous couple weeks. Carrying balloons and customized fleur-de-lis, many actives picked up a bid day buddy to make sure each new member felt immediately welcomed into the chapter. With pizza, Krispy Kreme doughnuts, and a “swag station” full of glitter and flash tattoos, we got to know our new members as we danced and chatted in the backyard. Soon, we were off to Sky High, an indoor trampoline venue, where it was clear that friendships were already forming.

Our second Leadership Consultant of the year, Hannah, flew in late the night of October 2nd during Philanthropy voting. Although the chapter was particularly busy with recruitment as well as midterms, each council member had the chance to talk with Hannah about her position. For her wrap-up, Hannah gave us a brief presentation about the new fraternity organizational structure and who to contact with questions or concerns for our position and/or district.
As always, during the weeks after Bid Day, New Members were able to get oriented to each aspect of the chapter, whether that be finances or the chapter history, through our weekly Sunday afternoon meetings at the house. An additional sisterhood movie night was put on by Standards to encourage new members and actives to bond in the backyard on a Thursday night. All the new member programming gave the girls the chance to get their questions answered and get to know each other even better.
Founders’ Day fell on a rainy Sunday, October 15 this year, just two days after the 146th anniversary of Kappa Kappa Gamma. Even though the weather wasn’t on our side, we were pleased to welcome local alumnae into our house for a fun brunch and brief ritual. Having just pledged 51 new members, this was a great opportunity for the different chapter classes to mix and for the new members to have a glimpse into our fraternity history.

Our infamous fall powder-puff football philanthropy event, Kappa Chi Classic, proved to be a huge success this year. One of our Eta class members suggested that the philanthropy support Comedor Milagro de Jesus in El Salvador. After studying abroad in El Salvador and working in the community of Tepecoyo with Angelica, she had witnessed Angelica open up her home to feed 25 malnourished children from the community every day. Angelica keeps up this service based solely through donations and her own money. Through a Tilt page, Eta Nu and our friends and family contributed $1550 in just a couple weeks! Kappa Chi also held a “penny wars” drive between Kappa Kappa Gamma and Sigma Chi, raising over $2000 total The week of the event held a draft on Wednesday to get the teams together and excited, a potluck dinner on Friday night, and a day-long flag-football tournament at a Marsalli park. It was a great opportunity for girls to bond with each other, particularly the new members meeting other girls.

Right after Kappa Chi, Big Little week was upon us! Trying to keep their identities a secret, the bigs decorated their littles doors, treated them to desserts and flowers and then two nights of baskets- the first with a “girls night in” theme and the second a classic “all out Kappa” basket! Reveal night was full of tangible excitement and lots of laughs, smiles and pictures. We broke out for dinner in our families so the Kappa class could get to know their bigs as well as grand-bigs and great-grand-bigs.

The final stretch of the fall quarter was just as busy as the rest of it. Eta Nu slated and voted on a new Philanthropy chair to finish out the term on October 31. Organized by our VPS, on November 10th, there was an optional trip to the clothing store Brandy Melville for the chapter to receive 25% off all purchases and spend more time with their Kappa families. On the weekend of November 12 and 13, the Eta Nu chapter and the Pi Deuteron chapter at UC Berkeley, hosted GIRLS Academy at the middle school right down the street from Kappa, Buscher Middle School. Spearheaded by our dedicated GIRLS Academy chairman, preparation work for GIRLS Academy started last fall after we were one of 8 chapters across the country to be elected to host such an incredible event. GIRLS Academy relies on the support of alumni groups, the individual chapters hosting it, as well as the support of the children and faculty at the middle school. The weekend is structured to include small group discussions about topics such as body image and time management, as well as a movie night, and graduation ceremony on Sunday.

Our annual Fall Ball was held on November 16th at Flames, a restaurant venue in downtown San Jose. It was held the week before Thanksgiving break, giving the chapter the chance to relieve some academic stress and spend time with their friends. The theme of our pre-key was “How Sweet It Is,” and cute photobooth stations and snacks were set up for girls to take pictures and mingle before loading the buses for the night.

Winter quarter came to a close as we studied for finals and squeezed in time to spend with our sisters before our long, four week winter break. Overall, 2016 was an amazing year for Eta Nu, and we look forward to what 2017 will bring!

== Highlights of 2017 ==
In January 2017, Eta Nu started off strong with an academic and event-filled quarter. “I-week,” or Inspiration Period, was held the first week back to campus where the older girls prepared for the upcoming rituals of initiation and the new member class bonded together and spent time with their families. The sisterhood activity during I-week was a workout class that was held at the American Legion. At Santa Clara, we are in a unique position where most of our juniors go abroad during fall quarter—we had 28 members of our Theta class studying outside the U.S. in the fall of 2016, and they returned to campus in January. The Eta Nu chapter traveled to the Kappa Kappa Gamma house at UC Berkeley on a Friday late afternoon to host Fireside the night before initiation. Everyone traveled on busses all together for the first time. The new pledge class had a night filled with bonding, and the next morning they got initiated alongside their other Eta Nu sisters and Kappa family members who made the trip to Berkeley to celebrate with their loved ones. On January 14, 2017, 49 new members were welcomed into the Eta Nu chapter. The chapter elected a new council with only two returning council members, so there were lots of fresh faces and new ideas, which made for an enthusiastic group.

In February, pledge classes participated in Alpha Phi’s Star Search philanthropy. Moving on and making a change from the previous winter philanthropy, Kappa Kakes, we were pleased to introduce a new philanthropy Cooking with Kappa, a Valentine’s Day themed spaghetti supper that was held on February 15th. The fundraiser raised $1,000 for both the Rose McGill Kappa Foundation and Reading is Fundamental though a Go Fund Me. At the end of the month, Santa Clara University hosted Family weekend. Kappa conducted the new member presents for all of the family members and held an open house on February 25th. The big sisters read letters to their littles at the New Member Presents ceremony in front of the parents and the rest of the chapter. They were touching and thoughtful. At the open house, Eta Nu hosted a Kendra Scott pop up boutique with 20% of sales benefitting RIF. February was Academic Excellence month and the VPAE gave a presentation every Monday at chapter. The presentations ranged from cover letters, resumes, interview tips to a career panel with Eta Nu alumna and other Kappas at the end of the month.

In March, Sapphire Ball took place on the 9th at the Biltmore Hotel close to campus. Committee competitions were implemented in March to motivate our members to get more involved. The committee earned points for various activities and the committee obtaining the most amount of points received a prize. Eta Nu also added song practice at the end of each chapter meeting to help improve ritual. As the quarter ended, our academic committee continued to support our studies with frequent library study rooms and snacks to get everyone through the finals grind. The chapter finished up winter quarter and embarked on spring break adventures.

In April, spring quarter started off with a visit from our first Leadership Consultant of the year, Katie, from April 2-7. Council members, Kappa Kastle live-ins, and other Eta Nu members welcomed her to our campus with frequent lunch and dinner dates and an occasional workout class. At the conclusion of her visit, council worked together to evaluate her helpfulness and advice to the chapter and council, as well as her values of inspiration and friendliness. We were pleased and flattered with the compliments she gave Eta Nu regarding to our organization, professionalism, and overall chapter unity- qualities upon which we pride ourselves. Wedding week took place the week of the 24th and Kappa “married the Sigma Pi fraternity at Santa Clara. The boys “proposed” to the chapter on Monday night and then a Barbeque and wedding ceremony followed on Wednesday and Friday.

In May, the Santa Clara Panhellenic community hosted Greek Awards in downtown Campbell and Eta Nu won the Sisterhood Award and the New Member Award. The night was a great way to see the other sorority houses and recognize achievements from all of the Panhellenic chapters. Kappa Karnival was held on May 6th. It was a sunny day with all of our actives participating and coaching teams of other Greek organizations or groups of friends. Some of the games at the carnival included a sack race, a water balloon toss, tug-of war, and a bouncy house relay race. Karnival is the philanthropy event that allows Eta Nu to choose where to donate the money raised and the chapter decided to continue to support LymeLight for their graduated Eta Nu sister, Sarah Bedford, who had Lyme disease and whose family co-founded The LymeLight Foundation. Teams from all around campus, such as orientation leaders, dorm groups, and other Panhellenic chapters, came out to support our chapter and philanthropy and made it a truly wonderful day. A total of $6,000 was raised, which is a tremendous accomplishment. Spring Fling was held on May 10th at California’s Great America, which was a fun change of venue from the prior year.
At the last chapter of the school year in June, members stuffed backpacks for children from low-income families for back to school with the remaining philanthropy budget.

During the summer, some important risk management rules changed which were helpful to Eta Nu as the chapter struggles to find chaperones with the 25+ age requirement. The house was repainted and redecorated on the inside. Finance got majority of the chapter to pay by Echeck and Eta Nu’s credit card fees decreased by $2,000.

The chapter reunited on September 11th for work week before the start of school on the 18th. For the sisterhood that week, girls carpooled to Half Moon Bay where they played Jenga, roasted s’mores, and ate pizza. During work week, the girls prepared for recruitment by crafting and learning songs. The house was completely full with 18 girls moving into the Kappa Kastle. This year was unique as 17 out of the 18 girls were in the same 2016 pledge class. Additionally, 30 out of 49 Kappas from the Iota class went abroad for fall quarter.

October started out with recruitment from September 30-October 3. The first day was Sisterhood with a Kate Spade theme, the second day was Philanthropy with a Kappa Karnival theme, and the third day was Pref night with the classic blue and gold theme. This was the first year that the Philanthropy day was Karnival themed. The chapter decided to change the theme from Dr. Seuss to Karnival to spotlight Eta Nu’s largest philanthropy event of the year. Recruitment was very successful due to great conversations that allowed girls to connect on a more personal level than in previous years. The theme of Bid day was KKG Under the Sea with mermaid and ocean decorations. Eta Nu welcomed 52 new members to the Lambda class. The entire chapter celebrated at a trampoline place called Sky High that night after having dinner at the house. Eta Nu was looking to grow as a chapter this year, so the chapter had the opportunity to host an informal continuous open bidding event in the back yard following recruitment. This was the first time Eta Nu participated in this process and it was a great success, welcoming another 4 members into the Lambda class. Lots of wild fires started in the hills near Santa Clara, so the chapter helped by donating items for families affected by the fires through the Kappa Sigma fraternity. The GPAs were reported by Panhellenic, and Eta Nu had the highest GPA out of all the sororities at Santa Clara with an average of 3.52. The chapter enjoyed going to the San Jose Sharks hockey game on October 12th for the fall sisterhood. The busy month of October continued with Founder’s Day on the 22nd. The event was held in the backyard on a sunny day with 5 alumnae in attendance. Kappa Chi, our powder-puff football philanthropy event, was held on October 27th and Eta Nu raised $1,373 for Comedor Milagro de Jesus in El Salvador.

In November, Big-Little week began during week 8 and the bigs decorated their littles’ doors, treated them to desserts and flowers and delivered two nights of baskets- the first was a “girls night in” theme and the second was a classic “all out Kappa” basket! Reveal night was held on November 10th. We broke out for dinner in our families so the Lambda class could get to know their bigs as well as grand-bigs and great-grand-bigs. This year Big-Little was funded by the chapter. The second Leadership Consultant visited Eta Nu the week of November 13th and gave the chapter and council advise on how to end the year strong. Our annual Fall Ball was held on November 15th. It was held the week before Thanksgiving break, giving the chapter the chance to relieve some academic stress and spend time with their friends. The theme of our semi-formal was “Masquerade” and girls donned fun, mysterious masks. Winter quarter came to a close as we studied for finals and squeezed in some time to spend with our sisters before our long, four-week winter break. Overall, 2017 was an amazing year for Eta Nu, and we look forward to what 2018 will bring!

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'''Highlights of the 2018:'''

Eta Nu started off the year in January with the initiation of the Lambda class. I-week was filled with fun bonding time as we reunited with our sisters who returned from studying abroad, played mini golf at a sisterhood event, and spent time with our Kappa families. Chapter elections were held right after initiation, and the previous and incoming chapter councils worked together on transitions. The chapter composite photos were taken in our house’s backyard in front of our beautiful wall of red flowers.

February continued with the installation of the new chapter council, as well as two separate philanthropy events. On Valentine’s day our chapter participated in a new event called Kappa Krush by selling and delivering roses to students across campus as a way to raise money for the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation. Later in the month, some of our sisters participated in Dr. Seuss day to celebrate Reading is Fundamental by heading over to the local middle school to read to students. We also celebrated our new initiates during new initiate presents, and opened up our house to our parents during Santa Clara’s parents’ weekend.

March brought the end of winter quarter, so our sisters spent a lot of time cramming in the library. The AE committee provided moral support through events like Pie for Pi and study snacks in the library. Sapphire ball closed out the quarter, giving all of our sisters a chance to spend time together and have fun before finals.

We returned from spring break in April, ready to finish out the schoolyear. The month was pretty calm, as our sisters adjusted to their new class schedules.

May was a packed month for us as school started to come to a close. Our social calendar was packed as we had our final semi-formal of the year and our wedding to the brothers of Tau Kappa Epsilon. Our sisters also began practicing for recruitment and got ready to say goodbye to our seniors. We ended the month by attending the Panhellenic Greek Awards, where Eta Nu won the Best Overall Chapter award.

June brought the last weeks of the year, but gave us just enough time for Kappa Karnival. The money raised at Karnival was donated to Lymelight Foundation, an organization founded by an alumnae of Eta Nu. All of our sisters’ studying paid off, as Eta Nu had the top GPA amongst the sororities at Santa Clara for spring quarter, and 22 of our sisters earned a 4.0 GPA.

June, July, and August were filled with travel, internships, and planning for recruitment. Our President and Vice President of Standards attended the Kappa Kappa Gamma convention, where Eta Nu won the Academic Excellence award. The summer ended with our sisters eager to return to school and reunite.

September began with all of our sisters returning to Santa Clara for work week, to get ready for recruitment. We spent time eating pizza at the beach in Capitola, learned Kappa songs, and practiced our conversations. Our sisters were well prepped for recruitment at the end of the month, and we had a great time meeting all of the PNMs. At the end of recruitment, we celebrated our 45 new members with a Kamp Kappa themed bid day complete with dancing, ice cream sundaes, and a grilled cheese food truck.

October was spent getting to know our new members, and spending time with our sisters. We celebrated Founder’s Day in our backyard by making keychains, talking to Alumnae, and eating brunch. The Mu class began their new member experience and began going on owl pal dates with the Lambda class. We went on a hike in the Santa Cruz mountains for a sisterhood event, and had fun playing flag football at our joint philanthropy event with the brothers of Sigma Chi.

November was filled with bonding as the Mu class had their new member retreat, and our sisters got ready for big little reveal. The Lambda class spent big little week decorating doors and dropping off baskets and treats. The month ended with Fall Ball, our first formal of the year. All of our sisters had a great time together before we left for thanksgiving break.

December was devoted to finals and getting ready for the holidays. Eta Nu earned the top GPA amongst sororities for the second quarter in a row, and 20 of our sisters earned a 4.0. Our sisters finished up the quarter and left campus for winter break. We spent a month celebrating the holidays and preparing for the initiation of our newest pledge class.

------------------------

'''Note to Chapter Registrar:'''
Please refer to your chapter archives including chapter meeting minutes and back issues of The Key to fill in any gaps in the above historical highlights. If your chapter archives are not complete, please research your university library, campus newspaper and yearbook archives for newsworthy information about your chapter. Please double check your work for accuracy. Contact chapter Advisory or House Board members, local Alumnae Association members, or your Province Director of Chapters for assistance. Your efforts will ensure a complete and accurate history of your chapter for future generations to enjoy!

Eta Mu

2019-06-18T20:20:09Z

Michellelearle: Highlights of 2018

{{Infobox Fraternity
|Name= Eta Mu
|GreekSymbol= HM
|Image= [[File:Eta_Mu.jpg|200px]]
|Founded= {{start date and years ago|2007|04|29}}
|College= [http://www.ucsc.edu/ University of California, Santa Cruz]
|Location= Santa Cruz, CA
|Homepage= [http://ucsckkg.celect.org/welcome Eta Mu Homepage]
|Media= [http://wiki.kappakappagamma.org/index.php?title=Category:Eta_Mu Media related to Eta Mu Chapter]}}
----

'''University of California, Santa Cruz, established 1965'''

'''Chapter founded April 29, 2007'''

'''18 charter members'''

'''469 initiates (as of June 2018)'''

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'''Outstanding Eta Mu Alumnae'''

'''Fraternity Officers:'''

'''Fraternity Loyalty Award Recipients:'''

'''Fraternity Alumnae Achievement Award Recipients:'''

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The University of California, Santa Cruz (also known as UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public university, one of 10 campuses in the University of California system. Located 80 miles south of San Francisco at the edge of the coastal community of Santa Cruz, the campus lies on 2,001 acres of rolling, forested hills overlooking the Pacific Ocean and Monterey Bay.

The University of California, Santa Cruz opened in 1965 and had grown to an enrollment of approximately 16,000 students at the time the chapter was founded. Undergraduates pursue more than 60 majors in the humanities, physical and biological sciences, social sciences and arts. Graduate students work toward graduate certificates, master’s degrees or doctoral degrees in more than 30 academic fields.

UC Santa Cruz began as a showcase for progressive, cross-disciplinary undergraduate education, innovative teaching methods and contemporary architecture. Since then, it has evolved into a modern research university with a wide variety of both undergraduate and graduate programs, while retaining its reputation for strong undergraduate support and student political activism. The residential college system, which consists of ten small colleges, is intended to combine the student support of a small college with the resources of a major university.

Although some of the original founders outlined plans for an institution like UCSC as early as the 1930s, the opportunity to realize their vision did not present itself until the City of Santa Cruz made a bid to the University of California Regents in the mid-1950s to build a campus just outside town, in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The Santa Cruz site was selected over a competing proposal to build the campus closer to the population center of San Jose. Santa Cruz was selected for the beauty, rather than the practicality, of its location, however, and its remoteness led to the decision to develop the residential college system that would house most of the students on campus. Construction started by 1964, and classes began in 1965. Roads on campus were named after UC Regents who voted in favor of building the campus.
(If you have chapter alumnae who have received recognition in any of these three categories, please list them with the date(s) of recognition.)

==Colonization==

Members of a local sorority named Alpha Sigma Delta at UC Santa Cruz who met with the Kappa extension team determined that Kappa would be the complement to their ideals of academic excellence, service, friendship and leadership. These women had made a positive impact on the university’s campus, and the extension team agreed the women would make a strong chapter and a pioneer in the establishment of campus Panhellenic with Gamma Phi Beta.

Members of the colonization team were Fraternity Extension Chairman Joanie Cook Cohen, Colorado; Pi Province Director of Chapters Felicity Meu, UC Berkeley; Coordinator of Chapter Development Mary Sue Hogan Babb, William & Mary and Chapter Consultant Angie Bloyer, Oregon State. The members of the UC Berkeley chapter served as big sisters for the new members.

==Installation==

Eta Mu new members attended the Pi Province Meeting at UC Berkeley in April. They participated in two days of workshops prior to the chapter’s installation on April 29, 2007. on.

Members of the installation team were Extension Chairman Joanie Cook Cohen, Colorado, who served as Installation Chairman; Fraternity President Denise Rugani, UC Davis; Former Fraternity President Marian Klingbeil Williams, Missouri; Director of Chapters Carolyn Byrd Simpson, Texas Tech; Regional Director of Chapters Lori McDonald, Utah; Regional Director of Alumnae Logan Krogh Tootell, UCLA; Pi Province Directors of Chapters Felicity Meu, UC Berkeley; Pi Province Director of Chapters Tanya Muirbrook, Idaho; Pi Province Director of Alumnae Amanda Brown, Puget Sound; Pi Province Director of Alumnae Amanda Compton Ruffo, UC Irvine; Leadership Consultant Katti Bowling, Kentucky.

The Eta Mu installation, scheduled during the UC Berkeley spring break when the members weren’t in residence, was held in the chapter house and culminated the Pi Province Meeting. This made it possible for the 18 charter members to spend the weekend nights in the chapter house and experience living in a Kappa house even though they slept in sleeping bags. Many visiting chapter members shared this slumber party experience, and all Pi Province chapters and associations participated in this unique celebration of Eta Mu’s installation.

The Province Meeting Candlelight Banquet was held Saturday evening, followed by the Fireside at the chapter house, conducted by Director of Chapters Carolyn Simpson. Following the Fireside, the gifts from alumnae associations and chapters were presented to the new chapter. The Denver Alumnae Association presented a special badge to be worn by the Philanthropy Chairman, and Fraternity Vice President, Carol George Sanders, Cal State Northridge, presented a dangle to be worn by the chapter’s Vice President for Academic Excellence.

The installation ceremony was held Sunday morning followed by a celebratory brunch at the gorgeous, airy Clark Kerr Hall dining room and patio. Extension Chairman Joanie Cohen spoke about the importance and coincidences of the many shades of blue.

==2006-2007==

Eta Mu had a very busy 2006-2007. The fall and spring Recruitments were very successful, and the chapter size approximately doubled. With the influx of new members, the chapter enjoyed some creative socials such as a date night, a cookie exchange and a Kappa Karaoke Night where the members were able to show off their singing and dancing skills.

In the winter of 2007, the chapter raised $1,500 for one of its philanthropies, the Invisible Children. The chapter also strove to help the local family shelter by performing several clean-ups, raising money for the children for Christmas and also reading to the children several times a month.

The chapter was installed, and 18 new members were initiated at the Pi Province Meeting in Berkeley on April 29, 2007. The members were excited to have so many alumnae at the installation to support them. At the time of the installation, there were 17 sororities and fraternities on the campus with only two that were National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) groups and five that were North-American Interfraternity Conference (NIC) members.

During its first year, the chapter was able to overcome the many challenges involved in being a new chapter on campus such as learning the new council positions. It was a challenge to get the campus to warm up to a new sorority, but once the students understood that Kappa was about philanthropy and sisterhood there was overwhelming student support for the chapter.

The biggest challenge for the chapter, besides becoming part of an international sorority, was having its first fall Recruitment without any sisters who had experience doing so. All the members grew closer knowing that everyone was going through the same thing. The chapter was fortunate to have the help and support of its Chapter Consultant, two Leadership Consultants and the Berkeley and Stanford chapters.

Another challenge for the chapter members was to learn the Fraternity’s rituals and traditions, but they knew the hard work was worth it when they saw the expressions on their new members’ faces during the beautiful initiation.

During 2006-2007, UC Santa Cruz had an enrollment of approximately 15,000 students. By the end of spring quarter, the chapter had grown to 39 members.

==2007-2008==

The 2007-2008 year found that Eta Mu had not only grown and expanded in numerous ways but also had grown in its involvement in the community. It sponsored another Invisible Children event on campus to promote awareness of the children and the war in Uganda, held numerous successful clean-ups at the local community homeless shelter and participated in the first Relay for Life on campus. The chapter strengthened its bonds with the other Greek organizations on campus through its enthusiastic participation in Greek Week, through picnics/potlucks and other events with the other organizations. The chapter grew together in its bonds with each other by working together, its sisterhoods, the first-ever formal and various other fun activities with each other. This year was one of many new endeavors, not without challenge but with overwhelming success.

The chapter received honorable mention recognition for philanthropy at the Fraternity’s 2008 General Convention.

The UC Santa Cruz campus is large and diverse with a small Greek community. Eta Mu is a small but rapidly growing chapter which is young and diverse.

The chapter’s primary challenge was related to its growth even though it had increased in size during the past year. One of the limitations was having only a small number of members to get acquainted with the interested women. The members overcame this challenge by putting forth their best effort to get to know the potential new members and recruiting members who would best represent Kappa’s ideals. The members continued to gain knowledge, experience and organizational skills led by numerous strong leaders who helped guide and lead the members to become a successful chapter.

==2009-2010==

During 2009-2010, the chapter held several notable events including chapter dinners with themes such as country-western and Thanksgiving dinner. It also held many sisterhoods, including movie nights and sleepover parties. Eta Mu also held an etiquette dinner.

An exciting time in the chapter’s history occurred during Greek Week. This week was a great opportunity for the members of the chapter to get involved and get to know all of the other sorority and fraternity members on campus. The Standards Committee planned a Greek Week poster-making party with pillow-talk afterwards. The highlight of this Greek Week for Eta Mu was when it won third place.

Academics were of great importance to the chapter. The Vice President of Academic Excellence and her committee held library hours every day, offering the members a chance to study together in a productive environment and encourage each other to succeed. Sisters who did well on a test or a paper received smart cookies and were recognized at the weekly chapter meeting. Members who maintained good academic standing received Kappa Kash.

Greek life at UC Santa Cruz was not very large as there were still only two NPC sororities on campus. However, this small community promoted close friendships among the groups. Despite the small size of the Greek community on campus, Eta Mu had a very successful year. In the fall Recruitment, the chapter extended 23 bids. During the winter, it extended 11 bids. These new members helped encourage participation in the chapter and the campus to raise awareness of Eta Mu on campus.

Because the chapter was still growing and learning, it faced a few challenges this year. Attendance became something with which the chapter struggled. However, the Standards Committee did a fabulous job in working with those who had attendance issues to come to an agreement. The President, Recording Secretary and Marshal worked together to increase attendance.

Eta Mu went through a wave of change that ultimately helped the chapter become more unified and committed. In fall Recruitment the chapter welcomed 25 new members, one of its largest pledge classes. In the winter, Eta Mu welcomed an additional 10 women into the chapter.

In the spring, Eta Mu hosted its first Presents Brunch at which each sister invited a special woman in her life to accompany her to a brunch where the newest pledge classes were formally presented to the entire chapter.

This year, Eta Mu implemented the Fraternity’s Philanthropy 1-2-3 program. Philanthropy 1 supported the Kappa family. The chapter fulfilled this by holding a Rose McGill Magazine Drive in which members went to family and friends to encourage them to buy magazines and raised up to $100.

Philanthropy 2 was getting involved in the local community. Eta Mu hosted a fundraiser at Woodstock’s Pizza where all proceeds went to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. This event raised $200.

The chapter also held an Easter egg decorating party for children from the Boys and Girls Club in Santa Cruz. Each Kappa worked with a group of 15 girls ranging from 5 to 9 years old. After the girls finished decorating their baskets, they were sent outside while members hid eggs around the room. The girls were then let back into the room, and the Easter egg hunt began.

Another opportunity the chapter took to support local organizations was participating in Santa Cruz’s 30th Annual Human Race. This is a walk/run-a-thon that raises money for local non-profit organizations. The members chose to support Kidpower whose goal is to teach people of all ages how to use their own power to stay safe, think wisely and believe in themselves. Members reached out to their family and friends to collect pledges for Kidpower.

Lastly, Kappa held a cleanup at Seabright Beach. The sisters collected trash while enjoying the sunny day.

Philanthropy 3 is supporting the Fraternity’s philanthropy, Reading is Fundamental (RIF). In order to support RIF, the chapter hosted a fundraiser at Coldstone Creamery in Santa Cruz where it raised $150.

In the spring, Eta Mu held its first Faculty Tea where the members invited professors from all majors and mingled with them to let the professors get to know the Kappas and vice-versa.

The chapter members held several social events during the year to surround them with sisters and good company. These social events created a fun and festive atmosphere in which the members were able to celebrate the bonds of sisterhood.

==Highlights of 2011==

In January 2011, the chapter held informal Recruitment and pledged eight new members. Later that month, the chapter organized Kappa Kick-Off, a flag football tournament which involved teams of students from across campus. Each team donated books for RIF. The books were donated to the Boys and Girls Club at the chapter’s Reading is Key event during which the members and children played games, did face-painting and read books.

In February, 15 Eta Mu members attended the Pi Province Meeting at which the chapter received the Ritual Award which was a significant source of pride. For Easter, the chapter joined with Gamma Phi Beta to sponsor the Panhellenic Egg Hunt for children of UCSC students living in family student housing.

In May, Eta Mu participated in Greek Week, a campus-wide competition for sororities and fraternities. Members spent several weeks preparing a lip-sync dance number with a California road trip theme. The chapter finished in fourth place overall for Greek Week, including second place in powder-puff football and third place in lip-sync.

This spring, the chapter held its second-annual Presents Brunch at the Cocoanut Grove, a venue on the beach boardwalk.

In the fall, the chapter had its most successful Panhellenic Recruitment to date with 40 new members initiated in November. The chapter’s bowling philanthropy “Spare the Hooters” raised approximately $1,000 to fight breast cancer. Throughout the year, the chapter hosted and participated in several philanthropic activities such as a local beach clean-up and held events such as the semi-formal dance and Sapphire Ball.

UCSC faced severe budget cuts in 2011. Class sizes continued to grow while tuition continued to rise. Students responded by protesting with classroom walk-ins and interruptions. Although Greek life is small on our campus, involvement has been growing steadily.

== Highlights of 2012==

This year for our chapter has been very successful. In Winter quarter, we did not have recruitment as we normally do due to the great recruitment we had the previous year, but we still did tabling to keep up our public appearance. Our main philanthropy for this quarter was our second annual "Kappa Kickoff", which donated books for Reading Is Fundamental. We had a great turnout with support from other greek organizations on campus along with students not involved in greek organizations. We also had our semi-formal this quarter with a "Great Gatsby" theme.

In Spring quarter we participated in Greek Week involving various activities, such as futsol, powderpuff and lipsync, that many greek organizations on campus participate in. We had a joint philanthropy this quarter with Gamma Phi Beta for a Panhellenic Blood Drive. Sapphire Ball was during this quarter, as well, and turned out beautifully. Our chapter was able to host a lovely etiquette dinner with members of various different fraternitys that everyone enjoyed. Marshal also held a Senior Red Room since we did not have a winter initiation for them to go through it. Over Summer, we were able to send our President, Membership Chairman and Marshal to Convention in Florida and sent one girl to Leadership Academy, all of which brought lots of great tools and skills to the chapter.

In Fall we had a great recruitment with 43 girls receiving bids and 35 girls being initiated later that quarter. One of our big philanthropies this quarter was "Spare the Hooters", in other words bowling for breast cancer, which received a great turnout with lots of greek life, family and friend support. Our other big philanthropy was going to the local Boys and Girls Club to donate our books we received from "Kappa Kickoff" and also spending some time with the kids there. We even held another philanthropy where we ended up donating to Hurricane Sandy victims. We had many other events and philanthropies throughout the year along with having a wonderful visit from a Leadership Consultant and a Kappa Trainer, that were all equally as amazing.

'''Campus:''' Our campus has continued to suffer from budget cuts with continuous protesting all around, but will hopefully turn around soon with the new laws passed. Greek life has been growing nonstop on our campus, as well, with now about ten percent of the student population being apart of greek life. Since greek life is starting to grow so much, many greek organizations have been trying to find ways to fit their chapters on campus. Everyone has been looking into ways to possibly expand the University in some way to make space for Greek life.

'''Chapter:''' Our chapter has been doing well with attendance to all events and has been continuing to bring in our newest classes with lots of support. Between sisterhoods and Greek week our chapter has had many opportunities for chapter unity, which has been very helpful with the amazing growth our chapter has had.

==Highlights of 2013==
This year was very successful for our chapter. We did not have a Winter recruitment again due to
the large recruitment the previous quarter. We had our semi-formal dance Winter quarter with a
“Flashback to the 50’s” theme. Spring quarter was very busy for our chapter starting off with
sending many sisters to Pi Province and won Most Improved Chapter and continuing with great
philanthropies, recruitment and events. We had our annual “Kappa Kickoff” donating books to the
local boys and girls club, which was a very well attended event among both Greek life and Campus
life.

We also joined with our Panhellenic sisters, Gamma Phi Beta, to put on a blood drive for the
whole campus. We had continuous open bidding this quarter and ended up gaining 4 new
members and then sisters. We had a small philanthropy that involved sending personalized letters
to soldiers in the Army. Another prominent event we had was Sapphire Ball in a different location
than we have had previously at the Hilton in Scotts Valley. It was a success and everyone enjoyed
themselves.

Eta Mu hosted another event which was our annual Etiquette dinner with a few select
gentlemen from each Fraternity on campus, who were impressed and responded positively to the
event. Eta Mu was ecstatic to be removed from a focus letter this year after working hard to adhere
to the focus areas specified by Headquarters, such as having two Leadership Consultants visit Eta
Mu. Our chapter participated in Greek Week again this year, in events such as futsol, powderpuff,
pizza eating, puzzles relay and lip sync. We came in first for powderpuff, third in lipsync and fourth
overall. Our Education Chairman organized many useful and informative senior programs, and she
and Marshal put on a lovely banquet and Red Room ceremony giving our seniors a well deserved
send off into becoming Alumna.

The Vice President of Academic Excellence held an Academic Banquet at the end of the school year to commend women of the chapter for their hard work on their academics. Six large perpetual plaques were awarded for Highest GPA, Most Improved GPA, Most Hours in the Library, Most Sisterly, Most Study Hours and Best Class Attendance. Fall quarter started off with another very successful recruitment with 51 girls receiving bids and 48 becoming sisters. We had an amazing leadership consultant help us in this recruitment to improve
it and make everything run more efficiently. Vice President of Standards organized a very fun and
positive camping sisterhood. We also had our annual “Spare the Hooters” philanthropy with Sigma Pi Fraternity generating a very generous amount to donate to support breast cancer research. One of our sisters also helped in creating a Cold Stone philanthropy for those affected by the unfortunate loss of firefighters in the Arizona fires. We had an “Opposites Attract” themed date event in the fall that the girls in the Chapter and their dates really enjoyed.

Nominations and elections for officers for the 2014 calendar year went smoothly. Our Vice President of Standards and Vice President of Academic Excellence put on a holiday themed joint sisterhood and academic
dinner prior to finals. Multiple study rooms were booked for girls to utilize during dead week and
finals week at the library to help them study for finals.

'''Campus:'''
Our campus is coming of age and thriving with new changes, such as a shuttle system to help
students go to and from the San Jose airport. Class sizes are still large and classes are sometimes
difficult for some to get into, but our sisters still find ways to do well in their classes while still
finding time to do various other campus activities.

'''Chapter:'''
Our chapter has still been doing well in bringing in the new classes with lots of support and
sending out our seniors with the great congratulations they deserve. Our chapter has continued to
diversify with each sister being greatly involved in a wide range of events and activities on campus
and off campus.
Women Behind

==Highlights of 2014==

This year Eta Mu chapter saw a lot of growth, both in size and character. During our
Winter quarter, we did not have a recruitment yet again due to the large recruitment the previous
quarter. We had our semi-formal dance with a “Masquerade” theme, where girls and their dates
were encouraged to dress very classy and wear tons of fun masks.

Spring quarter, we continued participating in and hosting great philanthropies and events. Our philanthropy chairmen, Judy Kim and Megan Heynen, had our annual “Kappa Kickoff” donating books to the local boys and girls
club, which was a very well attended event among both Greek life and Campus life. Another
prominent event we held was Sapphire Ball. We returned to the location where it was held two
years ago, Cocoanut Grove. This time, however, it was held in the main ballroom instead of the
sunroom, which allowed for more room for tables, dancing and a nice stage for the DJ and to give
out awards. Our Event Chairwomen, Gabby Desio and Charlotte Byrn-Bailey, did fabulous jobs in
hosting this event and everyone had a great time.

Eta Mu hosted another event, which was our annual Etiquette dinner with a few select gentlemen from each Fraternity on campus. They were impressed, and responded positively to the event. We continued to stay off the focus letter this year, which we were very excited about. Our chapter participated in Greek Week again this year, in events such as futsol, powderpuff, pizza eating, puzzles relay and lip sync. We came in first for powderpuff for the second year in a row, second in pizza eating, third in lipsync, and fourth overall.

Our Education Chairman, Ruby Lynch, organized many useful and informative senior programs,
and she and Marshal, Lauren Porter, put on a lovely Senior Banquet and Red Room ceremony,
giving our seniors a well deserved send off into becoming Alumna. The Vice President of Academic
Excellence held an Academic Banquet at the end of the school year to commend women of the
chapter for their hard work on their academics.

Over the summer we were fortunate enough to send out President Lauren Wurst, Vice President-Organization Sanaz Batmanghilich and Risk Management Chair Amelia Lawrence to Convention in Texas. They all returned with great tips for running the chapter more efficiently and we won an Award for Recruitment and got Honorable
Mention for Ritual, Risk Management and Advisor-Officer Relations. Fall quarter started off with
another very successful recruitment with 59 girls receiving bids and 57 becoming sisters. Marshal
and Education chairman had a successful Kappa “Birthday Party,” which was well attended,
especially by the new members. In late October, we had a wonderful Leadership Consultant,
Whitney Cross, come visit our chapter for a week. She gave our CC many helpful tips on how to run
our CC positions. We held our annual “Spare the Hooters” bowling philanthropy with Sigma Pi
Fraternity, which raised a very generous amount to donate to support breast cancer research.

Towards the end of that quarter, we had a Red Carpet themed date event called “Kappa Krush.”
The girls in the chapter and their dates had a lot of fun attending and dressing up as celebrity
couples. Nominations and elections for officers for the 2015 calendar year went smoothly and
resulted in a new, cohesive chapter council. Multiple study rooms were booked for girls to utilize
during dead week and finals week at the library to help them study, along with a study break with
snacks all put on by the VPAE, Laura Morales. Eta Mu had a wonderfully productive year!

Campus:
Our campus is constantly bettering itself. There is new construction going on to create more
dormitories and facilities for our ever expanding student population. Class sizes are as large as
ever, making the enrollment process a little more difficult. However, our sisters always manage to
do their best. We joke around about large classes, saying in large classes there will always be at
least one kappa to study with.

Chapter:
Our chapter has been doing very well, especially at handling a constantly growing chapter. We
have grown so big that we have been finding it difficult to find spaces large enough to host all of
us! Luckily, our campus has some pretty huge lecture halls. Our chapter is very diverse in every
way, but we all still love and support each other always. Each sister brings something unique to our
chapter, helping us grow and develop all the time. We sent out our graduating seniors with
congratulations, love, and support, and we welcomed in the new classes similarly.

We do not have on campus housing, or a place only for ourselves at all. Because of this, we reserve
a room every week to have meetings in. If we have sisterhoods, we either reserve a room on campus
or rent one off. Our meetings are generally in the science building, which is owned by the
university.

We do not have on campus housing, nor have we ever. Sometimes a few girls live together on or off
campus, but they're always fairly small houses, and they often live with students from different
campus organizations or non-Greek students. We have an off campus storage unit to hold all of our
belongings. Informally, we have been thinking about different ways to accommodate Kappa living
arrangements, but it is very difficult.

==Highlights of 2015==

This year, Eta Mu consistently grew bigger and better than ever. During Winter quarter, we had our new officer installments. The new CC was very dedicated, and had many plans for the year. A leadership consultant visited and gave us wonderful tips on how to be the best leaders we could be. To start us off, the Vice President of Standards, Christine Charitar, hosted a fun sisterhood that many girls attended. It was a movie and candy night, which was desperately needed amongst the craziness of midterms. The Event chairwoman, Sophia Brinton, then hosted an amazing Semi-Formal at the Coconut Grove, with lots of dancing, fun photo props, and, of course, yummy food. The last event of Winter quarter was a tie-dying sisterhood on campus. We were given t-shirts, and we were also allowed to bring things we wanted to tie-dye from our homes.

Spring quarter was jam packed with fun Kappa activities. Presents brunch on April 19th was absolutely beautiful. We had a large new member class, so there were a lot of speeches, ranging from completely emotional and adorable to absolutely hysterical. About a week later, it was Eta Mu’s birthday! Our House chairwoman, Paula Pastuskovas, held an adorable birthday party on campus, with good food and games- it was a lot of fun. May 1st was our Sapphire Ball, which was an absolute success. It was held at Hotel Paradox, and there was a photobooth and a yummy sit down meal. There were also awards given out, which were voted on by our chapter, from things like Kappa Klassy (congrats to our President Sanaz Batmanghilich) to Kappa Krazy (congrats to Registrar Ruby Lynch). The next day was the start of Greek Week. As two-time reigning champions at powderpuff, our girls worked very hard and won it all again! We also won 3rd place in lipsync, which was the first time we have placed in many years, and we won 4th place in pizza eating. It was a great week for us. The next event was Kappa Karnival, thrown by our philanthropy chairwoman Roxanne Leon, which was new this year. There were games set up all over the lower field, and sisters were the game organizers and coaches. Students came in groups and played against each other. We successfully collected books and raised money for our national charity, Reading Is Fundamental. The etiquette dinner was held on campus in the Kresge Town Hall, and it went very well. We provided yummy Italian food, and hosted the charming men from the other greek organizations on campus. They were impressed, and responded positively to the event. Finally, it was senior appreciation time. The senior banquet was a success- it was very emotional and full of love. Seniors passed down gifts and their friends gave speeches. It really was lovely, all thanks to Kira Aarvig, the Education chairwoman. At the final meeting of the year, the seniors each gave their “last words” to the chapter. It was very sentimental, and we sent them off with much love.

Fall quarter was full of exciting events, especially with all the new members we got. Before recruitment began, we had another leadership consultant visit, and she helped us a lot when it came to running our recruitment. Recruitment went very well, thanks to Rachel Du and Yaritza Rodriguez, and we ended up with 52 new members who became sisters. Bid day was so much fun, as the New Member chair, Amanda Merrifield, welcomed the new members to Kappa. The event was sports themed, and was held at a gym on campus. We had a sisterhood at a pumpkin patch, to get in the mood for fall. Next up was our Date Dash event, which was country themed, and everyone enjoyed themselves. Spare the Hooters, our annual bowling for cancer philanthropy which we co-host with Sigma Pi, was a huge success as always. The bowling alley also contributed so that if we brought in cans of food to donate to a charity organization, they gave us free bowling shoes. Eventually, it was that amazing time of the year: Big Little week! The clues were a pin box, a mason jar, a picture frame, a CD, and special socks. For the reveal, we had the bigs wear matching socks that they gave to their littles, and they found their bigs like that. It was absolutely adorable, and everyone was very happy. Then it was I-week. Our Marshal, Magali Ceballos, hosted two wonderful nights of crafting preceding the initiation. We held initiation at the Veterans Memorial Building, and it went very smoothly. Nominations and elections for officers for the 2016 calendar year also went very well. At our last meeting of the quarter, our Vice President of Academic Excellence, Taylor Tibbs, gave everyone goodie bags of school supplies that we would need for the upcoming finals week. Eta Mu had a productive and positive year!

The campus of UC Santa Cruz is constantly evolving. The incoming classes continue growing bigger and bigger, and our campus has to account for this. Our chapter has grown so large that it has been hard finding places off campus to accommodate our size. We have been lucky to fit into the same room for the past few years, but we will have to update our room soon because we are so large now. We are one of the largest greek chapters at our school, and as diverse as possible. All of our girls come from many different backgrounds, and are learning many different things at school. However, we are united by our love of food and our love of each other.

Chapter Philanthropy:

What organization(s) has your chapter historically/traditionally raised money for, or donated hours to, in your community?

Our chapter continues to raise money for breast cancer research every year with our annual Spare the Hooters event. We also consistently volunteer with the boys and girls club in downtown Santa Cruz.

Why did your chapter choose this organization(s) to support?

We chose to raise money for breast cancer for many reasons, but mainly because it is such an important cause that has impacted many of our sisters and their families lives. We help the boys and girls club because the children of our community need our attention, and we love to give it to them. We have built a great reputation in our community.

==Highlights of 2016==

This year was another exciting year for Kappa Kappa Gamma at Santa Cruz. In the winter of 2016 we were involved in clothing drives to help donate clothes to the homeless shelter. We also had a magical night at semi-formal where we dressed up and danced the night away. This same theme was continued into spring with our formal dance which was a throw-back to the 90’s. We had fun dressing up for this blast to the past! We also took time to honor our graduating sisters and celebrate their time as Kappa and undergraduate students at UCSC. There was a senior tea and special meeting where they gave our chapter advice for the future. At the end of the year we watched so many amazing sisters graduate and wished them well as they start their next chapter in life.

Over the summer a few of our sisters were able to attend convention down in San Diego. They came back with a wealth of new knowledge that they shared with all of us through stories and a presentation during meeting. The Fall was an exciting season for our chapter. We welcomed a new Panhellenic sorority to our campus as well as went through our own rush events. Many of our sisters were involved in the selection, and establishment of Kappa Alpha Theta and our sisters were excited to expand Greek life at Santa Cruz. Our own Fall rush went extremely well. We welcomed 60 new sisters to our chapter. Through the remainder of the year we have been involved in teaching our new sisters kappa history and values. This class has eagerly learned and embraced Kappa which makes our members excited for their contribution in the years to come. We also put on a breast cancer bowling philanthropy that we do yearly with the men of Sigma Pi and our annual fall date dash event. Overall this year has been a year of growth and strengthen for our chapter.

==Highlights of 2017==

2017 was an awesome year for Kappa Kappa Gamma's Eta Mu Chapter here at Santa Cruz. To kick off 2017, we had the transition of our old Chapter Council to our new Chapter Council. February was a busy and exciting month for Kappa. We held our annual Presents Brunch to have bigs show some of the most important women in our lives their littles. During this month we also had an LC (Leadership Consultant) come and visit, and our sisters got the chance to show her what Eta Mu chapter and Santa Cruz is all about. Semi-formal was also in the month of February. The theme was Valentine's Masqureade and the chapter and their dates had fun dancing the night away. In March, some of our sisters participated in the Polar Plunge that was a philanthropy opportunity in which we raised money for the Special Olympics. April was another jam-packed month for Eta Mu as we started our spring quarter.

We had our 1st annual Kappa Kickball Event, which was a kickball tournament where other fraternities and sororities on campus competed to help us raise money for Reading is Key. We had our annual etiquette dinner in April as well and celebrated Eta Mu chapter's 10th birthday party where our active and alumni members got together for a nice lunch to celebrate this milestone. Our Reading is Key event took place in April too, where a couple of our sisters got to volunteer their time at the Santa Cruz Boys and Girls club reading, playing, and facepainting with the kids. May was a spirited month for Eta Mu as UC Santa Cruz held its annual Greek Week competition. During this week, all of the Greek organizations got to participate in fun events led by our Inter-Greek Council. Kappa participated in events like lipsync, a pizza eating contest, and Powederpuff. For Powderpuff we won for our 5th straight year in a row. During this month we also had our formal which took place at the Gilroy Gardens. It was a beautiful venue and our sisters and their dates got to dance under the lights for our last formal event of the school year. Towards the end of the 2016-2017 school year, we got to honor our graduating Kappa sisters.

We had a senior tea held for these sisters and at one of our final meetings had a special moment in which they shared some advice with the chapter as they continue their undergraduate careers. In June, we watched and supported all of our graduating seniors and wished them well on the next chapter of their lives.

Over the summer, many of our sisters got the chance to travel around the United States and the world and partake in awesome jobs and internships. Fall was an exciting part of the year for our chapter. In September we prepared for recruitment and in October we welcomed 50 new members into our chapter. Our recruitment went extremely well this year and Eta Mu has been very involved in teaching our new sisters about Kappa's history and rituals. Rho class has eagerly learned and embraced Kappa, which makes our sisters excited for their contributions in the years to come as they will become our future leaders. In November, we finally initiated our 50 new members into our chapter. Also in this month we held our annual Spare the Hooters philanthropy event in which we teamed up with Sigma Pi to raise money for a local breast cancer awareness organization here in Santa Cruz and had an amazing Thanksgiving Dinner with all of our sisters.

Overall, this year has been a year of growth and learning for Eta Mu chapter. Our Chapter Council did an amazing job working together and putting on events for our chapter to enjoy. Despite some minor setbacks, Chapter Council worked seamlessly together in order to overcome the hurdles with the support of the chapter and our advisor. As a chapter, we have come together and participated in many philanthropic events and have enjoyed the events put on by our hardworking officers and their committees.

Last year, we welcomed a new Panhellenic organization onto campus, Kappa Alpha Theta. This year for recruitment, it was awesome getting to work with another Panhellenic organization and recruit more girls for not only Kappa but also for Gamma Phi Beta and Kappa Alpha Theta. As for our Santa Cruz campus, there has been continued political movement and mobilization in response to the decisions President Trump and his administration are making. There has been growing solidarity and collaboration between different organizations to make Santa Cruz a safe community and environment for all of our students. As for Eta Mu chapter, we have been been continuing to improve our participation in Kappa events that we hold as well as share new ideas that the chapter can implement in order to improve this aspect of our chapter. Many of our sisters have also had amazing ideas that have promoted more sisterhood. Eta Mu has been expanding, improving, promoting participation and sisterhood, and informing the newer classes about Kappa's history and rituals.

There are a multitude of organizations that our chapter has traditionally raised money for and have donated our time to. One of the organizations that we primarily focus on giving back to is Reading is Fundamental. We also raise money for local breast cancer awareness organizations in Santa Cruz and donate our time to homeless shelters to help out our community. Numerous of our sisters are also involved in Camp Kesem, which is a non-profit organization that raises money to send kids whose parents have been affected by cancer to camp for a week during the summer.

RIF is a nationally recognized organization that is working to improve literacy in kids by providing them with access to books of their very own through community involvement and donations. Kappa Kappa Gamma has been a long time partner with RIF and our chapter wants to help raise money for this amazing organization. We held our Kappa Kickball tournament and have given our time to the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Cruz as our Reading is Key events in order to raise money for RIF. We also choose to support local breast cancer awareness organizations, homeless shelters, and Camp Kesem because the missions of these organizations are close to many of our sisters' hearts.

'''==Highlights of the 2019=='''
2018 proved to be another lovely year with another lovely bunch of Eta Mu Kappa women. To kick off the year, we had a smooth transition of chapter council, sworn in by last year’s president, Kamille. Meetings were filled with an unparalleled amount of gifs and memes in officer reports -- always a pleasure to see. On the philanthropy side of things, we’ve continued bringing in money for Kappa Kickball, a kickball fundraiser for the Santa Cruz animal shelter. This year at Spare The Hooters, we raised over $1100 for breast cancer research with help from the gentlemen of Sigma Pi, a new record for money raised at the event! Our Reading is Key events went well per usual and many books were collected for the Boys & Girls Club at Sapphires on Skates, a new and popular Kappa fundraiser taking place at the Santa Cruz Roller Rink. May was filled with events like our annual Greek Week in which most Greek organizations participate in a bit of friendly competition. Our ladies participated in basketball, game night, and of course, pizza eating. We had a beautiful Formal at Coconut Grove on Cinco de Mayo where one of our very own, Nicole S., drew the design for our shirts. Our girls got closer with events like sorority powderpuff, where many of our members practiced for months, which is what this chapter is all about: getting closer to an stronger with our Kappa sisters. The event brought in over $300 to Camp Kesem, a national nonprofit with a chapter at UC Santa Cruz dedicated to giving children whose parents have or have had cancer a free week of summer camp. In June we watched and honored our 2017-2018 class of Kappa girls graduate. Our seniors shared a special last year together with events like Senior Tea and Senior Send-off. It was our first year with an informal spring recruitment which brought our lovely Sigma class to us. Fall recruitment was stunning and organized as Kappas talked, sang, and smiled our hearts out to our new Tau class women. We’ve had some wonderful sisterhoods put on by both Standards and Ritual committees. From voting on our favorite Halloween costumes to watching “To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before” we’ve laughed our heads off considerably in each other's company. The always delicious Thanksgiving dinner at Terra Fresca was a success, leaving members more stuffed than the turkeys we ate.

This year has been a year of growth, laughter and learning for our Kappa chapter. Chapter Council came together to work though any and all issues and provide support to neighboring officers. This chapter as a whole is a group of beautiful, empowering, and always compassionate young women and we are sure to see next year bring even more progress.

'''Describe the recent changes on campus and describe the chapter’s overall nature.'''

This was our first year in Panhellenic recruitment that our chapter participated in informal spring recruitment. Officers who were a part of the initiation and new member process preformed most of their tasks twice, a change that was smoothly carried out by the designated officers.

'''Chapter Philanthropy'''
'''
What organization does the chapter support?''' This chapter has provided ongoing support to RIF and the Kappa Foundation, but outside of KKG Sanctioned organizations, we have provided donations and support to the Walnut Ave Family & Women's Center and Camp Kesem at UC Santa Cruz.

'''Why did the chapter choose this organization?'''

Kappa Kappa Gamma has been a long-time partner with RIF, an organization that promotes literacy in children by providing them with access to books of their own through community involvment and donations. We have also worked with the Walnut Avenue Family & Women’s Center which provides resources for women, children, and families in Santa Cruz County and has done so for over 80 years. Camp Kesem at UC Santa Cruz is a student-run, national nonprofit that provides an entirely free week of camp and year-long support to children who have been affected by a parent's cancer. At UC Santa Cruz, theCamp Kesem chapter has lots of Greek involvment, but the highest percentage of Greek life affiliates are Kappa women.

'''Chapter Facility'''

Where does the chapter meet? Our Meetings are traditionally at the Jack Baskin Engineering on campus at UC Santa Cruz. For specil occasions and bigger events, we may meet at Kresge Town Hall which is also on campus, like we do for sisterhoods and Founder's Day.

-------------

'''Note to Chapter Registrar:'''
•Please refer to your chapter archives including chapter meeting minutes and back issues of The Key to fill in any gaps in the above historical highlights.
•If your chapter archives are not complete, please research your university library, campus newspaper and yearbook archives for newsworthy information about your chapter.
•Please double check your work for accuracy. Contact chapter Advisory or House Board members, local Alumnae Association members, or your Province Director of Chapters for assistance. Your efforts will ensure a complete and accurate history of your chapter for future generations to enjoy!

Epsilon Omicron

2019-06-18T20:14:49Z

Michellelearle: Highlights of 2018

{{Infobox Fraternity
|Name= Epsilon Omicron
|GreekSymbol= EO
|Image= [[File:Epsilon_Omicron.jpg|200px]]
|Founded= {{start date and years ago|1975|02|15}}
|College= [http://www.ucdavis.edu/ University of California, Davis]
|Location= Davis, CA
|Homepage= [http://kkgatucdavis.wix.com/kkgatucdavis Epsilon Omicron Homepage]
|Media= [http://wiki.kappakappagamma.org/index.php?title=Category:Epsilon_Omicron Media related to Epsilon Omicron Chapter]}}
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'''University of California, Davis'''

'''Established 1908'''

'''Chapter Founded in 1975'''

'''Number of charter members: 13'''

'''Charter members:'''
Ann Marie Began, Saundra Marie Brown, Catherine Ann Collings, Linda Marni Kurtzman, Linda Jeanne Maxson, Debra Ann Pevehouse, Susan Ellen Reynolds, Leslie Katherine Rhody, Susan Dee Schultz, Kathryn Prescott Sebenius, Susan Marie Tranka, Patricia Gail Vivado, Nancy Jean Winslow.

'''1,482 initiates (as of June 2018)'''

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'''Some of Epsilon Omicron’s Outstanding Alumnae:''' (If you have chapter alumna who have received Fraternity recognition in any of these three categories, please list them with the date(s) of recognition.)

'''Fraternity Council Officers:'''

Denise Rugani, Traveling Consultant 1989-1990; Province Director of Chapters 1995-1998; Regional Director of Chapters 1998-2000; Director of Chapters 2000-2004; Vice President 2004-2006; Fraternity President 2006-2010, History Chairman 2012-2014; Bylaws Chairman 2014-present; Laurel Apperson (Rosa), Traveling Consultant 1998-1999; Jen Stolp, Traveling Consultant 2003-2004

'''Fraternity Loyalty Award Recipients:'''

'''Fraternity Alumnae Achievement Award Recipients:'''

'''Other Outstanding Epsilon Omicron Alumnae:'''
Molly Bechtel, Chapter Consultant 2009-2011.

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==History of the University:==
In 1905, the California legislature passed the University Farm Bill, calling for the establishment of a farm school for the University of California. At the time, Berkeley was the sole campus of the university. It would be more than a year before that commission selected a tiny town in Yolo County, then known as Davisville, as the site. The Regents of the University of California officially took control of the property in 1906 and constructed four buildings in 1907.

What was to become the third UC campus opened its doors to 40 degree students (all male) from UC Berkeley in January 1909 as the University Farm. The establishment of the farm was largely the result of the vision and perseverance of Peter J. Shields, secretary of the State Agricultural Society, and the Peter J. Shields Library at UC Davis was named in his honor. Shields began to champion the cause of a University Farm to teach agriculture in a more applied fashion after hearing about California students who chose to go to out-of-state universities due to the lack of such programs in the University of California at that time.

Short courses were first offered in 1908, and a three year non-degree program set up in 1909. In 1911, the first class graduated from the University Farm. The farm accepted its first female students in 1914 from Berkeley. The three year non-degree program continued until 1923. At that time, a two year non-degree program began and continued until 1958. In 1922, a four-year undergraduate program began with the first class graduating in 1926.

Renamed in 1922 as the Northern Branch of the College of Agriculture, the campus continued growing at a breakneck pace. In 1916, the farm’s 314 students occupied the original 778-acre campus. By 1951, the campus had expanded to 3,000 acres. In 1959, the campus was declared by the Regents of the University of California as the seventh general campus in the University of California system.

Davis’ own Graduate Division was established in 1961 followed by the College of Engineering in 1962. The Law School opened for classes in fall 1966, and the School of Medicine began instruction in fall 1968.
As of 2013, UC Davis’ enrollment exceeded 34,000 students. The campus has expanded to more than 7,300 acres including land in adjacent Solano County.

==The Early Years:==

Sorority life was a brand-new addition to the University of California campus at Davis in 1974. With the first group of women organized last year by Delta Delta Delta, interest and enthusiasm in other national women’s associations was dramatic. The UC Davis Panhellenic Association held its first formal Fall Rush September 30 to October 6 with eight national sororities represented. Kappa Kappa Gamma colonized a new chapter, known as Epsilon Omicron. Support from the many Kappa alumnae in Northern California and the rush week participants from Delta Omega Chapter in Fresno and Pi Deuteron Chapter in Berkeley made the fall of 1974 a time of anticipation and excitement, new Kappa friendships and great appreciation of our outstanding Fraternity.
It’s not easy to begin at the very beginning!

UC Davis had no local sororities, but men’s fraternities had been a part of the campus for many years. There were ten active men’s independent living groups, most with national affiliation and represented by the Interfraternity Council. The fraternities had active “little sister” programs which seemed to have created some of the momentum in the sorority colonization efforts. The women students at UC Davis wanted and needed the atmosphere of congeniality and mutual support which sorority life provided on so many other campuses. The Davis administration was sympathetic toward these needs and respected the standards and past achievements of fraternities and sororities on other California campuses.

When pioneer settler Jerome C. Davis planted 400 acres of wheat, barley, orchards and vineyards in 1868 and pastured great herds of livestock in the fertile Sacramento Valley, he began a tradition which continues in the life of this university. It is the center of a rich agriculture area and the source of tremendous advances in knowledge. An outstanding College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, begun in 1906, now shares a 4,000-acre campus with equally renowned colleges of Engineering and Letters and Science, a Graduate Division and schools of Medicine, Veterinary Medicine and Law. In 1974, approximately 15,000 students filled the campus, and it was undoubtedly the bicycle capital of California! Campus enrollment was almost equally divided between men and women, and scholastic requirements were extremely high with the Davis campus getting more applications for admission than any other University of California campus in 1974. The location is appealing to many college students since Davis maintains its small town individuality yet the excitement of San Francisco and the beauty of the Sierra Nevada are little more than an hour’s drive in opposite directions on Interstate 80. Sacramento, the capitol of California, lies 12 miles east, and the political activity of this city carries over to student life.

The Associated Students at UC Davis undertook the responsibility for establishing a good bus transportation system featuring some eye-catching London double-deckers. The California Aggie newspaper was required reading for any student interested in current issues, and Freeborn Hall the stage for all the best in local and national talent in music and theatre. Picnic Day in April was one huge celebration with a list of spectator events from the Lichtenstein Circus to a lecture by Governor Ronald Reagan.

It was expected that 1975 would bring many opportunities and challenges as the new Kappa Kappa Gamma Chapter began. Those alumnae, actives and pledges asked for expressions of sharing and caring from all Kappas in this new venture, this wonderful opportunity to express our Fraternity’s concern for the quality of educational life on campus at UC Davis.
Adapted from an article in The Key, Fall 1974, p. 9.

==Installation:==
Kappas of all ages and from many parts of the country gathered during the February 15-17, 1975, holiday weekend for the formal installation of Epsilon Omicron Chapter at the University of California, Davis. Thirteen very active girls became its charter members after many busy months of building a chapter from scratch.

At the formal banquet Saturday night, the new actives demonstrated their enthusiasm and originality by singing one of the songs they wrote. And Catherine Collings, the chapter’s first president, daughter of Priscilla Osgood Collings, Purdue, responded to the toast of Kit Henderson, president of Pi Deuteron Chapter at the University of California, Berkeley, with the following poem, written by another new initiate, Katie Sebenius:

Joining us together today,
Tomorrow,
‘Til eternity.

Simple words are the external bonds,
Badges similar to one other,
Physically represent these ties.

Each badge is a different key,
One to a different heart,
To a different girl with much to give to all.

We mustn’t emphasize only the key,
We must emphasize what lies under it,
What lies within our hearts.

Such strong feelings reserved for special friends,
Even for more special people,
Sisters.

I came with no sisters,
And have acquired the love and trust of thirteen sisters,
In a short time.

Growing together through time,
Taking parts of each other.

Becoming one in the same yet,
Leading our separate lives, too.

What we are going to do this morning,
Is to once again externally strengthen these bonds,
But the internal bonds of love are already there.

As we move on,
Different road will carry us away,
We shall always have these sisters,
Love is an unbroken circle.

Members of the Sacramento Valley Alumnae Association and of Epsilon Omicron were honored to have so many Fraternity officers share their big weekend. Fraternity President Marian Schroeder Graham, Montana; Director of Field Representatives Kay Smith Larson, Washington; Director of Personnel Marian Klingbeil Williams, Missouri, Executive Secretary Betty Sanor Cameron, Ohio State; Pi Province Director of Chapters Lois Wilkinson Bennett, Pennsylvania; and Pi Province Director of Alumnae Heloise Lee Stewart, Oregon State, spent the weekend in Davis to participate in the installation and initiation.

Pat Maness Kriz, Colorado, president of the Sacramento Valley Alumnae Association, and Katie Johnson Hoff, Oregon State, were largely responsible for organizing the weekend. Beginning with the Fireside Service in the home of Marilyn Woodward Needham, Oregon State, and a hasty practice session for alumnae who were big sisters, advisers and participants in the installation/initiation ceremony, events proceeded smoothly through the formal banquet Saturday evening, a model chapter meeting bright and early the next morning, a luncheon at the Nut Tree in Vacaville and culminating in a reception for family and friends at the Recreation Pool Lodge on the UCD campus.

The new Kappas, who travel almost exclusively by bike around campus, are making arrangements to live together in an apartment complex next year. They are currently sponsoring a Frisbee marathon in conjunction with the Easter Seal Telethon, beginning practice for their basketball team and making plans for a scholarship dinner to honor outstanding members of their group. Meanwhile, they continue to hold informal rush and will hold their net initiation near the end of April.

Adapted from the Spring 1975 issue of The Key, pp. 2-3.
(Information from chapter history reports, scholarship, group honors/awards, traditions, special events, changes on campus or within chapter, overall nature of the chapter, chapter goals, challenges and how they were overcome, etc.)

==Highlights of the 1980's==

At the 1985 Pi Province Meeting held in Corvallis, Ore., a history of Epsilon Omicron’s first decade written by chapter Registrar Linda Frager was presented. The passage that follows is adapted from this history.
“The Epsilon Omicron Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma was installed on February 15, 1975, on the University of California, Davis campus. In its beginning years the chapter house was not quite a house, it was an apartment. In the summer of 1976, the chapter acquired a house at 222 Rice Lane. Since membership grew rapidly, the chapter relocated to a larger house at 311 Russell Boulevard with the help of the local alumnae in the summer of 1982.

“Formal rush improved from 1975 to 1985. In 1984, the 1-3-5 voting system was implemented. This system cut hours off the membership selection process and led to very successful rush periods. Rush party from the past decade included Kappa Kickoff, Kapparet, Haunted House, Garden Party, San Francisco, Western, Grinch and Bye Bye Birdie.

“Chapter membership steadily increased. Beginning with 13 members, Epsilon Omicron grew to 102 active members by 1985. The first formal pledge class consisted of five women, but pledge class size grew rapidly; the largest class was in 1984 with 38 women. The majority of those pledging were sophomores and their number continues to increase. The freshman and junior class level sizes have remained consistent during the decade, and there never was more than one senior in a pledge class. During the past decade, the pledging rate increased, and only 10 women decided not to initiate.

“Elected and appointed positions grew in number since the chapter was established in 1975. The appointed position of Song Chairman began in 1977 and preceded the small singing group that began in 1979. Davis Kappas displayed an early interest in athletics by appointing an Athletics Chairman in 1977. The year 1981 was a trial period for Epsilon Omicron: the positions of Historian and Chaplain were created but lasted for just one term. In 1982, the position of Fraternity Education became an elected position.

“The Mothers Club was created in 1976 and rejuvenated in 1984. Mothers Club fundraisers included an art auction, mother-daughter fashion shows and a yard sale.

“The chapter’s first goal in 1975 was Kappa strengthened internally will strengthen externally. Annual chapter retreats created the chapter goals since then. Most goals centered around the theme of involving actives to a greater degree and chapter unity. A decade later, the chapter goal is TeleKappa, meaning to enhance communication among members by increasing awareness of responsibilities and activities.

“Philanthropy was expanded during the decade. Fundraising activities included bake sales, button sales, car washes and a raffle. In 1978, the chapter hosted its first balloon derby. It was so successful that it was continued annually through 1982. In 1982, the chapter created the Men of UCD calendar which was a great success and continued for three years.

“Projects Epsilon Omicron funded included supporting a foster child from 1976 until 1981, donating a park bench to the city of Davis in 1978, an Adopt-A-Grandparent program began in 1982 for Driftwood Convalescent Home and donations to the Gonzales Riggins Fund, Summer House Inc., ANAD, Diogenese House, Harper House, the Rose McGill Fund, Kappa Centennial, UNICEF, Muscular-Dystrophy and the Enchanted Hills Blind School.
“Epsilon Omicron kept very busy socially. The chapter held its annual fall pledge formal and spring senior formal starting in 1975. A scholarship banquet was hosted every spring beginning in 1976, as well as a Christmas party. On UCD’s Picnic Day, a barbeque for parents was held at the house. In 1979, 1983, 1984 and 1985, the chapter combined its efforts with a fraternity and together entered a float in the Picnic Day Parade.

“Toward the end of the decade, the chapter created a winter-themed dance, and each member was encouraged to invite a non-Kappa couple to attend and share in the fun. Activities with other sororities and fraternities included wine tasting in Napa, ski trips, exchanges, potluck dinners and a Monmouth Duo dance with the UCD chapter of Pi Beta Phi.”

In 1984, the chapter received third place in the Greek Week competition and placed first in the Greek Week talent show. The members took buses to the spring formal at the Grand Island Mansion. This was its first step toward its goal of increasing alcohol awareness. In addition to these activities, the first Father/Daughter Day in Davis was held. Needed house repairs were completed, a BBQ held and there was a softball game.
During fall quarter 1984, the chapter and the Mothers Club hosted an art auction and attended the annual Founders Day luncheon.

Spring quarter 1985, the chapter won second place in the annual Greek Week competition. Spirits were high when the Traveling Consultant gave it a wonderful report during the wrap-up review.
The spring formal was held at the Berkeley Marina and was a great success. The chapter planned a successful dinner for the Chi Omegas and invited the other sororities and fraternities. It joined with Theta Chi to build a float for the Picnic Day parade.

Alcohol awareness was a major challenge 1985. It was decided to include more non-alcoholic beverages at all activities, the chapter participated in the Tipsy Taxi program and buses were used for transportation to social activities. At a dinner exchange with Sigma Chi and Delta Sigma fraternities, there was emphasis on dinner and games, and only those 21 years old or over could be served alcohol. There was a deemphasis on alcohol consumption overall.

The third-annual UCD men’s calendar was sold to benefit Summer House, Inc. of Davis and ANAD. The chapter raised $1,500 of which $1,000 was retained for start-up money for the following year’s calendar. A total of 1,250 calendars were sold.

After the excitement of the chapter’s newly remodeled house, it was difficult to isolate an overall highlight of 1989. Finally, it was concluded that the chapter’s outstanding scholarship should be its significant source of pride. Epsilon Omicron received recognition for having the highest grade point average for three consecutive quarters. Several members were recognized at the Panhellenic Scholarship Dessert, including one who received the award for the highest GPA in the College of Engineering. The chapter received the San Francisco Bay Alumnae Association Award for Scholarship Excellence at Province Meeting.

Epsilon Omicron’s members were very active in the community and on campus in 1989. One was the editor of The California Aggie, the campus newspaper, and many volunteered for programs in the University Counseling Centers such as Drink Responsibly in College, Peer Counseling in Sexuality and The House, a facility where students receive peer counseling on a variety of issues. Members were also visible as Health Advocates. At the student-run Coffee House on campus, as many as 20 Kappas could be found helping to prepare and serve food to students.
Again this year, the issue of alcohol use challenged the chapter. New ideas to meet this challenge were implemented. One solution was to have Kappa sisters volunteer to attend a social event and not drink. The chapter held forums where all members expressed their views and feelings about the issues. Prior to Christmas vacation, an eating disorder informational forum was held.

This year the chapter retreat was held in Sebastopol, a small town near the Napa Valley. The chapter goal – Ears to Us – was agreed upon by consensus of the members.

The chapter became very close to a retirement community, Covell Gardens, this year. The members carved pumpkins for Halloween and put together an Adopt-A-Grandparent program where the senior citizens were invited to the house for Sunday brunch. Also this year, the chapter’s first Faculty Dessert was held.

1991 will be remembered as a year in which Epsilon Omicron truly pulled together and showed that with cooperation, strength and determination, it could overcome any obstacle. In January, the members returned from winter break to find that the pipes in the chapter house had frozen and burst, leaving mildewed carpets and crumbling ceilings and walls. The chapter pulled together to remove damaged belongings so the workmen could begin the renovation as soon as possible. Though the chapter house was closed until April, the live-ins relocated to apartments which served as the temporary Kappa house in which members could gather.

During this time, the chapter performed more than 1,000 hours of community service. Epsilon Omicron was recognized by the university for its outstanding contribution to the community. Another source of pride was winning the Homecoming spirit competition for the second consecutive year. The chapter’s greatest source of pride, however, was when its rush chair won Greek Woman of the Year, and the chapter won the award for highest sorority GPA at the annual Panhellenic Scholarship Dessert.

==Highlights of the 1990s==

Epsilon Omicron members were involved on campus and abroad. In 1991, Kappas went abroad to Spain, Denmark and France, and participated in internship programs in Washington, D.C. Many members were involved with The California Aggie, the school newspaper, serving as writers, graphic artists and sales representatives – in fact, one member was advertising editor. Chapter members volunteer for university programs such as Drink Responsibly in College, Health Advocates and Peer Counselors in Sexuality. Kappas were found in volunteer roles at the UCD Medical Center, the genetics lab and academic peer counseling. Members also worked on campus at the student-run Coffee House and the bookstore.

In 1994, Epsilon Omicron sent four representatives to the Kappa Convention. While meeting Kappas from across the country and recognizing the bonds all Kappas share, the chapter members picked up many new ideas to strengthen and exemplify Kappa values. In October, 23 members and pledges celebrated Founders Day with Sacramento alumnae at Del Paso Country Club.

After fall rush, Epsilon Omicron pledged 27 intelligent young women, 26 of whom were initiated in January 1995. The chapter worked to improve its academic standing among UCD sororities. It moved from eighth place to second place in 1994.

The chapter members took great pride in its spring philanthropy, Kappa Kabana BBQ, which benefited Progress Ranch, a local charitable organization for needy children. Members also tutored local high school students to help them improve their academic achievement.

In 1996, Epsilon Omicron sent a representative to the Pi Province Meeting held in Berkeley. The chapter was recognized for the Challenge to Excellence, and the representative gathered many new ideas to improve the chapter. In February, Kappa participated in the Panhellenic progressive dinner. During Greek Week in April, Kappa won the Greek Sings contest and the overall competition. Kappas participated in the Pi Beta Phi Arrowspike tournament and the Theta Classic run, donated to the Chi Phi bike-a-thon and won the Delta Gamma Anchor Slam basketball tournament.

That fall, Epsilon Omicron pledged 27 women of whom 25 were initiated in January 1997. The chapter’s annual Kappa Kabana BBQ raised $1200 for Shriners Hospitals for Children. Members also participated in Santa’s Secret Shop in which 30 members helped children choose toys for their relatives. The chapter retreat was held at Lake Tahoe. The chapter also hosted a barbecue for parents during the annual Picnic Day celebration on the UC Davis campus.

Epsilon Omicron sent six representatives to the 1999 Pi Province Meeting held in Corvallis, Ore. The chapter received, with great honor, the Scholarship Award. During the meeting, chapter members were able to learn about the new member program, the alcohol policy and the importance of ritual. In May, the annual Kappa Kabana BBQ raised $3000 which was donated in equal amounts to the Kappa Foundation, the Mission Teaching Foundation and Shriners Hospitals for Children. Chapter members also participated in activities supporting the Yolo County Battered Women’s Shelter and CASA (Court-Appointed Special Advocates) among many others. Kappas also participated in Classical Companions in which members accompanied senior citizens to local classical music concerts.

This was a very busy and outstanding year for Epsilon Omicron in Davis, Calif. In the winter, Kappas made Valentines that were given to a retirement center in Davis. There was a huge turnout resulting in many more Valentines being made than anticipated. In March, the chapter’s Public Relations Chair planned the Mother-Daughter event, a catered dinner at the chapter house and a play at a local theater.

At the beginning of April, Epsilon Omicron hosted the Pi Province Meeting in Sacramento. It was filled with informative workshops as well as bonding time with alumnae and girls from other chapters.
In the spring, the chapter had its first spring informal recruitment. It was very successful, and the chapter gained four new members who were initiated at the end of the quarter. Kappa Klassic, held in May, was outstanding and raised $2500 for the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation.

In the fall, Epsilon Omicron had a fun formal recruitment which resulted in 27 new members. This was above quota, and 26 were initiated in November. In October, a Leadership Consultant visited the chapter, and it was a very positive visit. She worked on having the members all have a better understanding of what the different officers do and the qualities they possess, since chapter elections were coming up.

At the end of the year, the chapter participated in Pi Kappa Alpha’s philanthropy event called Pike’s Dream Girl. Our representative won first place. Epsilon Omicron had the highest house GPA of all of the sororities at Davis this year.

==Highlights of 2000==

UC Davis is one of the top ten public universities in the country, with 110 undergraduate majors. The Greek system is only about 10 percent of the campus, but plays an extremely active part in campus life. The chapter had about 83 girls in 2005, putting it above the all-sorority average at Davis. The chapter was active in the community, on campus and with other Greek organizations.

The archives display this year highlighted the connection between the early years of the chapter and where it stands today. The display included a photo of the Kappa football team from 1975, the year the chapter was founded, along with other memorabilia to remind the members that Epsilon Omicron was started by outstanding women who today’s members can still relate to and connect with decades later.

The chapter’s Co-Philanthropy Chairs were hard at work all year organizing events. In May, the chapter hosted the Kappa Klassic, a golf tournament that raised more than $3,000 for our philanthropies. In addition, the second-annual Kappa Kickball tournament was held in November, and helped promote cancer awareness by participating in the UC Davis Relay for Life, the largest college relay in California. Epsilon Omicron’s hard work was recognized when it received the Philanthropy Award at the Pi Province meeting in April. A sophomore member took the initiative to organize a very successful designer jeans sale at the house in which members of every chapter on campus participated.

The chapter’s Social Chairs planned numerous events including both the traditional quarterly formals and the first Kappa Krush party. The Public Relations Chair organized a Mother-Daughter Bunco tournament and a Father-Daughter Casino Night which were also a lot of fun.

The chapter had a very successful recruitment which focused on values-based recruiting, and held a workshop to help the members recognize the leadership qualities in potential new members. This workshop and mindset during the hectic week of recruitment helped the members make membership decisions based on the values the chapter collectively agreed were most important, such as respect, leadership, diversity and loyalty. Thirty new members pledged Kappa in the fall, the largest pledge class in chapter history.

Kappas continued to shine as leaders in other organizations on campus. In the greater Greek community, Kappa was represented on Panhellenic with a member serving as president, and on the Greek Conduct Board. Kappas were members of the UC Davis swimming, water polo and equestrian teams. Kappas also participated in the student body lobby corps, STAND (Students Taking Action Now: Darfur), internships in a broad variety of fields and numerous other student groups.

In 2007, UC Davis had a student body of about 23,000 undergraduates and was ranked 13th among public universities in the United States by US News and World Report. About 40 percent of undergraduates continued on to post-graduate education according to The Princeton Review. Only about eight percent of the student body was involved in Greek organizations, but Greek men and women had a huge presence on campus in the Student Senate and on athletic teams, among other student groups and in their wide-reaching philanthropy events, from benefit concerts to the Kappa Klassic.

The Epsilon Omicron Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma was regarded as one of the best chapters on campus in 2007 with 88 active members.

The archives display this year consisted of a Powerpoint presentation recounting the origin of the 33-year-old Epsilon Omicron Chapter. The presentation featured facts about Epsilon Omicron’s humble beginnings accompanied by pictures of the very first 1975 pledge class and pledge class retreat to Yosemite National Park.

The 2008 calendar year was a remarkable one for the Epsilon Omicron Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma. Its philanthropic events, including the Kappa Klassic golf tournament and Kappa Kickball tournament, raised more than $8000. The chapter also participated in the UC Davis Relay for Life, a campus-wide 24-hour relay established to spread cancer awareness and raise donations for cancer research.

The year also included its fair share of successful social events including the traditional quarterly formals and the first ‘80s Prom Party. The Public Relations Chair organized a mother-daughter yoga class and a father-daughter outing to a San Francisco Giants game which provided fun ways for parents to spend time with their daughters and meet some other members of Kappa.

The school year also began with an extremely successful recruitment. High morale kept spirits high during a chaotic recruitment week and contributed to the addition of forty-four new members, breaking last year’s largest pledge class record of thirty.

Epsilon Omicron also renewed its inter-Kappa relations with other neighboring Pi Province chapters by participating in leadership training at UC Berkeley where chapters Pi Deuteron, Beta Eta Deuteron and Eta Mu, as well as our own Epsilon Omicron, all attended. Each officer met with respective officers from each chapter and discussed goals, improvements, and responsibilities of their officer position. This opportunity allowed the chapter leaders to meet members from other neighboring chapters and strengthened inter-Kappa relations and unity. It also allowed the members to take away valuable knowledge of how leadership positions are conducted at other chapters and apply new ideas to how the chapter conducts its positions at Davis.

Kappas continued to exemplify a well-rounded and diverse group of women. Kappas were members of UC Davis swimming, water ski, water polo, track and equestrian teams and have a wide participation in internship opportunities and student body interest and lobby groups.

The 2009 calendar year was a busy and highly successful year for the Epsilon Omicron Chapter in Davis, Calif. Its philanthropic efforts included making valentines for the elderly and sending packages to soldiers overseas, along with annual events including the Kappa Klassic golf tournament and particpating in the UC Davis Relay for Life, the largest college relay in California.

The Philanthropy Co-Chairs also organized the first Kappa Karaoke, a contest among other Greek organizations which was a huge success. Women from Epsilon Omicron also supported the philanthropic efforts of others in the Greek community by attending and participating in events such as Arrowjam, a dance performance competition, DG Desserts, Pike Dream Girl, Rock our Casa and more.

Chapter members bonded over many successful social events including both the traditional quarterly formals and fun events such as Biker Bash and more. Epsilon Omicron won Greek Week for the second consecutive year. Parents weekend was also a huge success.

The chapter had a very successful recruitment as thirty-six new members pledged Kappa in the fall. The Education Chair organized an incredible Founders Day in September. Kappas also continued to stand-out in other campus activities. A Kappa served as the assistant recruitment director on Panhellenic. Kappa was also represented on a number of UC Davis athletic teams, student government positions, STAND (Students Taking Action Now: Darfur), internships in a broad variety of fields and numerous other groups.

UC Davis consisted of approximately 24,500 undergraduates in 2009 and was ranked 11th among public universities in the United States by US News and World Report. The university celebrated its centennial during the 2008-2009 academic year.

The Epsilon Omicron Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma was regarded as one of the best chapters on campus with 104 members actively involved on campus and in the larger Davis community.

==Highlights of 2010==

The year 2010 was a notable one for the Epsilon Omicron Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma. The members began the year by packing and shipping care packages to soldiers fighting in Iraq. In February, several Kappas baked Valentine’s Day treats and took them to an elderly care home in Davis and spent hours building relationships with the elderly of the community.

Throughout the year, the Epsilon Omicron Chapter worked on building and strengthening relations with other Greek organizations. In March, Kappa created a team to compete in Arrowjam, joining Pi Beta Phi’s Philanthropy event which benefited the Arrowmont School of the Arts in attempting to spread literacy. In April, chapter members also participated in and organized a team for the 24-hour cancer walk, Relay for Life. Kappas stayed up all night and walked laps for the event which benefited the American Cancer Society. Later in the spring, the chapter organized its main philanthropy event, Kappa Classic, a large golf tournament. The tournament was once again very successful, and made well over $5,000 with all of the profits going to the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation and the Taylor Family Foundation, a camp for children with special needs.

The summer was spent preparing for fall 2010 recruitment. Recruitment went very well for our chapter as 37 bids were accepted. The new school year brought with it a great deal of excitement from the successful recruitment, and members started planning the second-annual Kappa Karaoke fall quarter philanthropy event. The event raised more than $3,000 for Reading is Fundamental.

In 2010, one of the most significant changes that took place on campus were the state budget cuts. With the state cutting a lot of funding for schools, UC Davis students along with UC students statewide received a 32-percent tuition increase. The state budget cuts also affected sports at Davis, as four NCAA men’s and women’s teams were cut in the summer.

==Highlights of 2011==

In 2011, the Epsilon Omicron Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma enjoyed a year of sisterhood and charity. Beginning in February with Valentines for the Elderly, more than fifteen Kappas baked cookies and brought them to a local retirement home on Valentine’s Day. This was incredibly rewarding for the girls involved because they were able to strengthen bonds with the elderly of the Davis community while spreading the love on Valentine’s Day. The spring was an incredible quarter filled with charity as Davis Kappas held two philanthropy events: Kappa Dash and Kappa Klassic. In April, Epsilon Omicron made history by hosting its first Kappa Dash 5K walk/run to benefit the American Cancer Society. Kappa raised more than $1,200 with nearly 100 participants involved.

While participating in its own philanthropies, Epsilon Omicron also strengthened ties within the Greek community by taking part in the 24-hour cancer walk, Relay for Life. In May, the annual Kappa Klassic Golf Tournament and silent auction raised more than $4,300 with 100 participants. Money raised went toward aiding the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation and the Taylor Family Foundation, a camp for children with special needs. Also in the spring, Kappa donated more than 300 books to local Reading is Fundamental programs and to schools rebuilding in New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina.

During the summer, Kappas dedicated their time toward preparing for the fall 2011 recruitment week. Kappa took pride in bringing in a new member class of 39 beautiful and loyal girls to join Epsilon Omicron. Of these 39, ten were juniors, twelve were sophomores and seventeen were freshmen.

In October, the chapter resumed its philanthropies by hosting the second-annual Kappa Dash. Our second experience with Kappa Dash produced even better results: 150 participants and more than $2,200 raised for the American Cancer Society and for one of our own sister’s cancer treatments. In general, the UC Davis chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma once again enjoyed a year filled with sisterhood and charity.

There was a well-publicized pepper-spray incident which occurred on the campus on November 18, 2011. As a result of economic issues affecting both UC Davis and the nation as a whole, the Occupy Wall Street movement decided to camp in the middle of the Davis quad as a demonstration against both tuition increases and potential tax increases. In an act intended to protect UC Davis students, Chancellor Linda Katehi ordered that riot police force the protestors off campus. As a result, riot police used pepper spray on the peaceful demonstrators, igniting intense criticism from all over the world. Chancellor Katehi’s decision to allow the riot police to intervene in the situation was criticized harshly, and shortly after the incident, multiple staff members requested her resignation. Not only did this incident bring much attention, both negative and positive, to the campus, but it also managed to intensify school spirit as students fought for their rights.
Overall, the year 2011 proved to be a real break-out year for the UC Davis chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma. Davis Kappas proved their school spirit and intelligence in assessing and examining the pepper-spray incident in November. For example, one Kappa involved in the UC Davis student government provided insightful thoughts on the incident while holding her own on a panel of professors. Another Kappa pursuing a career in journalism conducted an intuitive and thoughtful interview with the chancellor.

Davis Kappas have always had a great reputation on campus; however, this past year was filled with numerous gracious compliments about Kappas’ kindness from other sororities, fraternities and even random people around campus. It is for these reasons that Davis Kappas wear their letters around campus loud and proud!
The most significant challenge which the chapter faced during the year was learning that one of its new members had contracted cancer. With this devastating news, the chapter president alerted each Kappa via email about the new member’s condition. In response, Kappas banded together to give the member and her family all that they could ever wish for in her time of need. During weekly meetings, chapter members gathered supplies and other necessities such as magazines, pajamas, blankets and cookies to be sent to the member as she underwent tests and treatments in the hospital. Not only did Kappas dedicate their time to ensuring her happiness, but they also dedicated the fall philanthropy, Kappa Dash, to the ailing member. At the philanthropy event, her family attended and cried tears of joy at the love and support which Kappa provided for their daughter. The chapter firmly believes that fate brought this member to Epsilon Omicron at this time so that she could be cared for during her time of need.

==Highlights of 2012==
The year 2012 for Epsilon Omicron chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma was a wonderful year on many levels. The ladies of the chapter strengthened their bonds of sisterhood through philanthropy events such as the annual 5k Kappa Dash. This event raised almost $2000 for the Taylor Family Foundation. This foundation's goal is to preserve the wellness and enhance the quality of life for children in Northern California living with life-threatening and chronic illnesses, developmental disabilities and youth at-risk through unique therapeutic experiences and support.

Last year, 2011, one of our new member sisters was diagnosed with cancer and unfortunately she could not be as involved with chapter activities. This fall, many of the active women rallied together to insure that we made her status as a Kappa, official. We worked very hard to initiate her, showing our love and support for our sister who was in a time of need. The women of the Epsilon Omicron chapter are proud of the initiation of our new sister.

Not only are our women proud of the initiation of just one new Kappa, but welcomed a beautiful new member class of 49 girls, the most this chapter has ever received. These amazing new women are such an asset to the chapter and are well-rounded individuals who represent all that Kappa Kappa Gamma exemplifies.

Our ladies continued to strengthen their sisterhood bonds through teamwork and dedication during Greek Week. For the 5th straight year in a row, the ladies of the Epsilon Omicron chapter won Greek week, and are hoping to continue the streak! The women of the chapter have been very involved in powder-puff football and other Intramural Sports on campus. Our chapter is extremely proud of recently winning “The Most Spirited Chapter Award” at Greek Awards Night here at UC Davis.

Another great achievement to be proud of is the Standards Award of Excellence which was presented to Epsilon Omicron chapter this year at convention. We were presented the award in recognition of our commitment to the improvement of Standards in our chapter, our commitment to sisterhood, and our commitment to the unity and success of chapter as a whole. It is a great honor to receive recognition out of all the kappa chapters nationally and we are very grateful to have been given this award! We also received honorable mention at convention for our Academics as well as donations to the kappa foundation.

We are so very proud of all that our chapter has accomplished and the wonderful path we are on! Our ladies’ excellence in academics truly shined as well. The intelligent women of the Epsilon Omicron chapter maintained the highest GPA of the Panhellenic system at UCD throughout the entire year.

We had two women with the highest cumulative GPA in their individual colleges at Davis, Brianna Frisch and Hailey Hinkle while Kellie McFarland won a Panhellenic scholarship. Lastly, senior Amy Martin was inducted into the order of the Omega along with winning Greek Woman of the year. We are so very proud of each of our sisters' accomplishments.

Around campus at Davis, Greek life is growing. The growing interest in the Greek system at Davis, creates the need for larger new member classes and expanded campus involvement. Despite tuition increases for the whole University of California system, the number of students attending Davis and becoming Greek affiliates is larger than ever. Davis hosted former President Bill Clinton as a speaker, just before the November presidential elections. This rallied many students together on campus to listen and become informed on numerous current issues.

The Epsilon Omicron chapter in 2012 grew significantly. The women are becoming more and more involved in the philanthropy events of other sororities on campus as well. As a whole, the chapter is becoming closer as a sisterhood. Our chapter has been involved in many sisterhood events to create memories and bonds to last a lifetime.

The women of the chapter have been very involved in Kappa this year and are proud to wear the Kappa letters! The chapter has great relationships within the Greek system, and has a great reputation on campus. The chapter is very excited about their new member class, and continues to nurture and guide their wonderful new sisters, while showing them all the fantastic benefits of being a Kappa.

==Highlights of 2013==

2013 was an excellent year for the Epsilon Omicron chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma at UC Davis. We expanded the strength of our sisterhood by putting on many successful philanthropy and sisterhood events as well as welcoming a brand new pledge class! We began the 2013 year with our annual fall philanthropy, Kappa Dash, a 5k run/walk to benefit the Taylor Family Foundation. The Taylor Family Foundation is a foundation run in Northern California whose goal is to improve the quality of life for children living with life-threatening diseases and chronic illnesses. This run through the UC Davis campus had a very positive outcome and we were able to donate $2,091 to the Taylor Family Foundation. One of the co founders of the Taylor Family Foundation, Barry Taylor, recently passed away and the Epsilon Omicron chapter is proud to continue to support his wonderful legacy by donating our proceeds of Kappa Dash to the Taylor Family Foundation.

In addition to Kappa Dash, Epsilon Omicron also introduced two new philanthropies for winter and spring, Kappaccino and Kappa Klassic! During winter quarter 2013, our Kappas sold coffee out of our house to all who stopped by. It was extremely successful and all the proceeds went to Reading is Fundamental. Kappaccino raised $690, and we had over 300 people attend, which was a great turnout for our very first time running it. In the spring of 2013, our lovely sisters also hosted Kappa Klassic, a golf tournament to raise money for the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation. Epsilon Omicron is proud of how dedicated and caring all our sisters are to each of our wonderful philanthropies.

As well as welcoming a brand new pledge class of 43 beautiful new Kappas, we had an amazing surge in sisterhood over the past year. Our sisterhood chair of 2013 did a fantastic job planning wonderful events for Epsilon Omicron ladies to bond over. Some of our adventures included: Trips into Walnut Creek for private shopping at Brandy Melville, expeditions into downtown Davis to explore our famous farmer’s market, volunteering at the student farm on campus, supporting our Aggie sports teams, movie nights at the house, and sisterhood potlucks. Sisterhood throughout our chapter was strong before, but we are always looking for new ways to come together, and these events were a fun way to do so! The women of Epsilon Omicron also pride ourselves on our participation in Greek Week, an inter-Greek competition series. Through our teamwork as sisters, we managed to earn our 6th consecutive Greek Week win! Our chapter is also very involved with intramural sports on campus including powder-puff football.

At UC Davis, Greek life continues to grow and expand over the years. Each of our amazing sororities and fraternities welcomed strong new member classes and inter-Greek relations have been very good. By participating in many other philanthropy events and supporting other chapters on campus Kappa Kappa Gamma has tried to maintain a strong influence on campus. At this year’s Greek Awards night, Kappa won “Most Spirited Chapter” on campus. Our sister Chloe Hull also won the Jill Peckler award, an award for embodying all that it means to be a wonderful involved sister both on campus and in chapter. As well as being our Academic Excellence Chair, Chloe is on the women’s lacrosse team and has the highest GPA in our chapter. Krystal DePorto, one of our fabulous new members, also won an award for having the highest cumulative GPA for the college of Biological Sciences.

UC Davis Panhellenic has also voted to investigate how much work it would take to start a brand new chapter here! The addition of a brand new sorority or fraternity would be a great asset to our campus and we can’t wait to see how that turns out!

As a whole, Epsilon Omicron has shown that it will continue to grow and expand under our Kappa ideals and traditions. The women of our chapter have shown to be beautiful, brilliant, caring and respectful young women, always wearing our letters proudly. We are so excited about our new member class and we cannot wait too see what 2014 will bring to us.

==Highlights of 2014==

2014 was an incredible year for the Epsilon Omicron chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma at UC Davis. We continued to strengthen our sisterhood by the successful philanthropies we put on, fun sisterhood events, as well as welcoming our newest pledge class. Winter of 2014, we began the new year with our Kappacino philanthropy. We teamed up with the fraternity Sigma Chi to help us raise money that all went to Reading is Fundamental. We raised about $800 and had about 400 in attendance! In addition to Kappacino, in the spring we had our first ever Kappa Karnival. This was the first time ever doing this philanthropy and it was a huge success! This philanthropy helped us raise about $1,200 with half of the money going to the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation and the other half going to the Taylor Family Foundation. This philanthropy was a great turnout for our very first time running it! In the fall, our lovely sisters, along with our newest pledge class, ran our Kappacino philanthropy once again, selling coffee from Dutch Bros and baked goods to all who attended. This Kappacino was very successful as well, raising $632 and having around 300 in attendance for our Reading is Fundamental philanthropy. Planned for Winter 2015 is our Kappa Dash, a 5k run/walk to benefit the Taylor Family Foundation. Our chapter is also in the midst off planning a Girl's Academy for Spring 2016. This will be our first ever Girl's Academy event for our chapter. Epsilon Omicron is extremely proud of the dedication and care that all our sisters have put into this year of philanthropies, helping them to be as successful as possible.

Our sisters of the Epsilon Omicron chapter have showed their Kappa Kappa Gamma pride by competing and winning in events other Greek chapters have put on. Eunice Lin won first place in TKE Sweetheart, a pageant competition supporting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Ariana Cesare also received first place in Theta Chi’s first ever G.I. Jane competition, which raised money to support our troops. Our chapter also won Arrowjam, which is a dance competition put on by Pi Phi’s philanthropy. We also received second place in Greek Week, which is an inter-Greek competition series. At Convention this past year, our chapter received five awards. The first being Excellence in Chapter Management Award and then honorable mentions for: Recruitment, Academic Excellence, New Member Program, and Risk Management. Our chapter also improved on our history awareness as our Registrar set up a history of Kappa Kappa Gamma museum that could be viewed in our Kappa house. We also began giving wellness facts during meeting through our Risk Management position. Epsilon Omicron also reached out to show our support to the Kappa Kappa Gammas at UC Santa Barbara after the shooting in Isla Vista, giving them flowers and our love.

Over the past year, the strong bond of sisterhood has continued. Epsilon Omicron did a fantastic job planning fun events for our sisters of Kappa Kappa Gamma, as well as planning events with other sororities to strengthen our Panhellenic relations. For just our Kappa sisters, adventures included: private shopping at Brandy Melville, trips to downtown Davis to enjoy some sun and food at the farmer’s market, supporting our Aggie sports teams, movie nights, and also sisterhood potlucks. To improve our Panhellenic relations, we had a sisterhood picnic with the lovely girls of Alpha Phi and Delta Gamma, also well as a night of ice cream and fun with Alpha Phi. Our sisterhood bond continues as our chapter looks for fun and creative ways for us to all come together! We have welcomed a new group of beautiful, fun Kappa girls into our chapter. We initiated the new 50 members at the Davis Kappa house on November 22, 2014. It was so incredible to see the large amount of girls who went Kappa, showing another huge success for the Epsilon Omicron Chapter.

UC Davis Panhellenic has also been investigating the start of a new sorority on campus. That would mean 9 chapters, instead of 8 that girls would go to during recruitment. This change is still very preliminary though.

As a whole, Epsilon Omicron chapter has shown that it will continue to grow and expand under our Kappa ideals and traditions. The women of our chapter have shown to be beautiful, brilliant, caring, successful, and respectable young women, able to always wear our letters proudly. We are extremely excited about our new pledge class and cannot wait to see what 2015 has in store.

Our chapter, Epsilon Omicron, holds our meetings in the chapter room of our Kappa house in Davis. This house is chapter owned. We also occasionally have meetings that take place in a university owned facility.

Since 1975, when our chapter was founded, so was our house. Since 1975, it has been remodeled with more bedrooms, a larger chapter room, and a remodeled kitchen. We are able to have some of our members live together in our chapter owned house. Only nine girls total can fit into the chapter home. This is the only chapter home we have lived in as the Epsilon Omicron chapter.

==Highlights of 2015==
2015 was a great year for the Epsilon Omicron chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma at UC Davis. We continued to strengthening our sisterhood by the successful philanthropies we put on, fun sisterhood events, as well as welcoming our newest pledge class. Winter of 2015 we began the new year with our Kappa Dash philanthropy, a 5k run/walk to benefit the Taylor Family Foundation. We raised around $1,225 and had great participation from the Davis community. In the Spring, we had our second Kappa Karnival and raised $1,525 benefitting the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation and the other half going to the Taylor Family Foundation. The philanthropy had great participation from Greek Life and was tons of fun for all who attended. In the Fall, we will team up with the fraternity Sigma Chi for our philanthropy Kappaccino to help us raise money that will go to Reading is Fundamental. This will be our first philanthropy with our lovely new sisters, with coffee from Dutch Bros and baked goods for all who attended. Our chapter also is now in the midst planning of a Girl's Academy for Spring 2016. This will be our first ever Girl's Academy event for our chapter. We already have started tabling events at Lee Middle School in Woodland to recruit young girls. Epsilon Omicron is extremely proud of the dedication and care that all our sisters have put into this year of philanthropies, helping them to be as successful as possible.

Our sisters of the Epsilon Omicron chapter have showed their Kappa Kappa Gamma pride by competing and winning in events other Greek chapters have put on. Our chapter participated in Arrowjam, which is a dance competition put on by Pi Beta Phi’s philanthropy. We also received first place in Sigma Chi’s Derby Days, which was a week long competition that our entire sorority was highly involved in. Kappa also won awards for their programing events and advisors at a Panhellenic Awards night. Our chapter also improved on our history awareness as our Registrar set up a display of past scrapbooks made to be viewed in our Kappa house. Members of Epsilon Omicron also have been very involved in the upcoming political campaign, by making clubs and inviting all members to become more educated and involved.

Over the past year, the strong bond of sisterhood has continued. Epsilon Omicron did a fantastic job planning fun events for our sisters of Kappa Kappa Gamma, as well as with other sororities to strengthen our Panhellenic relations. For just our Kappa sisters, adventures included: day trips to beaches and Tahoe, trips to downtown Davis to enjoy some sun and food at the farmer’s market, supporting our Aggie sports teams, ice cream nights, and also sisterhood potlucks. To improve our Panhellenic relations, we had events with Pi Beta Phi as well as Kappa Alpha Theta. Our sisterhood bond continues as our chapter looks for fun and creative ways for us to all come together! We have welcomed a new group of beautiful, fun Kappa girls into our chapter. We initiated the new 47 members at the Davis Kappa house on November 21, 2015. It was so incredible to see the large amount of girls who went Kappa, showing another huge success for the Epsilon Omicron Chapter.

UC Davis Panhellenic has also been investigating the start of a new sorority on campus. This year they voted and decided that they will take applications for a new chapter. In the upcoming years, there will be one to two new chapters.

As a whole, Epsilon Omicron chapter has shown that it will continue to grow and expand under our Kappa ideals and traditions. The women of our chapter have shown to be beautiful, brilliant, caring, successful, and respectable young women, able to always wear our letters proudly. We are extremely excited about our new pledge class and cannot wait to see what 2016 has in store.

Chapter Philanthropy:

What organization(s) has your chapter historically/traditionally raised money for, or donated hours to, in your community?

Kappa Kappa Gamma, Epsilon Omicron, has traditional raised money for Reading is Fundamental, Taylor Family Foundation, the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation and Rose McGill. We also are raising money for our event, Girls Academy.

Why did your chapter choose this organization(s) to support?

Our chapter chose these organizations because we believe in supporting other Kappa members, as well as Kappa Kappa Gamma’s philanthropy. We chose the local, Taylor Family Foundation because past sisters at Epsilon Omicron had a special connection to it and worked at the camp themselves.

==Highlights of 2016==

2016 was an amazing year for the Epsilon Omicron chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma at UC Davis. We continued to strengthen our sisterhood by the successful philanthropies we put on, fun sisterhood events, as well as welcoming our newest pledge class. We started off 2016 with our annual Winter philanthropy, Kappa Dash. This is a 5K run/walk to to benefit The Taylor Family Foundation. This year we had great participation from UC Davis students and the entire Davis community, and were able to raise nearly $1,000. In the Spring, Kappa put on our annual Spring philanthropy, Kappa Karnival. This was a fun event to raise money for the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation as well as The Taylor Family Foundation. In all, we were able to raise $560 for the Kappa Kappa Gamma foundation, and it was a great way to bring the Davis Greek community together for a wonderful cause. Finally, in the Fall Kappa partnered with the fraternity Sigma Chi to host our annual Kappacino. This helped us raise money for Reading is Fundamental, with Dutch Bros and baked goods for everyone who attended. It was our first philanthropy with our wonderful new pledge class, and was a huge success, as we were able to raise $1,114. Currently, our chapter is planning for Girls Academy in the Spring, which will be at Douglas Middle School in Woodland. Although our Girls Academy from last year did not work out, the chapter is more excited than ever to make this as successful as possible, and we have already begun fundraising for this event. Epsilon Omicron is extremely proud of the time, dedication, and care that all our sisters have put into this year of philanthropies, helping them to be as successful as possible.

Our sisters of the Epsilon Omicron chapter have showed their Kappa Kappa Gamma pride by competing and winning in events other Greek chapters have put on. First off, our chapter participated in Arrowjam, which is a dance competition put on by Pi Beta Phi’s philanthropy. Also, for the second year in a row, we received first place in Sigma Chi’s Derby Days, which was a week long competition that our entire sorority was highly involved in. These events were a great way to strengthen our Greek relationships, as well as help support fellow Greek philanthropies. Our chapter has continued to improve on chapter history, with our Registrar displaying scrapbooks for all our sisters to look at in our Parlor Room. As the presidential election was in full swing, our sisters became actively involved in political campaigns, encouraging fellow students to vote, educating fellow members on different issues, and being active members of different political clubs on campus.

As well as welcoming a brand new pledge class of 45 beautiful new Kappas, we had an amazing surge in sisterhood over the past year. Our chapter had many wonderful sisterhoods that were a great way to increase sister bonding, and act as a great way to strengthen our sister friendships. Some of our fun adventures included: trips to Walnut Creek for private shopping at Brandy Melville, expeditions into downtown Davis to explore the famous Davis farmer’s market, hanging out with our sisters at Davis athletic events, and even a fun filled Halloween themed chapter meeting, where the sister with the best costume won a fun prize! With so many new members in Kappa this year as well as fun sisterhood events, the sisters of Epsilon Omicron continue to strengthen our sisterhood bonds, showing another huge success for our chapter.

As a whole, Epsilon Omicron chapter has shown that it will continue to grow and expand under our Kappa ideals and traditions. The women of our chapter have shown to be beautiful, brilliant, caring, successful, and respectable young women. We cannot wait to see what 2017 has in store for us, as we are so excited about our beautiful new pledge class, and all the amazing philanthropies, sisterhood, and events our chapter has planned.

Our chapter, Epsilon Omicron, holds our weekly meetings in the chapter room of our Kappa house in Davis. This house is chapter owned. We also occasionally have meetings that take place in a university owned facility.

==Highlights of 2017==

2017 was an amazing year for the Epsilon Omicron chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma at UC Davis. We continued to strengthen our sisterhood by the successful philanthropies we put on, fun sisterhood events, as well as welcoming our newest pledge class. We started off 2017 with a brand new event for our Winter philanthropy, Kappa Karaoke. This is a karaoke event open to not only the Greek community, but all the students of UC Davis, in order to benefit The Taylor Family Foundation. This year we had great participation from UC Davis students and the entire Davis community, and were able to raise nearly $1,300. In the Spring, Kappa put on our annual Spring philanthropy, Kappa Karnival. This was a fun event to raise money for the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation. In total, we were able to raise $1,000 for the Kappa Kappa Gamma foundation, and it was a great way to bring the Davis Greek community together for a wonderful cause. Finally, in the Fall Kappa partnered with the fraternity Sigma Chi to host our annual Kappacino. This helped us raise money for Reading is Fundamental, with Dutch Bros and baked goods for everyone who attended. It was our first philanthropy with our wonderful new pledge class, and was a huge success, as we were able to raise $2,000. Epsilon Omicron is extremely proud of the time, dedication, and care that all our sisters have put into this year of philanthropies, helping them to be as successful as possible.

Our sisters of the Epsilon Omicron chapter have showed their Kappa Kappa Gamma pride by competing and winning in events other Greek chapters have put on. First off, our chapter participated in Arrowjam, which is a dance competition put on by Pi Beta Phi’s philanthropy. Also, we participated in Sigma Chi’s Derby Days, which was a week long competition that our entire sorority was highly involved in and raised money for Huntsman Cancer Foundation. These events were a great way to strengthen our Greek relationships, as well as help support fellow Greek philanthropies. Our chapter has continued to improve on chapter history, with our Registrar displaying scrapbooks for all our sisters to look at in our Parlor Room. As the presidential election was in full swing, our sisters became actively involved in political campaigns, encouraging fellow students to vote, educating fellow members on different issues, and being active members of different political clubs on campus.

As well as welcoming a brand new pledge class of 48 incredible new Kappas, we had an amazing surge in sisterhood over the past year. Our chapter had many wonderful sisterhoods that were a great way to increase sister bonding, and act as a great way to strengthen our sister friendships. Some of our fun adventures included: Kappa Kamp with smores and a bonfire, expeditions into downtown Davis to explore the famous Davis farmer’s market, hanging out with our sisters at Davis athletic events, and even a fun filled Halloween themed chapter meeting, where the sister with the best costume won a fun prize! With so many new members in Kappa this year as well as fun sisterhood events, the sisters of Epsilon Omicron continue to strengthen our sisterhood bonds, showing another huge success for our chapter.

In the recent months, wild fires in California and the surrounding Napa area have been causing disaster and tragedy for so many families. Our chapter raised money for a gift basket of necessities for a member of our own chapter whose family was evacuated from their home due to these relentless fires. We also participated in many other Greek philanthropies who were raising money for those affected by the fires.

Also this year, our chapter won Greek Day for having the most participation and effort in the Greek Day activities. This meant a lot to our chapter because it showed how important connecting with our community is to us. We have also begun mandatory sisterhood events which we found brought our members closer together than ever before. Another accomplishment we have recently achieved together was winning the Powder Puff competition that is put on by our Greek community, exhibiting our chapter's ability to work well together and accomplish what we put our minds to.

As a whole, Epsilon Omicron chapter has shown that it will continue to grow and expand under our Kappa ideals and traditions. The women of our chapter have shown to be beautiful, brilliant, caring, successful, and respectable young women. We cannot wait to see what 2018 has in store for us, as we are so excited about our beautiful new pledge class, and all the amazing philanthropies, sisterhood, and events our chapter has planned.

Unfortunately, the Greek community at UC Davis battled a sexual assault case this year which left many students wanting to make a change in our system. The manner in which our chapter, united with other sororities and fraternities on campus, banned together in order to make a difference with this issue has shown a dramatic amount of growth in the Greek community. We united together to take a stand and to make actual changes in the way the system handles sexual assault and how students view it. We implemented more sexual assault prevention classes for the entire Greek community as well as initiated many difficult, yet necessary, conversations that the community needed to have in order to recognize this issue.

Our chapter has traditionally raised money for Reading is Fundamental, the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation, the Taylor Family Foundation, Rose McGill, and Girls Academy. We also require our members to have one hour of community service each quarter in order to support and grow closer to our own Davis community. Recently, the chapter volunteered at the Boy and Girls Club in Sacramento where we had the opportunity to meet and inspire young, under privileged children.

Taylor Family Foundation is a significant organization for our chapter to be a part of because two of our members work at the camp and spend countless hours with the children who are a part of this cause. Also, a Kappa alumni of our chapter had a sister attending the Taylor Family Foundation camp which is how we originally began supporting this cause. Our chapter believes in supporting other Kappa members as well as our entire organizations' philanthropy, which is why we are excited to support all these organizations.

==Highlights of 2018==
2018 was an amazing year for the Epsilon Omicron chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma at UC Davis. We continued to strengthen our sisterhood by the successful philanthropies we put on, fun sisterhood events, as well as welcoming our newest pledge class. We started off 2018 with one of our newest philanthropies, Kappa Krush. This is a social event open to not only the Greek community, but all the students of UC Davis, in order to benefit The Weave Foundation, a charity that donates to human trafficking in the Sacramento area. This year we had great participation from UC Davis students and the entire Davis community, and were able to raise nearly $1,500. In the Spring, Kappa put on our second annual spring philanthropy, Kappa Karaoke. This was a singing event to raise money for the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation. In total, we were able to raise $1,300 for the Kappa Kappa Gamma foundation, and it was a great way to bring the Davis Greek community together for a wonderful cause. Finally, in the Fall, Kappa partnered with the fraternity Sigma Chi to host our annual Kappaccino. This helped us raise money for Reading is Fundamental, as well as donate to the Camp Fire relief, with Dutch Bros, Yerbas and baked goods for everyone who attended. It was our first philanthropy with our wonderful new pledge class, and was a huge success, as we were able to raise $2,200. Epsilon Omicron is extremely proud of the time, dedication, and care that all our sisters have put into this year of philanthropies, helping them to be as successful as possible. Our sisters of the Epsilon Omicron chapter have showed their Kappa Kappa Gamma pride by competing and winning in events other Greek chapters have put on. First off, our chapter participated in Arrowjam, which is a dance competition put on by Pi Beta Phi’s philanthropy, and ended up placing 3rd. We, also, participated in Sigma Chi’s Derby Days, which was a week long competition that our entire sorority was highly involved in and raised money for Huntsman Cancer Foundation - in this one we ended up coming in 1st place. These events were a great way to strengthen our Greek relationships, as well as help support fellow Greek philanthropies while also having a little fun on the side. Our chapter has continued to improve on chapter history, with our Registrar displaying scrapbooks for all our sisters to look at in our Parlor Room. As the presidential election was in full swing, our sisters became actively involved in political campaigns, encouraging fellow students to vote, educating fellow members on different issues, and being active members of different political clubs on campus. As we welcomed a brand new pledge class of 37 incredible new Kappas, we had an amazing surge in sisterhood over the past year. Our chapter had many wonderful sisterhoods that were a great way to increase sister bonding, and act as a great way to strengthen our sister friendships. Some of our fun adventures included: expeditions into downtown Davis to explore the famous Davis farmer’s market, photoshoots in new, adventurous places, hanging out with our sisters at Davis athletic events, and even fun-filled Halloween and Christmas themed chapter meetings, where the sister with the best costume won a fun prize! With so many new members in Kappa this year as well as fun sisterhood events, the sisters of Epsilon Omicron continue to strengthen our sisterhood bonds, showing another huge success for our chapter. In the recent months, wild fires in California and the surroudning Paradise area have been causing disaster and tragedy for so many families. Our chapter raised money through our Kappaccino philanthropy to donate to those affected. We also participated in many other Greek philanthropies who were raising money for those affected by the fires. Also this year, our chapter won Greek Day for having the most participation and effort in the Greek Day activities. This meant a lot to our chapter because it showed how important connecting with our community is to us. We have also begun mandatory sisterhood events which we found brought our members closer together than ever before. Another accomplishment we have recently achieved together is being the back-to-back champions of the women's PowderPuff Flag Football competition that is put on by our Greek community, exhibiting our chapter's ability to work well together and accomplish whatever it is we put our minds to. As a whole, Epsilon Omicron chapter has shown that it will continue to grow and expand under our Kappa ideals and traditions. The women of our chapter have shown to be beautiful, brilliant, caring, successful, and respectable young women. We cannot wait to see what 2019 has in store for us, as we are so excited about our beautiful new pledge class, and all the amazing philanthropies, sisterhood, and events our chapter has planned.

'''Describe the recent changes on campus and describe the chapter’s overall nature.'''

Unfortunately, the Greek community at UC Davis battled a sexual assault case this year which left many students wanting to make a change in our system. The manner in which our chapter, united with other sororities and fraternities on campus, banned together in order to make a difference with this issue has shown a dramatic amount of growth in the Greek community. We united together to take a stand and to make actual changes in the way the system handles sexual assault and how students view it. We implemented more sexual assault prevention classes for the entire Greek community as well as initiated many difficult, yet necessary, conversations that the community needed to have in order to recognize this issue.

'''Chapter Philanthropy'''

'''What organization does the chapter support?''' Our chapter has traditionally raised money for Reading is Fundamental, the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation, the Taylor Family Foundation, Rose McGill, and Girls Academy. We also require our members to have one hour of community service each quarter in order to support and grow closer to our own Davis community. Recently, the chapter volunteered at the Boys and Girls Club in Sacramento where we had the opportunity to meet and inspire young, under privileged children.

'''Why did the chapter choose this organization?'''

Taylor Family Foundation is a significant organization for our chapter to be a part of because two of our members work at the camp and spend countless hours with the children who are a part of this cause. Also, a Kappa alumni of our chapter had a sister attending the Taylor Family Foundation camp which is how we originally began supporting this cause. Our chapter believes in supporting other Kappa members as well as our entire organizations' philanthropy, which is why we are excited to support all these organizations.

'''Chapter Facility'''

Our chapter, Epsilon Omicron, holds our weekly meetings in the chapter room of our Kappa house in Davis. This house is chapter owned. We also occasionally have meetings that take place in a university owned facility. However, we really enjoy the opportunity to spend time at the Kappa house and to gather in the place that we all consider to be home.

--------------------------
'''Note to Chapter Registrar:'''
Please refer to your chapter archives including chapter meeting minutes and back issues of The Key to fill in any gaps in the above historical highlights. If your chapter archives are not complete, please research your university library, campus newspaper and yearbook archives for newsworthy information about your chapter. Please double check your work for accuracy. Contact chapter Advisory or House Board members, local Alumnae Association members, or your Province Director of Chapters for assistance. Your efforts will ensure a complete and accurate history of your chapter for future generations to enjoy!

Beta Omega

2019-06-18T20:03:49Z

Michellelearle:

{{Infobox Fraternity
|Name= Beta Omega
|GreekSymbol= BΩ
|Image= [[File:Beta_Omega.jpg|200px]]
|Founded= {{start date and years ago|1913|01|11}}
|College= [http://www.uoregon.edu/ University of Oregon]
|Location= Eugene, OR
|Homepage= [http://www.oregonkkg.com/ Beta Omega Homepage]
|Media= [http://wiki.kappakappagamma.org/index.php?title=Category:Beta_Omega Media related to Beta Omega Chapter]}}
----

'''University of Oregon established in 1872, Eugene, Oregon'''

'''Founded January 11, 1913'''

'''2,823 initiates (as of June 2018)'''

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'''Charter Members:'''

Neta Bartlett, Clementene Cutler, Oliva Starr Donnell, Carolyn Leach Dunston, Ruth Claire Hardie, Lilla Irvin, Alice Edith Larsen, Loretta Showers, Hazel Emaline Wightman, Frances Packard Young.

'''Fraternity Officers:'''
Elizabeth Butler Anderson, Leadership Consultant, 2002-2003

'''Fraternity Loyalty Award Recipients:'''

'''Fraternity Alumnae Achievement Award Recipients:'''

Cathleen Tharldsen Catlin, 1964, Fashion columnist, editor; Louise Siebert Pappas, 1998, writer and pioneer in the field of cooking

'''Additional Outstanding Beta Chi Alumnae:'''

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==The Early Years (Excerpted from The History of Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity: 1870-1976)==

In 1913, the year of Beta Omega's installation, the University of Oregon was 41 years old, it had a student body of 691, and a faculty of 65.

The five girls who had taken the name of Gamma Delta Gamma applied informally for a Kappa charter in 1909. They had been inspired by their house mother, Agnes Leach Dunstan, Omega - Simpson, mother of one of the five, to make Kappa their goal.

For four years the group maintained strength on the campus, and a second house mother, Maude Stinson, Beta Eta-Stanford, helped to keep the thought of a Kappa charter before them. In the spring of 1912 a formal petition was approved by Fraternity officials and sent on for chapter vote. On January 11, 1913, Beta Omega was installed by the grand president, Eva Powell, Pi Deuteron-California, assisted by Beta Pi Chapter. By that time four national women's fraternities had been established at Oregon but only one, Gamma Phi Beta, had been installed earlier than the local, Gamma Delta Gamma.

Although the group had had the security of a rented house near the campus from 1910 to 1925, the years before and after installation were difficult. Early members of Beta Omega have been described as "vigorous-minded individual girls of active and varied interests," distinguished by "strength and self-reliance."

Although the Kappa Alumnae Association in Eugene was small, these 20 members were of great service to the young chapter. There was help with house rent and expenses, assistance to the chapter adviser, and January 11 birthday parties for the group. Portland mothers also stepped in, presenting furniture and rugs.

Beta Omega developed in a stimulating atmosphere, inspired by the university president, Prince L. Campbell, a man of many virtues, including a respect for scholarship, and a feeling for beauty. Most of the girls in the early chapter came from Portland and Eugene. They majored in education, journalism, art, or music. Their scholarship, to quote Sally Elliott Allen, Eta-Wisconsin, the 1930 history chronicler for Beta Omega, "has been creditable and often superior, and they have always stood for a sincere and unaffected womanliness."

A member of Pi Deuteron Chapter, Irene Hazard Gerlinger, was a regent of the University of Oregon between 1914-1929. She was in charge of the campaign for the women's building which was dedicated in 1920 and name in her honor. She was the only woman on the Board of Regents.

The independent spirit of the house was seen in a number of interesting ways. There was no brass nameplate on the door; the telephone was answered by a repetition of the number "204", not "Kappa Kappa Gamma"; every Tuesday "outside girls" were invited for dinner; and many girls who were campus leaders did not wear their keys.

One year the chapter was so small that it appeared that only two girls would be back in the fall. Those two came to be known as Beta and Omega.

Financial conditions were often poor; but these conditions improved steadily. By the fall of 1925, a new house at 15th and Alder Streets had been built at a cost of about $37,000, for the lot, house, furnishings and landscaping. This original building has been remodeled three times. In 1974, new additions doubled the size of the kitchen, provided any apartment for the housemother, increased the sleeping porch area, and included a sun porch. Fifty-eight members can live in the house very comfortably.

During World War I, spare time was devoted to Red Cross work. During World War II, blood was donated and scrap metal was collected. A German war orphan was adopted and sent letters and gift boxes. During the 1960s community service in Eugene was considered more relevant and fund drives and parties for underprivileged children were co-sponsored, usually with a men's fraternity. In 1965 the chapter won the Oregon Citizenship Cup given to the organization outstanding in scholarship, leadership, and service to the university, community, state and national government.

Some of the chapter's recent community work has been with underprivileged children and working at the senior citizen center.

In 1942, five of the six seniors in the house were elected to Phi Beta Kappa. The 3.003 grade average in 1965 was the highest ever achieved by an Oregon group. The chapter was received many scholarship trophies.

By the middle 1960s a choice of 48 graduate and undergraduate degrees was offered at Eugene. The medical and related schools were on the Portland campus. Superior students were given the opportunity to take part in the "Honors College," a unique program offering the advantages of a small school, with seminars and research programs. In May, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson and the National Science Foundation awarded a grant of four million dollars to the university. Oregon was the first state university to receive a large federal grant to aid in its development as a top educational center.

Some chapter traditions have been lost, such as the joint Founders' Day celebration with Gamma Mu, and the Christmas Serenade with white candles, white collars, and sacred songs. Apple Polishing, a party for favorite teachers; a Kappa-Pi Beta Phi dinner when keys were worn slanted and arrows straight; activity paddles for active freshmen; the blown-out candle to announce an engagement; and the spring awards banquet were continued into the mid-1960s.

A revolving Emergency Loan Fund was started by the Eugene alumnae in 1945 in memory of Hazel Prutsman Schwering, Oregon's dean of women, who was a Beta Omega. These alumnae contribute greatly to the house and to the morale of the chapter. The mothers' clubs of Eugene and Portland and the Portland alumnae continue to make utilitarian and decorative contributions.

Prominent members have included Louise Allen Holmes, an advertising executive; Nancy Wilson Ross, a novelist; and Dorothy Duniway Ryan, a free lance journalist. Other outstanding Beta Omegas include botanist Lilla Irvin Leach, fashion coordinator Cathleen Tharaldsen Catlin, pediatrician Dr. Margaret Tingle, and educator Hazel Schwering.

The stamina which enabled Beta Omega to find boarders and to keep the chapter going when it thought that only two girls would be making up the entire group, and the independence of spirit which has characterized the chapter from the start, can be seen today.

==Highlights of the 1980s==
During the 1980’s Beta Omega celebrated milestone anniversaries, continued to bring in outstanding pledge classes, sponsored and participated in a variety of philanthropies and excelled in the various Greek events.

Their Rush themes included the likes of: Open House-blue dresses with white sashes, Tours-Kappa Paint Factory, Kamp Kappa Gamma where they embraced a forest theme and Preference generally had a fairy-tale theme with twinkling white lights. On Bid Day, they would welcome their members with a BBQ or other sisterhood activity. Near the end of the ‘80s they consistently had pledge classes over 40 members.

Philanthropy events consisted of visiting convalescent homes and working with children at an underprivileged day care. In 1989, they teamed up with Sigma Phi Epsilon at Oregon State to create a bike race from Eugene to Corvallis. It was a huge success and the funds were raised for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Beta Omega celebrated their 75th Anniversary in 1988 and their semi-formal chapter dance was in honor of the anniversary. Also in 1988, the chapter won for the second year in a row “Serenade,” the song and dance competition held during Greek Week. In 1989 the chapter was recognized as the “Most Outstanding Sorority on Campus” and won Greek Days of Giving.

The chapter wrapped up the ‘80s with a public relations chapter goal of “Less of Me, More of We, We All Work for KKG.” There were several sisterhood events and activities with other sororities which helped to promote the Kappa name in a positive way. The chapter also embarked on raising Kappas GPA in 1988 and in 1989 their chapter goal was “Save Our Scholarship.”

==Highlights of the 1990s==
Beta Omega kicked off the ‘90s by hosting Pi Province meeting in 1991, where they were awarded the Membership Award. They also had success in events such as Sigma Chi Derby Days and Greek Week Air Band competition.

The ‘90s also created challenges for the chapter. Budget cuts and increased tuition had a significant impact on membership. Some members were forced to leave school and quota numbers significantly decreased. Beta Omega had fall pledge class sizes ranging from 18–32. They participated in COB during the winter for the first time in chapter history and often participated in spring Initiation. This helped the chapter maintain numbers and weather the storm of decreased enrollment.

Chapter leadership continued to have the members focus on scholarship and for a few years included member safety. Their efforts were rewarded with improved chapter GPA that allowed the chapter to have the 2nd highest GPA one term and the new member class had the highest GPA in 1999. In addition to academics and safety, the chapter focused on Greek relations and attendance at Kappa events. They created clever methods to encourage attendance and it paid off.

Philanthropy was a major focus of Beta Omega. The bike race to OSU continued for several years and funds were donated to United Way. They also began their Kappa 5K Run which proceeds were donated to Women’s Space, an organization that supported battered women. In addition to these events, the chapter supported a local soup kitchen and annual Halloween activities for children at Pearl Buck.

The Beta Omega House Board continued to keep the house updated with improvements to the foyer, chapter room, new furnishings and converting the pit to a study room. Dads’ weekend in the fall consisted of tailgates, breakfasts and skits. Mom’s weekend consisted of brunches, hikes and when needed an auction. Members enjoyed the annual Christmas party and in the mid-nineties, they welcomed a new cook and house director.

==Highlights of the 2000s==
The first decade of the new century was filled with lots of new and traditional activities. Moms’ and Dads’ weekends continued to be a tradition for the chapter along with the Christmas party at the end of the fall term.

In 2000, the chapter opted to go “Select 2000.” The purpose of this program was to improve living conditions of fraternities. The chapter embraced the program by focusing on classier themes and behavior.
Beta Omega continued to do well academically and they experienced more robust numbers during Recruitment. Early in the 2000s, the chapter was still participating in winter COB and spring recruitment, but by the fall of 2008 they pledged 55 new members!

The chapter included Reading Is Fundamental in their philanthropy efforts by holding fundraisers and book drives. Pearl Buck and the Kappa 5K Race for Women’s Space continued to be popular philanthropy events and in 2009 they held the Kappa Retro Dodgeball Tournament. They also supported other Greek organizations’ philanthropies and were Sigma Chi Derby Day champs four years in a row!

Sisterhood was a focus for the chapter and a highlight was participating in the all-Greek ski trip weekend to Whistler, B.C. Members who went enjoyed the opportunity to get to know their sisters.

==Highlights of 2011==

The year of 2010 was a very eventful and successful school year for the ladies of the Beta Omega chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma. The annual winter transition of officers went smoothly and everyone started to get back into the swing of classes. The first big event Kappas participated in was at the end of January called Dance Marathon, a 12 hour long day of dancing that is put on by the Holden Leadership Center and benefits The Children’s Miracle Network. We had the largest number or participants in the Greek community and it was such a blast!

Next Pan-Hellenic Council (PHC) and the Interfaternity Council (IFC) hosted the first annual Greek Sing competition. We came up with a dancing and singing routine from the movie Annie, integrating Jay-Z’s “Hard Knock Life” and earned first place! All the proceeds from the tickets were awarded to our Reading is Fundamental philanthropy (RIF). Next we had our formal dance, Sapphire Ball on February 6th at the Country Inn. We took limos to and from the venue and everyone had a great time in their formal attire. During the winter term we also participated in Sigma Chi’s Derby Days, supporting the Frohnmayer Foundation. We worked really hard raising money and participating in their events and ending up winning second place.

We kicked off our philanthropies for the year with our 3rd annual Dodge Ball Tournament on February 20th. This is just one of our three philanthropies and it raises money for the Lupus Foundation. This philanthropy started in 2008 after one of our fellow sisters was diagnosed with Lupus, an autoimmune disorder where the body’s immune system starts to attack itself. The philanthropy was held at the Student Recreation Center and included the Greek community, other student groups on campus, locals and even students from Oregon State University. Muscle Milk and Monster sponsored us for the event and in the end we raised around $4000. When spring term came around there was a surplus of events to attend. We hosted the Eu-green 5K on April 7th at Alton Baker Park. It is our philanthropy that benefits local Early Childhood Cares, an organization that provides early intervention and early childhood special education services to children in Lane County. Qdoba, Explosion Sportswear, Cliff Bar, the Student Recreation Center and Turtle Mountain sponsored us. We raised $2000 and a ton of people participated in the 5K. During spring the PHC and IFC put on a weeklong competition between chapters called Greek Week. Our partner fraternity was Beta Theta Pi and we received second place and an award for being the most spirited house. We participated in Delta Gamma’s Anchor Splash dance competition. We received first place in Alpha Chi Omega and Sigma Phi Epsilon’s softball tournament referred to as, Diamond Days. Lauren Mitchell, a junior in our house, ran for Mrs. Greek and raised money for Alpha Phi and Beta Theta Pi’s philanthropy.

Kappas had a football team for the Pig Skin Classic put on by Sigma Pi and we won most spirited. After three long months of summer, we all came back refreshed and ready to kick off a new school year. We had a very successful recruitment! It started with open house started on September 30th and ended with bid day on October 5th. We worked so hard and our retention numbers showed it. We had the second highest retention rate and our lowest retention was 92%. We ended the process with 63 new members. We had a holiday themed bid day function at the Red Lion and the new members loved it. Next was Dad’s Weekend November 5th-7th where the girls and their fathers may have attended the University of Oregon vs. University of Washington game. We had initiation week the 15th-19th and Initiation on the 20th which was a great success. We ended the year of 2010 with laughter at our Kappa Christmas where all the newly initiated members received their first set of letters. Throughout the whole year Kappa’s participated in wide variety of internships, jobs and community service opportunities. Having a requirement of 5 hours of community service per term Kappa went above and beyond and averaged 23 hours per person!

'''Campus:''' The University of Oregon currently has 23,389 students 19,534 being undergraduates. The greek life at UO has been growing immensely over last last couple years and now has around 2,200 students involved in Fraternity and Sorority life. All the girls that showed up for recruitment this year couldn’t even all fit into Columbia 150 and they had to move half of them to another building. The Matthew Knight Area was under construction during the 2010 school year and was finally finished on January 13th, 2011. The John E. Jaqua Academic Center for Students Athletes was finished in the winter of 2010 and is a gorgeous building. It includes 92 total rooms, nearly 700 computers, a public café, 3 classrooms and 8 bathrooms. Lastly, due to the large numbers of incoming freshman every year there have been many issues with running out of housing to accommodate them. So the construction of new dorms has started as well as alternative housing such as apartments. Overall, the University of Oregon is making a lot of great changes in order to facilitate the growing needs of the community.

'''Chapter:''' Within the chapter we are starting to focus on things we can improve on. We have a plan to remodel the kitchen, expanding the dining room in the process. It it set to take place over the summer of 2011 and be done before that Fall term. We also received comcast T.V. in the Krib to allow more girls to watch the shows they want when the television in the living room is taken.

One challenge that we had to face in the Fall term of 2010 was the fact that not everyone could cram into the dining room for chapter. This was due to the increasingly large pledge class sizes. We overcame this challenge by making arrangements with the University of Oregon to use a lecture size classroom a few blocks away. It has worked very well! We now have our own personal space, we can see the officers better, and we don't get overheated and restless. Also due to the large number of girls the kitchen was no longer able to accommodate us for formal dinners. They didn’t have enough space to store all the food in the tiny kitchen. We adjusted and now we have normal dinner before chapter. Another issue was keeping everyone motivated to stay involved. Some girls didn’t feel like showing up to chapter or participating in events. We are starting to overcome this challenge by creating positive incentives to attend things, such as games, candy or other prizes. It has helped immensely and the negativity in the house has subsided.

==Highlights of 2012==

In 2012, the Beta Omega chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma at the University of Oregon found itself surrounded by tremendous success and the drive to overcome challenges. Our chapter continues to have one of the highest member retention rates throughout all of Fraternity and Sorority Life and remains a top choice for potential new members during Formal Recruitment.

Kappa Dodgeball, our philanthropy event which is held each Winter Term, brought out over 50 teams and raised a tremendous amount of money which was donated to Early Childhood (EC) Cares of Eugene (a non-profit which serves special education children and their families). Additionally, Beta Omega enjoys supporting our fellow Fraternity and Sorority Life houses in their various philanthropic events. KKG placed 2nd at Sigma Chi's Derby Days competition and 1st at Chi Omega and Kappa Sigma's "Chi-Olympics".
Our Winter Formal "Sapphire Ball" held at the Country Inn in Eugene was a beautiful and classy event which was enjoyed by all. Barn Dance and Spring Fling were held Spring Term and brought out some of the most creative and fun costumes!

Formal Fall Recruitment once again proved successful for Beta Omega. We maintained some of the highest retention rates between all Sororities and came away with an amazing 2012 New Member Class. Our "New Bid on the Block" Bid Day theme, complete with a DJ, bouncy castle, snacks, and photo booth, was a perfect way to celebrate all of our hard work during Recruitment.

Beta Omega holds many "class" nights where members of various New Member Classes interact with one another and engage in fun activities such as pumpkin carving and roller skating. During our 2012 Initiation Week, our New Members enjoyed bonding activities around campus and the house. Our annual Capture the Flag tournament, junk food and movie night, and Blue and Blue dinner add up for a special and memorable time for our 56 newly initiated members.

Beta Omega planned to improve our academics, as we have ranked lower in grades in recent terms than we have grown to expect as a chapter. We worked to strengthen our Academic Excellence committee and the standards we set for one another. Additionally, our chapter worked to gain stronger bonds between the various Fraternities and Sororities at the University of Oregon. We planned on becoming more involved in philanthropic and social events throughout the year.

Overall, 2012 was a year of growth and sisterhood beyond compare. Beta Omega continues to impress its members, alumni, and community by being an example of what it truly means to be a Sorority Woman.

Fraternity and Sorority Life at the University of Oregon is continually growing and bettering themselves and the Oregon community by looking to include new chapters and provide opportunities for inter-Greek relations. The Greek community is not a prominent group compared to the entire campus population, but we are consistently working to present ourselves with positivity and acceptance for all. We are a community of proud Oregon Ducks and love to show our school spirit any chance we get.

Beta Omega continues to set the standard for sisterhood and stability within Fraternity and Sorority Life, while being a shining example of the best aspects of "Going Greek". Kappa Kappa Gamma aims to be a house with members who extend their friendship and a helping hand to the community, Greek or not, expanding beyond the University of Oregon campus.

==Highlights of 2013==

In 2013, the Beta Omega Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma at the University of Oregon experienced great success and worked diligently to improve our chapter. Our chapter continues to serve as an example of what it means to be a sister, friend, and woman. Beta Omega continues to be a top choice for potential new members coming through Formal Fall Recruitment, maintaining one of the highest retention rates throughout the week.

Some of Beta Omega’s successes include our efforts in philanthropies, Recruitment, community service, and more. Our annual Dodge Ball tournament helped raise over $5,500 for EC Cares, our local philanthropy that serves special education children and their families. We had over 70 teams from different sororities, fraternities, and other University of Oregon students compete in our competition. The theme of our Dodge Ball tournament was “Kappa Jam” and everyone dressed up in retro and color clothes. Additionally, Beta Omega competed in a social media competition and won $1,000 for RIF. We won by having the most girls in our house sign up for the new launch of the social network site Hallspot.

During Fall Formal Recruitment, our chapter worked very hard to get the best pledge class. All of our hard work paid off and we were thrilled to have our new pledge class finally join Kappa. The theme of our Bid Day was “Kappadelic,” complete with a bouncy house, DJ, photo booth, and lots of snacks. It was a really exciting day for our whole house and reminded us of why we “went Kappa.”

It is a Beta Omega tradition to have “class” nights the week leading up to initiation, where the new members have the opportunity to hangout with girls in every pledge class. Each night was dedicated to a specific “class” and included fun activities such as capture the flag, movie night, bowling, and game night. We also have a Blue and Blue formal dinner for new members and their big sisters to attend to kick off and celebrate the beginning of Initiation Week. The whole chapter celebrated the addition of 60 new members into Kappa in November

Beta Omega has always enjoyed participating in other sorority and fraternity’s philanthropies, especially when it comes to sports. Every pledge class in our chapter participated and won in Sigma Pi’s Pig Skin tournament. Our chapter also won most spirited in Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s flag football philanthropy. Our chapter paired with Beta Theta Pi, was very excited to win first place in the University of Oregon’s Greek Week Competition. The theme of the competition was “TV Channels” and we were ESPN. Some of the events we participated in include a parade, dance, carnival, and house decorations in which we choose to show “Game Day.” It was a great way to kick off the beginning of the school year!

Although, Beta Omega has experienced several accomplishments, our chapter is always interested in making improvements. Our chapter pledged to improve our grades after ranking lower in grades. We vowed to work together and improve our Academic Excellence committee as well as setting higher academic standards for ourselves. Additionally, Beta Omega planned on being more involved with philanthropies and social events.

Fraternity and Sorority Life at the University of Oregon has continued to grow over the past few years. They are looking to add additional chapters and are dedicated to developing better relationships between chapters. The Fraternity and Sorority Life are involved with events on campus and give back to our community through philanthropies and community service. At the University of Oregon, we are all proud to be Duck fans and show our school spirit any chance we get.

Beta Omega is a chapter of incredible women who continue to set the standard of what it means to be a sorority woman. Our chapter is filled with bright, compassionate, and caring women who all contribute something unique to our chapter and make it the best sorority on campus.

==Highlights of 2014==

In 2014, the Beta Omega chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma at the University of Oregon grew together as a whole. Beta Omega improved in areas such as Leadership, Philanthropy, Recruitment, and Philanthropic Involvement among others.

During Fall Formal Recruitment, our chapter surpassed our quota and welcomed 66 New Members into our chapter 12 of which are legacies. Throughout recruitment the ladies of Beta Omega worked hard to find the best pledge class possible and we feel that these women are more than capable to uphold Kappa's ideals. Our Bid Day theme this year was a Kappa Circus which included a lot of fun decorations, a balloon arch with a painted popcorn box at either end, a DJ, and a photobooth. This welcoming of our New Members was a great way to see all of our long hours and dedication pay off.

The Beta Omega chapter of Kappa Kappa Kappa excelled in the area of philanthropy in 2014. Our chapter held our annual Dodge Ball tournament which was the highest attended philanthropic event at the University of Oregon in 2014. We had over 700 people play in the tournament and raised over 7,000 dollars. We gave about 6,000 of the money we raised to our local philanthropy Early Childhood CARES while also providing the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation with 1,000. This event was an extreme successes. Additionally, Beta Omega held our reading is Key event in the week leading up to Mom's weekend in which we held an all-campus book drive at our chapter house. That week we volunteered with the local Boys and Girls Club and made arts and crafts as well as group reading activities. Approximately 300 people attended and contributed to this event and 100 books were collected for Reading is Fundamental. Beta Omega also raised $407 for Reading is Fundamental through a social media competition for the app Blend.

Our chapter puts a great importance on philanthropic involvement. In 2014 Beta Omega participated in each of the philanthropy events that chapters within our community held. We placed second in Kappa Sigma's Boot Camp, Second place in Lambda Chi Alpha's Pumpkin Smash, first place in Sigma Chi's Derby Days dance, and first place in Sigma Pi's Pig Skin Classic among others. The Greek Life community at the University also held several greek-wide events. Our chapter was partnered with the gentlemen of Beta Theta Pi during Greek Week, a week long competition between all greek houses, and we placed first overall. Greek Life also planned an event called Greek Games where all chapters were partnered up and competed in a series of sporting events. We were partnered with Kappa Sigma and Alpha Epsilon Pi in which we also earned first place. 2014 was a great year for our chapter regarding philanthropic involvement.

Our chapter also enjoys giving back to our community. In 2014 we participated in several events of service. In February we had a group of girls volunteer at the Special Olympics which was said to be a truly humbling experience. Our chapter also went to one of the local retirement homes in Eugene to play Bunco with the elderly on multiple occasions and volunteered at the Boys and Girls club as well. Additionally, Each individual member took upon the responsibility of completing their community service hours by attending several different events.

In 2014, our chapter dedicated efforts to improving our grades and maintaining a strong risk management program. Beta Omega also put a great importance on holding sisterhood events to improve the bonds between pledge classes. Overall, Beta Omega grew together as a chapter and improved the bonds between themselves and other chapters. Beta Omega is a chapter of amazing women who continue to set the standard for what it means to be a sorority woman.

We hold chapter in the dining room of our house. Our chapter owns a beautiful home right next to campus. We are privileged enough to have a home with a capacity of 55 women. We have maintained a high demand for members who want to live in. This has been our same home since Beta Omega was founded.

==Highlights of 2015==
In 2015, the Beta Omega chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma had much strength. Beta Omega was able to improve on its chapter goals of academia, with an improved overall grade point average, and ritual, with the implementation of a Founders Day celebration. Beta Omega was also able to excel in some of its previous areas of strength such as philanthropy, community involvement, and recruitment.

At the start of 2015 Beta Omega’s philanthropy even planning was in full swing. As proven successful in the past, our philanthropy chair planned our annual Kappa Dodgeball event. The theme was Kappa Gameday, which helped create a competitive and energetic atmosphere. The event took place on February 21 at a venue on campus. This year we doubled our participant attendance from the years past, with over 700 participants from both Greek affiliations and non-affiliated groups. This became the most widely attended event within the Greek community on University of Oregon’s campus in 2015. In the end, Beta Omega raised 10,500 dollars, making it the most successful philanthropy event in Beta Omega’s history. Beta Omega was able to donate 8,000 dollars to our local philanthropy, Early Childhood Cares, which is a learning center in Eugene for children under the age of five with developmental disabilities. One thousand dollars from our total was donated to Reading is Fundamental with the remaining 1,500 donated to the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation. Beta Omega is humbled by the support we have received from the University of Oregon student body that has allowed us to provide such donations to charities that are special to our chapter.

In the preceding months Beta Omega continued to grow as a chapter. In March we had our Spring Formal dance and finished off the school year with moms weekend in May. At this event our Moms Club was able to raise 25,000 dollars for renovations for our chapter house. Over the summer our study lounge, blue room, and living room all received improvements. Our members were excited to see these renovations and were even more grateful for these changes with recruitment in the immediate future.

With nearly 1,000 signups for fall formal recruitment, Beta Omega undertook recruitment headstrong. By the end of the week our chapter welcomed 69 new members. Our Bid Day theme was Kappa Adventure with a tagline of “Your Kappa Adventure Awaits”. Our lawn was covered with smiling faces and tears of joy as the newest members of Beta Omega made their way to their new home. We are proud to have initiated these members this fall, which has brought our total number of active members above 200.

On October 13th, Beta Omega celebrated Founders Day with a large celebration dinner. This dinner included a catered meal with an accompanying video made by our registrar that featured our members telling their favorite stories about Kappa and why they joined this fantastic group of women. This event helped our chapter finish off the year with memory sharing and nostalgia.

Overall, in 2015 Beta Omega proved to be a chapter of amazing women who continue to set the standard for what it means to be a Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority woman.

==Highlights of 2016==

2016 was another banner year for the Beta Omega chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma. This year we improved in areas of overall grade point average and rank, and also our awareness of college campus issues such as substance abuse and sexual assault prevention. It continued to be a strong year for philanthropy, sisterhood, and recruitment.

At the beginning of 2016, Beta Omega once again held our winter philanthropy event, Kappa Dodgeball. We are fortunate to have this event increase every year and continue to be the most attended Greek event on campus. This year raising over 10,000 dollars, Beta Omega was able to donate a full playground to our local philanthropy, Early Childhood Cares, which helps children under the age of five with developmental disabilities. Our most successful aspect of philanthropy this year was creating groups within Kappa to attend other Greek life philanthropic events. This created a huge increase in our Greek community involvement and gave more support to all Greek life philanthropic organizations.

In the spring we held our Barn Dance, Spring Fling, and Mom’s Weekend. This year our mom’s club helped raise even money to renovate our living room to be beautiful and recruitment ready!

In the fall we had another successful recruitment gaining 62 wonderful new members into the chapter. Our Bid Day Theme was “Go Kappa Went Kappa” and decorations and food of all shades of blue and blue filled our house as the new members ran to their new home.

On October 13th, we held a Founder’s Day with a dessert celebration and time capsule activity. The members of Beta Omega wrote down their favorite memories and blessing that Kappa has given them, to be opened by the new freshmen on their senior Founder’s Day. It was a sweet idea that gave the graduating seniors time to think of all they have gained from Beta Omega, while the new members were excited to experience Kappa Kappa Gamma for the next few years.

Overall, 2016 proved to be another year of growth for the Beta Omega women, who consistently strive to be good examples of women and sisterhood, and who wear their letters proud.

==Highlights of 2017==
There have not been that many changes to the campus in the past year. The big one is that they have focused on risk management and event planning safety tips. Our chapter has adopted these new changes and have bettered our risk management and event planning.Our

Our chapter has been giving to and supporting the following philanthropies:
Early Childhood Cares (Local Philanthropy)
Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation (National Philanthropy)
Reading is Fundamental (National Philanthropy)

We continue to give to Early Childhood Cares because we felt it carried the values that Kappa Kappa Gamma has as a national organization. It also plays a big roll on the University of Oregon campus.

2017, again, proved to be another year of growth for the Beta Omega women, who consistently strive to be good examples of women and sisterhood, and who wear their letters proud.
'''
==Highlights of 2018=='''
This year while making the chapter calendar, our goal was to provide ample time for our members to be aware of upcoming events. That means holding chapter councils members accountable of updating and communicating any important dates and times, and especially any changes in the schedule. Though our Key Reports does not properly reflect our calendar, we do have all of the correct dates on Key Reports.

At our goal planning meeting, we decided that as a new chapter council we wanted to strengthen our leadership, and commitment within the chapter by improving involvement, and accountability. We also noticed that our academic ranking in our Panhellenic community had the potential to stay in the top 5 GPA’s, so we wanted to improve our academic procedures to capitalize on this previously observed trend.

In this past year, Chapter Council has been able to restructure protocols and complete goals that we have set. For example, are chapter council worked to get our chapter off of our Focus Letter. The Pi District’s Content Specialists felt that our chapter needed to focus on strengthening our sisterhood and improving risk management. As stated above, we strategized our goals with the purpose of improving our chapter. We hoped that creating these goals would increase our chances of being taken off of our focus letter upon review from the District Director.

After ending last year in some trouble from our semi formal, we started off 2018 with a plan to rethink our rules and regulations for events. The event chair and president along with the rest of chapter council implemented more efficient check in procedures, risk team policies (including upping the number of members on risk team per event) and pre-event etiquette preparation. Since we started doing these things, all of our events since last January have gone very smoothly. We’ve had a mix of formals, date socials and then barn dance, leaving each without making any trouble. We are very proud of our members as they have been willing to shift towards some of these stricter and more structured policies to better the beta omega chapter. We are excited to see what events 2019 brings.

The Beta Omega chapter has had quite the year here at the University of Oregon! We’ve enjoyed many sisterhoods, formals, and living out our rituals. Kappa has strong support for other chapters on our campus. Our members have attended various philanthropy and community events.

Juniors Meredith Kinnaman and Maddy Petitt had the amazing opportunity to attend the Kappa Convention in Denver over the summer and gained new skills and ideas to make our chapter better.

''''''Chapter Philanthropy''''''

The Beta Omega chapter at the University of Oregon supports three different organizations through our philanthropy events. Our local philanthropy is called Early Childhood CARES. Located close to campus, this organization was created to provide early intervention and early special education to infants, toddlers and pre-school aged children in the area. It provides numerous services to the children it serves and their families including parent consultation, specialized pre-school and speech, physical or occupational therapy. EC CARES serves over 1600 children with developmental delays or disabilities each year.

The Beta Omega chapter is involved with this organization in a variety of ways. We support them through our annual philanthropy, Kappa Dodgeball. This event is a day long dodgeball tournament attended by both Greek and non-Greek members of the university community. Over 70 teams compete throughout the day and this event raises over $10,000 each year. EC CARES is also supported by our members as volunteers. In the past, our donations to EC CARES have gone to building an inclusive playground for their students and buying iPads for classes. Our history with EC CARES has been a long one, supporting them for more than a decade and our relationship with them has grown and developed though the years.

''''''Chapter Facility''''''

Our Chapter meets in Lawrence 177, a classroom at the University of Oregon every Monday

Beta Eta Deuteron

2019-06-18T19:58:10Z

Michellelearle:

{{Infobox Fraternity
|Name= Beta Eta Deuteron
|GreekSymbol= BH<sup>Δ</sup>
|Image= [[File:Beta_Eta_Deuteron.jpg|200px]]
|Founded= {{start date and years ago|1892|06|10}}
|College= [http://www.stanford.edu/ Stanford University] formerly The Leland Stanford Junior University
|Location= Stanford, CA
|Homepage= [http://chapters.kappakappagamma.org/betaeta/ Beta Eta Deuteron Homepage]
|Media= [http://wiki.kappakappagamma.org/index.php?title=Category:Beta_Eta_Deuteron Media related to Beta Eta Deuteron Chapter]
}}

<table><tr><td>
'''Beta Eta Deuteron Chapter, Stanford University'''

'''Leland Stanford Jr. University established in 1891 in Palo Alto, California'''

'''Founded as Beta Eta June 10, 1892 with 11 charter members; Closed 1944 -- 471 initiates (as of 1944 closure)'''

'''Beta Eta Deuteron founded as Beta Eta Deuteron in 1978'''

'''1,368 initiates (as of June 2018)'''

---------------------

'''Charter Members:'''

Harriet Augusta Buck, Bonnie May Burckhalter, Bertha Louise Chapman, Elizabeth Corinne Chapman, Mabel Hyde Cory, Florence Mable Holsclaw, Edith Eleanor Liliencrantz, Alberta Lois Merritt, Maude Evangeline Stinson, Olivia Rose Vogel, Jessie Palen Wood.

'''Fraternity Council Officers:'''

Emily Caskey Johnson, Vice President 1944-1948, Director of Alumnae1940-1944, Director of Provinces 1936-1938, Director of Standards 1934-1936; Elizabeth Voris Lawry, Grand Treasurer 1906-1908

'''Fraternity Loyalty Award Recipients:'''

'''Fraternity Alumnae Achievement Award Recipients:'''Charlotte Jones Anderson, 2014, professional sports marketing and philanthropy; Gretchen Carlson, 2016

'''Additional Outstanding Beta Eta Deuteron Alumnae''':

Shelley Smith Mydans, author, a Life magazine staff writer who with her husband Carl Mydans, a Life magazine photographer, spent their married life working side-by-side. They were captured by incoming Japanese troops in Manila in January of 1942. They were held as Prisoners of War for almost two years. After a respite in New York, they both returned to the combat zone, this time in Europe as World War II wound to a close.

Lola Nashashi, Graduate Counselor 1977-1978

-----------------------------

==The Early Years (From The History of Kappa Kappa Gamma 1870–1976)==

Beta Eta Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma at Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, survived an earthquake; the chapter house was twice ravaged by fire; and members adjusted to the changes of two World Wars.

But suddenly, in 1944, Beta Eta Chapter was gone, removed with all other women’s fraternities from the Stanford campus.

By a special act of the California Legislature, the act of endowment embodying the charter of the institution, and a gift, 80,000 acres of land was made public in November, 1885. The Leland Stanford Jr. University, endowed by Senator and Mrs. Stanford as a memorial to their only son, was formally opened October 1, 1891. It was the opinion of many persons that California already had its university so why have another? But attracted by its possibilities, 465 students, many older than the average, arrived that first year from all over the world.

Beta Eta was established June 10, 1892, six months after a chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta. The two fraternities, in an agreement about bidding procedures, set the stage for the Panhellenic organization.

Lou Henry (Hoover) was a sophomore and not yet a Kappa when Lucy Evelyn Wight (Allan), BB—St. Lawrence, grand president in 1890-1892, went to Stanford for graduate study. The two women became close friends. Evelyn Wight became Stanford’s first dean of women, and Lou Henry was initiated in 1896 when the chapter was four years old.

Initiations had taken place in the music room of Roble hall, and the chapter met in member’s rooms. Later a second-floor apartment was rented, and then a house on campus. By the spring of 1899, business arrangements had been made for building on the west side of Lasuen Street where the only other structure was the Phi Delta Theta house.

Kappas made daily trips to watch the progress of construction, and the move was made in January, 1900.

Beta Eta was the first Kappa chapter to build its own house and the first to own a house.
The beloved house was described in the July, 1900 issue of The Key as having “sloping moss green roofs, pointed gables, dormer windows. The wrought iron lattice over the door bears the letters KKΓ and the art glass windows with the fleur-de-lis embedded in the cardinal, form an artistic entrance… the third floor, the abode of the freshmen, and familiarly known as ‘the attic’ is one large room… the most delightful place for initiation and informal spreads, while from its many windows one gains the best view of the surrounding hills covered with oak trees and, in the spring, ablaze with the glorious California poppies… From its setting of green foothills, (the house) looks across the level fields, over the treetops of the Arboretum to the narrow line of bay and the hazy blue mountains beyond.”

==Highlights of the Early 1900s==

The earthquake of April 18, 1906, brought normal college life to a halt. There was great damage on the Stanford campus. When the chapter returned to school in September, member found that the house had remained untouched during the summer, rather than repaired, since labor and materials were so scarce. A luncheon for freshmen had been scheduled for registration day. Because their dishes were broken and the plaster down, the resourceful Kappas partied on the porch.

Early in September, 1918, the house was badly damaged by fire; and again during summer quarter of 1927 there was a fire and chapter members returned to find the roof gone. By January, 1928, aware of the difficulties of separation, the chapter was able to get back together. The alumnae corporation and the Fraternity had made it possible to repair the damages, and the Mother’s Club had raised a considerable fund to help refurnish the house. In 1934 the house association constructed a much-needed wing to provide additional bedrooms, a chapter room, and a lounge.

==Highlights of the 1930s and 1940s==
Field Secretary Helen Snyder (Andres), BΠ—Washington, wrote in the February, 1933, issue of The Key, after her first visit to Stanford, “… my fondest expectations realized in its fine students, beautiful buildings with arcades, quadrangles, magnificent memorial chapel, palm trees, and landscaped grounds… long a fine chapter… scholastic and activity honors are many… a congenial chapter.” Her first official act as grand president in June, 1935, was to call for ratification of the appointment of Beta Eta’s Emily Caskey Johnson as director of standards.

Emily’s ability, energy, and a frequently changing address made her the best-known Kappa in the northwest. The Palo Alto alumnae loved to have an excuse to bring Emily into the conversation.
The relationship between Beta Eta, Π—California, and the alumnae was good, with a common meeting ground in the annual fashion show in which the actives modeled. Although proceeds of the fashion show were usually marked for scholarships, in 1942 they were earmarked for national defense. The show was given in the daytime because of rules against off-campus night parties, and the possibility of blackouts.

During World War II several rooms in the chapter house were blacked out so the girls could study, and there were changes in their living habits. The girls squeezed their own orange juice for breakfast, when oranges were available; did their own house cleaning; and skipped an occasional meal “to humor the cook.” And they understood “It is a very little part of war’s reality… These changes show that life on a college campus need not be as carefree as ‘the good old days’ in order to be one of the most wonderful times in our lives.”

During World War II, social affairs and volunteer work were often combines, taking the form of benefits. The chapter was interested in Belgian War Relief, and the plans of the food administration. The chairman of the Stanford Women’s Red Cross Unit was a Kappa, and there were regular Red Cross hours and much knitting. Three actives left for service in France.

Lou Henry Hoover, wife of the ex-president of the United States, herself a scholar and adventurer as well as the devoted patron of the Girl Scouts of America, died suddenly January 7, 1944, in New York. Four days later Ann Claire Brokaw, daughter of Claire Booth Luce, a senior majoring in political science, was killed in an automobile accident.

Although Beta Eta had acquired new pledges early in 1944, and initiation was conducted that spring, by the term’s end, Beta Eta too was gone, removed with all the other women’s houses from the Stanford campus. The administration and the dean of women, a fraternity woman herself, had shown a consistent disapproval for the fraternity system and for 20 years sororities and their alumnae fought a losing battle against the final outcome. (In 1923 a vote had been taken to discover the feeling of sororities concerning “the justification of their existence,” and from 1925 Panhellenic, with Beta Eta taking a leading part, had tried to prove to the university that sororities had a definite place in the life of a university women.)

By fall of 1944 the chapter house had become a university residence, and the December, 1944, letter from the Palo Alto alumnae mentions that three of the no-longer-active chapter members had been guests at an alumnae meeting and “the alumnae regretted losing the inspiration of the actives.”

The chapter was known for its interesting, active women. Among them were Barbara Griffith Dolfini, whose miniature rooms were displayed at the Golden Gate Fair; Dr. Florence Mable Holsclaw, directing head of Babies Aid, San Francisco; Bertha L. Chapman Cady, Ph.D., botanist and author; Ethel Wallace Bryant, dean of the Castilleja School; Harriet Ford Griswold, civic worker for rehabilitation of cripples; and Jean Henry Large, author of Girl Scout books. Anna Henrietta Martin was a writer, an associate of Jane Adams in the International League for Peace, and chairman of the National Women’s Party. Before the turn of the century she had been chairman of the Beta Eta committee that compiled the Fraternity Catalogue, giving the name and record of each of the 3000 members. “Edited by Beta Eta” is on the title page of that 1898 volume. And of course there was Mrs. Hoover, Beta Eta’s “proudest possession,” even though she refused to have a Kappa key placed on her effigy’s bosom in the Smithsonian.

In the last chapter picture of Beta Eta members ever taken, all but two are smiling, because smiling is what is done for pictures. It might almost be thought that 1944 had been another good year in the history of “an alive and stimulating chapter.”
--------------------------------
The previous information was excerpted from The History of Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity, 1870-1976. The information that follows has been gleaned from available resources including Chapter History Reports, chapter meeting minutes, letters and comments from chapter members and alumnae, the Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity Archives, and The Key. Each chapter is expected to update its history record annually. Contact Fraternity Headquarters at kkghq@kkg.org with questions.
--------------------------------

==Women’s Fraternities Return to Stanford==

Nestled in the Stanford Hills of Palo Alto, California, is a beautiful university campus whose focal point is its magnificent Hoover Tower. Ever since the rains started turning these
beautiful hills green and covering them with abundant blankets of bright orange California Poppies, purple Lupine, yellow Mustard, and white Clover, and the Stanford Board of Trustees
voted to lift a thirty-three year ban on sororities, a new purpose and interest has sprouted among many of the women students Now in full bloom-Sororities have returned to Leland Stanford University.

In 1944, the Beta Eta Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma was removed with seven other sororities from the Stanford campus by the University, leaving only men's fraternities to continue. Many months ago great enthusiasm started vibrating through the campus when there were rumors regarding the lifting of the ban on sororities. Local groups started forming around Active transfers and Legacies of NPC groups with the intent of organizing the return of the women's Greek system to Stanford, if in fact the ban was lifted, and then to petition their respective National Councils for reinstatement and/or chartering.

In December, 1977, the ban was lifted but that did not mean what we had hoped it would. The lifting of the ban did not mean that the University was inviting sororities back on campus-
only that they would not stop the women students from forming and/or joining any outside interest groups. It would instead mean restrictions on housing, meeting rooms, and University
recognition. Even with this atmosphere, these women were determined to have NPC sororities back at Stanford and join with the already existing men's fraternities for a full Greek system.

In the spring of 1978, a Kappa transfer from Bucknell Lola Nashashibi, showed her interest in starting a group. There seemed to be great interest to join with Lola and organize what they all hoped would someday become a Kappa chapter. This group worked together in a small number which, by the time they were ready to petition, was increased to an interested 45 women, with 34 signing the formal petition for the reinstatement of Beta Eta Chapter.

These women met at their request, Jean Hess Wells, Georgia, (Fraternity President) and Pat Maness Kriz (Pi PDC) in early February, 1978, to discuss Kappa in full and to discover why this particular group of women was interested in Kappa. The subjects covered were finances, philanthropies, policies, standards, obligations and commitment, and their desire for a lasting tie to their college days. With all questions answered (both from Kappa and to Kappa) and the determination of these women, their petition to Kappa Council was in the mail within a week after this meeting.

The petition was granted February. On February 21st, after a pot-luck dinner at the home of Mrs. Duane L. Hillyard, there was a candle passing ceremony announcing formal pinning of the blue and blue ribbons. Formal colonization was held March 2, 1978, in the lovely home of Erna Gaede Kurtzon, Northwestern, with 29 outstanding women pledged: Among those attending were VerMehr (Pi Province Magazine Chairman); Presidents of the Palo Alto, San Jose, and San Mateo Alumnae Associations – Janet Nelson Reimers, Oregon State, Barbara Reith Collier, San Jose State; and Louise Forve Barker, UCLA, respectively; and the colonizing team – Kay Smith Larson, Washington, Director of Chapters and Colonizing Officer; Pat Maness Kriz, Colorado, Pi, PDC; Ann Fletcher Colvin, Washington State, Pi PDA; and Patricia Ball Hillyard, San Jose State, Colonization Chairman.

The Beta Eta Deuteron Colony consisted of its 29 pledges and two active transfers –Lola Nashashibi, Bucknell, who was to be Beta Eta Deuteron’s Undergraduate Counselor , and Elizabeth Abel, UC Davis. As spring Rush was fast approaching, the colony was soon to increase its size.
As there had been much time and energy spent in organizing the individual sororities (Alpha Phi, Kappa Alpha Theta, Pi Beta Phi and Kappa plus two local groups hoping to be Nationally recognized by Chi Omega and Kappa Delta) so had there been in organizing an lntcr-Sorority Council complete with others. Their main goal was to have a successful and compatible “Panhellenic” spring Rush.

And so it seemed that the women’s Greek system had indeed found a fertile place to grow and be strong. Beta Eta Deuteron had bloomed again was already enjoying togetherness through exchanges with fraternities, parties, dining together, philanthropic work, and a holiday for some in Hawaii. They worked well with the full Advisory Board and felt the women Greeks were there to stay – working hard toward the “total” Greek System – opportunity for all – again at Stanford.

'''Installation'''

Beta Eta Deuteron installation was a huge success with more than 600 Kappas from near and far attending the events of the weekend at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.

The weekend started Friday, October 20th at a fireside with Fraternity treasurer Jean Schmidt, Miami, presiding. The next morning an installation/initiation ceremony (led by Marian Klingbeil Williams, Missouri, director of membership; Kay Smith Larson, Washington, installation officer
and former Fraternity officer; and Jean Hess Wells, Georgia, Fraternity president), saw 27 colonizers receive their pins. After a delicious box luncheon was enjoyed by the 200 in attendance, they again assembled to teach the new initiates the songs and procedures of initiation so they could in turn pin their little sisters. The afternoon initiation saw the first initiates pin 30 of the pledges from the previous spring rush, making a total of 57 active members to start Beta Eta Deuteron. Immediately following the initiations was a lovely reception in the Castilleja School in Palo Alto for parents, alumnae, sororities, fraternities, faculty, family, and friends.

Sunday morning started with a Model Chapter Meeting, conducted by Fraternity President Wells. This was followed by a crumpous luncheon banquet, with the toastmistress Elizabeth
Bennitt Denebeim, Missouri, former Kappa Province Director of Chapters, and the wonderful speaker Helen Snyder Andres Steiner, Washington, former Fraternity president.

Many gifts were received by the chapter including a framed reproduction of the original Beta Eta charter given by California at Berkeley; an engraved guest book was presented by the Beta Eta Deuteron Advisory Board; and a pair of engraved silver candelabra from the Palo Alto Alumnae, made possible by a donation to the alumnae group by Mary Connor Bowles, Akron. Also given to the chapter was a framed composite of individual pictures of the first initiates by the first initiates and a beautiful patchwork quilt symbolizing Kappa events by the second initiates.

Highlighting the luncheon were four special presentations. Edna Martin Parratt, UC Berkeley, who had three Beta Eta aunts, presented an 1894 emerald and diamond key, originally belonging to her aunt Gertrude Martin to be used the Beta Eta Deuteron president’s key (Edna was initiated into Pi Chapter in 1922 with this badge.) Gertrude's sister, Anna Henrietta Martin, had a sapphire and diamond key which Edna, in 1976, presented to Pi Deuteron for its president’s key. Isn’t it ironic that when Pi chapter was reinstated Beta Eta was the installing chapter, and when Beta Eta was reinstated Pi Deuteron was the installing chapter, and that both of their presidents' keys were presented.

Edgarita Webster George, Washington, presented her own beautiful all diamond key which will be used as a special award badge. Presented by Linda Scatena, San Jose State, the last president of the chapter there was the Delta Chi gavel given to them by the SAE Fraternity, and the Delta Chi president’s key with the gavel guard which is an 1898 ruby and diamond key which belonged to Ethel McLellen Ward, Stanford. This key will also be used as a special award badge. Elizabeth Wohlford, the new Beta Eta Deuteron president, was initiated by her grandmother Mildren Finley Wohlford, Stanford, with an 1894 pearl and emerald key which had been given to Elizabeth by a family friend. It has belonged to Nellie Louise Parrit, Illinois Wesleyan.

As the weekend came to a close, everyone felt a tremendous amount of gratitude for all those special people who made it possible. There was the overwhelming support from active chapters which included UC Berkeley, California State Davis, California State Northridge, UC Santa Barbara which has just been installed the previous weekend. Even Texas was represented. The very hard working alumnae included Contra Costa County, San Mateo, San Jose, and especially Palo Alto. With the help of Jeanne McCune Spaulding, UCLA, fireside chairman, Maggie Ely Pringle, Oregon, reception chairman, and Ann Norton Davis, Northwestern, luncheon chairman and their wonderful committees, the entire weekend became a very special memory for everyone who attended.
Other Fraternity personnel attending were Patricia Maness Kriz, Colorado, Pi PDC; Ann Fletcher Colvin, Washington State, Pi PDA; Lola Nashashibi, Bucknell, undergraduate counselor; and Patricia Ball Hillyard, San Jose State, installation chairman and Marshall. Janeen Gould, St. Lawrence and Barbara Laitner, Colorado, both former Graduate Counselors and field secretaries, and Jean Ebright Elin, Ohio State, Fraternity Headquarters representative, were present.

Since the spring, 1978 issue of The Key report, progress continued with the sorority system at Stanford. Now Alpha Phi, Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, and Pi Beta Phi chapters had been installed.

==Highlights of the 1980s:==

(From chapter’s History Report:Scholarship, group honors/awards, traditions, special events, changes on campus or within chapter, overall nature of the chapter, chapter goals, challenges and how they were overcome, etc.)

'''Housing:'''

'''Philanthropy:'''

'''Convention Awards:'''

==Highlights of the 1990s:==

(From chapter’s History Report:Scholarship, group honors/awards, traditions, special events, changes on campus or within chapter, overall nature of the chapter, chapter goals, challenges and how they were overcome, etc.)

'''Housing:'''

'''Philanthropy:'''

'''Convention Awards:'''

==Highlights of 2000-2010==

Beta Eta Deuteron was involved in many activities both on campus and within the Greek system. A Kappa Career night was held with local alumnae who shared career experiences and provided networking opportunities. As an unhoused chapter, Beta Eta Deuteron found it a challenge to find an appropriate place to hold chapter meetings every week, but negotiated with the University to use Breer Library for their meetings. Chapter unity and attendance at meetings and events was a focus for the chapter. Fun chapter events included the Kappa Kentucky Derby with everyone wearing hats, the Kappa Holiday Party, the Monmouth Duo and Kite and Key formals. Programs were presented on Substance Abuse and an interactive game of Kappa History Jeopardy. Greek Day brought together men and women from all of the sororities and fraternities for a rally in White Plaza before a football game.

During this period, the chapter took steps towards publishing a quarterly newsletter for chapter members, alumnae and parents and redid its website. They considered their website to be an asset for Recruitment purposes since they did not have a chapter house. A successful workshop on resume building and career development was organized by the chapter and sponsored by Stanford’s Career Development Center. Scholarship was always important with high cumulative G.P.A.s for the chapter. Many members were involved in campus sports, with one member receiving the Herman Trophy for women’s soccer.

'''Housing:'''

Beta Eta Dueteron is an unhoused chapter. In 2010, the chapter established a Housing Committee to draft an application to the University stating the reasons the chapter should have a house.

'''Philanthropy:'''

Beta Eta Deuteron baked cookies for the children at the Ronald McDonald House near campus, and joined a fraternity one morning a week to cook breakfast at a local homeless shelter. The chapter was also involved with tutoring children, and spreading awareness about organ donation.
Beta Eta Deuteron joined with a fraternity to host a Thanksgiving dinner at a retirement center in Palo Alto. With another fraternity, they participated in Garden-a-thon. The Light the Night walk raised money for Leukemia and Lymphoma.

'''Convention Awards:'''

2000 – Scholarship Honorable Mention
2008 – Academic Excellence Honorable Mention

==Highlights of 2012==

'''Highlights include:'''

-- A very successful Pi Province hosted by our chapter!
-- A very successful Recruitment period in which passionate, wonderful, "true blue" girls joined our chapter
-- A chapter GPA of 3.63 and eight members with GPA's of 4.0
-- We have two women on the Women’s Tennis team, who went on to win the National Championship. Our own Nicole Gibbs also went on to win Singles and is now playing professionally
--Crew Members, Alicia Kapjian-Pitt and Jordan Duval-Smith also won the National Championship
--Women’s Water Polo, which includes many members of Kappa, were #2 in the nation.
--One of our new members, Maggie Steffens, was awarded FINA Player of the Year
--Three members, Olivia Vagelos Abigail Andrews and Molly Welch, won “Hackathon” (a philanthropy competition started by our own Elizabeth Woodson) in which they created an App to help people find jobs
-- Olivia Vagelos’ startup MountJuly was funded on KickStarter

'''Chapter Growth'''

Attendance: We noticed low chapter attendance at weekly chapter meetings in January. We increased this by trying to make chapter meetings more meaningful. We did this by giving out important chapter information at meetings instead of in emails sent out to the chapter. We also increased attendance by inviting powerful speakers to come to meetings, like California Senator Dianne Feinstein, who spoke about current legislation, her time as a woman at Stanford, and how to be a strong woman in politics. We also had Stanford faculty come speak about healthy body image and feminist studies.

Sisterhood events: Sisters are so busy that sometimes sisterhood events are forgotten. This year, we made sure to have more sisterhood events and successfully hosted letter making, headband making, baking, study sessions, arts and crafts for Mother's Day, and a cooking event.

Ritual: As ritual is what bonds together Kappa's across the country, our chapter wanted to appreciate ritual even more. We filled the year with ritual review, including activities to learn more songs, such as fill in the blanks with song lyrics. We also incorporated 15 minutes of ritual review into every meeting.

Philanthropy: We wanted to increase the number of philanthropy events that Kappa's were involved in. This year, at our "Snowchella" event, we raised more than $7,000 that was donated to an organization called "Support for International Change." We also started a weekly reading program to children in East Palo Alto.

'''Nature of Chapter'''

Beta Eta Deuteron is made up of a group of women who are passionate, intelligent, graceful, kind, and giving. But, the quality that distinguishes our group of girls is a sense of confidence and drive. We make a difference on our campus. At Stanford's ISC Greek Awards, our chapter won the most awards of any chapter on campus, a testament to the fact that we have a strong presence at Stanford. Awards included: Outstanding New Member (Paige Fisher), Greek Woman of the Year (Tierney O’Rourke), Greek Involvement (Molly Hayes), Inter-Sorority Council Runner-up (Molly Hayes), Greek Collaboration Runner-up, and Chapter of the Year Runner-up. One of our sisters will be VP of Recruitment next year to continue our Inter-Sorority involvement. We are made up of powerful athletes, club presidents, leaders in the classroom, and would certainly be described as a group of very strong women.

==Highlights of 2014==

2014 marked an exciting year for Beta Eta Deuteron. At the Stanford Greek Awards, the chapter won the award
for “Outstanding Scholarship” and “Chapter of the Year.” At the same event our very own Elizabeth Woodson
(’15) won the award for “Outstanding University Involvement.” At the Kappa Convention, Stanford Beta Eta
alumna, Charlotte Jones Anderson won an Alumnae Achievement Award.

Scholarship was at an all-time high last year, as we had set an unprecedented record for most 4.0 GPAs in one quarter - 18! Our leaders also attended another successful Kappa National Conference in Texas. This past year, Beta Eta Deuteron has had many successful philanthropy events, including Snowchella, our annual benefit concert, that raised over $5,000 for Support for International Change. Learning from the event, one of our goals for 2015 is to conduct more frequent but smaller, innovative philanthropy events to keep the chapter more engaged and involved in philanthropy and to contribute to more organizations including the Kappa Foundation. In an effort to make ritual a bigger part of our chapter’s experience we added ritual review to the beginning of each meeting. In the future, we hope to continue to improve chapter meeting attendance and increase the number of sisterhood events in order to bring the pledge classes closer together.

The campus climate for Greek life has become significantly more challenging in the past year. The
administration has certainly increased its efforts to scrutinize the Fraternity and Sorority community at Stanford, which is clearly a response to national pressures and movements against Greek life. Discussions of the issue of sexual assault has been prevalent on campus, and Beta Eta Deuteron has played an important role in participating and facilitating these discussions. In order to address these issues, the chapter has participated in discussions of Title IX with Angela Exon from Stanford’s Sexual Assault and Relationship Abuse Center, during which we discussed how our chapter can use our influence on campus and our core values of leadership, respect, and fraternity to be leaders and supporters of the movement to change campus culture surrounding sexual assault. As a chapter, we have made it a point to attend various speakers who focus on the topic, including an informative and heart-wrenching talk survivor-activist Wagatwe Wanjuki. The Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life introduced a new program that asked each Greek chapter to nominate a Violence Intervention and Prevention Chair, which would serve as the point person for questions and concerns regarding sexual assault in each chapter. Our chapter nominated two members who have just begun their training in the program. One of our members, Elizabeth Woodson, is spearheading a campus task force on sexual assault and mental healthy in her role as Student Body President of the Undergraduate Community at Stanford. We are proud of her work to help make Stanford a more safe, open, and healthy environment.

Beta Eta Deuteron was founded as an un-housed fraternity in 1892, but was able to build a house on
campus in 1900, the first KKG chapter to do so. In 1944, Stanford removed all women’s fraternities
including Kappa Kappa Gamma, and the house was acquired by the University. In 1978, Bet Eta Deuteron
chapter was reinstalled at Stanford without a house, and the chapter remains un-housed to this day. Our
chapter and chapter council meetings are held in a conference room in the Taube Hillel House on campus.
The building is owned by the University, but operated by the Ziff Center for Jewish Life. Beta Eta
Deuteron rents the room for a small fee on a per quarter basis. Despite our status as an un-housed sorority,
many members choose to live together in the same dorm their sophomore year, which fosters a great
sense of community in the first full year of membership. During the 2014-2015 school year, 31 of the 36
members of the 2017 pledge class live together in a Stanford Dormitory residence entitled Florence
Moore Hall.

==Highlights of 2015==
This year, we have focused on enhancing our sisterhood and improving our philanthropic impact. As
an un-housed chapter, we have to be creative in finding ways to strengthen our bonds of sisterhood and
loyalty. To do so, we have implemented consistent member class meals, which are opportunities for an
entire grade class to get together for a fun meal, paid for by Kappa. Furthermore, we have also created a
tradition of small group get togethers, where we randomly assign girls to groups, composed of members of
various grade levels and interests, and ask them to get together for a meal, activity, etc. We have also
organized group outings to spin classes, group yoga, and other activities that encourage our members to
bond with each other through healthy and mindful movement.

In terms of Philanthropy, our chapter has traditionally always hosted an annual benefit concert that
raises money for a charity of our choice, as well as done weekly homeless feeds and middle-school readings.
That being said, one of our goals this past year was to significantly improve our philanthropy efforts, and to
host multiple fundraisers each year and to support a broader range of philanthropies. Last Spring, we got
involved with the Movement Foundation, which is an organization that brings health and wellness
education to low-income areas, as well as conducting positive body-image campaigns. Our group raised over
$7000 for the organization and participated in their annual Dare to Bare spin class ride, which celebrates
body image positivity and body diversity.

Building on our work with an organization that is focused on health and wellness, this Fall, we chose
to focus on sexual health and sexual assault prevention. We decided to partner with the Joyful Heart
Foundation, an organization focused on healing, empowering, and advocating for survivors of sexual
violence, to launch an awareness campaign this Fall and raise money for the organization through our
benefit concert next January. The awareness campaign was modeled after the foundation’s “No More”
Campaign, which asks individuals to pinpoint specific stereotypes, negative sayings, or misconceptions
about sexual assault and to say ‘No More’ to them. We brought this to Stanford’s campus, which entailed
taking photos of students holding up signs that help to dispel rape myths, both generic and specific to our campus. We took over 300 photos and plan to post the signs all over campus leading up to our benefit
concert to raise awareness and money for the organization.

Academically, our chapter continues to excel. Last Spring marked a new record for our chapter in
terms of the number of girls who received a 4.0 GPA- 21 individuals! Our chapter continues to celebrate
this strength and to encourage all of our members to be committed to their academic work.
Describe the recent changes on your campus and describe the overall nature of your chapter.
This past year at Stanford, we have seen a more heated campus climate surrounding Greek Life.
While the community as a whole has faced increased scrutiny, our chapter has maintained good standing
with the Office of Fraternity & Sorority Life and worked hard to develop our relationship with
administrators. The FSL Office introduced a new administrative requirement for all Greek chapters this
year, entitled Standards of Excellence, which required our chapter to undertake a broad review of our
strengths and weaknesses on a variety of dimensions. This new requirement was communicated to our
advisors at Kappa nationals, and our results from the FSL office were largely very positive.
More broadly, the problem of sexual assault on campuses nationwide has led to a significant amount
of activism on our campus, surrounding the ways in which we can address and improve this issue. Beta Eta
Deuteron has taken a special interest in being a part of the conversation about how we as individuals and as
a group can help to eradicate sexual assault from our campus. We recently had a training from Carly Flanery,
the acting director for Stanford’s Sexual Assault and Relationship Abuse Education and Response Office,
come and give an overview of Stanford’s policy on sexual assault, as well as facilitate a conversation around
learning to become upstanders, rather than bystanders, when we witness sexual assault and/or relationship
violence. Many of the individuals within our Chapter are also leaders within other campus organizations,
and the strength of our campus involvement is often pointed out as a strength by members of the Stanford
Community. Overall, the nature of our chapter is involved, active, and purposeful about addressing critical
issues. We are committed to learning more and constantly trying to improve our understanding and
response to critical issues on our campus.

Chapter Philanthropy:

What organization(s) has your chapter historically/traditionally raised money for, or donated hours to, in
your community?

In the past, our fundraising efforts have been focused on Support for International Change, an
organization that helps provide health care in Tanzania. That being said, as we decided to focus more on
women’s health and wellness and female empowerment in our chapter programming and efforts, we
thought it would be a good idea to match that commitment with our philanthropy. Therefore, last Spring,
we shifted to a large fundraising effort for the Movement Foundation, which helps bring physical and
health education into low-income schools and supports positive body image campaigns. This fall, we have
chosen to direct our fundraising efforts to the Joyful Heart Foundation. Joyful Heart is a non-profit
dedicated to supporting, guiding, and aiding victims of sexual assault.

Why did your chapter choose this organization(s) to support?

As a whole, our chapter is committed to working on issues of female empowerment, health, and well being, and we felt it was important that our philanthropic efforts were connected to this. The organizations we have chosen to support reflect these ideals and do an excellent job of promoting healthy women in our society.

==Highlights of 2016:==

Kappa has focused on our values of diversity and inclusion and our recruitment process earlier this year was an important part of that. We felt that the conversations we had leading up to recruitment and our voting methods allowed for an intake of new members whose values deeply align with those of the organization: respect, integrity, and honest. As we welcomed our new pledge class, we reconnected as a chapter too. Highlights of the 2016 new member period included:
• 4/12: New Member class dinner with New Member Chairmen
• 4/13: Sleepover at Mirlo with sophomores
• 4/17: New Member Brunch at Florence Moore Dining Hall with New Member Chairmen
• 4/18: New Member/Sophomore Class S’mores bonding event
• 4/25-4/29: Big-Little Week
• 5/4: Standards Chapter Meeting with New Members about Drinking Culture and Hazing
• 5/21: Initiation at Kappa Kappa Gamma house at University of California, Berkeley

We have also made changes to our financial management system to continue our efforts of financial diligence, accessibility, and transparency. Within this past year, Kappa has launched it’s Sponsorship Program, which is the first of its kind amongst Kappa chapters across the nation. This program gives girls the opportunity to seek financial assistance for the payment of their dues. Kappa prides itself on accessibility to girls regardless of their financial situation and socio-economic background, and this program has already helped eight active members make Kappa a sustainable financial choice. We have many members who are already in full time jobs to pay for their books and supplies, receive full financial aid from Stanford, and who have financial emergencies at home. Our chapter is committed to supporting these women. The sponsorship program is overseen by our Treasurer and the Stanford Kappa Kappa Gamma House Board, which manages money and resources that can be used for a potential house in the future. The House Board is willing and excited to engage with our chapter members in a myriad of ways, including financial assistance. The Sponsorship program is funded through donations, and does not deplete chapter provided funds that the House Board will continue to reserve in the case that our organization gets a house. The recipients have written thank you notes to their sponsors, and will attend an appreciation event in the Spring.

This year, we have also updated our approach for academic support and exploration within the chapter. The Academic Excellence Committee set up study sessions in various spaces on campus so that members can come together to work and de-stress. In winter quarter the new Chapter Council began a quarterly program during which members group together and discuss the classes that they would recommend, study strategies that have worked for them and the best resources they have accessed on campus. Additionally, we maintain a list of our active members’ majors and minors so that undeclared members can find people within the chapter to reach out to with questions about their coursework. This quarter, we hosted two panels during chapter meetings focused on career experiences of our members and alumni.

Along with these milestones, Kappa has been recognized on campus and at the national level. This year, Kappa received an ‘exceeding expectations’ on our Standards of Excellence presentation and report, the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life at Stanford’s annual evaluation system for all Greek communities on campus. Our score placed us among the best performing Greek organizations at Stanford.

At convention this summer we were awarded the ‘Signature Event’ prize for medium sized chapters for our benefit concert Snowchella, there is more information about our philanthropy later in the document. This year, Kappas have been involved in numerous varsity and club athletic teams, led and participated in pre-professional and philanthropic organizations, held research and fellowship positions and performed in various dance and theater groups.

==Highlights of 2017==

Stanford Kappa has been up to a lot of awesome things this year! First and foremost, we have continued
our efforts that began last year toward making the Beta Eta Deuteron Chapter a more diverse and inclusive
space to women from all walks of life. As an organization, Kappa acknowledges that the demographics of
our organization are not at all reflective of the general Stanford population but that is why the Diversity and
Inclusion Committee has made it a priority to constantly facilitate conversations around this topic.

Last spring members of the committee held an open forum that was open to all Greek organizations to talk
about the status of diversity in all of our organizations and what that meant for the freshmen that were
considering going through the recruitment process (this event had approximately 60% attendance). We
discussed financial accessibility, representation, inclusion and what those all looked like in practice. Along
those lines, we’ve also held spotlights, Beyond the Line, and the SOSAS Panel in our chapter meetings in an
effort to bring these very important conversations to the table and open up the dialogue around these topics
(these all occur at chapter that generally have >80% attendance).

During the Fall quarter of 2017, we held a chapter meeting run by our Diversity and Inclusion Committee. Here, we discussed inclusiveness within our chapter and in doing so assure that we prioritize the safety and comfort of all of our members from different backgrounds and of differing identities. In the coming year, we will be having workshops that tackle implicit bias and how to make a conscious effort to surpass those biases, not only during the recruitment period but at all times. Kappa has made it a point to make sure all of these conversations are ongoing and not only relevant during the week leading up to recruitment in the spring.

In addition to the goal of making our chapter more inclusive, this year, our chapter also addressed our goal to keep our members highly involved and boost their attendance to meetings and events. In Winter Quarter 2017, the idea of “Key Groups” was implemented, in which Chapter Council representatives are assigned a small group of members across grades. They check in with their Key Group each chapter meeting to encourage accountability and plan group activities to get to know a smaller group of members, provide support, and serve as a contact in the Kappa leadership for them to voice any questions or concerns. Key Groups have provided to be a good source of contact, ensuring that each member of our chapter is held accountable by a particular member of Chapter Council.

In terms of traditions, every quarter, pledge classes have allotted funds to eat a meal together outside of the dining halls. As an unhoused chapter, we deeply value this opportunity to gather around a table and celebrate our sisterhood. To foster inter-grade relationships we organize a number of activities that are highly concentrated in the new member period, but continue throughout the rest of the year as well. After Recruitment in the spring, we typically host a new member sleepover in Florence Moore Hall as an introductory event to pledge class bonding activities. We believe that this event in particular helps foster a community within each grade, thus setting the tone for a community built on sisterhood and friendship.

Far before Recruitment even begins, our chapter leadership and New Member Chairmen work to prepare for our incoming pledge class. Highlights of hte 2017 new member period included (but are not limited to): New Member class dinner with New Member chairmen; a new member sleepover at Mirlo; new member/sophomore class s’mores bonding event; Big-Little Week; initiation at the Kappa Kappa Gamma house at University of California, Berkeley. In each of these events, New Member Chairs facilitate bonding and sisterhood through open conversation and fun experiences.

Continuing with the trend of sisterhood and connections, one of our goals in the past year has been to increase attendance and quantity of sisterhood events in an attempt to better foster strong relationships within our community. Because of this, the Standards Committee, led by the Vice President of Standards, has planned more than 8 events each quarter. These events include but are not limited to: weekly meals at Tresidder Student Union open to the chapter, randomly assigned small group meals, kickball, cookie-decorating, and arts and crafts projects. Theincrease in events has increased attendance drastically to 35-55% at every event. We are particularly proud of this increased commitment to sisterhood and building a community that supports all members.

Our members in Stanford’s chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma demonstrate individual intellectual commitment in their schoolwork, extracurriculars, and accolades. The women of our chapter have performed consistently in their coursework, evidenced by our mean chapter grade point average, which has been 3.7 for the past three quarters (we track our members’ GPA on a self-reporting system). To facilitate academic success and exploration, our chapter runs several programs that seek to support our members. The Academic Excellence Committee sets up study sessions in various spaces on campus so members can come together to work and de-stress. Additionally, we maintain a list of our active members’ majors and minors, so that undeclared members can find people within the chapter to reach out to with questions about their coursework and academic goals. We have also started a weekly recognition program for members: each week members nominate another member for an academic accomplishment,and in chapter they are announced and are given a chocolate bar.

This past winter quarter, the new Chapter Council began a quarterly program during which members group together and discuss recommended classes, study strategies, and resources available on campus. This Fall quarter, we hosted a career panel during a chapter meeting focused on career experiences of our alumni. The panel hosted five women who have worked or are currently working in venture capital, management consulting, law, software engineering, and education. These women offered advice on beginning one’s career in addition to discussing their experience as women in the workplace. In the future, we hope to co-host a resume/cover letter workshop with BEAM, Stanford’s career center, aswell as, bring in a speaker to discuss time management techniques with our New Members. Through these programs we hope to spur conversations between members about their academic goals and career interests that encourage Kappa’s women to share their intellectual passion with each other.

Our members’ majors and extracurricular pursuits bring to life their passions and interests. Our members pursue their commitment to social impact as board members of Stanford Students Social Entrepreneurship Association, tutors in a college preparation course who live in the area, tutors for East Palo Alto Charter School and the East Palo Alto Tennis and Tutoring program, directors of the philanthropic event Dance Marathon, counselors for Camp Kesem, volunteers for the Stanford Mental Health Outreach, and facilitators for One Love workshops on interpersonal violence. Multiple women in Kappa have held research positions at institutions including the King Institute, the Wernig Stem Cell Lab, Stanford Intelligence Systems Lab, the Stanford Center for Genomics, the Stanford Laboratory for Social Research, the Qi Lab (bioengineering), the Bertozzi Lab, and Ophthalmology Research Assistant at the School of Medicine. Finally, Kappa has three members in the Mayfield Fellowship program, as well as, a Truman Scholar this year. Beta Eta Deuteron’s members also pursue intellectual interests via clubs, like Stanford Women in Business, American Middle Eastern Network for Dialogue at Stanford, Design for America, Smart Women Securities, Stanford Women in CS, Stanford Black Pre-Med Association, and Stanford in Government.

Aside from our incredible achievements in scholarship, Stanford Kappa members also have amazing involvements outside of the classroom. In Kappawe have many varsity athletes and varsity captains. In total, fourteen varsity teams are􀀁represented in Kappa: from Women’s Field 􀀁Hockey to Tennis to Fencing, just to name a few.􀀁 In the summer of 2016, we even had two women from the􀀁 chapter participate in the Rio Summer Olympics-􀀁Kassidy Cook (class of 2018) competed in Olympic Diving and􀀁 Maggie Steffens (class of 2017) competed for her second time 􀀁in Olympic Women’s Water Polo and received 􀀁the MVP award. Additionally, Andi Sullivan (Class of 2018) was pulled up in October 2017 to play with the United States Women’s National Soccer Team as the only current collegiate student-athlete in the team. She joins Stanford Kappa Jane Campbell (Class of 2017) on the team.

Off the court, Kappas engage􀀁in many pre-professional communities. For 􀀁example, for the 2017 term Ali Eicher (Class of 2018) is the Co-President of Stanford Women in Business and six Vice-Presidents and 3 Directors are Kappas. Additionally, a group of our members including Elizabeth Overton (class of 2018), Liney Smith and Felicia Tissenbaum (both class of 2017) addressed a significant need for female􀀁
pre-professional clubs by founding a Smart Women Securities chapter at Stanford.

In addition to career-driven groups, our members take part in many activist communities addressing race and ethnicity, gender, identity, and intersectionalityon campus. Just to name a few, Kappas are participants and leaders in Girl Up- a UN Foundation, FACES, the Women’s Coalition, the Black Family Gathering Committee, the Clayman Institute, AMENDS, and the Women’s Community. In April of 2016, our member Madeleine Lippey (Class of 2018) brought the Fearless Conference, a student run event encouraging the Stanford community to rewrite and reclaim the conversationaround sexual and intimate partner violence through intersectional, inclusive, and collaborative programming, to campus.

Several other members were deeply involved in the organization and production of this event that served the broader undergraduate population. Last year, Alexis Kallen (Class of 2018) served as the Co-Chair of the Scary Path Task Force with Greg Boardman. It has been incredible to see the fruition of all of Alexis’ hard work this year with the finished lit path. Kappa currently has 3 members who are Mayfield Fellows and one member who is a Harry S. Truman Scholar. Finally, Kappas are deeply engaged in the Residential Education community throughout Stanford’s Campus. For the 2017-2018 year, three members are RAs in freshman dorms, two members are RAs in Suites, and five members on staff at French House, 680 Lomita, and Casa Italiana. Please reference Appendix I- Member Extracurricular Involvement 2017 for a complete list of extracurricular organizations in which Kappas hold membership.

Although our campus has not undergone and major changes recently, our chapter still remains committed to creating a space where strong women can come and empower one another. We do this by fostering a welcoming community, that is working on our path towards being inclusive for everyone; by supporting our members in their New Members journey to becoming Kappa women; by supporting all of our amazing members in whatever endeavors they undertake, from the classroom, to clubs, to athletics; and by supporting causes that demonstrate our commitment to all women, as can be seen through our extensive philanthropic work. The women of Beta Eta Deuteron are highly accomplished women who never fail to achieve the highest in all aspects of their lives.

Our chapter is extremely committed to combining the values and goals of Kappa Kappa Gamma’s national philanthropy mission with the specific interests and passions of women in our Stanford chapter. In 2016, we changed our main philanthropy, because we truly believed that this transition to the Joyful Heart Foundation as a beneficiary is both more in line with our core values and mission as women’s group, and incredibly relevant to campus culture at Stanford today. Our chapter has been really invested in promoting female empowerment. Thorough this recognized passion within our chapter that stemmed from a larger, this year, Stanford Kappa adopted campus sexual assault and intimate partner violence as our primary cause that we support.

For this, our chapter launched a fundraising campaign for the Joyful Heart Foundation, a national non-profit organization, founded by Kappa alumnae and Law and Order SVU star Mariska Hargitay, dedicated to empowering, educating, andhealing survivors of sexual assault so that they can reclaim a sense of joy in their lives. Their mission includes dispelling rape myths, hosting survivor healing and trauma care retreats, and putting an end to the backlog of untested rape kits in justice departments around the United States. Our big showcase of our philanthropy efforts for the year was Snowchella, an awareness and benefit concert that we put on with Sigma Nu and the Stanford Concert Network. This year was our first year having a three-way partnership for this event.

Prior to the concert wedesigned and sold shirts for the concert where the proceeds were donated to the Joyful Heart Foundation. At the concert itself, we had an all female DJ lineup of The Kemist, Astronautica, and Anna Lunoe to support our message of female empowerment. We sold food and beverages to fundraise, and we had a table dedicated to the Joyful Heart Foundation so that people could come and learn more about the cause and potentiallydonate to our fundraiser. Throughout the concert, our philanthropy chair went on stage to introduce each act and share information about the Joyful Heart Foundation. Before entering the concert, we made sure that everyone was on their best behavior at the concert.

Overall, throughout the course of the year we were able to raise almost $20,000 for the Joyful Heart
Foundation, and we really succeeded in bringing awareness about sexual assault to our campus in hope of
putting an end to it once and for all. Some of our public education and awareness events included:

'''Hunting Ground Documentary Screening and Clothing Drive'''-- For this awareness event, we ordered pizzas, and invited members of the Stanford Community to come to Sigma Nu where we were streaming The Hunting Ground, a powerful documentary film about the incidence of sexual assault on college campuses. This documentary really spread awareness about the prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses. Additionally, for people to come watch the movie and get pizza, we asked them to bring an article of clothing with them to donate to The Grateful Garment Project. When victims of sexual assault leave the hospital, they often have to leave with hospital gowns since they are forced to use their clothes as evidence in their rape kit. By having clothes donated for them to wear when leaving the hospital, we are able to help return their dignity.

'''Philanthropy Day'''-- For this, on a Saturday morning, members of Kappa and Sigma Nu gathered to send emails to friends, families, and localbusiness about donating to our cause. We had an email template drafted that explained everything about the Joyful Heart Foundation and their mission.

'''Joyful Heart Dinner''' For this event, we flew a member of the Joyful Heart Foundation, Vaughan Bagely (a Stanford Alumnae), out to come to talk to members of Kappa and Sigma Nu about the foundation and their mission. This really sparked passion in the members of our organization and encouraged them to get more involved in Snowchella and raising money and awareness for the Joyful Heart Foundation. The Joyful Heart Foundation is releasing a movie soon called I am Evidence, which we are hoping to stream for members of the Stanford community sometime this fall!

'''VAWA calling'''-- After having the representative from the Joyful Heart Foundation come and speak about the foundation, members of Kappa were eager to learn more about what we can do as students to help end sexual assault and actually make a large impact on the broader community. The representative told us that a big thing we can do is take action by calling our senators to encourage them to vote against the defunding of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). After hearing this, Kappa partnered with Columbae and their political peer accountability programming to host a call center at Mirlo (where a lot of our members live) for members of the Stanford community to come and read a script to let their senators know that they do not support the defunding of VAWA. Many people came from across campus and it felt like we were really starting to make an impact in the broader community.

'''SARA Training'''-- After Snowchella, we organized a visit from the SARA office at Sigma Nu where members of Kappa and Sigma Nu received training on how to talk to and respond to victims of sexual assault. They also provided us with information on all of the resources that Stanford has to help victims of sexual assault and the steps that can be taken when someone experiences sexual assault.
Some of our fundraising events included:

'''Kirk’s Steakburgers Fundraiser'''-For this fundraising event we partnered with a local restaurant to raise money for the Joyful Heart Foundation. The owner kindly agreed to donate 20% of all proceeds after 7:00 P.M. that night to the Joyful Heart Foundation. We made a Facebook event and several members of the Stanford community came out to eat some good food and support our cause. We raise approximately $200 from this.

'''Celia’s ‘Unspecial D’ Fundraiser''' For this fundraising event we partnered with a local restaurant to raise money for the Joyful Heart Foundation. We made it an “Unspecial Dinner” where members of Kappa were all allowed to invite a date and come eat some good food with good company. The owner kindly agreed to donate 20% of all proceeds that night to the Joyful Heart Foundation. We had a great turnout, and we were able to raise approximately $455 from this.

'''Valentine’s Day Awareness Campaign/Fundraiser''' At a sisterhood event, our organization decorated little boxes of sweethearts and candy bags with facts about the Joyful Heart Foundation and sexual assault and a venmo handle for an optional donation. On Valentine’s Day, we had members of Kappa hand out the candy at White Plaza in order to collect additional donations and raise money and awareness for the JHF. We ended up raising about $400 dollars through this.

'''Parents Weekend Brunch''' On Parent’s Weekend, Kappa decided to host a brunch at Narnia for our families. We charged $10 a person for the brunch. In order to save money and have more money to donate to the Joyful Heart Foundation, we had several of our members volunteer to go early to cook the food and set the tables. The parents loved having this opportunity to eat brunch amongst other Kappa members and their families. Overall this event was a huge success and we raised upwards of $800.
We also reached out to Stanford organizations as well as local businesses for funding, support, and general co-sponsorships.

'''Voices for the Vineyards''':
In light of the recent fires in Northern California, our chapter came together at a sober event in support of the victims by hosting a benefit concert with Kappa Alpha and Stanford Concerting Network. Nine talented students from different corners of campus performed pro bono on the lawn of KA while about a hundred students listened in appreciation to their music.

Overall, with sponsored t-shirts, Pressed Juicery certificates, a $100 gift card from Coupa Cafe, pizza, a Snapchat geofilter, Kappa designed fliers, and stickers designed by a Kappa member, we raised over $5,200. All of the money went to Redwood Empire Food Bank, an organization that donates food and offers to support to people displaced by the fires. Redwood Empire Food Bank is able to turn that money into 10,000 meals for families in need. The fires affected so many Stanford friends and families that we believed it were imperative to take action, utilizing Stanford talent to be the voice for the suffering; hence the concert's name: Voices for the Vineyards.  In addition to our main philanthropy, our chapter also engages in a variety of other community service events. Throughout the year, we have partnered with Kappa Sigma, Kappa Alpha, and Pi Beta Phi to cook and deliver breakfast every Tuesday morning to the Opportunity Center in Palo Alto. Additionally, last October we partnered with Sigma Chi to host a pumpkin carving event where all of the proceeds went to the Huntsman Institute for Cancer Research. In the Spring, we partnered with Alpha Chi Omega to prepare and deliver toiletry kits to a local women’s shelter.

Finally, this year, we are hoping to engage more with our national philanthropy, Reading is Fundamental. This fall, we are planning a Reading is Key event where members of our chapter will go to an underprivileged school or community to read to the kids and do some other educational activity with them. At the end of this event, we will send each child home with a new book. Lastly, Kappa created a team for Dance Marathon and received the “Gold Level” for Greek Sponsors. In keeping aligned with our chapter’s passion for focusing on women’s issues, we were hoping to host an event at a local women’s shelter like Heart and Home where we could engage with the children of the women at the shelter and possibly partner with Kappa Sigma to raise money for the shelter prior to our event. We struggle with attendance at Philanthropy events and generally only have 50-80% in attendance, we hope to increase this in the coming year with the incentive plan that we are currently creating. Moving forward, we are excited to continue this marry our national organization’s philanthropic endeavors with our chapter’s deeply rooted interest in sexual violence prevention, gender, identity, and intersectionality.

As mentioned above, we have chosen to support the Joyful Heart Foundation as our main philanthropic endeavor because we feel it aligns with both Kappa's goal of empowering women, and is highly relevant in the campus climate that we live in today. Moving forward, we are excited to continue this marry our national organization’s philanthropic endeavors with our chapter’s deeply rooted interest in sexual violence prevention, gender, identity, and intersectionality.

'''==Highlights of 2018:=='''
2018 was another great year for the Beta Eta Deuteron chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma! Our members continue to succeed in different ways on campus and in the world – they never fail to amaze us. Our strong internal culture and bond is accented by Kappa members’ extensive involvement in the larger Stanford atmosphere. We are proud to house members involved across campus, specifically on national championship-winning sports teams, presidents of business organizations, teaching assistants for classes, and more. One of our members was even named a Rhodes Scholar, and is currently studying abroad in Oxford, England! Our chapter at Stanford continued to work on various initiatives, namely supporting women’s empowerment and diversity & inclusion. We are pleased to note that due to our emphasis on diversity & inclusion, headquarters has made it a formal chapter council position that will now be implemented in all chapters across the nation. Léa Koob, our president this year, helped draft the proposal for this change at the fraternity’s National Convention in June. We are so excited for future members in this role as Diversity & Inclusion (D & I) chairman to have more support and guidance from fraternity headquarters. This year, we held four chapter meetings focusing on these important topics. Our D & I committee focused on issues like the history of exclusion in Greek Life and implicit bias. Through these workshops, we strive to better ourselves as a chapter, making sure all members, and all future members, will be comfortable in our chapter. We emphasized implicit bias training early in the year, in order to have this be a continuing discussion, not just something we focus on during recruitment. On October 29th of this year, one of our members, Tatie Balabanis, led the chapter through an activity of a class of which she is a teaching assistant (Psychology 103 – Intergroup Communication). In this activity, called an “identity walk,” we focused on exploring the different identities that members of our chapter value and had an open discussion about what some of these various identities mean to members of our chapter. Overall, it was a very successful year of action and conversation surrounding D & I within our chapter and within the broader community at Stanford. We are excited to continue to push these inclusivity efforts and strive for equity in our chapter and our university.

Our chapter feels just as good about our efforts in furthering our women’s empowerment initiatives as well. This is at the center of Kappa’s core values, and we pride ourselves on being a group of capable, passionate, and confident women. We aim to make a positive impact in the world, maintaining a constant focus on women’s empowerment. We do this through various initiatives internally, such as recognition programs at chapter meetings. Our chapter implemented programs such as KKGenius and Support a Sister to reward our members for their excellence inside and outside of the classroom. During the week, members are encouraged to nominate fellow sisters for their accomplishments, be it academic, athletic, or simply for being a strong and supportive sister. Members who are nominated are acknowledged and awarded during chapter meetings that week. Our chapter aims to create a cohesive and friendly environment within Kappa that allows all of our sisters to feel comfortable, and hopefully build on one another’s strengths, inspiring individual achievements in all areas of our members’ lives. Additionally, as a chapter we have tried to focus more of our philanthropic endeavors to help support our goal of empowering women in the broader community, we have seen our chapter used as an incredible platform for our members to accomplish positive change and have their voices heard in the community on campus. Our fraternity has tried to bring together our national philanthropy, Reading is Key, and our passion for addressing women’s issues and bringing awareness to sexual assault. This year, we have been intentional in bridging these two important causes. We planned an annual Reading is Key event, where we read and gave books to children of a local women’s shelter, in addition to brining toiletry kits to the women at the shelter. Our chapter is dedicated to both the fraternity’s national philanthropy and Beta Eta’s chosen philanthropy, Joyful Heart Foundation. At the 2018 National Convention, our chapter was recognized and awarded with the Signature Philanthropy Award (for the second year in a row)!

'''Changes on campus and the chapter’s overall nature:'''

As part of the broader conversations currently being raised on campus, as discussed above, our chapter focused on thoroughly engaging with our D & I chair and committee over the course of the year. We want to make sure that our chapter reflects the community we are surrounded by on campus here at Stanford. This has changed the nature of the chapter for the better, as we have held several educational events about diversity and inclusion, especially before Recruitment. We have really worked to make our chapter of Kappa as accessible as possible to women in the Stanford community, especially regarding finances.

Our chapter is one of the most accessible in this respect for all members of the Stanford community, something we are very proud of.

'''Chapter Philanthropy:
What organization does the chapter support? Joyful Heart Foundation'''

'''Why did the chapter choose this organization?''' We have chosen to support this non-profit for several years in addition to our National philanthropy because its mission is one that is all too important to our members. It is a non-profit organization dedicated to healing, empowering, and advocating for survivors of sexual violence. Throughout the year, we hold a wide awway of awareness events, from documentary screenings to conferences in order to keep up the conversation about sexual violence prevention on campus. We also hold fundraising events and sell items like our "Future is Female" shirts in order to raise money for our philanthropic mission of supporting the Joyful Heart Foundation. As an organzation, we have noticed the importance of education and awareness around these topics, and have shifted our philanthropic efforts to focus more on spreading awareness of these issues in addition to our fundraising efforts. We believe this foundation is well-worth our efforts, especially because it was founded by Kappa Kappa Gamma alumnae, Mariska Hargitay! Overall, this past year we were able to raise almost $23,000 for the Joyful Heart Foundation, and succeeded in bringing awareness about sexual assault to our campus here at Stanford, something we are very proud of.

'''Chapter Facility:'''
Where does the chapter meet? We host a majority of our weekly meetings at the Women’s Community Center on campus, a feminist space that offers resources to promote gender equality. Through our well established relationship with the WCC, our leadership has had the opportunity to attend quarterly dinners in which they are connected with other women leaders and resources on campus. It has been a great experience getting to work with and learn from female leaders in all corners of campus.

Beta Eta Deuteron

2019-06-18T19:56:02Z

Michellelearle:

{{Infobox Fraternity
|Name= Beta Eta Deuteron
|GreekSymbol= BH<sup>Δ</sup>
|Image= [[File:Beta_Eta_Deuteron.jpg|200px]]
|Founded= {{start date and years ago|1892|06|10}}
|College= [http://www.stanford.edu/ Stanford University] formerly The Leland Stanford Junior University
|Location= Stanford, CA
|Homepage= [http://chapters.kappakappagamma.org/betaeta/ Beta Eta Deuteron Homepage]
|Media= [http://wiki.kappakappagamma.org/index.php?title=Category:Beta_Eta_Deuteron Media related to Beta Eta Deuteron Chapter]
}}

<table><tr><td>
'''Beta Eta Deuteron Chapter, Stanford University'''

'''Leland Stanford Jr. University established in 1891 in Palo Alto, California'''

'''Founded as Beta Eta June 10, 1892 with 11 charter members; Closed 1944 -- 471 initiates (as of 1944 closure)'''

'''Beta Eta Deuteron founded as Beta Eta Deuteron in 1978'''

'''1,368 initiates (as of June 2018)'''

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'''Charter Members:'''

Harriet Augusta Buck, Bonnie May Burckhalter, Bertha Louise Chapman, Elizabeth Corinne Chapman, Mabel Hyde Cory, Florence Mable Holsclaw, Edith Eleanor Liliencrantz, Alberta Lois Merritt, Maude Evangeline Stinson, Olivia Rose Vogel, Jessie Palen Wood.

'''Fraternity Council Officers:'''

Emily Caskey Johnson, Vice President 1944-1948, Director of Alumnae1940-1944, Director of Provinces 1936-1938, Director of Standards 1934-1936; Elizabeth Voris Lawry, Grand Treasurer 1906-1908

'''Fraternity Loyalty Award Recipients:'''

'''Fraternity Alumnae Achievement Award Recipients:'''Charlotte Jones Anderson, 2014, professional sports marketing and philanthropy; Gretchen Carlson, 2016

'''Additional Outstanding Beta Eta Deuteron Alumnae''':

Shelley Smith Mydans, author, a Life magazine staff writer who with her husband Carl Mydans, a Life magazine photographer, spent their married life working side-by-side. They were captured by incoming Japanese troops in Manila in January of 1942. They were held as Prisoners of War for almost two years. After a respite in New York, they both returned to the combat zone, this time in Europe as World War II wound to a close.

Lola Nashashi, Graduate Counselor 1977-1978

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==The Early Years (From The History of Kappa Kappa Gamma 1870–1976)==

Beta Eta Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma at Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, survived an earthquake; the chapter house was twice ravaged by fire; and members adjusted to the changes of two World Wars.

But suddenly, in 1944, Beta Eta Chapter was gone, removed with all other women’s fraternities from the Stanford campus.

By a special act of the California Legislature, the act of endowment embodying the charter of the institution, and a gift, 80,000 acres of land was made public in November, 1885. The Leland Stanford Jr. University, endowed by Senator and Mrs. Stanford as a memorial to their only son, was formally opened October 1, 1891. It was the opinion of many persons that California already had its university so why have another? But attracted by its possibilities, 465 students, many older than the average, arrived that first year from all over the world.

Beta Eta was established June 10, 1892, six months after a chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta. The two fraternities, in an agreement about bidding procedures, set the stage for the Panhellenic organization.

Lou Henry (Hoover) was a sophomore and not yet a Kappa when Lucy Evelyn Wight (Allan), BB—St. Lawrence, grand president in 1890-1892, went to Stanford for graduate study. The two women became close friends. Evelyn Wight became Stanford’s first dean of women, and Lou Henry was initiated in 1896 when the chapter was four years old.

Initiations had taken place in the music room of Roble hall, and the chapter met in member’s rooms. Later a second-floor apartment was rented, and then a house on campus. By the spring of 1899, business arrangements had been made for building on the west side of Lasuen Street where the only other structure was the Phi Delta Theta house.

Kappas made daily trips to watch the progress of construction, and the move was made in January, 1900.

Beta Eta was the first Kappa chapter to build its own house and the first to own a house.
The beloved house was described in the July, 1900 issue of The Key as having “sloping moss green roofs, pointed gables, dormer windows. The wrought iron lattice over the door bears the letters KKΓ and the art glass windows with the fleur-de-lis embedded in the cardinal, form an artistic entrance… the third floor, the abode of the freshmen, and familiarly known as ‘the attic’ is one large room… the most delightful place for initiation and informal spreads, while from its many windows one gains the best view of the surrounding hills covered with oak trees and, in the spring, ablaze with the glorious California poppies… From its setting of green foothills, (the house) looks across the level fields, over the treetops of the Arboretum to the narrow line of bay and the hazy blue mountains beyond.”

==Highlights of the Early 1900s==

The earthquake of April 18, 1906, brought normal college life to a halt. There was great damage on the Stanford campus. When the chapter returned to school in September, member found that the house had remained untouched during the summer, rather than repaired, since labor and materials were so scarce. A luncheon for freshmen had been scheduled for registration day. Because their dishes were broken and the plaster down, the resourceful Kappas partied on the porch.

Early in September, 1918, the house was badly damaged by fire; and again during summer quarter of 1927 there was a fire and chapter members returned to find the roof gone. By January, 1928, aware of the difficulties of separation, the chapter was able to get back together. The alumnae corporation and the Fraternity had made it possible to repair the damages, and the Mother’s Club had raised a considerable fund to help refurnish the house. In 1934 the house association constructed a much-needed wing to provide additional bedrooms, a chapter room, and a lounge.

==Highlights of the 1930s and 1940s==
Field Secretary Helen Snyder (Andres), BΠ—Washington, wrote in the February, 1933, issue of The Key, after her first visit to Stanford, “… my fondest expectations realized in its fine students, beautiful buildings with arcades, quadrangles, magnificent memorial chapel, palm trees, and landscaped grounds… long a fine chapter… scholastic and activity honors are many… a congenial chapter.” Her first official act as grand president in June, 1935, was to call for ratification of the appointment of Beta Eta’s Emily Caskey Johnson as director of standards.

Emily’s ability, energy, and a frequently changing address made her the best-known Kappa in the northwest. The Palo Alto alumnae loved to have an excuse to bring Emily into the conversation.
The relationship between Beta Eta, Π—California, and the alumnae was good, with a common meeting ground in the annual fashion show in which the actives modeled. Although proceeds of the fashion show were usually marked for scholarships, in 1942 they were earmarked for national defense. The show was given in the daytime because of rules against off-campus night parties, and the possibility of blackouts.

During World War II several rooms in the chapter house were blacked out so the girls could study, and there were changes in their living habits. The girls squeezed their own orange juice for breakfast, when oranges were available; did their own house cleaning; and skipped an occasional meal “to humor the cook.” And they understood “It is a very little part of war’s reality… These changes show that life on a college campus need not be as carefree as ‘the good old days’ in order to be one of the most wonderful times in our lives.”

During World War II, social affairs and volunteer work were often combines, taking the form of benefits. The chapter was interested in Belgian War Relief, and the plans of the food administration. The chairman of the Stanford Women’s Red Cross Unit was a Kappa, and there were regular Red Cross hours and much knitting. Three actives left for service in France.

Lou Henry Hoover, wife of the ex-president of the United States, herself a scholar and adventurer as well as the devoted patron of the Girl Scouts of America, died suddenly January 7, 1944, in New York. Four days later Ann Claire Brokaw, daughter of Claire Booth Luce, a senior majoring in political science, was killed in an automobile accident.

Although Beta Eta had acquired new pledges early in 1944, and initiation was conducted that spring, by the term’s end, Beta Eta too was gone, removed with all the other women’s houses from the Stanford campus. The administration and the dean of women, a fraternity woman herself, had shown a consistent disapproval for the fraternity system and for 20 years sororities and their alumnae fought a losing battle against the final outcome. (In 1923 a vote had been taken to discover the feeling of sororities concerning “the justification of their existence,” and from 1925 Panhellenic, with Beta Eta taking a leading part, had tried to prove to the university that sororities had a definite place in the life of a university women.)

By fall of 1944 the chapter house had become a university residence, and the December, 1944, letter from the Palo Alto alumnae mentions that three of the no-longer-active chapter members had been guests at an alumnae meeting and “the alumnae regretted losing the inspiration of the actives.”

The chapter was known for its interesting, active women. Among them were Barbara Griffith Dolfini, whose miniature rooms were displayed at the Golden Gate Fair; Dr. Florence Mable Holsclaw, directing head of Babies Aid, San Francisco; Bertha L. Chapman Cady, Ph.D., botanist and author; Ethel Wallace Bryant, dean of the Castilleja School; Harriet Ford Griswold, civic worker for rehabilitation of cripples; and Jean Henry Large, author of Girl Scout books. Anna Henrietta Martin was a writer, an associate of Jane Adams in the International League for Peace, and chairman of the National Women’s Party. Before the turn of the century she had been chairman of the Beta Eta committee that compiled the Fraternity Catalogue, giving the name and record of each of the 3000 members. “Edited by Beta Eta” is on the title page of that 1898 volume. And of course there was Mrs. Hoover, Beta Eta’s “proudest possession,” even though she refused to have a Kappa key placed on her effigy’s bosom in the Smithsonian.

In the last chapter picture of Beta Eta members ever taken, all but two are smiling, because smiling is what is done for pictures. It might almost be thought that 1944 had been another good year in the history of “an alive and stimulating chapter.”
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The previous information was excerpted from The History of Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity, 1870-1976. The information that follows has been gleaned from available resources including Chapter History Reports, chapter meeting minutes, letters and comments from chapter members and alumnae, the Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity Archives, and The Key. Each chapter is expected to update its history record annually. Contact Fraternity Headquarters at kkghq@kkg.org with questions.
--------------------------------

==Women’s Fraternities Return to Stanford==

Nestled in the Stanford Hills of Palo Alto, California, is a beautiful university campus whose focal point is its magnificent Hoover Tower. Ever since the rains started turning these
beautiful hills green and covering them with abundant blankets of bright orange California Poppies, purple Lupine, yellow Mustard, and white Clover, and the Stanford Board of Trustees
voted to lift a thirty-three year ban on sororities, a new purpose and interest has sprouted among many of the women students Now in full bloom-Sororities have returned to Leland Stanford University.

In 1944, the Beta Eta Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma was removed with seven other sororities from the Stanford campus by the University, leaving only men's fraternities to continue. Many months ago great enthusiasm started vibrating through the campus when there were rumors regarding the lifting of the ban on sororities. Local groups started forming around Active transfers and Legacies of NPC groups with the intent of organizing the return of the women's Greek system to Stanford, if in fact the ban was lifted, and then to petition their respective National Councils for reinstatement and/or chartering.

In December, 1977, the ban was lifted but that did not mean what we had hoped it would. The lifting of the ban did not mean that the University was inviting sororities back on campus-
only that they would not stop the women students from forming and/or joining any outside interest groups. It would instead mean restrictions on housing, meeting rooms, and University
recognition. Even with this atmosphere, these women were determined to have NPC sororities back at Stanford and join with the already existing men's fraternities for a full Greek system.

In the spring of 1978, a Kappa transfer from Bucknell Lola Nashashibi, showed her interest in starting a group. There seemed to be great interest to join with Lola and organize what they all hoped would someday become a Kappa chapter. This group worked together in a small number which, by the time they were ready to petition, was increased to an interested 45 women, with 34 signing the formal petition for the reinstatement of Beta Eta Chapter.

These women met at their request, Jean Hess Wells, Georgia, (Fraternity President) and Pat Maness Kriz (Pi PDC) in early February, 1978, to discuss Kappa in full and to discover why this particular group of women was interested in Kappa. The subjects covered were finances, philanthropies, policies, standards, obligations and commitment, and their desire for a lasting tie to their college days. With all questions answered (both from Kappa and to Kappa) and the determination of these women, their petition to Kappa Council was in the mail within a week after this meeting.

The petition was granted February. On February 21st, after a pot-luck dinner at the home of Mrs. Duane L. Hillyard, there was a candle passing ceremony announcing formal pinning of the blue and blue ribbons. Formal colonization was held March 2, 1978, in the lovely home of Erna Gaede Kurtzon, Northwestern, with 29 outstanding women pledged: Among those attending were VerMehr (Pi Province Magazine Chairman); Presidents of the Palo Alto, San Jose, and San Mateo Alumnae Associations – Janet Nelson Reimers, Oregon State, Barbara Reith Collier, San Jose State; and Louise Forve Barker, UCLA, respectively; and the colonizing team – Kay Smith Larson, Washington, Director of Chapters and Colonizing Officer; Pat Maness Kriz, Colorado, Pi, PDC; Ann Fletcher Colvin, Washington State, Pi PDA; and Patricia Ball Hillyard, San Jose State, Colonization Chairman.

The Beta Eta Deuteron Colony consisted of its 29 pledges and two active transfers –Lola Nashashibi, Bucknell, who was to be Beta Eta Deuteron’s Undergraduate Counselor , and Elizabeth Abel, UC Davis. As spring Rush was fast approaching, the colony was soon to increase its size.
As there had been much time and energy spent in organizing the individual sororities (Alpha Phi, Kappa Alpha Theta, Pi Beta Phi and Kappa plus two local groups hoping to be Nationally recognized by Chi Omega and Kappa Delta) so had there been in organizing an lntcr-Sorority Council complete with others. Their main goal was to have a successful and compatible “Panhellenic” spring Rush.

And so it seemed that the women’s Greek system had indeed found a fertile place to grow and be strong. Beta Eta Deuteron had bloomed again was already enjoying togetherness through exchanges with fraternities, parties, dining together, philanthropic work, and a holiday for some in Hawaii. They worked well with the full Advisory Board and felt the women Greeks were there to stay – working hard toward the “total” Greek System – opportunity for all – again at Stanford.

'''Installation'''

Beta Eta Deuteron installation was a huge success with more than 600 Kappas from near and far attending the events of the weekend at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.

The weekend started Friday, October 20th at a fireside with Fraternity treasurer Jean Schmidt, Miami, presiding. The next morning an installation/initiation ceremony (led by Marian Klingbeil Williams, Missouri, director of membership; Kay Smith Larson, Washington, installation officer
and former Fraternity officer; and Jean Hess Wells, Georgia, Fraternity president), saw 27 colonizers receive their pins. After a delicious box luncheon was enjoyed by the 200 in attendance, they again assembled to teach the new initiates the songs and procedures of initiation so they could in turn pin their little sisters. The afternoon initiation saw the first initiates pin 30 of the pledges from the previous spring rush, making a total of 57 active members to start Beta Eta Deuteron. Immediately following the initiations was a lovely reception in the Castilleja School in Palo Alto for parents, alumnae, sororities, fraternities, faculty, family, and friends.

Sunday morning started with a Model Chapter Meeting, conducted by Fraternity President Wells. This was followed by a crumpous luncheon banquet, with the toastmistress Elizabeth
Bennitt Denebeim, Missouri, former Kappa Province Director of Chapters, and the wonderful speaker Helen Snyder Andres Steiner, Washington, former Fraternity president.

Many gifts were received by the chapter including a framed reproduction of the original Beta Eta charter given by California at Berkeley; an engraved guest book was presented by the Beta Eta Deuteron Advisory Board; and a pair of engraved silver candelabra from the Palo Alto Alumnae, made possible by a donation to the alumnae group by Mary Connor Bowles, Akron. Also given to the chapter was a framed composite of individual pictures of the first initiates by the first initiates and a beautiful patchwork quilt symbolizing Kappa events by the second initiates.

Highlighting the luncheon were four special presentations. Edna Martin Parratt, UC Berkeley, who had three Beta Eta aunts, presented an 1894 emerald and diamond key, originally belonging to her aunt Gertrude Martin to be used the Beta Eta Deuteron president’s key (Edna was initiated into Pi Chapter in 1922 with this badge.) Gertrude's sister, Anna Henrietta Martin, had a sapphire and diamond key which Edna, in 1976, presented to Pi Deuteron for its president’s key. Isn’t it ironic that when Pi chapter was reinstated Beta Eta was the installing chapter, and when Beta Eta was reinstated Pi Deuteron was the installing chapter, and that both of their presidents' keys were presented.

Edgarita Webster George, Washington, presented her own beautiful all diamond key which will be used as a special award badge. Presented by Linda Scatena, San Jose State, the last president of the chapter there was the Delta Chi gavel given to them by the SAE Fraternity, and the Delta Chi president’s key with the gavel guard which is an 1898 ruby and diamond key which belonged to Ethel McLellen Ward, Stanford. This key will also be used as a special award badge. Elizabeth Wohlford, the new Beta Eta Deuteron president, was initiated by her grandmother Mildren Finley Wohlford, Stanford, with an 1894 pearl and emerald key which had been given to Elizabeth by a family friend. It has belonged to Nellie Louise Parrit, Illinois Wesleyan.

As the weekend came to a close, everyone felt a tremendous amount of gratitude for all those special people who made it possible. There was the overwhelming support from active chapters which included UC Berkeley, California State Davis, California State Northridge, UC Santa Barbara which has just been installed the previous weekend. Even Texas was represented. The very hard working alumnae included Contra Costa County, San Mateo, San Jose, and especially Palo Alto. With the help of Jeanne McCune Spaulding, UCLA, fireside chairman, Maggie Ely Pringle, Oregon, reception chairman, and Ann Norton Davis, Northwestern, luncheon chairman and their wonderful committees, the entire weekend became a very special memory for everyone who attended.
Other Fraternity personnel attending were Patricia Maness Kriz, Colorado, Pi PDC; Ann Fletcher Colvin, Washington State, Pi PDA; Lola Nashashibi, Bucknell, undergraduate counselor; and Patricia Ball Hillyard, San Jose State, installation chairman and Marshall. Janeen Gould, St. Lawrence and Barbara Laitner, Colorado, both former Graduate Counselors and field secretaries, and Jean Ebright Elin, Ohio State, Fraternity Headquarters representative, were present.

Since the spring, 1978 issue of The Key report, progress continued with the sorority system at Stanford. Now Alpha Phi, Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, and Pi Beta Phi chapters had been installed.

==Highlights of the 1980s:==

(From chapter’s History Report:Scholarship, group honors/awards, traditions, special events, changes on campus or within chapter, overall nature of the chapter, chapter goals, challenges and how they were overcome, etc.)

'''Housing:'''

'''Philanthropy:'''

'''Convention Awards:'''

==Highlights of the 1990s:==

(From chapter’s History Report:Scholarship, group honors/awards, traditions, special events, changes on campus or within chapter, overall nature of the chapter, chapter goals, challenges and how they were overcome, etc.)

'''Housing:'''

'''Philanthropy:'''

'''Convention Awards:'''

==Highlights of 2000-2010==

Beta Eta Deuteron was involved in many activities both on campus and within the Greek system. A Kappa Career night was held with local alumnae who shared career experiences and provided networking opportunities. As an unhoused chapter, Beta Eta Deuteron found it a challenge to find an appropriate place to hold chapter meetings every week, but negotiated with the University to use Breer Library for their meetings. Chapter unity and attendance at meetings and events was a focus for the chapter. Fun chapter events included the Kappa Kentucky Derby with everyone wearing hats, the Kappa Holiday Party, the Monmouth Duo and Kite and Key formals. Programs were presented on Substance Abuse and an interactive game of Kappa History Jeopardy. Greek Day brought together men and women from all of the sororities and fraternities for a rally in White Plaza before a football game.

During this period, the chapter took steps towards publishing a quarterly newsletter for chapter members, alumnae and parents and redid its website. They considered their website to be an asset for Recruitment purposes since they did not have a chapter house. A successful workshop on resume building and career development was organized by the chapter and sponsored by Stanford’s Career Development Center. Scholarship was always important with high cumulative G.P.A.s for the chapter. Many members were involved in campus sports, with one member receiving the Herman Trophy for women’s soccer.

'''Housing:'''

Beta Eta Dueteron is an unhoused chapter. In 2010, the chapter established a Housing Committee to draft an application to the University stating the reasons the chapter should have a house.

'''Philanthropy:'''

Beta Eta Deuteron baked cookies for the children at the Ronald McDonald House near campus, and joined a fraternity one morning a week to cook breakfast at a local homeless shelter. The chapter was also involved with tutoring children, and spreading awareness about organ donation.
Beta Eta Deuteron joined with a fraternity to host a Thanksgiving dinner at a retirement center in Palo Alto. With another fraternity, they participated in Garden-a-thon. The Light the Night walk raised money for Leukemia and Lymphoma.

'''Convention Awards:'''

2000 – Scholarship Honorable Mention
2008 – Academic Excellence Honorable Mention

==Highlights of 2012==

'''Highlights include:'''

-- A very successful Pi Province hosted by our chapter!
-- A very successful Recruitment period in which passionate, wonderful, "true blue" girls joined our chapter
-- A chapter GPA of 3.63 and eight members with GPA's of 4.0
-- We have two women on the Women’s Tennis team, who went on to win the National Championship. Our own Nicole Gibbs also went on to win Singles and is now playing professionally
--Crew Members, Alicia Kapjian-Pitt and Jordan Duval-Smith also won the National Championship
--Women’s Water Polo, which includes many members of Kappa, were #2 in the nation.
--One of our new members, Maggie Steffens, was awarded FINA Player of the Year
--Three members, Olivia Vagelos Abigail Andrews and Molly Welch, won “Hackathon” (a philanthropy competition started by our own Elizabeth Woodson) in which they created an App to help people find jobs
-- Olivia Vagelos’ startup MountJuly was funded on KickStarter

'''Chapter Growth'''

Attendance: We noticed low chapter attendance at weekly chapter meetings in January. We increased this by trying to make chapter meetings more meaningful. We did this by giving out important chapter information at meetings instead of in emails sent out to the chapter. We also increased attendance by inviting powerful speakers to come to meetings, like California Senator Dianne Feinstein, who spoke about current legislation, her time as a woman at Stanford, and how to be a strong woman in politics. We also had Stanford faculty come speak about healthy body image and feminist studies.

Sisterhood events: Sisters are so busy that sometimes sisterhood events are forgotten. This year, we made sure to have more sisterhood events and successfully hosted letter making, headband making, baking, study sessions, arts and crafts for Mother's Day, and a cooking event.

Ritual: As ritual is what bonds together Kappa's across the country, our chapter wanted to appreciate ritual even more. We filled the year with ritual review, including activities to learn more songs, such as fill in the blanks with song lyrics. We also incorporated 15 minutes of ritual review into every meeting.

Philanthropy: We wanted to increase the number of philanthropy events that Kappa's were involved in. This year, at our "Snowchella" event, we raised more than $7,000 that was donated to an organization called "Support for International Change." We also started a weekly reading program to children in East Palo Alto.

'''Nature of Chapter'''

Beta Eta Deuteron is made up of a group of women who are passionate, intelligent, graceful, kind, and giving. But, the quality that distinguishes our group of girls is a sense of confidence and drive. We make a difference on our campus. At Stanford's ISC Greek Awards, our chapter won the most awards of any chapter on campus, a testament to the fact that we have a strong presence at Stanford. Awards included: Outstanding New Member (Paige Fisher), Greek Woman of the Year (Tierney O’Rourke), Greek Involvement (Molly Hayes), Inter-Sorority Council Runner-up (Molly Hayes), Greek Collaboration Runner-up, and Chapter of the Year Runner-up. One of our sisters will be VP of Recruitment next year to continue our Inter-Sorority involvement. We are made up of powerful athletes, club presidents, leaders in the classroom, and would certainly be described as a group of very strong women.

==Highlights of 2014==

2014 marked an exciting year for Beta Eta Deuteron. At the Stanford Greek Awards, the chapter won the award
for “Outstanding Scholarship” and “Chapter of the Year.” At the same event our very own Elizabeth Woodson
(’15) won the award for “Outstanding University Involvement.” At the Kappa Convention, Stanford Beta Eta
alumna, Charlotte Jones Anderson won an Alumnae Achievement Award.

Scholarship was at an all-time high last year, as we had set an unprecedented record for most 4.0 GPAs in one quarter - 18! Our leaders also attended another successful Kappa National Conference in Texas. This past year, Beta Eta Deuteron has had many successful philanthropy events, including Snowchella, our annual benefit concert, that raised over $5,000 for Support for International Change. Learning from the event, one of our goals for 2015 is to conduct more frequent but smaller, innovative philanthropy events to keep the chapter more engaged and involved in philanthropy and to contribute to more organizations including the Kappa Foundation. In an effort to make ritual a bigger part of our chapter’s experience we added ritual review to the beginning of each meeting. In the future, we hope to continue to improve chapter meeting attendance and increase the number of sisterhood events in order to bring the pledge classes closer together.

The campus climate for Greek life has become significantly more challenging in the past year. The
administration has certainly increased its efforts to scrutinize the Fraternity and Sorority community at Stanford, which is clearly a response to national pressures and movements against Greek life. Discussions of the issue of sexual assault has been prevalent on campus, and Beta Eta Deuteron has played an important role in participating and facilitating these discussions. In order to address these issues, the chapter has participated in discussions of Title IX with Angela Exon from Stanford’s Sexual Assault and Relationship Abuse Center, during which we discussed how our chapter can use our influence on campus and our core values of leadership, respect, and fraternity to be leaders and supporters of the movement to change campus culture surrounding sexual assault. As a chapter, we have made it a point to attend various speakers who focus on the topic, including an informative and heart-wrenching talk survivor-activist Wagatwe Wanjuki. The Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life introduced a new program that asked each Greek chapter to nominate a Violence Intervention and Prevention Chair, which would serve as the point person for questions and concerns regarding sexual assault in each chapter. Our chapter nominated two members who have just begun their training in the program. One of our members, Elizabeth Woodson, is spearheading a campus task force on sexual assault and mental healthy in her role as Student Body President of the Undergraduate Community at Stanford. We are proud of her work to help make Stanford a more safe, open, and healthy environment.

Beta Eta Deuteron was founded as an un-housed fraternity in 1892, but was able to build a house on
campus in 1900, the first KKG chapter to do so. In 1944, Stanford removed all women’s fraternities
including Kappa Kappa Gamma, and the house was acquired by the University. In 1978, Bet Eta Deuteron
chapter was reinstalled at Stanford without a house, and the chapter remains un-housed to this day. Our
chapter and chapter council meetings are held in a conference room in the Taube Hillel House on campus.
The building is owned by the University, but operated by the Ziff Center for Jewish Life. Beta Eta
Deuteron rents the room for a small fee on a per quarter basis. Despite our status as an un-housed sorority,
many members choose to live together in the same dorm their sophomore year, which fosters a great
sense of community in the first full year of membership. During the 2014-2015 school year, 31 of the 36
members of the 2017 pledge class live together in a Stanford Dormitory residence entitled Florence
Moore Hall.

==Highlights of 2015==
This year, we have focused on enhancing our sisterhood and improving our philanthropic impact. As
an un-housed chapter, we have to be creative in finding ways to strengthen our bonds of sisterhood and
loyalty. To do so, we have implemented consistent member class meals, which are opportunities for an
entire grade class to get together for a fun meal, paid for by Kappa. Furthermore, we have also created a
tradition of small group get togethers, where we randomly assign girls to groups, composed of members of
various grade levels and interests, and ask them to get together for a meal, activity, etc. We have also
organized group outings to spin classes, group yoga, and other activities that encourage our members to
bond with each other through healthy and mindful movement.

In terms of Philanthropy, our chapter has traditionally always hosted an annual benefit concert that
raises money for a charity of our choice, as well as done weekly homeless feeds and middle-school readings.
That being said, one of our goals this past year was to significantly improve our philanthropy efforts, and to
host multiple fundraisers each year and to support a broader range of philanthropies. Last Spring, we got
involved with the Movement Foundation, which is an organization that brings health and wellness
education to low-income areas, as well as conducting positive body-image campaigns. Our group raised over
$7000 for the organization and participated in their annual Dare to Bare spin class ride, which celebrates
body image positivity and body diversity.

Building on our work with an organization that is focused on health and wellness, this Fall, we chose
to focus on sexual health and sexual assault prevention. We decided to partner with the Joyful Heart
Foundation, an organization focused on healing, empowering, and advocating for survivors of sexual
violence, to launch an awareness campaign this Fall and raise money for the organization through our
benefit concert next January. The awareness campaign was modeled after the foundation’s “No More”
Campaign, which asks individuals to pinpoint specific stereotypes, negative sayings, or misconceptions
about sexual assault and to say ‘No More’ to them. We brought this to Stanford’s campus, which entailed
taking photos of students holding up signs that help to dispel rape myths, both generic and specific to our campus. We took over 300 photos and plan to post the signs all over campus leading up to our benefit
concert to raise awareness and money for the organization.

Academically, our chapter continues to excel. Last Spring marked a new record for our chapter in
terms of the number of girls who received a 4.0 GPA- 21 individuals! Our chapter continues to celebrate
this strength and to encourage all of our members to be committed to their academic work.
Describe the recent changes on your campus and describe the overall nature of your chapter.
This past year at Stanford, we have seen a more heated campus climate surrounding Greek Life.
While the community as a whole has faced increased scrutiny, our chapter has maintained good standing
with the Office of Fraternity & Sorority Life and worked hard to develop our relationship with
administrators. The FSL Office introduced a new administrative requirement for all Greek chapters this
year, entitled Standards of Excellence, which required our chapter to undertake a broad review of our
strengths and weaknesses on a variety of dimensions. This new requirement was communicated to our
advisors at Kappa nationals, and our results from the FSL office were largely very positive.
More broadly, the problem of sexual assault on campuses nationwide has led to a significant amount
of activism on our campus, surrounding the ways in which we can address and improve this issue. Beta Eta
Deuteron has taken a special interest in being a part of the conversation about how we as individuals and as
a group can help to eradicate sexual assault from our campus. We recently had a training from Carly Flanery,
the acting director for Stanford’s Sexual Assault and Relationship Abuse Education and Response Office,
come and give an overview of Stanford’s policy on sexual assault, as well as facilitate a conversation around
learning to become upstanders, rather than bystanders, when we witness sexual assault and/or relationship
violence. Many of the individuals within our Chapter are also leaders within other campus organizations,
and the strength of our campus involvement is often pointed out as a strength by members of the Stanford
Community. Overall, the nature of our chapter is involved, active, and purposeful about addressing critical
issues. We are committed to learning more and constantly trying to improve our understanding and
response to critical issues on our campus.

Chapter Philanthropy:

What organization(s) has your chapter historically/traditionally raised money for, or donated hours to, in
your community?

In the past, our fundraising efforts have been focused on Support for International Change, an
organization that helps provide health care in Tanzania. That being said, as we decided to focus more on
women’s health and wellness and female empowerment in our chapter programming and efforts, we
thought it would be a good idea to match that commitment with our philanthropy. Therefore, last Spring,
we shifted to a large fundraising effort for the Movement Foundation, which helps bring physical and
health education into low-income schools and supports positive body image campaigns. This fall, we have
chosen to direct our fundraising efforts to the Joyful Heart Foundation. Joyful Heart is a non-profit
dedicated to supporting, guiding, and aiding victims of sexual assault.

Why did your chapter choose this organization(s) to support?

As a whole, our chapter is committed to working on issues of female empowerment, health, and well being, and we felt it was important that our philanthropic efforts were connected to this. The organizations we have chosen to support reflect these ideals and do an excellent job of promoting healthy women in our society.

==Highlights of 2016:==

Kappa has focused on our values of diversity and inclusion and our recruitment process earlier this year was an important part of that. We felt that the conversations we had leading up to recruitment and our voting methods allowed for an intake of new members whose values deeply align with those of the organization: respect, integrity, and honest. As we welcomed our new pledge class, we reconnected as a chapter too. Highlights of the 2016 new member period included:
• 4/12: New Member class dinner with New Member Chairmen
• 4/13: Sleepover at Mirlo with sophomores
• 4/17: New Member Brunch at Florence Moore Dining Hall with New Member Chairmen
• 4/18: New Member/Sophomore Class S’mores bonding event
• 4/25-4/29: Big-Little Week
• 5/4: Standards Chapter Meeting with New Members about Drinking Culture and Hazing
• 5/21: Initiation at Kappa Kappa Gamma house at University of California, Berkeley

We have also made changes to our financial management system to continue our efforts of financial diligence, accessibility, and transparency. Within this past year, Kappa has launched it’s Sponsorship Program, which is the first of its kind amongst Kappa chapters across the nation. This program gives girls the opportunity to seek financial assistance for the payment of their dues. Kappa prides itself on accessibility to girls regardless of their financial situation and socio-economic background, and this program has already helped eight active members make Kappa a sustainable financial choice. We have many members who are already in full time jobs to pay for their books and supplies, receive full financial aid from Stanford, and who have financial emergencies at home. Our chapter is committed to supporting these women. The sponsorship program is overseen by our Treasurer and the Stanford Kappa Kappa Gamma House Board, which manages money and resources that can be used for a potential house in the future. The House Board is willing and excited to engage with our chapter members in a myriad of ways, including financial assistance. The Sponsorship program is funded through donations, and does not deplete chapter provided funds that the House Board will continue to reserve in the case that our organization gets a house. The recipients have written thank you notes to their sponsors, and will attend an appreciation event in the Spring.

This year, we have also updated our approach for academic support and exploration within the chapter. The Academic Excellence Committee set up study sessions in various spaces on campus so that members can come together to work and de-stress. In winter quarter the new Chapter Council began a quarterly program during which members group together and discuss the classes that they would recommend, study strategies that have worked for them and the best resources they have accessed on campus. Additionally, we maintain a list of our active members’ majors and minors so that undeclared members can find people within the chapter to reach out to with questions about their coursework. This quarter, we hosted two panels during chapter meetings focused on career experiences of our members and alumni.

Along with these milestones, Kappa has been recognized on campus and at the national level. This year, Kappa received an ‘exceeding expectations’ on our Standards of Excellence presentation and report, the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life at Stanford’s annual evaluation system for all Greek communities on campus. Our score placed us among the best performing Greek organizations at Stanford.

At convention this summer we were awarded the ‘Signature Event’ prize for medium sized chapters for our benefit concert Snowchella, there is more information about our philanthropy later in the document. This year, Kappas have been involved in numerous varsity and club athletic teams, led and participated in pre-professional and philanthropic organizations, held research and fellowship positions and performed in various dance and theater groups.

==Highlights of 2017==

Stanford Kappa has been up to a lot of awesome things this year! First and foremost, we have continued
our efforts that began last year toward making the Beta Eta Deuteron Chapter a more diverse and inclusive
space to women from all walks of life. As an organization, Kappa acknowledges that the demographics of
our organization are not at all reflective of the general Stanford population but that is why the Diversity and
Inclusion Committee has made it a priority to constantly facilitate conversations around this topic.

Last spring members of the committee held an open forum that was open to all Greek organizations to talk
about the status of diversity in all of our organizations and what that meant for the freshmen that were
considering going through the recruitment process (this event had approximately 60% attendance). We
discussed financial accessibility, representation, inclusion and what those all looked like in practice. Along
those lines, we’ve also held spotlights, Beyond the Line, and the SOSAS Panel in our chapter meetings in an
effort to bring these very important conversations to the table and open up the dialogue around these topics
(these all occur at chapter that generally have >80% attendance).

During the Fall quarter of 2017, we held a chapter meeting run by our Diversity and Inclusion Committee. Here, we discussed inclusiveness within our chapter and in doing so assure that we prioritize the safety and comfort of all of our members from different backgrounds and of differing identities. In the coming year, we will be having workshops that tackle implicit bias and how to make a conscious effort to surpass those biases, not only during the recruitment period but at all times. Kappa has made it a point to make sure all of these conversations are ongoing and not only relevant during the week leading up to recruitment in the spring.

In addition to the goal of making our chapter more inclusive, this year, our chapter also addressed our goal to keep our members highly involved and boost their attendance to meetings and events. In Winter Quarter 2017, the idea of “Key Groups” was implemented, in which Chapter Council representatives are assigned a small group of members across grades. They check in with their Key Group each chapter meeting to encourage accountability and plan group activities to get to know a smaller group of members, provide support, and serve as a contact in the Kappa leadership for them to voice any questions or concerns. Key Groups have provided to be a good source of contact, ensuring that each member of our chapter is held accountable by a particular member of Chapter Council.

In terms of traditions, every quarter, pledge classes have allotted funds to eat a meal together outside of the dining halls. As an unhoused chapter, we deeply value this opportunity to gather around a table and celebrate our sisterhood. To foster inter-grade relationships we organize a number of activities that are highly concentrated in the new member period, but continue throughout the rest of the year as well. After Recruitment in the spring, we typically host a new member sleepover in Florence Moore Hall as an introductory event to pledge class bonding activities. We believe that this event in particular helps foster a community within each grade, thus setting the tone for a community built on sisterhood and friendship.

Far before Recruitment even begins, our chapter leadership and New Member Chairmen work to prepare for our incoming pledge class. Highlights of hte 2017 new member period included (but are not limited to): New Member class dinner with New Member chairmen; a new member sleepover at Mirlo; new member/sophomore class s’mores bonding event; Big-Little Week; initiation at the Kappa Kappa Gamma house at University of California, Berkeley. In each of these events, New Member Chairs facilitate bonding and sisterhood through open conversation and fun experiences.

Continuing with the trend of sisterhood and connections, one of our goals in the past year has been to increase attendance and quantity of sisterhood events in an attempt to better foster strong relationships within our community. Because of this, the Standards Committee, led by the Vice President of Standards, has planned more than 8 events each quarter. These events include but are not limited to: weekly meals at Tresidder Student Union open to the chapter, randomly assigned small group meals, kickball, cookie-decorating, and arts and crafts projects. Theincrease in events has increased attendance drastically to 35-55% at every event. We are particularly proud of this increased commitment to sisterhood and building a community that supports all members.

Our members in Stanford’s chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma demonstrate individual intellectual commitment in their schoolwork, extracurriculars, and accolades. The women of our chapter have performed consistently in their coursework, evidenced by our mean chapter grade point average, which has been 3.7 for the past three quarters (we track our members’ GPA on a self-reporting system). To facilitate academic success and exploration, our chapter runs several programs that seek to support our members. The Academic Excellence Committee sets up study sessions in various spaces on campus so members can come together to work and de-stress. Additionally, we maintain a list of our active members’ majors and minors, so that undeclared members can find people within the chapter to reach out to with questions about their coursework and academic goals. We have also started a weekly recognition program for members: each week members nominate another member for an academic accomplishment,and in chapter they are announced and are given a chocolate bar.

This past winter quarter, the new Chapter Council began a quarterly program during which members group together and discuss recommended classes, study strategies, and resources available on campus. This Fall quarter, we hosted a career panel during a chapter meeting focused on career experiences of our alumni. The panel hosted five women who have worked or are currently working in venture capital, management consulting, law, software engineering, and education. These women offered advice on beginning one’s career in addition to discussing their experience as women in the workplace. In the future, we hope to co-host a resume/cover letter workshop with BEAM, Stanford’s career center, aswell as, bring in a speaker to discuss time management techniques with our New Members. Through these programs we hope to spur conversations between members about their academic goals and career interests that encourage Kappa’s women to share their intellectual passion with each other.

Our members’ majors and extracurricular pursuits bring to life their passions and interests. Our members pursue their commitment to social impact as board members of Stanford Students Social Entrepreneurship Association, tutors in a college preparation course who live in the area, tutors for East Palo Alto Charter School and the East Palo Alto Tennis and Tutoring program, directors of the philanthropic event Dance Marathon, counselors for Camp Kesem, volunteers for the Stanford Mental Health Outreach, and facilitators for One Love workshops on interpersonal violence. Multiple women in Kappa have held research positions at institutions including the King Institute, the Wernig Stem Cell Lab, Stanford Intelligence Systems Lab, the Stanford Center for Genomics, the Stanford Laboratory for Social Research, the Qi Lab (bioengineering), the Bertozzi Lab, and Ophthalmology Research Assistant at the School of Medicine. Finally, Kappa has three members in the Mayfield Fellowship program, as well as, a Truman Scholar this year. Beta Eta Deuteron’s members also pursue intellectual interests via clubs, like Stanford Women in Business, American Middle Eastern Network for Dialogue at Stanford, Design for America, Smart Women Securities, Stanford Women in CS, Stanford Black Pre-Med Association, and Stanford in Government.

Aside from our incredible achievements in scholarship, Stanford Kappa members also have amazing involvements outside of the classroom. In Kappawe have many varsity athletes and varsity captains. In total, fourteen varsity teams are􀀁represented in Kappa: from Women’s Field 􀀁Hockey to Tennis to Fencing, just to name a few.􀀁 In the summer of 2016, we even had two women from the􀀁 chapter participate in the Rio Summer Olympics-􀀁Kassidy Cook (class of 2018) competed in Olympic Diving and􀀁 Maggie Steffens (class of 2017) competed for her second time 􀀁in Olympic Women’s Water Polo and received 􀀁the MVP award. Additionally, Andi Sullivan (Class of 2018) was pulled up in October 2017 to play with the United States Women’s National Soccer Team as the only current collegiate student-athlete in the team. She joins Stanford Kappa Jane Campbell (Class of 2017) on the team.

Off the court, Kappas engage􀀁in many pre-professional communities. For 􀀁example, for the 2017 term Ali Eicher (Class of 2018) is the Co-President of Stanford Women in Business and six Vice-Presidents and 3 Directors are Kappas. Additionally, a group of our members including Elizabeth Overton (class of 2018), Liney Smith and Felicia Tissenbaum (both class of 2017) addressed a significant need for female􀀁
pre-professional clubs by founding a Smart Women Securities chapter at Stanford.

In addition to career-driven groups, our members take part in many activist communities addressing race and ethnicity, gender, identity, and intersectionalityon campus. Just to name a few, Kappas are participants and leaders in Girl Up- a UN Foundation, FACES, the Women’s Coalition, the Black Family Gathering Committee, the Clayman Institute, AMENDS, and the Women’s Community. In April of 2016, our member Madeleine Lippey (Class of 2018) brought the Fearless Conference, a student run event encouraging the Stanford community to rewrite and reclaim the conversationaround sexual and intimate partner violence through intersectional, inclusive, and collaborative programming, to campus.

Several other members were deeply involved in the organization and production of this event that served the broader undergraduate population. Last year, Alexis Kallen (Class of 2018) served as the Co-Chair of the Scary Path Task Force with Greg Boardman. It has been incredible to see the fruition of all of Alexis’ hard work this year with the finished lit path. Kappa currently has 3 members who are Mayfield Fellows and one member who is a Harry S. Truman Scholar. Finally, Kappas are deeply engaged in the Residential Education community throughout Stanford’s Campus. For the 2017-2018 year, three members are RAs in freshman dorms, two members are RAs in Suites, and five members on staff at French House, 680 Lomita, and Casa Italiana. Please reference Appendix I- Member Extracurricular Involvement 2017 for a complete list of extracurricular organizations in which Kappas hold membership.

Although our campus has not undergone and major changes recently, our chapter still remains committed to creating a space where strong women can come and empower one another. We do this by fostering a welcoming community, that is working on our path towards being inclusive for everyone; by supporting our members in their New Members journey to becoming Kappa women; by supporting all of our amazing members in whatever endeavors they undertake, from the classroom, to clubs, to athletics; and by supporting causes that demonstrate our commitment to all women, as can be seen through our extensive philanthropic work. The women of Beta Eta Deuteron are highly accomplished women who never fail to achieve the highest in all aspects of their lives.

Our chapter is extremely committed to combining the values and goals of Kappa Kappa Gamma’s national philanthropy mission with the specific interests and passions of women in our Stanford chapter. In 2016, we changed our main philanthropy, because we truly believed that this transition to the Joyful Heart Foundation as a beneficiary is both more in line with our core values and mission as women’s group, and incredibly relevant to campus culture at Stanford today. Our chapter has been really invested in promoting female empowerment. Thorough this recognized passion within our chapter that stemmed from a larger, this year, Stanford Kappa adopted campus sexual assault and intimate partner violence as our primary cause that we support.

For this, our chapter launched a fundraising campaign for the Joyful Heart Foundation, a national non-profit organization, founded by Kappa alumnae and Law and Order SVU star Mariska Hargitay, dedicated to empowering, educating, andhealing survivors of sexual assault so that they can reclaim a sense of joy in their lives. Their mission includes dispelling rape myths, hosting survivor healing and trauma care retreats, and putting an end to the backlog of untested rape kits in justice departments around the United States. Our big showcase of our philanthropy efforts for the year was Snowchella, an awareness and benefit concert that we put on with Sigma Nu and the Stanford Concert Network. This year was our first year having a three-way partnership for this event.

Prior to the concert wedesigned and sold shirts for the concert where the proceeds were donated to the Joyful Heart Foundation. At the concert itself, we had an all female DJ lineup of The Kemist, Astronautica, and Anna Lunoe to support our message of female empowerment. We sold food and beverages to fundraise, and we had a table dedicated to the Joyful Heart Foundation so that people could come and learn more about the cause and potentiallydonate to our fundraiser. Throughout the concert, our philanthropy chair went on stage to introduce each act and share information about the Joyful Heart Foundation. Before entering the concert, we made sure that everyone was on their best behavior at the concert.

Overall, throughout the course of the year we were able to raise almost $20,000 for the Joyful Heart
Foundation, and we really succeeded in bringing awareness about sexual assault to our campus in hope of
putting an end to it once and for all. Some of our public education and awareness events included:

'''Hunting Ground Documentary Screening and Clothing Drive'''-- For this awareness event, we ordered pizzas, and invited members of the Stanford Community to come to Sigma Nu where we were streaming The Hunting Ground, a powerful documentary film about the incidence of sexual assault on college campuses. This documentary really spread awareness about the prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses. Additionally, for people to come watch the movie and get pizza, we asked them to bring an article of clothing with them to donate to The Grateful Garment Project. When victims of sexual assault leave the hospital, they often have to leave with hospital gowns since they are forced to use their clothes as evidence in their rape kit. By having clothes donated for them to wear when leaving the hospital, we are able to help return their dignity.

'''Philanthropy Day'''-- For this, on a Saturday morning, members of Kappa and Sigma Nu gathered to send emails to friends, families, and localbusiness about donating to our cause. We had an email template drafted that explained everything about the Joyful Heart Foundation and their mission.

'''Joyful Heart Dinner''' For this event, we flew a member of the Joyful Heart Foundation, Vaughan Bagely (a Stanford Alumnae), out to come to talk to members of Kappa and Sigma Nu about the foundation and their mission. This really sparked passion in the members of our organization and encouraged them to get more involved in Snowchella and raising money and awareness for the Joyful Heart Foundation. The Joyful Heart Foundation is releasing a movie soon called I am Evidence, which we are hoping to stream for members of the Stanford community sometime this fall!

'''VAWA calling'''-- After having the representative from the Joyful Heart Foundation come and speak about the foundation, members of Kappa were eager to learn more about what we can do as students to help end sexual assault and actually make a large impact on the broader community. The representative told us that a big thing we can do is take action by calling our senators to encourage them to vote against the defunding of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). After hearing this, Kappa partnered with Columbae and their political peer accountability programming to host a call center at Mirlo (where a lot of our members live) for members of the Stanford community to come and read a script to let their senators know that they do not support the defunding of VAWA. Many people came from across campus and it felt like we were really starting to make an impact in the broader community.

'''SARA Training'''-- After Snowchella, we organized a visit from the SARA office at Sigma Nu where members of Kappa and Sigma Nu received training on how to talk to and respond to victims of sexual assault. They also provided us with information on all of the resources that Stanford has to help victims of sexual assault and the steps that can be taken when someone experiences sexual assault.
Some of our fundraising events included:

'''Kirk’s Steakburgers Fundraiser'''-For this fundraising event we partnered with a local restaurant to raise money for the Joyful Heart Foundation. The owner kindly agreed to donate 20% of all proceeds after 7:00 P.M. that night to the Joyful Heart Foundation. We made a Facebook event and several members of the Stanford community came out to eat some good food and support our cause. We raise approximately $200 from this.

'''Celia’s ‘Unspecial D’ Fundraiser''' For this fundraising event we partnered with a local restaurant to raise money for the Joyful Heart Foundation. We made it an “Unspecial Dinner” where members of Kappa were all allowed to invite a date and come eat some good food with good company. The owner kindly agreed to donate 20% of all proceeds that night to the Joyful Heart Foundation. We had a great turnout, and we were able to raise approximately $455 from this.

'''Valentine’s Day Awareness Campaign/Fundraiser''' At a sisterhood event, our organization decorated little boxes of sweethearts and candy bags with facts about the Joyful Heart Foundation and sexual assault and a venmo handle for an optional donation. On Valentine’s Day, we had members of Kappa hand out the candy at White Plaza in order to collect additional donations and raise money and awareness for the JHF. We ended up raising about $400 dollars through this.

'''Parents Weekend Brunch''' On Parent’s Weekend, Kappa decided to host a brunch at Narnia for our families. We charged $10 a person for the brunch. In order to save money and have more money to donate to the Joyful Heart Foundation, we had several of our members volunteer to go early to cook the food and set the tables. The parents loved having this opportunity to eat brunch amongst other Kappa members and their families. Overall this event was a huge success and we raised upwards of $800.
We also reached out to Stanford organizations as well as local businesses for funding, support, and general co-sponsorships.

'''Voices for the Vineyards''':
In light of the recent fires in Northern California, our chapter came together at a sober event in support of the victims by hosting a benefit concert with Kappa Alpha and Stanford Concerting Network. Nine talented students from different corners of campus performed pro bono on the lawn of KA while about a hundred students listened in appreciation to their music.

Overall, with sponsored t-shirts, Pressed Juicery certificates, a $100 gift card from Coupa Cafe, pizza, a Snapchat geofilter, Kappa designed fliers, and stickers designed by a Kappa member, we raised over $5,200. All of the money went to Redwood Empire Food Bank, an organization that donates food and offers to support to people displaced by the fires. Redwood Empire Food Bank is able to turn that money into 10,000 meals for families in need. The fires affected so many Stanford friends and families that we believed it were imperative to take action, utilizing Stanford talent to be the voice for the suffering; hence the concert's name: Voices for the Vineyards.  In addition to our main philanthropy, our chapter also engages in a variety of other community service events. Throughout the year, we have partnered with Kappa Sigma, Kappa Alpha, and Pi Beta Phi to cook and deliver breakfast every Tuesday morning to the Opportunity Center in Palo Alto. Additionally, last October we partnered with Sigma Chi to host a pumpkin carving event where all of the proceeds went to the Huntsman Institute for Cancer Research. In the Spring, we partnered with Alpha Chi Omega to prepare and deliver toiletry kits to a local women’s shelter.

Finally, this year, we are hoping to engage more with our national philanthropy, Reading is Fundamental. This fall, we are planning a Reading is Key event where members of our chapter will go to an underprivileged school or community to read to the kids and do some other educational activity with them. At the end of this event, we will send each child home with a new book. Lastly, Kappa created a team for Dance Marathon and received the “Gold Level” for Greek Sponsors. In keeping aligned with our chapter’s passion for focusing on women’s issues, we were hoping to host an event at a local women’s shelter like Heart and Home where we could engage with the children of the women at the shelter and possibly partner with Kappa Sigma to raise money for the shelter prior to our event. We struggle with attendance at Philanthropy events and generally only have 50-80% in attendance, we hope to increase this in the coming year with the incentive plan that we are currently creating. Moving forward, we are excited to continue this marry our national organization’s philanthropic endeavors with our chapter’s deeply rooted interest in sexual violence prevention, gender, identity, and intersectionality.

As mentioned above, we have chosen to support the Joyful Heart Foundation as our main philanthropic endeavor because we feel it aligns with both Kappa's goal of empowering women, and is highly relevant in the campus climate that we live in today. Moving forward, we are excited to continue this marry our national organization’s philanthropic endeavors with our chapter’s deeply rooted interest in sexual violence prevention, gender, identity, and intersectionality.

==Highlights of 2018:==
2018 was another great year for the Beta Eta Deuteron chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma! Our members continue to succeed in different ways on campus and in the world – they never fail to amaze us. Our strong internal culture and bond is accented by Kappa members’ extensive involvement in the larger Stanford atmosphere. We are proud to house members involved across campus, specifically on national championship-winning sports teams, presidents of business organizations, teaching assistants for classes, and more. One of our members was even named a Rhodes Scholar, and is currently studying abroad in Oxford, England! Our chapter at Stanford continued to work on various initiatives, namely supporting women’s empowerment and diversity & inclusion. We are pleased to note that due to our emphasis on diversity & inclusion, headquarters has made it a formal chapter council position that will now be implemented in all chapters across the nation. Léa Koob, our president this year, helped draft the proposal for this change at the fraternity’s National Convention in June. We are so excited for future members in this role as Diversity & Inclusion (D & I) chairman to have more support and guidance from fraternity headquarters. This year, we held four chapter meetings focusing on these important topics. Our D & I committee focused on issues like the history of exclusion in Greek Life and implicit bias. Through these workshops, we strive to better ourselves as a chapter, making sure all members, and all future members, will be comfortable in our chapter. We emphasized implicit bias training early in the year, in order to have this be a continuing discussion, not just something we focus on during recruitment. On October 29th of this year, one of our members, Tatie Balabanis, led the chapter through an activity of a class of which she is a teaching assistant (Psychology 103 – Intergroup Communication). In this activity, called an “identity walk,” we focused on exploring the different identities that members of our chapter value and had an open discussion about what some of these various identities mean to members of our chapter. Overall, it was a very successful year of action and conversation surrounding D & I within our chapter and within the broader community at Stanford. We are excited to continue to push these inclusivity efforts and strive for equity in our chapter and our university.

Our chapter feels just as good about our efforts in furthering our women’s empowerment initiatives as well. This is at the center of Kappa’s core values, and we pride ourselves on being a group of capable, passionate, and confident women. We aim to make a positive impact in the world, maintaining a constant focus on women’s empowerment. We do this through various initiatives internally, such as recognition programs at chapter meetings. Our chapter implemented programs such as KKGenius and Support a Sister to reward our members for their excellence inside and outside of the classroom. During the week, members are encouraged to nominate fellow sisters for their accomplishments, be it academic, athletic, or simply for being a strong and supportive sister. Members who are nominated are acknowledged and awarded during chapter meetings that week. Our chapter aims to create a cohesive and friendly environment within Kappa that allows all of our sisters to feel comfortable, and hopefully build on one another’s strengths, inspiring individual achievements in all areas of our members’ lives. Additionally, as a chapter we have tried to focus more of our philanthropic endeavors to help support our goal of empowering women in the broader community, we have seen our chapter used as an incredible platform for our members to accomplish positive change and have their voices heard in the community on campus. Our fraternity has tried to bring together our national philanthropy, Reading is Key, and our passion for addressing women’s issues and bringing awareness to sexual assault. This year, we have been intentional in bridging these two important causes. We planned an annual Reading is Key event, where we read and gave books to children of a local women’s shelter, in addition to brining toiletry kits to the women at the shelter. Our chapter is dedicated to both the fraternity’s national philanthropy and Beta Eta’s chosen philanthropy, Joyful Heart Foundation. At the 2018 National Convention, our chapter was recognized and awarded with the Signature Philanthropy Award (for the second year in a row)!

Changes on campus and the chapter’s overall nature:

As part of the broader conversations currently being raised on campus, as discussed above, our chapter focused on thoroughly engaging with our D & I chair and committee over the course of the year. We want to make sure that our chapter reflects the community we are surrounded by on campus here at Stanford. This has changed the nature of the chapter for the better, as we have held several educational events about diversity and inclusion, especially before Recruitment. We have really worked to make our chapter of Kappa as accessible as possible to women in the Stanford community, especially regarding finances.

Our chapter is one of the most accessible in this respect for all members of the Stanford community, something we are very proud of.

Chapter Philanthropy:
What organization does the chapter support? Joyful Heart Foundation

Why did the chapter choose this organization? We have chosen to support this non-profit for several years in addition to our National philanthropy because its mission is one that is all too important to our members. It is a non-profit organization dedicated to healing, empowering, and advocating for survivors of sexual violence. Throughout the year, we hold a wide awway of awareness events, from documentary screenings to conferences in order to keep up the conversation about sexual violence prevention on campus. We also hold fundraising events and sell items like our "Future is Female" shirts in order to raise money for our philanthropic mission of supporting the Joyful Heart Foundation. As an organzation, we have noticed the importance of education and awareness around these topics, and have shifted our philanthropic efforts to focus more on spreading awareness of these issues in addition to our fundraising efforts. We believe this foundation is well-worth our efforts, especially because it was founded by Kappa Kappa Gamma alumnae, Mariska Hargitay! Overall, this past year we were able to raise almost $23,000 for the Joyful Heart Foundation, and succeeded in bringing awareness about sexual assault to our campus here at Stanford, something we are very proud of.

Chapter Facility:
Where does the chapter meet? We host a majority of our weekly meetings at the Women’s Community Center on campus, a feminist space that offers resources to promote gender equality. Through our well established relationship with the WCC, our leadership has had the opportunity to attend quarterly dinners in which they are connected with other women leaders and resources on campus. It has been a great experience getting to work with and learn from female leaders in all corners of campus.