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Highlights OctoberWe Kappas love taking pictures and what better place to take pictures at than an apple orchard?! We had a sisterhood at Rittman apple orchards where we were picking apples and picking out the best pumpkins. The bees scared us, but they did not stop us from bringing bags full of 2020s: apples home. The next week was Greek Week. The theme was Disney and we were teamed up with Tau Kappa Epsilon (From chapter’s History Report: ScholarshipTKE) and Sigma Nu. Our team name was Oozma Kappa based on the movie “Monsters University”. We participated in a banner contest, group honors/awardsrock painting, traditionscapture the flag, a “Moana” movie night, an escape room, Greek God and Goddess, special eventsand a day of service. We placed 2nd in the banner contest, changes on campus or within chapter1st in rock painting, and 4th place overall nature out of the chapter6 teams. On October 13, chapter goalsKappa’s birthday, challenges the registrar held a birthday party for members and how they alumni. At this party there was old slides shown on an old projector, old films that were overcomeformatted to play on a CD, etca research paper on the real history of Lambda’s tragic fire in 1890, and much more. Many new members came and learned about Kappa’s history.)
------------------------------The day of October 22nd will be a day remember by the new members forever. That day started off the new member’s bigs hiding in trunks of cars until their littles found them. After the new members found their families, we headed to Tangiers for our Founders day. We reminisced on the past as many alumni were there. A lambda alum who was over 100 years old was there to celebrate too. New Member of the Year award was given to Emily Toth, Active of the Year award was given to Emily Bader, Chapter Advisor of the Year award was given to Kimberly Steel. Lastly, Jen Tater received the Maid of Minerva Award of Merit from the Akron Alumnae Association. Congratulations to all who worked hard in the name of Kappa Kappa Gamma.
'''Note October 26th was a special day for the students at Springfield Elementary School. We held a Reading is Fundamental (RIF) event there in a Kappa alumni’s classroom (Kindra Kin). We read students Halloween books, had them color bookmarks, and gave each student a book to keep. We also had a sisterhood that day where we dressed up as grandmas and grandpas to Chapter Registrar:'''play BINGO. We ate fig newtons, banana pudding, and rice crackers. The next day we had a social with Theta Chi where we made caramel apples and played a huge game of Mafia. Please refer November was a busy month for Kappas. Kappa Karnival started the month off with carnival games and raffle baskets to your chapter archives including chapter meeting minutes gain money for our philanthropies. Dynamic Duos was the date party’s theme. Soon enough it was initiation time again. We started with spread, then blue and blue, then fireside, and lastly initiation. The new members were finally let into the secrets and back issues rituals of The Key our sorority. This year many sisters were influenced by our movements to fill in any gaps in try and disprove the stereotypes that are associated with sororities. All over the country many unfortunate situations have been happening that have been harming the above historical highlightsGreek Life reputation. If your Lambda chapter archives are not complete, please research your university library, campus newspaper has been working to disprove those stereotypes and work towards a better reputation of sororities and yearbook archives for newsworthy information fraternities. We also have been excited about your the news that the Kappa chapterat OSU is coming back. We also cannot stop expressing our happiness that Meghan Markle (Kappa alum) will be marrying Prince Harry. Please double check your work for accuracyWe even say that we are related to royalty. Contact 2017 has been a year filled with many great memories like Girls Academy, Kochella, chapter Advisory or House Board membersretreat at the Indians game, local Alumnae Association membersand our new found friendships. Yet, or your Province Director it was not easy to deal with the passing of Chapters for assistance. Your efforts our sister, Morgan Sisley, but we will ensure a complete and accurate history of your chapter for future generations always know that she is right by our side guiding us to enjoy!success in our Kappa days.
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|Image= [[File:Lambda.jpg|200px]]
|Founded= {{start date and years ago|1877|06|10}}
|College= [httphttps://www.uakron.edu/ University of Akron]
|Location= Arkon, OH
|Homepage= [httphttps://chaptersuakron.kappakappagammakappa.org/lambda/ Lambda Homepage]|Media= [httphttps://wiki.kappakappagammakkg.org/index.php?title=Category:Lambda Media related to Lambda Chapter]}}
'''1,881 902 initiates as of (June 20162018)'''
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A happy event mentioned in early minutes told of a visit in 1882 to the Wooster chapter (two years later the Wooster girls were refused a return visit by their rigid faculty), and the two groups celebrated Thanksgiving together with dinner, a reception, and, next morning a sleigh ride.
Strawberry festivals, taffy pulls, and chestnut roasts were popular pastimes. A Lambda girl was fined $2 for wearing a gentleman’s fraternity pin. Term dues to the Grand Chapter were $1; personal dues, 25 cents; initiation fee, $1.25; fines for absence, tardiness, and disorderly conduct, 25 cents, 10 cents, and 5 cents.
The most tragic event ever associated with Lambda was the fire of 1890, started at the praeceptress’s party for birthday girls. A Mother Goose cap, made of paper and tufted with cotton, took fire from a gas light. Two girls died that night and another later; five others were badly burned. The whole college mourned.
==The Fire of 1890==
Emily Bader Chapter Registrar Kappa Kappa Gamma Lambda September 28, 2017
Viola Myrtle Steigmeyer was born on November 10, 1870 in Seneca, Ohio (Archive 1). [[File:Artifacts from Lambda fire of 1890 1.jpg|thumb|Artifacts from Lambda fire of 1890]]
Viola also went by two other nicknames, Lulu or Lula. It was not easy to find Miss Steigmeyer in historical records because of her other two nicknames. In the U.S. Census of 1880, Miss Steigmeyer was put down as Lula (Archive 2). This name was used in other newspaper articles such as Mourning Buchtel (Archive 3). It was not until the end of my research, that we found her real name. On Ancestry.com, someone made a family tree with her father, Frederick H. Steigmeyer, and mother, Caroline Steigmeyer. They had labeled Viola Myrtle Steigmeyer as the daughter of Frederick and Caroline Steigmeyer. I can assume that Lulu and Lula are nicknames for Viola (Archive 8). On Viola’s gravestone, it uses the name “LuLu Steigmeyer.” Under her name, are the names Lockie and Clarence. These were the names of her brothers who died a year after birth. However, Lulu died in 1890, but her gravestone says 1870-1900 (Archive 9). I can only assume that this was a mistake. I have read online articles saying that gravestones are not always an accurate way to get a person’s date of birth or date of death. I can hypothesize that with the sudden death of their daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Steigmeyer may have not had the funds at the time to create a gravestone for their daughter. It also could have been just a mistake made by the gravestone maker that in fixing it would have cost too much time and money (Archive 10). The real reason may never be known.
On December 13, 1890, the women of Kappa Kappa Gamma were having a birthday celebration for all the girl’s birthdays that fell between the months of September to December. This celebration occurred at Cary Hall in Buchtel College. There were about a dozen or so girls dancing around a piano. These girls were wearing festive costumes, tall paper caps trimmed with cotton, surmounted by a tassel, upon their heads (Archive 4). While they were dancing, Miss Aurelia Wirick, of Iowa, moved her head up and the tassel went over the gas jest. Within an instant, she was covered in fire from head to toe. Some girls did not notice and they danced past Miss Wirick and soon caught themselves on fire. Spectators were frightened with fear, but some quickly tried to put out the fire by tearing the clothes off of the women (Archive 5).
A hero arose from this tragedy; Mr. Shoaf grabbed a fire extinguisher and ran into Cary hall. On the second floor, Miss Wirick was lying on the floor. Mr. Shoaf extinguished the flames and ran to the third floor. There Mr. Shoaf found Miss Addie Buchtel on the ground with all of her clothes burned off. Miss Steigmeyer was a few feet away on the ground unconscious. Shoaf put out the flames in the room and moved on towards the west end of the hall. There he saw Miss May Steves engulfed in flames. She moaned out, “My God! Won’t somebody do something for me?” Shoaf put out the flames. Miss Steves then said, “My God! My God! Won’t somebody send for my mother?” Miss Eva Dean was a few feet away with fire burning on her head and her arms. Shoaf then put out the fire. The last girl on the fourth floor was Miss Dian Haynes, who covered herself with blankets and quilts to stop the fire, but those too ended up catching fire. If it was not for Mr. Shoaf, she would have been dead (Archive 5).
Shoaf went into room 61 and found two girls ready to jump from a fourth story window. He put out the flames in the room and continued to stop the fire in Cary Hall until it ended for good. Miss May Baker found her way to a bathtub to stop the fire that was on her (Archive 5).
Miss Steigmeyer was taken to her room. She was burned in many places to a crisp. Her lower limbs, back, and shoulders were deeply burned. Her lips, nose, and ears were burned into mere cinders. Miss Steves’ clothes were burned from her body and then she was taken to a room and placed on sheets. When physicians arrived, they decided it was best to move her to another position. In doing so, shreds and bits of tissue stuck to the sheets, which caused intense pain for Miss Steves. She was constantly calling for her mother. At 12:20 a.m. Miss Steves passed away. Miss Steigmeyer passed away at 5:15 a.m. that Sunday morning (Archive 5).
Two girls died within 12 hours of the fire; however, this event would claim another life one year later. Three of the women recovered from their injuries and returned to college. They were Miss Eva Dean, Miss Myrtle Barker, and Miss Dian Haynes (Archive 6). Miss Barker had suffered from her injuries ever since that fire. The burns healed rapidly, but other complications soon came apparent. Despite these complications, she was determined to finish her college courses. When she returned to school in the fall of 1891, she was not the same. The pores of her skin were entirely closed so that perspiration was impossible. All the heat and impurities could not escape her body. She suddenly became ill and died at 8:30 p.m. Friday, October 10, 1891 (Archive 7). This fire had claimed a total of three lives and scarred about a dozen more. It was featured on the front page of the Summit County Beacon on December 17, 1890 and the Cleveland Plain Dealer on December 15, 1890. It was a horrific tragedy that even death came as a relief from such horrible torture.
Summary
The fire of 1890 was tragic. This fire took place in 1890 at Buchtel College in Cary Hall. It took
the lives of May Steves, Viola Steigmeyer, and Myrtle Barker. May Steves and Viola Steigmeyer died within 12 hours of the fire. Myrtle died one year later from her injuries. Many speculate that the reason Kappa has a no open flame rule in their houses was because of this event. Lambda Kappas have always referred to our house ghost as Lola. From the information above, we can now call her by her right names; Viola, Lula, or Lulu. We also now know that two other girls died. May and Myrtle will be given attention as our “ghosts” in our house as well. Even though the fire did not happen at a Kappa house, I am sure we will say that they are with us in our house. For more information please refer to the archives mentioned. Archive 5 explains in great detail what happened. A special thanks to Jeff Bader for helping me find all of this information.
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Lambda’s interest in the Fraternity at Large was spurred by the election of Marion Bell Slade (Ransom) as grand marshal in 1884. The 1886 Convention was held in Akron, costing considerably less than $75. Lambda presented another honorary member, Emma White Perkins, who sang at the Convention. Mary Krenzke (Grandlin) was Grand Secretary, 1886-1888. Lambda had continuous representation on Council. Elmie Warner (Mallory) served four years as Grand Registrar and two as Grand President after her marriage, 1904-1906; Elizabeth Voris Lawry was Editor of The Key and then Grand Treasurer; Lydia Voris Kolbe was Grand Treasurer six years, Business Manager of The Key two years, and Grand President, 1916-1920. She was also the first Gamma Province president. Helen Farst Walace wrote the Lambda chapter report for the 1870-1930 History of Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity.
Turn of the Century
During the Depression many Kappas worked part time, dues were lowered, and the spring formal was cancelled. Song Fest took place for the first time in 1933.
==World War II Years==
We also started off the month of February with a few more recruitment events that brought us four wonderful women for the Spring 2016 pledge class. We held our Spring Bid Day soon after to celebrate our new members, and the theme was Kappas Have S’more Fun! To complete this fun camping theme, we even brought a huge tent into the meeting room. We also held our first philanthropy event of the year, Kapparoni and Cheese, which is an event that was created and started by our Philanthropy Chairman in 2015. We decided to do it again this year and it was met with huge success. Many members of the Greek Community attended in support of us and our philanthropies. Our New Member Educator brought in a new system for getting to know the new members called Kappa Speed Dating, which was a really awesome way to help both the chapter and new members bond with each other better.
March began with the GLAs and was filled to the brim with philanthropy events, PHC events, and meetings. We had Big Little Reveal where our four new members happily joined their new families, and they began to feel even closer to Kappa. March was also the month that we started doing extension presentations to welcome another chapter onto our campus. We had a team of 10 sisters who regularly attended these presentations to help make the decision for our Panhellenic Community.
All in all, the morale of the chapter this year was very high. Our sisters were proactive in supporting other organizations on campus, and getting involved all over campus in the causes that they were passionate about. Many sisters were involved with the election, and strongly encouraged all members to go out and vote. Some were even involved with protests after the election. With the changing president of the university, there was a much more positive outlook for everyone on The University of Akron’s campus, and it was especially evident throughout the Greek Community as our new president become even more involved with our activities as well. 2016 was a great year to be a Lambda Kappa, and we are excited to see what 2017 has in store for us!
==Highlights of 2017==
2017 was filled with many amazing highs and some devastating lows. 2017 will be remembered for the work we did at Girls Academy, our Coachella themed bid day, and a loss of someone very special.
January
Leadership day started this year off on January 15 to welcome our new Chapter Council officers. At the end of the month we held COBs (Continuously Open Bidding) and participated in Warm up with the Greeks to gain us three new Kappas.
February
Before bid day we held formal pledging for the new members. In February we held a red, white, and blue bid day for the three new members. Then towards the end of February Lambda chapter held its first Girls Academy event at Hyre Middle School. Many actives and alumni spent a day and a half at the middle school building student’s confidence, leadership skills, and self-esteem. There was about 40 middle-schoolers attending this event. Actives were the leaders of the event and became role models for the girls. Some alum who made this event possible were Courtney Powell, Abbey Gauger, and Keri Deyling.
March
This month was started off with Lambda’s infamous Kapparoni and Cheese philanthropy event. At this event we sell different types of macaroni and cheese including buffalo chicken, hamburger, and a regular style. This was a great start for new members to get their feet wet into Kappa life. New members had their retreat where they bonded at the house with their pledge class. Big/little reveal gave the new members a person to look up to in Kappa. At the GLAs (Greek Life Awards) we won the sportsmanship award. Congratulations to our past president, Julie Logsdon, for winning the Chapter President of the Year award and the Thomas Vuckovich leadership award. Julie is everything that Kappa stands for and has really left her legacy for years to come. We ended the month with a parent’s lunch showing our loved ones what Kappa life is like.
April was an important month for the new members. The new members participated in spread, Blue and Blue, Fireside, and then they were initiated on April 8th. In this spring semester we have had almost perfect attendance in every other sororities or fraternities’ philanthropy events. Our presence in the community changed a lot due to being involved in others events. Kappas also participated in Relay for Life, Take Back the Night Walk, Walk of Heroes, and Dance Marathon. A new charter was acquired because the previous one had incorrect information on it. The charter had a woman on it who was not a charter signer, but the first initiated (Annie Litchfield Faber). The problems were fixed and now the new charter hangs on the formal room wall. Late Night Waffle bar was a hit as we served over a hundred waffles to the community. All the money raised went to our philanthropies. Formal was to the theme of Poseidon’s Sapphire Ball which took place at Tangiers.
Summer
May was a time for mourning in Kappa. Morgan Sisley, our past Event chairman from the year of 2013 and our past President from the year of 2015, passed away. She left us on May 23 due to ovarian cancer. Morgan was an essential part of how Kappa is today. Through her presidency she formed relationships with new members, other chapters, and the community that will never be forgotten. She has touched our lives in such a way that we can all agree she is our aspire to be. In July some members got to spend a day at Kappa Kidney Camp making new friends with the kids that were there. They participated in games, boating, tie dye, ate food with the kids, and played marshmallow dodgeball. As summer was ending, we had to prepare for recruitment. We started with confidence week to prepare and had an Ice-cream social with the other sororities to help recruit potential new members. During confidence week, we had daily photoshoots that were all themed differently. Some of the photoshoots were Akron themed, pajamas, summer themed, and Kappa themed. Move in day is important in trying to get girls for recruitment. This is where we helped incoming freshman move into the dorms while promoting Greek Life. We also attended the Glow Party to start out the semester. School started on August 28th and we were all excited to start a new semester out fresh.
September
Sisterhood round, philanthropy round, and preference round went by quickly and we were ready for bid day. The theme for this year’s bid day was Koachella. We were dressed in tie dyed shirts, flower crowns, and boho style outfits to achieve the perfect bid day. We received 22 new members all ready for what Kappa has to offer for them. Two of those new members were legacies, Stephanie Bohnak and Katherine Gage. That same day the new members were pledged into Kappa and had their first meeting. Their first meeting may have been confusing, but the new members were excited to get involved. Towards the end of the month, we had a Kappa Trainer come in from headquarters. She taught us the importance of academics and why school comes before Kappa. Our academics has been slowly going up, but the Kappa Trainer helped us get back on the right direction. On September 30, Kappa’s chapter retreat was held at an Indians game. It was a chilly night so we all snuggled up eating our $1 hot dogs and drinking our hot chocolate. Unfortunately, the Indians did not win, but we were rewarded with fireworks for sticking it out until the end of the game.
The new members competed in a sorority and fraternity competition called Mocktails. Their themed that they picked out was Hades. They made their own costumes and rocked it out with an awesome drink. It was one of the first events that new members got to bond with each other at. New member retreat gave a chance for their pledge class to spend some time together.