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|Image= [[File:Delta_Alpha.jpeg|200px]]
|Founded= {{start date and years ago|1930|10|03}}
|College= [httphttps://www.psu.edu/ Pennsylvania State University]
|Location= University Park, PA
|Homepage= [httphttps://chapterspsu.kappakappagammakappa.org/deltaalpha/pages/welcome.php Delta Alpha Homepage]|Media= [httphttps://wiki.kappakappagammakkg.org/index.php?title=Category:Delta_Alpha Media related to Delta Alpha Chapter]}}
'''Chapter founded October 3, 1930'''
'''2,120 280 initiates (as of June 20152018)'''
'''Charter Members:'''
Elizabeth Cordelia Bell, Doris Buckalew Bidlack, Mary Elizabeth Crozier, Mary Trescott Davenport, Velma Mae Egolf, Elizabeth Everett, Rosemary Forbes, Helen Elizabeth Fowler, Fern Edvina Harmon, Margaret Scott Hopwood, Rachael Sara Anne Johnson, Helen Strickler Keepers, Sue Kern, Helen Lambert Kinsloe, Margaret Frances Knoll, Josephine Shannon La Barre, Marjorie Elizabeth Lyons, Anne Elizabeth Mellinger, Marjorie Elizabeth Stitt, Margaret Tschan, Isabelle Jayne Wielnad, Margaret Anna Yotter.
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'''Some of Delta Alpha’s Outstanding Alumnae:''' (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 Members:
Gay Chuba Barry: 1976 – 1980, Director of Alumnae; 1980 – 1988 Fraternity Vice President; 1984 – 1988, Director of Field Representatives; Patricia Coffee Gesell: 1988 – 1990, Director of Chapters; Marjorie Gohn (Felsburg): Field Secretary, 1970-71; Anne Riley: Field Secretary, 1964-1966; Linda Pierson (Henkelman): Field Secretary, 1980-1981; Catharine Carbonetta (Mayer): Traveling Consultant, 1990-1991; Niki Rawlins (Salata): Traveling Consultant, 1998-1999; Erin Wischum: Leadership Consultant, 2004-2005; Lauren Sullivan Paitson: Executive Director, 2005-2009; Beth Ann Sharp: 2010 – 2012, Director of Programs and Education, 1973-1974, Graduate Counselor at Arizona;Patricia Coffee Gesell: 2009-, National Panhellenic Conference Delegate, 1994-1996, Regional Director of Chapters, 1992-1994, Risk Management Chairman, 1990-1992, History Chairman, 1988-1990, Fraternity Director of Chapters, 1979-1980, Province Director of Alumnae.
Gay Chuba Barry - 1996
Patricia Coffee Gesell - 2016
Thirty three sisters of the Delta Alpha chapter are given a chance to live on the sorority floor each fall. In the spring, many of our juniors travel abroad, and this gives a numerous amount of other sisters the opportunity to move onto the floor for the spring semester. Living on the floor is a wonderful fortune that our sisters value.
==Highlights of 2016==
The Delta Alpha chapter had an outstanding year. We progressed academically and continued to strive for greatness in our academics. To go along with our outstanding honors, we also had a very successful recruitment process and welcomed 70 New Members this fall! Our new sisters are so proud to be apart of our sisterhood, and are very enthusiastic to be a part of Kappa Kappa Gamma’s wonderful traditions.
We gained a new THON family last year and are so excited to continue working with them. Our THON families have brought our chapter so much pride and excitement to have the opportunity to dance FTK and spend the most amazing weekend with all of them. In the past there were 3 canning trips per year. One of the challenges that our chapter faced this year was only having 2 trips. Canning trips are where a majority of our fundraising for THON comes from. To overcome this challenge, we needed to be creative and think of alternative ways to support THON and raise funds For The Kids. Our chapter overcame this challenge together and brainstormed effective way to fundraise. Our sisters all sent out extra THONvelopes, donation boxes were set up around numerous hometowns, and we are also holding fundraisers at local restaurants, such as Cold Stone.
We have also been working hard towards promoting our philanthropy Reading is Fundamental. We have been meeting with our RIF partners every week of 2016 and have goals to do more philanthropy for them this upcoming winter. This fall we created an annual philanthropy event called Kappa Kookoff. This event was very successful and all of the profits were donated to “Out of the Cold”, a homeless shelter in State College. We are very excited that this event was such a success and we are looking forward to continuing it in future years! We have been making remarkable achievements in 2016, but there is always room to improve and continue to grow! We are very excited for the year to come.
Our Penn State campus always seems to be improving in one way or another. Our impressive campus offers renovated housing for each sorority, and each sorority floor has a suite as well. The suites are perfect places for our sisters to meet up and study in, or just relax together after a busy day of classes. The Delta Alpha Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma has a sorority suite located in the renovated Ewing Hall in the South Residence area, which is also where we hold our weekly chapter meetings in the chapter room on the ground floor of Ewing.
Thirty-three sisters of the Delta Alpha chapter are given a chance to live on the sorority floor each fall. In the spring, many of our juniors travel abroad, and this gives a numerous amount of other sisters the opportunity to move onto the floor for the spring semester. Living on the floor is a wonderful fortune that our sisters value.
==Highlights of 2017==
The Delta Alpha chapter had an challenging year year. We progressed academically and continued to strive for greatness in our academics. This year, due to recent changes in policies on our campus, we did not do our usual Fall recruitment. Penn State University has changed the rules that there is to be no more Fall recruitment and it will only take place in the Spring. Although we did not have recruitment, we have been super busy planning for recruitment in the Spring and cannot wait to welcome new members when the time comes!
We gained a new THON family two years ago and are so excited to continue working with them. On another note, our second THON family decided to not continue with us because Jacob is now older. We wish him and his family the best of luck and always keep a special place in our hearts for them. Our THON families have brought our chapter so much pride and excitement to have the opportunity to dance FTK and spend the most amazing weekend with all of them. In the past there were 3 canning trips per year. One of the challenges that our chapter faced this year was only having 1 trip. Canning trips are where a majority of our fundraising for THON comes from. To overcome this challenge, we needed to be creative and think of alternative ways to support THON and raise funds For The Kids. Our chapter overcame this challenge together and brainstormed effective way to fundraise. Our sisters all sent out extra THONvelopes, donation boxes were set up around numerous hometowns, and we are also holding fundraisers at local restaurants, such as Cold Stone.
We have also been working hard towards promoting our philanthropy Reading is Fundamental. We have been meeting with our RIF partners every week of 2017 and have goals to do more philanthropy for them this upcoming winter. Last fall we created an annual philanthropy event called Kappa Kookoff. This event was very successful and all of the profits were donated to “Out of the Cold”, a homeless shelter in State College. We are very excited that this event was such a success and we are looking forward to continuing it in future years! We have been making remarkable achievements in 2017, but there is always room to improve and continue to grow! We are very excited for the year to come.
Our Penn State campus always seems to be improving in one way or another. Our impressive campus offers renovated housing for each sorority, and each sorority floor has a suite as well. The suites are perfect places for our sisters to meet up and study in, or just relax together after a busy day of classes. The Delta Alpha Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma has a sorority suite located in the renovated Ewing Hall in the South Residence area, which is also where we hold our weekly chapter meetings in the chapter room on the ground floor of Ewing.
==Highlights of 2017==
The Delta Alpha chapter had an outstanding year. We progressed academically and continued to strive for greatness in our academics. This year, due to recent changes in policies on our campus, we did not do our usual Fall recruitment. Penn State University has changed the rules that there is to be no more Fall recruitment and it will only take place in the Spring. Although we did not have recruitment, we have been super busy planning for recruitment in the Spring and cannot wait to welcome new members when the time comes!
We gained a new THON family two years ago and are so excited to continue working with them. On another note, our second THON family decided to not continue with us because Jacob is now older. We wish him and his family the best of luck and always keep a special place in our hearts for them. Our THON families have brought our chapter so much pride and excitement to have the opportunity to dance FTK and spend the most amazing weekend with all of them. In the past there were 3 canning trips per year. One of the challenges that our chapter faced this year was only having 1 trip. Canning trips are where a majority of our fundraising for THON comes from. To overcome this challenge, we needed to be creative and think of alternative ways to support THON and raise funds For The Kids. Our chapter overcame this challenge together and brainstormed effective way to fundraise. Our sisters all sent out extra THONvelopes, donation boxes were set up around numerous hometowns, and we are also holding fundraisers at local restaurants, such as Cold Stone.
We have also been working hard towards promoting our philanthropy Reading is Fundamental. We have been meeting with our RIF partners every week of 2017 and have goals to do more philanthropy for them this upcoming winter. Last fall we created an annual philanthropy event called Kappa Kookoff. This event was very successful and all of the profits were donated to “Out of the Cold”, a homeless shelter in State College. We are very excited that this event was such a success and we are looking forward to continuing it in future years! We have been making remarkable achievements in 2017, but there is always room to improve and continue to grow! We are very excited for the year to
Our Penn State campus always seems to be improving in one way or another. Our impressive campus offers renovated housing for each sorority, and each sorority floor has a suite as well. The suites are perfect places for our sisters to meet up and study in, or just relax together after a busy day of classes. The Delta Alpha Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma has a sorority suite located in the renovated Ewing Hall in the South Residence area, which is also where we hold our weekly chapter meetings in the chapter room on the ground floor of Ewing.
Thirty-three sisters of the Delta Alpha chapter are given a chance to live on the sorority floor each fall. In the spring, many of our juniors travel abroad, and this gives a numerous amount of other sisters the opportunity to move onto the floor for the spring semester. Living on the floor is a wonderful fortune that our sisters value.
Thirty-three sisters of the Delta Alpha chapter are given a chance to live on the sorority floor each fall. In the spring, many of our juniors travel abroad, and this gives a numerous amount of other sisters the opportunity to move onto the floor for the spring semester. Living on the floor is a wonderful fortune that our sisters value.
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'''Highlights of 2020'''
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Chapter Summary'''
Summarize the previous calendar year, scholarships, group honors/awards, Convention awards, traditions, special events, philanthropic involvement, chapter goals, and how your chapter operations changed because of COVID-19 (e.g., how did it affect recruitment, initiation, etc. Were events/activities held virtually?).
This year was pivotal year to handle for everyone incuding our sorority. Things needed to be handled vastly different because of the pandemic and because of this unfortunately there were not as many opportunities to do things as sisters. Despite the limited ability we still managed to have a normal first half of the year and accomplished a great deal. It started out with a normal recruitment which went very smoothly from an inside perspective. We were able to gather 60 new sisters at the beginning of the year. Our previous chapter council was able to hold only a few in person chapters before the pandemic hit but nevertheless they were very successful as we held formal chapters, a pinning ceremony, and other new recruitment rituals. Then as the pandemic hit it was right in line for the time we were set to intiate. This was unfortunate because we were not able to hold it in person as we were all home. Despite the lack of a physical ceremony, it was quite remarble how we were able to pull off a beaitful ceremony over our first ever ZOOM initiation. Elder members came, and everything went very smoothly. As the year progressed we had to delve into the transition stage from the previous chapter council to the new chapter council. Again this was our first ever virtual attempt at doing this but again it went very smooth and everything was eventually handled and now we have our new chapter council! Overall this year was a challenge in every aspect possible but we made it out successfully.
'''Chapter Philanthropy'''
''What organization does the chapter support?'' Reading is fundamental.
'''''Why did the chapter choose this organization?''''' The chapter chose this organization because it an essential opporuntity to give back to children and improve literacy rates within the youth to promote the progress of a more able and successful generation with each and every year.
'''Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
How did your chapter include diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in your programming this year? (e.g., adding a DEI officer, philanthropy events, social media awareness campaign, chapter training, etc.).'''
Over the year the world witness a turning point in diversity due to the pleothora of social injustices that were coming to light. Therefore Kappa took it upon ourselves to make our social media aware and informed of these injustices as way as spreading information on places to donate, help, and educate. This was successful as we do have a large following and I think it really informed not only our sorority but everyone else where we stand in the fight for equality.
'''Sesquicentennial Celebration
How did your chapter celebrate Kappa's 150th anniversary? Share what you have done this year.'''
This year, again considering the pandemic there was a limited amount of stuff we could have done. We did manage to celebrate a little in our chapter that was held on the 150th anniversary, by reviewing some milestones in Kappa history with a powerpoint as well as reviewing the year as a whole and cherishing our sisters a little more.
Your efforts will ensure a complete and accurate history of your chapter for future generations to enjoy!
==Highlights of 2021==
Chapter Summary
Summarize the previous calendar year, scholarships, group honors/awards, Convention awards, traditions, special events, philanthropic involvement, chapter goals.
Although there were many obstacles that came due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Delta Alpha experienced another successful year at Pennsylvania State University.
This year, our chapter focused on the following goals:
Execute more programming and sisterhood events.
Experience a successful slating and election period
Continue to grow in all aspects as a chapter guided by Kappa ideals.
After being assigned an action plan, we made sure to follow it accordingly. We met all of our deadlines while also being able to enjoy ourselves together with movie nights and dinners in our suite. Programming opportunities in the fall semester included resume building, interview strategies, and big sister training. Kylin Flynn was the head of our nominating committee this year and the elections looked a little different from last year. In addition to individual slates and autobiographical forms, Delta Alpha piloted the interviewing process. We were able to successfully elect our officers and look forward to installing the new women in January.
This year we voted and chose to support Mental Health America for our new national philanthropy. This organization was picked because Delta Alpha believes it is important to take care of your own mental health and support others in their journey. In the short time that we have supported Mental Health America, we’ve raised around $200. Fundraising events included restaurant fundraisers and an event that took place on our HUB lawn where you get to pay to pie your friend in the face.
Delta Alpha was excited to celebrate Founders Day in person this year. Paige Fehl, our education chairman, organized a day filled with meeting Kappa Kappa Gamma’s alumni, yummy snacks, learning new rituals, and new connections within our own. Here at Penn State, not only do Kappa Kappa Gamma sisters shine within our community, but we also excel within our academics. Something fun that we like to do is called our “smart cookie award.” Each week a sister is nominated for performing well in school and is voted on during chapter council. We also have several opportunities to earn scholarships: these scholarships include an Undergraduate Merit-Based Scholarship, an Undergraduate Need-Based Scholarship, a Marisol Scholarship, a Graduate Scholarship, and a Continuing Education Grant. Last semester, our chapter averaged a 3.57 GPA, had a total of 128 members on the Dean’s List, and had 17 members maintain a 4.0 GPA.
Chapter Philanthropy
What local organization does the chapter support and why?
Since 1973, THON has been our local organization at Penn State. THON is a 46-hour long dance party fighting against childhood cancer. It is the largest student-run philanthropy org in the world, and Kappa Kappa Gamma is honored to be a part of it. In February, our chapter will send three dancers, Andrea Marciano, Macy McGrath, and Emily Barnes, to stand all 46 hours while the rest of us will be in the stands cheering them on. Last year, THON was online and we were not able to meet and dance in the Bryce Jordan Center. Instead, our THON chairs hosted our dancers and created an apartment crawl so that they knew we were all there supporting them along the way.
How did the chapter support Kappa’s philanthropy?
We’ve raised $11,000 dollars this fall. We fundraised through bingo boards on our social media, restaurant portion proceeds collaborations, and sisterhood fundraisers, including goat yoga. We also planned a dunk-tank event with our partner THON Fraternity, Delta Chi.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
How did your chapter include diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in your programming this year? (e.g., adding a DEI officer, philanthropy events, social media awareness campaign, chapter training, etc.).
Our Panhellenic Delegate, Quincy Blubaugh, created groups at the beginning of our semester to encourage sisters to participate in events with all of Greek life. Throughout Wellness Week, National Hazing Prevention Week, and Panhellenic Pride Week, our sisters attended several events. Some included were an Oracle presentation, a banner signing, and a lecture from Krystal Clark. My personal favorite was water coloring with my roommates during Wellness Week. Our sisters are also looking forward to an EME training which is essentially a Big/Little sister training event.
Operating in a Pandemic
How did your chapter operations change due to COVID-19 (e.g., how did it affect recruitment, initiation, etc. Were events/activities held virtually?). Share what you have done this year.
With many obstacles thrown our way due to the COVID - 19 pandemic, our chapter participated in virtual recruitment over ZOOM, and we welcomed 67 new women to our sisterhood. Recruitment was a lot different in the spring than it was for me my freshman year. We utilized breakout rooms so that each PNM could get their own experience and ran bump groups so everyone could meet everyone. Similar to recruitment, Bid Day and Initiation were virtual. However, after a lot of planning, we hosted an in-person bid day to make the new members feel as special as the rest of us did on bid day. Our bid day was organized so that we met all COVID guidelines. We allotted ten girls to come at a time while wearing masks and sanitizing in between groups.
Photographs
Are there any interesting photos from this year to share? e.g., screenshots of virtual meetings, pictures of chapter events that followed all public health guidelines (mask-wearing, physical distancing, etc), pictures of masks, drive-thru bid days, etc.
Meet Owen! Owen Bonn is Kappa Kappa Gamma and Delta Chi’s THON child. He is 8 years old and has retinoblastoma. In this first photo, he is at our tailgate and signing autographs for donations.
The second photo I included is a flier from one of our fundraisers. It was from one of our fundraisers for Mental Health America. We pied one another in the face - it was awesome!
Lastly, the third picture is a screenshot from a time we FaceTimed Owen. We try to Facetime him at least once a month to check up on him and get updates on his treatment.