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|Image= [[File:Epsilon_Rho.jpg|200px]]
|Founded= {{start date and years ago|1976|02|28}}
|College= [httphttps://www.tamu.edu/ Texas A&M University]
|Location= College Station, TX
|Homepage= [httphttps://wwwtamu.aggiekappakappa.comorg/ Epsilon Rho Homepage]|Media= [httphttps://wiki.kappakappagammakkg.org/index.php?title=Category:Epsilon_Rho Media related to Epsilon_Rho Chapter]}}
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The weekend of Friday, November 8th was Mom's Weekend! We painted holiday canvases with our moms and had brunch. That same weekend, Kappas participated in Songfest with Squadron 17, a philanthropy event put on by Chi Omega to raise money for the philanthropies of all organizations involved. With the theme "Ocean's 8", we put on several choreographed dance routines for attendees in Rudder Auditorium. Later in the month, we had our annual Ranch Date Party, a country western themed party with Tri Delta. We put on our boots and two-stepped with our dates while listening to live country music. The new officers were installed November 18th, and the incoming and outgoing Chapter Councils held a transition meeting with our advisors on the 24th. In between the two, we had a "Date Dash" to celebrate the holidays! Finally, we had our Angel Tree Dash, a fun event where we all go out and buy items for children in need for the holidays.
2019 was truly a fantastic year for Kappa with many fun and fulfilling events. Throughout the year we held book drives, profit shares, and Reading is Key events where we went to local elementary schools to read and do crafts with the children. Through this, we were able to bond with our sisters and help the Bryan-College Station community, as well as our national Kappa community.
==Highlights of 2020==
Throughout our first semester of 2020, our chapter was still able to have social gatherings and date parties that were not affected by COVID-19. We started off our year with a few profit shares at Jasons Deli, Grub, and Chick Fil A where we were able to raise money for our philanthropies while enjoying good food and company. We were also able to have our semi-formal which was a great turnout and lots of fun for our chapter. Our theme was “Kappa Krush” and it took place on February 13th. We were also able to support our philanthropies by hosting our largest spring event, “Kappa Kookout”, raising $20,049. This year we were able to host Kookout at a new location and it was a great turnout! We were able to have this event the same weekend as Dads weekend so we enjoyed country music and barbeque with our dad Friday night. The next day we enjoyed crawfish at “Krawdads” at the Kappa house. After a very long summer of preparing for the fall semester virtually, we were able to come back to College Station in August. We prepared for rush during a virtual work week, including daily deliveries of fun activities and food. After preparing for a virtual recruitment, we started recruiting our newest pledge class via zoom. On August 16th we were able to have a unique bid day for the new members. After finding out they were Kappas through email, the new members were picked up by a Bid Day buddy and got to alternate going to the Kappa House to receive Bid Day goodies and food. On October 24th we held two virtual Initiation ceremonies, welcoming 86 new members. Although this year looked very different for us we were still able to grow as a chapter and bond while representing Kappa Kappa Gamma.
We support Books and a Blanket, Reading is Fundamental, Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation, and Brazos Valley COVID-19 Community Relief Fund. We have chosen to support Brazos Valley COVID-19 Community Relief Fund and Books and a Blanket because they are local organizations that have the same values as us. We love to support and work with Books and a Blanket because it goes with our love for reading and helping the local kids. We also felt that Brazos Valley Relief Fund was a great way to give back to the community in such a difficult time.
We plan on adding a DEI officer this upcoming year to help promote and educate our chapter on diversity and inclusion. We also watched a TED talk addressing racism during one of our chapter meetings. Additionally, A&M Panhellenic
put together a Greek Assembly to educate everyone.
We celebrated our anniversary by holding a zoom meeting for all members, advisors,and parents who wanted to join. We presented a PowerPoint representing Kappa over the years with a special video honoring our chapter. We also started a Kappa Fit Club which encouraged our members to walk or run 150 miles as a chapter which was a fun way for us to be active and celebrate Kappa.
==Highlights of 2021==
The Epsilon Rho chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma had an amazing year, despite all of the
adjustments we had to make due to the pandemic. In the spring semester, we were able to
have Kappa kolaches and a book drive for the panhellenic community at A&M where we
were able to remain physically distant and have a drive through breakfast! We also had an
amazing recruitment, although it was partially virtual. Our New Member chair planned a fun
and safe bid day, which was so much fun because it has been so long since the chapter has
been all together due to Covid. We were also able to have in person fireside and initiation,
which was very special. We were able to connect with our Epsilon Rho alumni, and spend
time as a chapter learning about Kappa’s history. We had two different combined services,
and celebration of founder’s day at the Kappa house following initiation. It was very
rewarding to pass down the rituals to the new member class, and teach our active members
some new information as well. This semester, our events chairman has been working so hard
to plan date parties, and we have had so much fun being able to spend time together in this
way. We were able to host Flatland Cavalry at our date party Kappa cavalry, and we have also
had Owloween with Chi Omega, and House of Blues with Tri Delta. Coming up this next
week, we will also be having our Jingle Bell formal! This has been such a fun and exciting
year for our chapter of Kappa, and we are looking forward to the Spring semester!
Chapter Philanthropy
Our chapter supports the local philanthropy Books and a Blanket in the Brazos valley area. It
is an amazing organization that promotes child literacy in areas of College Station and Bryan
that may not have access to books and educational tools. We donated books to this
organization from our many book drives, and have spent time reading to children in our area.
This past semester, we have now switched our local philanthropy to support the National
Alliance on Mental Illness, which has been very rewarding as well.
We supported Kappa’s national philanthropy by hosting many philanthropy events to raise
funds for Reading is Fundamental and the Kappa Kappa Gamma foundation. Some of these
events included Kappa Kookout in the Fall where we raised $35,000, and Kappa Kolaches in
the Spring. Although it was a difficult year navigating the pandemic, our philanthropy chairs
still put on amazing events!
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
This year we had a new addition to our chapter council, which was our diversity, equity, and
inclusion (DEI) chair! She did a great job at finding beneficial and informative trainings for us
all to watch, and we gained a lot as individuals and as a whole chapter because of these
workshops.
Operating in a Pandemic
We have taken many precautions during the pandemic to keep our members safe including
requiring masks in large gatherings, proper sanitization, socially distanced events, and covid
testing for all. We were required to wear masks during the in person rounds of recruitment,
and this helped us have a safe and fun bid day. We are excited to be back in business this year,
and hope to continue to do our part and remain safe and healthy!