Difference between pages "Eta" and "Sigma"

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{{Infobox Fraternity
 
{{Infobox Fraternity
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|Name= Eta
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|Name= Sigma
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|GreekSymbol= H
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|GreekSymbol= Σ
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|Image= [[File:Eta.jpg|200px]]
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|Image= [[File:Sigma.jpg|200px]]
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|Founded= {{start date and years ago|1875|02|02}}
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|Founded= {{start date and years ago|1884|05|19}}
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|College= [http://www.wisc.edu/ University of Wisconsin]
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|College= [https://www.unl.edu/ University of Nebraska]
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|Location= Madison, WI
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|Location= Lincoln, Nebraska
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|Province= Epsilon North
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|Homepage= [https://unl.kappa.org/ Sigma Homepage]
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|Homepage= [http://chapters.kappakappagamma.org/eta/ Eta Homepage]
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|Media= [https://wiki.kkg.org/index.php?title=Category:Sigma Media related to Sigma Chapter]
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|Media= [http://wiki.kappakappagamma.org/index.php?title=Category:Eta Media related to Eta Chapter]
 
 
}}
 
}}
  
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<table><tr><td>
  
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'''University of Wisconsin established in 1848, Madison, Wisconsin'''
 
  
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'''University of Nebraska established 1869 in Lincoln, Nebraska'''
  
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'''Founded February 2, 1875 - 8 charter members'''
 
  
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'''Founded May 19, 1884'''
  
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'''3,367 initiates (as of June 2016)'''
 
  
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'''3,044 initiates (as of June 2018)'''
  
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'''Charter Members:'''
 
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Agnes Allis Haskill, Carrie (Caroline A.) Hobart, Elizabeth Antoinette Meyer, Juliet Meyer, Helen Remington, Helen Dougal Street, Fannie Walbridge, Fannie West
 
  
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'''Charter members:'''
  
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'''Fraternity Council Members:'''
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Edith P. Doolittle, Cora Ellen Fisher, Mary Letitia Jones, Alla Lantz, Sopha Myers, Adella Eugenia Stratton
  
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E. Josephine Sarles (Simpson), Grand Secretary 1882-1884; Florence C. Moseley, Grand Treasurer 1888-1890; George Challoner Tracy, Grand Treasurer 1904-1906; Grand Secretary 1906-1908;
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'''Fraternity Council Officers:'''
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Georgia Hayden Lloyd-Jones, National Director of Provinces 1924-1926; National President 1926-1928, 1928-1930, National Panhellenic Delegate , 1930-1932; Almira Johnson McNaboe, Director of Provinces 1932-1934; Grand Vice President 1934-1936, 1936-1938, 1938-1940; Gail Guthrie (Valaskakis), Field Secretary 1962-1964; Laurie Schmidt (Severino), Field Secretary 1982-1984; Janet Meinheit, Traveling Consultant 1988-1989
 
  
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May C. Whiting Westermann, Fraternity President 1902-1904, Grand Secretary 1919-1902, Fraternity President 1922-1926; Ruth Kadel Seacrest, Fraternity President 1944-1948, Director of Chapter Programs 1940-1944; Kelly Riggs, Field Secretary 1978-1980; Stephanie Nelson (Whiten), Traveling Consultant 1996-1997; Lori Armiger, Traveling Consultant 2002-2003; Lizzie Fraser, Traveling Consultant 2003-2004; Ann Moernius, Leadership Consultant 2009-2010, Amy Johnson Sutton, Fraternity Treasurer, 2018-2020
  
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'''Fraternity Loyalty Award Recipients:'''
 
  
  
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'''Fraternity Loyalty Award:'''
  
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'''Fraternity Alumnae Achievement Award recipients:'''
 
  
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Edith Clarke, 1955, First woman to earn electrical engineering degree from MIT; first woman elected fellow of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers; Nancy Olson Livingston, 1960, stage and screen actress (starred in Disney’s Pollyanna); Gena Rowlands Cassavetes, 1960, screen and television (nominated for an Oscar for her portrayal of Mabel Longhetti in A Woman Under the Influence, 1974, played Allie Calhoun in The Notebook, 2004); Gail Guthrie Valaskakis, 1972, Education pioneer; awarded numerous research grants and honors; author
 
  
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'''Fraternity Alumnae Achievement Award Recipients:'''
  
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'''Other Notable Alumnae:'''
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Louise Pound, Ph.D., 1951, English literature professor; writer; Adele Coryell Hall, 1984, member of National Board of Governors of the United Way and other nonprofit boards, wife of Don Hall of Hallmark, Inc.; Martha Cook Fricke, 1992, National School Boards Association president
  
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Patricia Beth O’Kelley—TV actress, author and producer who has appeared on Emeril, That Was Then, The New Adventures of Old Christine and Gilmore Girls; film work includes Outside Sales and Weather Girl; Nancy Hanschman Dickerson—White House correspondent; publisher of Among Those Present, a 1976 memoir covering the Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford administrations; Marilyn Fox (Rutherford), Graduate Counselor 1950-1951;
 
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Gail Guthrie (Valaskakis), Graduate Counselor 1961-1963; Suzette Gotta (Jaskie), Chapter Consultant 1984-1987
 
  
  
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'''Additional Outstanding Sigma Alumnae:'''
  
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Molly Beard (Rung), Graduate Counselor 1974-1976; Kelly Riggs, Graduate Counselor 1979-1981; Robin Darst (Hanus), Graduate Counselor 1975-1977; Catherine Hove (Breen), Graduate Counselor 1980-1982; Wendy Wiseman (Gustafson), Graduate Counselor 1982-1984; Beth Penner (Witherspoon) Chapter Consultant 1988-1989; Stephanie Nelson (White) Chapter Consultant 1997-1997; Lizzie Fraser, Chapter Consultant 2005-2007; Sunny Backlund (Bellows) Chapter Consultant 2006-2007; Betsy Strain, Convention Chairman, Chairman of Field Reps, Sesquicentennial Committee.
  
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==The Early Years==
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A University of Wisconsin student, Juliet Meyer (Brown), received a letter from a Kappa Kappa Gamma member at Indiana University in the fall of 1874, inviting her to form a Chapter at Wisconsin. Juliet’s name had been selected from the university catalog, and she casually chose roommates and dormitory neighbors as Chapter mates. It happened that, of the eight girls occupying two suites of rooms in the dormitory, two were seniors and six were juniors. 
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==The Early Years  (From The History of Kappa Kappa Gamma 1870–1976)==
  
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This was the first year that women had been officially integrated at Wisconsin. There were two men’s fraternities, none for women, and faculty attitudes were reputedly hostile. For this reason, the organization of Eta was secretly performed by correspondence.  
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The name Sigma was assigned to several Kappa chapters, but then recalled, before it became permanently assigned, on May 19, 1884, to the chapter at the University of Nebraska. Those former chapters included the University of Michigan; Lasell Seminary in Auburndale, Mass.; and possibly Callanan College (now part of Drake University) in Des Moines, Iowa.
  
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After considerable correspondence, Juliet and her seven friends signed the constitution and oath of initiation, which had been received in cipher. The Chapter was established on February 2, 1875, by the Grand Chapter. The first pledge was Mary Hill. She was relieved when the key to the cipher arrived, and wrote “great relief was felt when the really harmless nature of the dark deed was revealed to the founders of Eta.”
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The University of Nebraska was but 15 years old when Sigma Chapter was established through correspondence with Mu Chapter and members of Grand Council. The State Legislature had, in 1869, set aside four square blocks in the town of Lincoln for a campus, and had appropriated $100,000 for a building, University Hall. This was the only college building when Sigma was founded. In 1915, land was condemned north and east of the city campus to make room for new buildings.
  
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From the beginning, regular meetings were held in the private rooms of members, and literary exercises were always a part of the program. Informal spreads, guarded with secrecy and mystery, occasionally took place in some bedroom reached through a parlor that acted as a buffer between the festive rites and inquisitive teachers and fellow students. It was not until the golden keys appeared that it began to be rumored that a secret society had been organized. Indignation was great in some quarters.
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During the early years, no honors or prizes were given, the expression “extra-curricular activities” was unknown and athletics were slowly being organized. Even caps and gowns were not yet in the picture, and the Class of 1890 was much concerned over the selection of senior robes. The black mortar board and gown of the East was finally the choice.
  
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The college year 1875-76 was a stirring one in college history. Meetings began and ended in a row. New literary societies were formed from schisms in old ones, and members of Eta were leading members of the literary societies.
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Sigma’s early policy of initiating no preparatory students, its great desire to have its own hall, the organization within its own ranks of a Shakespeare Club, its strong sense of Fraternity, helped determine its character: “Our chapter is small now but of one heart, one soul,” wrote an early member.
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Spring was usually a quiet time in Lincoln, but the spring of 1890 contained drama never to be forgotten. It began with the decision on the part of the Kappas, Kappa Alpha Thetas and Delta Gammas to plant a Greek-letter flower bed.  
  
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As soon as they became known as Kappas, they could do nothing without having their motives questioned. They were accused of using their influence to secure appointments and class offices for members, of forming a clique, and of being an aristocracy. The fraternities were all hated by the non-fraternity students, who formed themselves into an anti-secret society league that actually did what it was accusing the fraternities of doing.
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On Arbor Day, armed with the permission of the chancellor, steward, and janitor, the young ladies set out 200 plants in the form of a key, a kite, and an anchor. The next morning, the girls found all their work undone. Some cried. Some “wished we were boys and could swear.” The destructive “barbarians” or anti-Greeks explained that they would not have an advertisement for fraternities attract the attention of the delegates to the Interstate Oratorical Convention. This contest found the university “reasonably distracted,” not only because of the episode of the flower bed (which neither a lawyer nor the authorities wanted to bother with) but because the Nebraska orator was being tried for plagiarism.
  
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In spite of adverse circumstances, Eta, strong in its seniors, flourished. But when the girls of 1876 graduated, there was little left, and dark days began for Eta. Of the university’s incoming senior class, only two were Kappas, and there was only one in the junior class. In three years, membership dwindled to four. These four were determined to pledge only girls who embodied their ideals of Kappa or die as a chapter. They found their pledges and Eta flourished. Mary Hill was secretary to the 1878 General Convention, and Eta was convention hostess in 1882.
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Such furious farce was not uncommon. The Sigma charter had been granted to a group emanating from one called TTT or “The Tempest Tossed,” and September 1884 saw the outbreak of the “Greek–Barbarian War,” with the barbarians claiming that the sacrosanct literary societies would be supplanted by the Greeks. New bylaws were passed, forbidding Greeks to join these old societies, so a new one, Philodicean, was formed.
  
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This unpleasant feud left its mark on all aspects of university life. When Phi Beta Kappa was founded in 1896 (May Whiting [Westermann] was one of the two women named first members), a conscientious “barb” was undecided about joining any organization with Greek letters in its name. That year, the Nebraska legislature was preparing a bill to abolish fraternities in the state university.
  
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'''Housing'''
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In April 1897, The Key contained suggestions from N.E.L. (who must have been Naahmah Elizabeth Lowe) that elimination of the gulf between the groups would be accomplished if Greeks would “avoid an excessive exhibition of fraternal love in the presence of non-fraternity members” and if pins were worn “in some modest place so as not to remind non-members of the existing barrier.”
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Even so, it was considered a great triumph when Sigma’s Anna Broady (Haggard) won the short story contest in the campus periodical while Willa Cather, prominent barb, was editor. Distinguished Louise Pound bridged the gap to some extent by becoming a Kappa after a brilliant student career as a barb. She later served the Fraternity as one if its first province presidents.
  
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By 1883, fraternities at Wisconsin were accepted. In 1884, Dr. John Bascom, president of the university, whose daughter was a Kappa, gave Eta the use of three rooms in South Hall. These rooms were needed for other uses in the spring of 1891, but happily, a professor going on a leave of absence rented Eta his home, completely furnished. The experiment was so successful that the chapter rented another house in the fall, and with the help of alumnae, found furniture to go in it. In 1894, the girls gave up the house and rented rooms in the home of Mrs. C. N. Brown. This also proved to be too expensive, so Eta was again without a chapter house. In 1901, Eta moved to 425 North Park Street, the second Chapter house and the first women’s fraternity in Madison to build its own house.
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In 1891, Dr. James H. Canfield, who had been professor of history at the University of Kansas, became chancellor at Nebraska. The university had grown steadily, but he popularized it in a remarkable way, and before he left in June 1895, to become president of Ohio State University, he had the satisfaction of seeing students thronging to its gates. It had gates in those days, and a fence that has gone to the cemetery. Much might be written of Dr. Canfield as a brilliant scholar and an able executive, but to Kappas the world over, he is known as “the father of Dorothy.” (Dorothy Canfield Fisher). How Sigma had watched Dorothy during her prep years and with what joy they heard of her initiation by Beta Nu Chapter when she entered Ohio State!
  
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Mary Hill, now a faculty member, moved into the new house with the girls and became the center of the household. She labored over the card catalogue, answered questions about early members of Eta, tutored in French and English, wound the Kappa clock, and beamed at banquets. She attended 114 initiation services, “which always seemed new and beautiful to me,” and saw more than 470 young women become Kappas.
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Dr. Canfield’s interest in the small university library led to the erection of the new Library Building and to the appointment, in 1892, of one of Sigma’s charter members, Mary Jones, as librarian.
  
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Life on North Park Street began uniquely when members were quarantined for two weeks during a smallpox scare. At first, Kappas outside the house were sorry for their imprisoned sisters, but they soon began to envy them. None of the victims will ever forget the festivities of those two weeks … the White House Dinner, the Military Hop, the mock wedding. It brought members closer together.
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In 1896, eight members of Sigma attended the General Convention at Evanston, the first time there had been a real delegation. So enthusiastic did the girls become that they invited the next Convention to meet with Sigma. Now Lincoln at the end of August was hardly an ideal place for girls who had been summering in the mountains and at the seashore, but it was a Convention long to be remembered (and long before air-conditioning), nonetheless. There were blue-and-blue decorations in the windows of the most important stores, a tribute to Kappa unknown before or since. Meetings were held in the old chapel in Uni Hall, and with the stars and stripes floated a huge pennant of Kappa colors. The Phi Kappa Psis gave their chapter house for the use of the Council, and the other fraternities vied in entertaining.
  
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In 1903, the Chapter had its first death when Rosamund Parish, a freshman, died in the Iroquois Theater fire in Chicago. A sophomore and four young alumnae died in the influenza epidemic in 1918.
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It was at this Convention that May Whiting (Westermann) began her Fraternity career, as an assistant to the Marshal.  
  
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During World War I, older male students and some of the girls left to do war work; those remaining knitted and worked for the Red Cross. Eta’s dear home was requisitioned by the government. One Eta member “felt as if she had a boy at the front” as she helped measure the rooms and estimate how many men could be quartered there. The chapter was patriotic enough to be thankful they had something Uncle Sam wanted, but heartsick at the coming sacrifice. Then Eta rejoiced as word came that sororities were not to be disturbed.
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The Key of July 1896 reported a chapter dinner at which charter member Mary Jones told of the girls of 1884, the pioneers who bravely defied all kinds of opposition. “Had you heard it,” goes the account, “you would have known what Sigma used to be, and had you heard May Whiting’s toast, ‘The Ideal Kappa,’ you would know what Sigma hopes to be. ...”
  
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In 1918, and 1919, Eta Chapter contributed $584 to the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Fund for Meudon, $1,400 to the Memorial Union Fund, $300 to the national scholarship fund, and $150 to the university scholarships, a yearly pledge.
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==Highlights of the 1910s-1920s==
  
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==Golden Jubliee==
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During the spring vacation of 1901, 13 members of Sigma accompanied the Grand Secretary, May Whiting, to Boulder, to install Beta Mu Chapter at the University of Colorado. The fact that they all had railroad passes added to the pleasure of the occasion. The girls, in preparation for this event, tried song writing and fitting Fraternity words to popular tunes. They were delightfully entertained by the Boulder girls and the Denver alumnae.
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Many years later, in 1927, two of Sigma’s actives and half a dozen members living in Wyoming helped install Gamma Omicron Chapter at the University of Wyoming.
  
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Eta’s Golden Jubilee was celebrated February 14, 1925, as finals fell on the actual date. It was most rewarding for actives and alumnae alike. A charter member said, “What we began so long ago in secrecy and humility has proved very well while.”
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Early meetings were in members’ homes, but in the fall of 1902, Sigma rented its first house. It was a little red cottage of seven rooms and was called Kappa Lodge. The most interesting recorded memory of that first home is the chapter library, which the girls began to build as a memorial to Grace Leming, the only active member who had died. Each girl gave a book to the little library on her own birthday, and Mrs. Leming gave a framed picture of Grace to be hung over the bookcases. After three years, the house was given up as being too expensive.
  
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A quotation from an active of that time expresses the feeling of Eta toward the alumnae: “It is all very well to talk of Kappa and to sing of Kappa, but it is the lives of these women who have lived Kappa for 50 years that made an ineradicable impression upon those who are to follow them. In their dignity, in their grace, in their humility, we see the real Kappa.”
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By March 1925, after a time in another rented property, a chapter house became a necessity, and ground was purchased for it. Construction began May 1.. The alumnae association negotiated the mortgage, and a loan was secured from the Fraternity Endowment Fund. The Kappa house, of brick and in the English style with gables and long, sloping roofs, was impressive.  
  
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The University Board of Regents bought the Park Street House in 1926, and plans for a new house to be build at 601 North Henry Street were made. Eta members moved into the old Phi Gamma Delta house, across the street from where the new dream house was being constructed.
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In subsequent years, two large additions were made to the house.
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Sigma received the first scholarship cup awarded by Panhellenic. In 1954, the chapter had the highest all-around average for sororities and again won the cup. It also won the Mortar Board cup for scholarship and activities.
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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.
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Change was in the air during the late 60's. Suddenly Kappas and other girls on campus could wear slacks to class..... and soon after that jeans! And the legislature lowered the drinking age to 20. Kappas became more involved in national affairs, even attending the 1968 Chicago Democratic convention and participating in sit ins.
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==Highlights of the 1980s:==
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The University campus expanded as The Lied Center for Performing Arts and the Campus Recreational Athletic Center were constructed during this decade. The chapter house also welcomed change as the first computer room was carved from a former storage area, the kitchen received necessary updates and the main level was completely redecorated.
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The chapter averaged 96 members during this time and programming focused on the Fraternity and chapter heritage as well as utilizing communication skills to facilitate chapter functions. Always striving to be campus leaders, Sigma was the first of the Nebraska Greek community to establish a designated driver program, and one of the first to vote to hold a non-alcoholic date parties with fraternities.
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In 1983, a legendary pledge class met again for their regular reunion with 19 of the original 22 members celebrating their 45th reunion and planning to be together to receive their 50-year pins four years later. Louise Benson Ball was a proud member of this reunion group.
  
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In September of 1929, the chapter and Miss Hill moved into the new home. Moving into it also was Carrie Ruden, a young woman who had been born in Norway, and came to the Kappas as a housekeeper. But she became much more than that. She listened to the girls’ problems, rejoined in their successes, and kept history alive through the years as she talked of earlier Eta members.
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“A Century of Sisterhood” was the theme of Sigma’s Centennial celebration of April 6–8, 1984. The weekend began with an open house on Saturday at the Kappa House with tours of the house and campus. Alumna Nancy Hoch, University of Nebraska Regent and U.S. Senate candidate, served as mistress of ceremonies at a luncheon at the Cornhusker Hotel. Honored guests were Lucy VanHorne Sawyer (1904 initiate), Sigma’s oldest living member; Adele Coryell Hall, Alumnae Achievement Award recipient; Wilma Winberg Johnson, Fraternity Director of Alumnae, and Virginia Bonville Thomas, Zeta Province Director of Alumnae. Also, Martin Massengale, Chancellor of the University of Nebraska—Lincoln, was in attendance and received a $1,000 gift to the university from the Fraternity in honor of Sigma’s Centennial.
  
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The 1930s were years of happy harmony. Kappas were in Phi Beta Kappa, Mortar Board and Crucible; active in Women’s Student Government Association and Union Committees; and listed as prom queens and in courts of honor. Always stressing academic achievement as a primary goal, the chapter maintained a commendable scholastic record.
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Sigma actives served as “decade hostesses” during the luncheon, dressed in costumes representative of each decade of Sigma’s history. Actives also sang a medley of Kappa songs, which provided the background for a slideshow depicting the lives of Sigma members from 1884–1984. Many alumnae joined in the singing, especially “Oh Pat.”
  
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The luncheon also featured the pinning of five 50-year members and a presentation of a lovely stained-glass window with the Centennial chapter logo by the Lincoln, Omaha and Fremont alumnae associations. Awards and scholarships were also presented.
  
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A Saturday evening gala, which doubled as Sigma’s spring formal, allowed actives and alumnae to enjoy each other’s company during this special occasion.
  
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==World War II Years==
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A Sunday brunch at the Kappa House included an archives display. Barb Miller Hoppe, Colorado, compiled a special book of Sigma history with the help of several other members. Sigma alumnae Betsy Stillwell Strain and Michelle Sample organized the Centennial, which saw approximately 600 participants from 22 states celebrating 100 years of sisterhood in Sigma Chapter.
  
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World War II brought many changes to campus. Military personnel were again housed in dormitory and fraternity houses, and Eta chapter gave half of its social budget toward the war effort. The girls sang Kappa songs or listened to the radio while knitting articles for Kappa’s Nora Waln layette program for Norwegian babies. They also adopted two “CARE” families. Dateless dances arrived. Students conducted a scrap drive in lieu of Homecoming and the chapter donated all its trophies. The 1942 queen was called “Blue Jean Queen of Work Day.”
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Philanthropy efforts were most successful as funds were raised in support of the Lincoln Action Program and the Nebraska Human Resource Research Foundation as well the Rose McGill Fund. The chapter received awards for Outstanding Philanthropy at the 1987 and 1989 Zeta Province Meetings.
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Honors included Zeta Province Meeting awards for Scholarship Programming, Highest Grade Point Average and Outstanding Chapter.
  
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During the 1940s, chapter scholarships slipped. Three pertinent bylaws were passed in 1949 and five years later, Eta was first in scholarship on the Madison campus. In the seven years after the new bylaws, Eta had more members elected to Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi and Mortar Board than in the previous 20 years. Between 1952 and 1962 the chapter was first in scholarship among the Panhellenic groups five successive times, and other years placed second or third.
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==Highlights of the 1990s==
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Changing Times
 
  
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In 1964, the university’s Human Rights Committee issued two certificates to be signed by all university organizations. Eta at once stated that KKG’s Constitution had no discriminating policies. In 1970, Eta was able to say that the Fraternity and the university had the same requirements regulating recommendations. The chapter also established the elective position of human relations officer to bring related matters to the attention of the members.
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Panhellenic challenges included Recruitment revisions. The focus on No Frills presented a paradigm change for the 15 NPC groups, and a great deal of effort went into planning effective recruiting. The dates for Recruitment changed during the decade including the week before the start of classes and during Labor Day Weekend after classes began.
  
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An addition to the house in 1964 was at first thought too small, but suddenly seemed a blessing when the number of new members dropped by half, increased briefly, and then declined steadily in the 1970s. The House Board found certain expenses difficult to meet, and by 1971 Eta was seriously facing the prospect of radical change.
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The chapter house received improvements to the main entrance with paint and the installation of bike racks. The lower level T.V. room, fondly known as the Pink Room because of an earlier color scheme, was refurbished. Increasing membership resulted in a few beds added to accommodate more members wishing to live in the house.
  
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The health of beloved Carrie Ruden, who had gone into a nursing home, declined and it seemed to some as if Carrie and Eta would be leaving the world together. Carrie died in October 1972, but not Eta. That fall, Eta was renewed in the form of a large and talented pledge class and the renewal seemed permanent.
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Sigma Chapter was selected as a pilot chapter for the Fraternity’s New Member Program. They found success as well as challenges with the program and provided constructive feedback to the Fraternity for possible revisions.
  
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During the early part of the decade, scholarship efforts waned and the chapter’s G.P.A. dipped below the all-sorority average. Improving scholarship became a major focus. Programs such as Registration Night during which upperclassmen assisted the freshmen and sophomores with registration decisions, study skills workshops, incentives and positive reinforcement were successful, and by the end of the decade the chapter achieved its goal.
  
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==Centennial==
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Philanthropy efforts made a shift to the giving of time and service to the community. Chapter members assisted with an elementary school’s fun night, Honey Sunday, baby-sitting at the YWCA and participation in clothing drives and blood drives.
  
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Two hundred alumnae, actives and new members gathered at the chapter house February 2, 1975, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Eta’s founding. Husbands of members were also invited to attend this family birthday dinner party, beautifully organized by the actives. A continuous showing of slides made from pictures in the archives and those sent by alumnae around the country, and a display of newspaper clippings and other historic photographs provided enjoyment and memories for the guests.
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Sigma celebrated its 110th anniversary with special t-shirts celebrating the chapter’s heritage, and held a special Founders Day ceremony with alumnae. A special emphasis was placed on conducting the initiation ceremony exactly as written in the Book of Ritual, and new initiation equipment and robes were purchased with donations from alumnae.  
  
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Alumna coordinators mobilized the actives and beautifully organized the house for serving 200 people supper and providing room for them to circulate and visit. A continuous show of slides made from pictures in the Eta archives and sent by alumnae and a display of some of those historic pictures and newspaper clippings provided amusement and memories for guests.
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Province Meeting awards included recognition for scholastic efforts, philanthropy, Advisory Board and the Sally Kiehne Kelby Award. The chapter was recognized at the 1996 Fraternity Convention with the Gracious Living and Advisory Board honors.
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Alumnae who have served Eta Chapter for many years were honored and the story was told about the building of the Kappa house. In honor of the Centennial, Eloise Ryder Pingry, Purdue, Fraternity Director of Philanthropies, presented a scholarship of $1,000 from the Fraternity to the chapter to be used during the 1975–76 school year.
 
  
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New members and actives sang current Kappa songs and alumnae sang songs from their time in school. It was an evening of reminiscing and renewed friendship—and an inspiring display of the true meaning of Kappa Kappa Gamma.
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==Highlights of 2000-2010==
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The University Panhellenic adopted the National Panhellenic Conference’s long-standing system of quota total for recruitment, thus allowing more women the opportunity to become a member of a Greek organization. Sigma’s membership grew to 136 during the decade. The chapter met the challenge of growth by strengthening the New Member Program and expanding the KORE group activities. Movie nights, bowling and painting  pumpkins for Halloween were a few of the activities scheduled to help members develop friendships.
  
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At Kappa’s fourth Biennial Convention, held in Madison in August of 1882, Josephine Sarles (Simpson) was elected grand secretary, the first Eta member to serve on the Council. For a Caroline Mosely was elected Grand Treasurer in 1888 at the ninth Convention in Minneapolis. George Challoner Tracy, who served as Grand Secretary from 1904–06 before her marriage, was re-elected to the Council as Grand Treasurer at the 18th Biennial Convention, again hosted by Eta Chapter.
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Sigma Chapter actively participated in Hazing Prevention Week and initiated creative ways to spread the anti-hazing message. It won the campus hazing prevention competition two years in a row.
  
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Georgia Hayden Lloyd-Jones was elected Grand President of Kappa in 1926 and re-elected in 1928. Almira Johnson McNaboe served on the Grand Council from 1932–40. Eta members Nancy Olson Livingston, stage and screen star, and Gena Rowlands Cassavetes, screen and television actress, were named Alumnae Achievement Award recipients at the 1960 General Convention.
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Two major philanthropy fundraisers were held throughout the decade. Kappa Karnival and Kappa Kabana proved to be very successful, and proceeds were donated to many groups, including Lighthouse, a teen youth center, the local Alzheimer’s chapter, Peoples’ City Mission and the Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund. A local radio station saluted Sigma Chapter on air for donating the greatest amount of money to Katrina relief of any Greek organization. Funds were also donated to support Kappa’s philanthropy, Reading is Fundemental, and Boys for Books, a local school district project dedicated to improving the reading levels of elementary school boys.Philanthropic efforts also included the gift of service when the chapter members collaborated with different fraternities to write more than one hundred Valentine cards to distribute to Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital patients.
  
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Eta has made significant contributions to the Fraternity and shares with pride the honors her members have received. In the hustle and bustle of Wisconsin’s ever-expanding campus, members of Eta Chapter find warmth and close friendship in the cordial, Georgina, grey-stone house on the corner of Langdon and North Henry Streets. 
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The chapter scholarship standing rose to fourth place among the fifteen NPC groups on campus.  
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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.
 
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==Highlights of the 1980s==
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In 2005, Sigma members assisted in recruiting members and served as a sister chapter for Eta Iota, Creighton University.
  
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In 1987 167 women belonged to the Eta chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma. Eta received 44 pledges in the fall. On October 15 the chapter marked its 118th founder’s day. Alumnae, actives, and pledges gathered to talk about old times and plan for new, while enjoying coffee and dessert. For philanthropy the chapter participated in a program called Head Start. For this philanthropy the chapter planned a Christmas celebration for underprivileged children. In the spring Eta won awards of merit for pledge programming, communications and fraternity education at province.
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Sigma received recognition at Province Meetings for Gracious Living, Communications and Advisory Board, and received the Barbara Sarich Programming Award and the Meg Cherry Smith Standards Award. Convention awards for 2006 were for Reading is Fundamental and Technology.
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In 1988-89 Eta received 52 pledges during fall recruitment. The chapter celebrated Founders Day at the Tamarack Condominiums Clubhouse for a catered dinner with 81 actives and 25 alumnae in attendance. In addition to participating in Head Start, the chapter also put on a triathlon to benefit the Special Olympics.
 
  
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==Highlights of the 1990s==
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==Highlights of 2011-2019==
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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.:
  
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Scholarship banquet held each semester to recognize those who have excelled in their studies. Those with a 3.0 are given an award as well as the most improved and highte4st cumulative GPA. Pledges are encouraged to maintain their best grades by attending study tables. In the spring, chapter members volunteers with Special Olympics races and events.
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==Highlights of 2011==
  
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Eta pledged 38 women during recruitment in 1991. The chapter had a member on Homecoming Court and three on Homecoming Committee. They celebrated 120th Founders Day at the house with great participation and a slide show for members and alumnae. The chapter worked on increasing participation by using a phone chain and recognition for those attending three meetings in a row.
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Kappa Kappa Gamma, Sigma Chapter, has had an amazing 2011. In January, 18 officers were installed and eager to start their new positions, led by chapter president, Lauren Jewell. We began the year with Leadership Day in which the 2010 Chapter Council and 2011 Chapter Council worked with Amelia McCormick, the Fraternity Chairman of Academic Excellence and Fraternity Trainer, on improving leadership skills, setting goals for the year, and assisting with the transition of chapter officers.  
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Spring 1991: Eta hosted Epsilon Province Meeting.
 
  
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Eta received 39 pledges during recruitment 1991. The chapter continued to work on attendance issues. The chapter again participated with Head Start hosting a Christmas party for underprivileged children for its philanthropy.  
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The spring semester was full of volunteer opportunities that our members took part in. We participated in the Big Event, a campus-wide day of service throughout the city of Lincoln. Many of our members also participated in Dance Marathon benefiting Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and Relay for Life benefiting the American Cancer Society. We continued to support Kappa’s national philanthropy Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) with our pen pal program with a local Lincoln public school.  
  
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Eta pledged 37 women in the fall of 1994. The chapter also hosted a program called Dad’s Day were members and their fathers attended a Brewers baseball game in Milwaukee. The Head Start philanthropy did not go through this year because of miscommunications with the office. Instead, the chapter paired up with Pi Beta Phi to host a basketball tournament. Eta received 38 pledges in the fall of 1995. The basketball tournament co-sponsored with Pi Beta Phi was named Hoops for Hope.  
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We held our first Kappa Goes Country philanthropic event in which we raised funds for the American Cancer Society led by our philanthropy chairman, Molly Brown. Kappa Goes Country featured cowboy boots and hats, a lasso game, and even a mechanical bull. Sigma held our annual Spring Tea at the Jackie Gaughn Multicultural Center on April 3rd to recognize scholastic achievements of our active members, award scholarships to many members, and honor our graduating seniors. This year the Lincoln Alumnae Association and the National Kappa Kappa Gamma Organization granted over 28,000 dollars in scholarships to current members of Kappa Kappa Gamma. The scholarship winners were not only girls who excelled in academics, but also individuals who showed dedication to Kappa and involvement on campus.  
  
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Eta met quota by accepting 35 women during fall 1997 recruitment. The Fraternity editor used new computer technology to recruit more alumnae to attend founder’s day celebrations. Additionally, chapter members were paired with local alumnae as pen pals and wrote them letter throughout the school year. The chapter again hosted Hoops for Hope with Pi Beta Phi.  
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Scholarship is just one aspect to Spring Tea. The afternoon event was also set aside to recognize Kappa’s loved seniors. The seniors were highlighted with a spotlight video and are also asked to share their future aspirations upon leaving Kappa. Our entire Chapter Council took a road trip to Columbia, Missouri for our regional Zeta Province meeting where we were able to meet officers from all of the other chapters in our province and share ideas. Sigma was awarded Excellence in Communication and the Barbara Sarich Programming Award, along with honorable mentions in the Advisory Board Award and the Meg Cherry Smith Standards Award. Sigma members also had a fun time at a Husker baseball game with our dads for Dad’s Day planned by Kim McManus, our event chairman, and Ashley Christianson, our risk management chairman. Recruitment 2011 was completely changed due to our transition into the Big Ten.  
  
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In the fall of 1999 Eta made quota, accepting 35 pledges. The chapter again hosted Hoops for Hope with Pi Beta Phi. The event raised almost $3,000 to benefit UW Children’s cancer research fund.
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Our new recruitment had us add in a open house round the first two days, in which every potential new member visited every house before invitations were handed out. We moved the hose tours to later in the week and ended with a preference day video about life as a Kappa and a meaningful ceremony. UNL also decided to implement a new quota total system when matching bids. This year bid matching was done all by computer instead of exclusively by hand. Also, instead of each house getting different numbers of potential new members, we implemented a new system where each house gets the same number of potential new members in order to try and even out the playing field. On Bid Day, we welcomed in a New Member class of 41 outstanding women. We all grew closer to them over the next two months during the New Member Program, and they were initiated on October 29, 2011.  
  
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All Sigma members returned for the new school year to a house that had undergone amazing renovations done by our House Board. The fall semester began with our annual Kappa Karnival, led by Megan Videditch, benefiting the Alzheimer’s Association where we made funnel cakes and had a blow-up bungee run in the spirit of the carnival theme. Sigma members also participated in the Memory Walk hosted by the Lincoln chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association. At the Memory Walk, we donated our earnings of $4,300. We also raised money for two other foundations during the fall semester. We donated $800 to the Zitek family from Kappa Gear sales and $930 for 1 million for Anna foundation. We celebrated Kappa’s founding on October 13 at the Wick Alumni Center, led by Caitlin Guenther.
  
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At Founders Day, we took the time to honor not only the founders but also groups and individuals who continue to contribute to our fraternity today. By recognizing individuals and groups, Kappas from many different years of initiation, we were able to see the powerful links we have created overtime. The evening was spent also honoring distinguished alumnae and handing out awards. The Alumnae of the Year was Kaye Jesske and the Spirit Key was given to Sarah Yost and Amy Gratzinger. A Special Ceremony for Presentation of 25-year Kappas was also preformed. Those honored were: Jacqueline Milton Burmeister, Victoria Domina Fischer, Judith Hodapp, Kaye Balfour Jesske, Amy Fuerst Johnson, Dada Crandall Johnson, and Kayla Peters. The Forty year Kappas who received an iris were: Rebecca Halpin Koller, Janice Shook Erwin, Julie Moreland Pittenger, Mary Easley Schmidt, Theresa Fitle Smith, Karen Anderson Walls, and Sara McIntosh Wooten. 50 year Kappas pins were given to: Susan Irvine Garwood and Sherry Hoppe Zehr. Finally, the 65 year Kappas recognized were: Elizabeth Shellenberger Liggett, Barbara Hockenberger Ferguson, Nancy Lawlor Jenkins, and Mary Dunnell Peters.
  
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==Highlights of 2000-2010==
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Anti-Hazing Prevention Week was led by our Education Chairman, Caitlyn Guenther. Sigma Chapter was the proud winner, now two years running. Throughout the week we passed out cards to learn to respect ourselves. On the card we each wrote a goal for ourselves, sealed it in an envelop, and was told to carry it with us as a reminder of our goal. This followed our motto for the week : "Do you respect the person looking back at you?" We also implemented a week long sharing of encouragement called "Kappa Kindness, Keep it Flowing". This is where we posted 5 annoyomus sticky notes on girls doors and if you received one on your door, you were to write another for a friend and leave it annoyoms. #kkgrespect.  
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Eta chapter did not commemorate September 11, 2001 by doing anything in particular to memorialize the tragedies, but the campus did recognize it in a couple of ways. Classes were canceled on September 12, 2001 and candle lights were set up throughout Memorial Library.
 
  
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'''2004 –05:''' Eta Chapter had a very successful year.  Eta has been striving to strengthen and improve since being put on a letter of concern. Behavior at the social events has improved greatly and the chapter held a number of sisterhoods throughout the year that strengthened its sisterly bonds. In the spring, Kappa received an award for the highest new member grade point average, which led Eta to obtaining the highest sorority grade point average.
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Homecoming this year was exceptionally exciting for Sigma because we had three seniors chosen to be on Homecoming Court, the most of any house on campus. This fall, we hosted Meggie Centers, a Kappa Leadership Consultant during our Initiation Week. In the fall we also had Dad's weekend where we attended a hockey game, bowling and brunch. This was very helpful and a great time for the girls who have dad's that are from out of town. They were able to spend the entire weekend together, rather than just a day. Our parents auction was held at the Cornhusker Marriott hotel on November 4th, 2011. This event was put on by parents club.  
  
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Eta had a very successful recruitment in the fall. Thirty-two wonderful girls pledged on September 30.-Many sisterhoods: ice skating, movie theaters, pumpkin carving, etc.-new members went on a retreat to Wisconsin Dells-Trick-or-treat for alumni kids: games, cookie decorating and trick-or-treating for kids throughout the Kappa house-"Hoops for Hope"- philanthropy that raised money for children at UW Hospitals.
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'''Campus:''' The University of Nebraska–Lincoln, chartered in 1869, is an educational institution of international stature. A member of the Association of American Universities since 1909, Nebraska is recognized by the Carnegie Foundation as a Doctoral/Research Extensive university. UNL is a land-grant university and a member of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU). The university is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. Today, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln is one of the nation's leading teaching institutions, and a research leader with a wide array of grant-funded projects aimed at broadening knowledge in the sciences and humanities.  
  
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Eta Chapter was still on the letter of concern, therefore measures were taken to further improve our behavior at socials. Rules were carefully read to the new members to ensure they were aware of our policies concerning socials. These precautions were also read again to active members to reinforce the importance of them.  The chapter's behavior improved throughout the year and no further incidences of inappropriate behavior occurred.
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Lincoln offers all the amenities of a midsize regional city of 250,000. Ranked in the Top 10 in many quality of life, safety, environmental and other studies, this is a remarkably comfortable and friendly place; when you're here, you're among friends. With more parkland per capita than any other city in the United States and an intricate trails network, Lincoln offers a wealth of outdoor diversions. Lincoln is also one of the fastest growing metro areas in the Midwest, with abundant employment opportunities. Downtown Lincoln lies at the southern edge of UNL's City Campus, and is seasoned by coffee houses, theaters, specialty shops and restaurants offering cuisines from around the world. Shopping opportunities are everywhere, with national retailers anchoring large malls in both east and south Lincoln. Boutiques, galleries and salons are located in neighborhoods throughout the city.  
  
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'''In 2005 –2006,''' Eta Chapter has had a great year, filled with learning experiences that have strengthened the chapter.  We achieved the highest GPA in our Greek system, and set the highest GPA record in the history of the Greek system on our campus.  We have taken great pride in this honor, and have encouraged our members to keep pursuing such wonderful academic achievements. Last semester, our chapter participated in Humorology, a competition where sororities and fraternities are paired together to create a musical comedy sketch. Unfortunately we did not make the cut for next semester, however we did learn a lot from the experience, and it helped to strengthen our bonds within the Greek system. Kappa also raised money for the UW Children's Hospital in our philanthropy "Hoops for Hope," and attended many other philanthropic events.  We also had a wonderful Founders Day.  We heard wonderful storied from past members that made us grateful to have such strong sisterly bonds.
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On June 11, 2010, the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors formally accepeted the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to join their conference. The Big Ten expanded the conference to 12 schools for the 2011-12 school year. The Big Ten Conference was formed more han 115 years ago. This conference is known for the world-class academics and has a strong sense of goals and values. The Greek community at Nebraska is one of the strongest in the country with 24 Interfraternity Council Fraternities (19 are residential) and 15 Panehllenic Council Sororities (13 are residential).  
  
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This year Eta Chapter had budget concerns, due to over spending during fall rush. With such extravagant expenditures, the chapter has had to make adjustments in other committee's budgets. However, after dealing with the problem, our chapter is back on the right budget for the new upcoming chapter council. We have also had to deal with lack of participation in other sorority and fraternity philanthropy events.  We have encouraged our new members to participate more, and have also influenced the seniors to attend more events to promote attendance. Our goal for the upcoming year is to come up with a system of issuing house points for participation in philanthropy and sisterhood events. Hopefully this will increase attendance and participation with in our Greek Community.    
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The Greek Community at UNL prides itself on the selfless service it provides to the community. Each chapter on campus has a special fundraiser or event they host every year. The Greek Community at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln is known for developing leaders. You will find Greek Members as student government leaders, student organization members, and NU athletes. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is a large campus with a diverse student body. The Greek Community at UNL helps its members to become comfortable living on a large campus and to become an important part of campus life. Chapter: Sigma Chapter was one of the first houses established at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, therefore naming it a national landmark. The house holds space for 65 women to live in, either three or two-person bedrooms. While the house provides a place to live, it means so much more to its members. Sigma has 136 active members.  
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'''In the fall of 2006''', Eta Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma was presented with an archive display created by last semester's registrar. The display contained an exhibit of photos of past Kappa members and interesting facts from years ago. The archive display also contained photos from the past year, with a lot of pictures from the new member retreat. Members found this very interesting, especially the interesting facts from Kappa's past.
 
  
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This last semester, Eta chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma achieved the highest GPA out of all of the sororities and fraternities on campus, and also set the highest GPA record in the history of the Greek system. We are very proud of our accomplishments. Our VP- of Academic Excellence, Terra Chorney influenced us to study more by arranging Kappa spies, that brought treats to Kappa's studying at the campus libraries. We also have become more involved in other sororities and fraternities philanthropies, and have encouraged our new members to get involved.
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Every woman in Sigma offers something special and unique to our house, making it stand apart from other sororities and organizations at UNL. The women in Kappa are very involved in a variety of activities both on campus and in the community. By participating in student government, professional groups, honoraries, intramurals and clubs we communicate our Kappa pride all over Lincoln. Our two major philanthropies continue to be a success, and we are always looking for ways to improve our chapter by setting annual goals. We have grown as a chapter in the last couple years making it a point to recruit girls that are Kappas at heart and right for our chapter. We take pride in being ourselves at recruitment to ensure the satisfaction of the new members and continue the outstanding reputation Sigma holds on campus and in the community.  
  
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This year Eta Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma initiated 34 wonderful young women.  Elizabeth Gulotta guided the girls through their first busy weeks as new members, and Lindsey Crysler educated the girls about Kappa history. The new members were taught how to prevent sexual assault and were educated about the dangers of drinking underage in a seminar hosted by the Greek Community. The new members went on a fun retreat to a ropes course, where they strengthened their friendship bonds. In response to an over budget usage during rush week, the chapter has concentrated on managing and dispersing funds wisely.  We are now within budget for the rest of our committees. We have also seen an increasing amount of sisterhoods, in which we strengthened our sisterhood bonds through such events as movie night, cookie decorating, going to a pool outside of Madison, and seeing a hypnotist.  
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This year, Sigma Chapter tried to minimize the membership selection session time by using clickers instead of using paper to vote on the girls going through recruitment. This was very beneficial for the chapter and was very efficient. We continued to use these clickers for voting issues during meetings along with elections. Our only other challenge was switching from Quickbooks to BillHighway. It was a lot of work for our treasurer, Kayla Stauffer, to learn and implement the new system. In doing that, we no longer handle any paper money, checks or cash. This was a great move for us here at Sigma.
  
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This year Eta Chapter has had budget concerns, due to over spending during fall rush.  With such extravagant expenditures, the chapter has had to make adjustments in other committee's budgets. However, after dealing with the problem, our chapter is back on the right budget for the new upcoming chapter council.              
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==Highlights 2012==
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Sigma chapter kicked off 2012 eager to be back in the Chapter House for the spring semester. As always, the Kappas were busy taking part in many campus events, as well as their own Kappa happenings. January brought new officers into Chapter Council.
  
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We have also had to deal with lack of participation in other sorority and fraternity philanthropy events.  We have encouraged our new members to participate more, and have also influenced the seniors to attend more events to promote attendance. Our goal for the upcoming year is to come up with a system of issuing house points for participation in philanthropy and sisterhood events. Hopefully this will increase attendance and participation with in our Greek Community.              
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As February rolled around, with a chill in the air, the Kappa girls treated themselves to a much-needed night out dancing. Kappa Krush was held at the Wick Alumni Center on campus for a night of fancy dresses and fun. Later in the month, some Kappas chose to dance the night away at the campus event Dance Marathon. Girls in attendance were delighted to meet the author of the popular book, “Heaven Is For Real,” Todd Burpo.  
  
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Eta Chapter has had a wonderful 2006-2007 year and strengthened the bonds between the members.  Academically, our chapter still holds the highest GPA when compared to the rest of the Greek system at Madison.  All of the women take great pride in this accomplishment and want to continue our strong emphasis on grades and success at this university.  Our dedicated cast for Humorology, a musical and witty skit performed in order to raise money for charity, has qualified for this year's show, which will take place in April.  They continue to work very hard using two to three practices each week to perfect their routine.  We are all more than excited to see the final product! Founders Day was a great success.  We had many previous members join us for dinner and games, and some shared their memories from their experiences in Kappa.  It proved to be a great way to improve the knowledge of our house, while making lifelong bonds as sisters.
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March was much welcomed as girls looked forward to traveling, and going home for Spring Break! Mid term tests were a bit easier to get through because of the unusually warm weather; wearing shorts in March can make any girl happy! Kappas took advantage of the balmy weather by holding the “Kappa Hunger Games” in the Selleck green space. This variation of the game Dodgeball served as the perfect chapter bonding for the All House Retreat before the week of Spring Break.  
  
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We, as an entire chapter, have made it a goal to promote Greek life on campus, while taking the time to improve Kappa's image.  We still have Kappa spies that surprise individuals at the libraries across campus with treats for their hard work and academic dedication. Also, we offer study tables at the house as another method to keep our cumulative GPA at the top.
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The week back from Spring Break was full of Kappa events AND a re-vamped Kappa Kitchen thanks to Kate Kollars and her work with House Board. A new fridge, variety of snacks, and a salad bar cart were included! This sweet surprise had the whole house excited, even Donna and Nicole couldn’t hide their smiles.
  
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This fall, we initiated 38 wonderful women.  Lizzie Muench, our very hard-working new member chair planned numerous activities to help the new individuals get involved in Kappa. All new members attended sexual assault and alcohol seminars hosted by the Greek Community to help prevent any incidents that may occur. Additionally, the new women went on a retreat to the Dells to help form important bonds that will ultimately strengthen our entire chapter.  So far, it has been a busy, but productive year.
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Kappa Goes Country, Mom’s Day, Relay for Life, and Celebrate Sigma (formerly Spring Tea) were all packed into the first weekend back from Spring Break! Kappa Goes Country, the spring philanthropy, was co-hosted with Phi Kappa Theta in the KKG parking lot. The event was complete with a mechanical bull, nachos, pulled pork sandwiches, and country music. However, due to a noise complaint from the fall philanthropy, the music was kept fairly quiet and was turned off at 1 a.m. The proceeds of $3,060 were donated to the American Cancer Society.
  
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One challenge our chapter faced was dealing with better, more efficient ways to manage our budget. We took more time to plan for large events, such as rush, which helped curb our spending problems from previous years. As a chapter council, we discussed our goals for the next year and the ways we can achieve them without bringing up any other unforeseen problems.  Also, we made it a point to attend more Greek philanthropic events because our attendance in the past was somewhat lacking.  However, our chapter has focused on improving our support to other sororities and fraternities and as a result; we have improved our image on campus.
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The following day, the fun continued with Mom’s Day. Wearing their shorts and adorable Mom’s Day shirts, Kappas and their mothers went to Paint Yourself Silly in the Haymarket. Afterwards they treated themselves to supper at Lazlo’s. Some members even invited their mothers to walk alongside them at Relay for Life later that night. All the mothers were also invited to attend Celebrate Sigma the following day. This special event was held at the Wick Center, to honor scholarship winners and wish the senior class well as they shifted into alumni status.  
  
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Eta Chapter has had an exciting '''2008-2009''' year defined by numerous chapter events that have led us to strengthen our members individually as well as at large. Continuing our academic excellence and standing, Eta Chapter won the Panhellenic "Study Table" event. Our members logged the most study hours at College Library during first semester and recently received a DVD player for our consistently outstanding turnout. Eta Chapter also participated in Humorology, a musical performance competition that raises money for an all Greek philanthropy. Although Eta Chapter's cast did not make it to finals, the members did not feel defeated but rather proud of their dedication and diligence. Eta Chapter also decided to take this experience and build upon it by entering the competition for the coming year.            
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As April came about, campus turned green and spirits rose in the 616. The month was filled with The Big Event, Pen Pals Party, Rookie Recruitment, Senior Week, and Dead Week. As the school year drew to an end, the Kappas left the 616 ready for a break from their studies, but sad to leave their sisters for the summer.  
  
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Another event that the members of Eta Chapter particularly enjoyed was Founder's Day. It was wonderful to have the current members interact with a number of Kappa Kappa Gamma alumni. The alumni joined Eta Chapter for dinner and participated in fun Kappa Kappa Gamma trivia games as well as shared personal memories. It was a fantastic way to educate the current Chapter's understanding of Kappa Kappa Gamma's history and lifelong values.
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Though summer break was in full swing, some lucky chapter memebers had the opportunity to travel to Jacksonville, Florida for the National Kappa Kappa Gamma Convention. Sidney Peterson, Megan Videtich, Alyssa Fishbaugh, Natalie Pavlish, Kristin Richter, along with Chapter Council Advisor Mary Ford and House Board President Karen Meginnis all made the once in a life time trip.  
  
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Eta Chapter has continued to uphold our goal to promote Greek life on campus as well as uphold Kappa Kappa Gamma's standards for its members. Eta Chapter has been able to display our academic expectations through study tables and other varies academic activities that are fun as well as rewarding. Eta Chapter's philanthropy, Hoops for Hope, is a campus wide event that allows members and non-members of the University's Greek societies to help Eta Chapter raise money for the Children's Hospital as well as gather a better understanding of Greek life and Kappa Kappa Gamma.
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August brought the Greeks back to campus, with the excitement of Recruitment and catching up with friends. The Kappa house had a definite glow to it, with its fresh coat of paint and new roof that was part of the summer maintenance. The chapter women moved in and geared up for Work Week, and Recruitment Week. As always, this time was emotional and trying for all, but when all was said and done, Kappa bid 36 new members. Bid Day’s theme, “The Best Just Got Better,” was highly appropriate. The new member class was welcomed with an afternoon full of taking pictures, painting coffee mugs, eating at Chipotle, and getting to know their new friends. Two days later, these 36 young women formally pledged to become a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma.  
  
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This fall Eta Chapter initiated 36 wonderful women. Regan Grumley was our outstanding New Member Chair who did a phenomenal job in helping the new members feel comfortable with Eta Chapter and get involved with both Kappa and non-Kappa related events and opportunities on campus. All new members attended a sexual assault and alcohol seminar hosted by the Greek Community to help promote awareness and prevention. The new members attended a retreat to the Dells to help allow them to create important bonds independently. The new members have strengthened Eta Chapter and are eager to become even more engaged in this coming calendar year.
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Just as classes started for the fall semester, philanthropy season and football season kicked-off as well. Kappa Kandyland philanthropy was held on Thursday, August 30th in the KKG parking lot. Complete with a cotton candy machine and photo booth, the chapter raised $4,000 for the Make A Wish Foundation. Two days later, Husker Football had their season opening game against Southern Mississippi. This exhilarating day had the Kappa girls sporting their stylish new KKG husker tanks and crop top shirts, along with a great pair of sunglasses.  
  
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One challenge that Eta Chapter has experienced is promoting all actives to participate as much as possible. Because Eta Chapter is a large Chapter, we are faced with the challenge of hosting events and sisterhoods that are able to include the entire Chapter. Although our sisterhoods are wonderful and successful, they have become more and more sparse. As a Chapter, we are striving to strengthen this particular issue and plan to see improvement within the next semester. Another chapter challenge that Eta Chapter is currently dealing with is the fact that we finished the year off with the fourth highest overall GPA in the Pan-Hellenic community. Although all of the members are working extremely hard, Eta Chapter would like to regain the highest GPA. Eta Chapter is currently planning new academic events that go above and beyond study tables and other current academic opportunities for our members. Eta Chapter is very proud of all of its members, especially when it comes to our academic standings, but there are still areas that need some improvement and we, as an entire Chapter, plan to address such issues and collaborate to promote and raise our overall GPA for this next semester.
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August was gone in the blink of an eye, and September brought an exciting, new Kappa event: the Parent’s Banquet. Alongside the Parent’s Club, Natalie Marcuzzo the event chair planned this elegant dinner to honor and recognize the beloved family members of chapter members. The event was held at the Holiday Inn downtown, and raised money with a silent auction. Members and their family dressed up in their best for this special night, cherishing their time in the company of loved ones.
  
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==Highlights of 2011-2019==
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September also meant Kappa’s National Anti-Hazing Week would take place. The 3rd annual weeklong campaign to recognize chapters for promoting anti-hazing on their campus was again embraced by Sigma Chapter. The chapter women took to social media to show their anti-hazing spirit. Particularly memorable were the hilarious anti-hazing captions and slogans created for pictures of movie scenes. Despite the attempts to win the Anti-Hazing Week competition for the 3rd year in a row, the countless “retweets” and Facebook tags to Headquarters were not enough to lock in the title.  
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==Highlights of 2011==
 
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Throughout 2011, the Eta Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma has focused its energies trying to build strong relationships within the Greek community at UW- Madison as well as the forming stronger sisterly bonds within our chapter.  Our dedication to academic and scholarly excellence placed us once again at the top of the Pan-Hellenic “Study Table” competition.  The Eta chapter logged the most study hours at libraries around the campus.      
 
  
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Kappa Kappa Gamma dedicated much of the year to philanthropic events throughout the Greek system. We participated in Humorology, a musical performance competition that raises money for an all Greek Philanthropy. Kappa Kappa Gamma, paired with Kappa Sigma, won the award for “Funniest Show” and “Best Female Lead”. Our members were completely dedicated to raising money for The Chris Farley Foundation and Camp One Heart Land.    
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October is always a busy month to be a Kappa. Between Founder’s Day, Boo & Boo, Big/Little Reveal, Key Reveal, and Initiation Week, things can get pretty hectic! Founder’s Day was held at the City Campus Union on October 7th. Education Chairman, Sydney McCoun and her committee planned and hosted the lovely occasion. Chapter members and alumni whom attended were treated to a tasty scoop-able cheesecake bar catered by High Society Cheesecakes. The tables were decorated with burlap runners and daisies in Mason jars. Registrar Samantha Samuelson also created a memorable display of archives for the occasion.  
  
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The Eta Chapter invited the Kappa Alumnae from the area and their families to Trick or Treat at our sorority house this fall. Also, we had a very successful Founders Day where we were joined for dinner, trivia, and sharing stories with the alumni. It was wonderful to hear about the history and fun times of Kappa from the alumni! 
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Initiation Week packed Big/Little Reveal, Key Reveal, Boo & Boo, and Initiation all into 7 days! The chapter was also fortunate to have a Leadership Consultant, Kristi, stay with them for the week. But at the end of this Kappa-filled week, 36 new members were initiated into Sigma Chapter as the Pledge Class of 2012.
  
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The Eta chapter at University of Wisconsin has dedicated itself to promoting Greek life in and around the campus. Through our campus wide philanthropy Hoops for Hope, the Eta chapter has been able to not only raise money for the Children’s Hospital but also allows members and non-members of the Greek system to gather a better understanding of Greek life as well as Kappa Kappa Gamma. Additionally, the Pan-Hellenic “Study Table” competition has promoted the Greek system’s academic excellence and standing throughout the campus.
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With the crazy month of October under their belts, November seemed much calmer. The girls welcomed Thanksgiving Break with open arms as a week to go back home and enjoy time with family before beginning the “grind to Christmas Break.” But more excitement awaited the Kappas as they returned from Thanksgiving Break. Elections of new chapter officers and the highly anticipated Winter Formal took place the last week of November. Allowing for a bit of a distraction from the fast approaching Finals Week.  
  
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This year, the Eta Chapter was challenged with trying to help older and younger girls to be closer despite their age division. All grades struggled to get to know girls from classes above and below them, so the Eta chapter, in hope to nullify this problem, had more sisterhoods. The sisterhoods, ranging from a self-defense class to movie nights to decorating holiday cookies, allowing all the active members to get to know and form stronger relationships within the chapter.
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Dead Week and Finals Week are never too terrible if you are a Kappa. Especially this year, when the chapter women were spoiled with snacks every night from Parent’s Club and House Board. Also the new Christmas decorations hanging around the house kept everyone’s spirits bright. By the Saturday morning after the last final tests, the 616 was quiet and empty. But it wouldn’t be long until the halls of Kappa would again be filled with the joy of friendship and sisterhood once more.  
  
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Additionally, the Eta chapter was faced with the challenge of how many girls could live in the sorority house for the 2010-2011 academic year. Many girls wanted to live in their junior year; they spent the year attending events, running for positions and trying to gain enough house points to be able to live in. However, this presented a problem: there wasn’t enough space for all the juniors and sophomores to stay in the house. The Eta chapter spent a lot of time working with individual members of the chapter, and calculating points, being completely fair and honest with the members. Before winter break came, the entire housing situation had been fixed and all the members had been taken care of in a very gracious manner, many Kappas came together a figured out the best situation for everyone.
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An overall description of Sigma Chapter and UNL campus is "growth." With our school’s first year playing in the Big 10, the college is growing and improving in every aspect. From new dorm halls, to the Memorial Stadium expansion, an addition to the Devany Center, and attempts to increase student enrollment, the physical growth is obvious. However, the college, and entire state of Nebraska, was sad to see one of their biggest proponents for growth leave them at the end of 2012. Dr. Tom Osborne began his retirement from the UNL Athletic Director position, and was honored in a most memorable way at the last home football game on Novemeber 17th against Minnesota.  
  
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Eta Chapter has had an exciting, fun-filled year of rewarding events that have helped to strengthen our bonds as sisters as well as the name of Kappa Kappa Gamma itself.  In a display of our academic focus and excellence, Eta Chapter won the Panhellenic "Study Table" event.  Our member s logged the most study hours at the University of Wisconsin's various libraries and were recognized for our hard work and dedication to academic success.                
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But “growth” is something that Sigma Chapter is always striving for as well. With any bumps in the road, or everyday challenges that arise, the women of this chapter adapt, learn, and grow with each step. Everyday they are growing in their academics, friendships, and sisterhood. They learn that with every step forward, or backward, their Kappa sisters are there to help them and uplift them. Growing in Kappa is something these women will carry with them for the rest of their lives.
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In addition to striving to maintain our strong focus on academics, Eta Chapter also dedicated much of its time and activities to philanthropic events. Eta Chapter once again participated in Humorology, a musical performance competition that raises money for an all Greek philanthropy.  The cast made it to finals and placed second overall, in addition to winning various awards such as "Best Female Lead" and "Best Dance Break". The entire chapter was proud of the time and effort participants dedicated to support The Chris Farley Foundation and Camp One Heart Land, both wonderful philanthropies.                  
 
  
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The Eta Chapter invited Kappa Kappa Gamma alumni to attend a trick-or-treating event at the house with their families, as well as participated in Trick or Treat With The Greeks.  Eta Chapter had a successful Founder's Day consisting of a beautiful dinner, trivia, and storytelling with Kappa alumni.  All participants had a blast learning about Kappa's interesting past!
 
  
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Eta Chapter has continued to promote the Greek Community as well as our individual sorority campus wide.  The chapter has displayed its focus on academics through study tables events as well as other various activities, such as our sisterhood dedicated to matching freshman with upper classmen with similar majors who can help them be as successful as possible in their chosen field of study.  Eta Chapter's philanthropy, Hoops for Hope, is a campus wide event available to all students that raises funds for the Children's Hospital.  Eta Chapter has been striving to increase our participation throughout our campus and community. 
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==Highlights of 2013==
  
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This fall Eta Chapter initiated 39wonderful women.  Our New Member Chair, Meghan Macnamara, did an amazing job welcoming the new members into Eta Chapter, as well as educating them on the chapter itself and encouraging participation in both Kappa related and campus wide activities and opportunities.  All new members were required to attend a sexual assault and alcohol seminar hosted by the Greek Community to educate them and promote awareness.  The new members have further strengthened Eta Chapter and are eager to become more participated in the semesters to come.  
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Sigma chapter kicked off 2013 eager to move back into the Chapter House for the spring semester.  Per usual, the Sigma Kappa’s were very busy taking part in many events around campus, as well as their own Kappa events.  January brought a new Chapter Council.
  
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Eta Chapter is continuing its efforts to strengthen our bonds as sisters by holding more numerous and significant sisterhood events and activities.  One sisterhood that was extremely successful was our yoga sisterhood, where two separate groups of girls went to Kaivalya, a yoga studio on campus, and had a fun, relaxing experience.  It is difficult for our chapter to have large sisterhoods with all members because we have so many, so we are concentrating on planning events that all members can participate in together.     
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-February also brought a fun weekend at Province for our Chapter Council. The Zeta province meetings were held in Lawrence, Kansas at Kansas University.  Sigma Kappa won four awards including, the Advisory Board Award, the Jayme Morris-Hardeman Risk Management Award, Honorable Mention Martha Gallagher Cox Chapter Award, and an Honorable Mention Excellence in Communication Award.   
  
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Eta Chapter was unfortunately placed on Social Probation for the last half of the Fall 2010 semester.  The entire chapter evaluated its performance and really strove to uphold our values as a chapter and improve our position in the Greek system, and can proudly say that we were successful and are no longer on probation.  Eta Chapter came together as a whole and accomplished our goals throughout the year.
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-April brought our every growing spring philanthropy titled Kappa Goes Country.  This year it was co-hosted with Kappa Sigma in Sigma’s back parking lot.  The UNL Rodeo Team made an appearance and taught girls how to rope a fake calf.  There were also two mini ponies that gave people rides around the lot.  Arby’s sandwiches, chips, cookies and lemonade was the cuisine on the menu.  Sigma raised $3,350 for Touch of Hope Haiti.
  
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==Highlights of 2012==
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-The Sunday after Kappa Goes Country was Celebrate Sigma (formerly Spring Tea).  This year it was held at the Champions Club here on campus. Celebrate Sigma is to honor scholarship winners and is the last hoorah for the senior class to be recognized and honored and for them to officially shift into alumni status.
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Eta Chapter has had an extremely thrilling and fun filled year. It consisted of several exciting events that have helped strengthen our bond as sisters and better the name of Kappa Kappa Gamma itself. Our members are very dedicated to their work and strive for academic success. Throughout the year, we had sisterhoods every week where members could become closer while also getting work done with each other.  
 
  
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In addition to our strong focus on academics, Eta Chapter also has dedicated much of its time and activities to philanthropic events. Once again, the chapter participated in Humorology, a musical performance competition that raises money for an all-Greek philanthropy. Humorology is one of the oldest traditions at the university and has become the largest non-profit student service organization in Wisconsin. The cast made it to the finals and placed second overall with the additional awards such as “Best Female Lead”, “Best Set”, “Best Large Group Number”, and several others. The chapter came to watch, and it was a great time for both the people involved and the audience. The entire chapter was extremely proud of the time and effort participants dedicated to support Camp One Heartland.
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-The summer brought a brand new first floor to Sigma.  Much to the girls surprise the first floor was completely redone for recruitment in the fall. The house mom Diane Stark, and Kandy Denker were the woman in charge of design and buying all of the new things.  Samantha Samuelson, Kelsey Moreland, and Raylynn Mosel also gave their creative inputs. In the end the walls got a fresh coat of paint, new couches and chairs, new study tables and all new lighting completed the fresh new look to the house.
  
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In addition to Humorology, Eta Chapter also participated in Trick or Treat with the Greeks, where kids from local schools come to our campus and trick or treat to different sorority and fraternity houses on campus. We also hosted “Trick or Treat with the Alumnae Kids”, where Kappa Alum in the area bring their children to the house for candy and games. This was a great way to meet new people and for Kappa alums to reconnect and spend time together.  
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-August brought the Greeks back to UNL, the Sigmas moved back into the 616 and got ready for Work Week and Recruitment weeks to begin.  As always, it was an emotional and exciting week for everyone, but when it came to an end, Kappa bid 45 new members. Bid Day’s theme this year was, “Forget the Good Life, Welcome to the Great Life.” Activities included taking pictures in a photo booth, a DJ and cotton candy at the house and then a dinner at the Single Barrel. Two days later, all 45 members formally pledged to become members of Kappa Kappa Gamma.
  
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The 2012 year included many exciting events, one large one being the Presidential campaign. The chapter was very involved with the campaign of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. All watched the debates and final election and had a lot of fun teaching each other more about the candidates and issues going around the country and world.  
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-This year the Sigma’s decided to try something different for the fall philanthropy, Kappa Kickball was created.  It was a kickball tournament between groups of men from the fraternities on campus. It was a beautiful day for the Sigma’s to coach, referee and cheer on the boys at the Vine Street Fields on campus.  Kappa raised $1,400 for the American Cancer Society.
  
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Eta Chapter has continued to promote the Greek Community as well as our individual sorority campus wide.  The chapter consistently displayed its focus on academics through study tables and other various activities. Everyone shares their majors and classes so people can find others for help. Sisterhoods consisting of studying and snacking in the house are weekly where upper classmen can help freshmen with similar majors to be as successful as possible. Eta Chapter’s philanthropy, Hoops for Hope, is a campus wide event available to all students that raises funds for the Children’s Hospital. A new philanthropy we tried this past fall was Kappa Karaoke. People were invited to come and sing karaoke while we welcomed donations. It was a successful event, which not only raised money for a great cause but also brought our chapter closer together. Eta Chapter continues to strive to increase our participation throughout our campus and community.
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-October brought Sigma Founder’s Day, Boo & Boo and gearing up for Initiation.  Founders Day held on October 13th was a fun night at the City Campus Union. There were cupcakes and cake pops for the girls to eat while we celebrated Kappa’s founding.  
  
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This past fall, Eta Chapter initiated 51 amazing women. Our New Member Chair, Ali Niemann, did an outstanding job welcoming the new members into Eta chapter. The new members have been well educated on the chapter itself and are encouraged to participate in both Kappa related and campus wide activities. All new members were required to attend a sexual assault and alcohol seminar hosted by the Greek Community to educate them and promote. The organization, called P.A.V.E., consistently benefits our chapter continuing good behavior and awareness on campus. The new members have further strengthened Eta Chapter and are enthusiastic to become even more involved every semester.
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-November started off to a great start with the first full week being Initiation Week. The Sigma’s packed in Big/Little Reveal, Key Reveal and Initiation all in one week. The chapter was also fortunate to have the Leadership Consultant, Morgan, stay with them for the week. At the end of the week 44 new members were initiated into Sigma Chapter as the New Member Class of 2013.
  
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Eta Chapter has had some difficulties in the past following certain rules and regulations. However, the year of 2012 was very successful full of several events and activities that made our chapter one of the strongest on campus. Eta Chapter continues to mature and learn from its mistakes, making every year better than the last. Our bonds as sisters continue to strengthen. We cannot wait for all the new, exciting things to come.
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An overall description of Sigma Chapter and the UNL campus is “growth.”  This year brought Sigma the biggest pledge class that it has seen in awhile, with over 1,000 girls going through recruitment this past fall it was bound to happen.  UNL has also been building new dorm halls and a new housing building called the 50/50 building.  Lincoln has also been growing. Building a new area in the Downtown area of Lincoln, called the Railyard, which is where the new Pinnacle Bank Arena is.  The new Arena has brought many concerts and fun events to Lincoln and is also where the UNL men’s basketball team plays their home games.  “Growth” is a word that is heard around Kappa all the time. With the bigger and bigger pledge classes every year, growth is a common word.  Sigma is always looking towards the future and to how the chapter can improve and become the best that it can be.
  
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==Highlights of 2013==
 
  
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Eta Chapter has had a very fun and exciting year. It has consisted of several enjoyable events that have helped strengthen our bond as sisters and better the name of Kappa Kappa Gamma. After a relatively tough academic year, our members strived for and dedicated themselves to academic success. Throughout the year, we had sisterhoods every week, academic or philanthropic, where members could bond while also getting work done with each other.
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==Highlights of 2014==
  
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In addition to our strong focus on academics, Eta Chapter also has dedicated much of its time and activities to philanthropic events. Once again, the chapter participated in Humorology, a musical performance competition that raises money for an all-Greek philanthropy. Humorology is one of the oldest traditions at the university and has become the largest non-profit student service organization in Wisconsin. The cast made it to the finals and received awards for “Best Female Lead” and “Best Villain”. The chapter came to watch, and it was a great time for both the people involved and the audience. The entire chapter was extremely proud of the time and effort participants dedicated to support Camp One Heartland
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The year of 2014 marked yet another successful and busy time for Sigma chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma. To kick off the year, 18 new officers were installed at formal meeting and they had the pleasure of attending Leadership Day. Leadership day brought the new and old officers together under the assistance and activities of Sharon Gober, Director of Standards. This paved the way for a smooth transition into the new roles and helped promote support between officers as well as motivation for a great year!  Under the leadership of President Hannah Kupka, the chapter took on a great year of events.
  
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In addition to Humorology, Eta Chapter also participated in Trick or Treat with the Greeks, where kids from local schools come to our campus and trick or treat to different sorority and fraternity houses on campus. Last year we again hosted “Trick or Treat with the Alumnae Kids”, where Kappa Alum in the Madison area bring their children to the house for candy and games. This was a great way to meet new people and for Kappa alums to reconnect and spend time together. We also organized a new philanthropy even we titled “Grabba Grabba Doughnut” where we sold Krispy Kream doughnuts in library mall during fall midterms. It was a success and everyone enjoyed participating.   
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2014 brought new chapter goals for the actives to work towards including: to increase involvement outside of Kappa and improve social media image, improve chapter academic excellence, establish awareness of Fraternity/Chapter History, By-Laws/Standing Rules, Chapter Budget, and Ritual, and lastly to strengthen chapter accountability, courtesy, and trustworthiness. To achieve these goals, a monthly focus action plan was implemented. VPO, Lindsey Arneson established a theme each month and programs were put on to that concentrated on this theme.  For example, October is Fraternity/Chapter History Month. To put this into practice, in October 2014 we celebrated Founder’s Day, which celebrates the establishment of our national fraternity.  Throughout the month, the members were further educated on Sigma history through trivia questions and quizzes during meeting and a newsletter around the house with many fun facts.   
  
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Eta Chapter has continued to promote the Greek Community as well as our individual sorority campus wide. The chapter consistently displayed its focus on academics through study tables and hours with other various activities such as academic sisterhoods. Everyone shares their majors and classes so women can find others in similar classes and receive tutoring or help. Sisterhoods consisting of studying and snacking in the house are weekly where upper classmen can help freshmen with similar majors to be as successful as possible. Eta Chapter’s philanthropy, Hoops for Hope, is a campus wide event available to all students that raises funds for the Children’s Hospital. Eta Chapter continues to strive to increase our participation throughout our campus and community.
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For Spring 2014, our All-House GPA was a 3.35.  Of this, 43 members received a 3.5 GPA or above and 10 members received a 4.0. We had tremendous support and financial donations from the local Alumnae Associations.  We are so fortunate to have such generous alumni.  They provided us with many scholarships just for Sigma Chapter amounting to over $25,000. They were presented at our event, Celebrate Sigma, during the Spring of 2014. Challenges include increasing our chapter’s GPA and academic rank on campus. I believe we succeeded in informing our chapter of our academic expectations. We provided exciting incentives for attending class through the “No Skippy Jar” and reward academic successes through the “Owl Jar.” For recruitment, we voted to increase the grade requirement for incoming freshman from a 3.33 to a 3.5 GPA. We are very excited about these changes!
  
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This past fall, Eta Chapter initiated 59 wonderful women. Our New Member Chair, Emily Bruksch, did an outstanding job welcoming the new members into Eta chapter. The new members have been well educated on the chapter itself and are encouraged to participate in both Kappa related and campus wide activities. All new members were required to attend a sexual assault and alcohol seminar hosted by the Greek Community to educate them and promote. The organization, called P.A.V.E., consistently benefits our chapter continuing good behavior and awareness on campus. The new members have further strengthened Eta Chapter and are enthusiastic to become even more involved every semester.
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Sigma chapter successfully completed two main philanthropies under guidance of Philanthropy chairman Ally Patterson.  In the Spring, our chapter put on Kappa Goes Country in our parking lot with a local fraternity on campus.  At Kappa Goes Country, the girls helped facilitate games and line dances, while also passing out Arby’s sandwiches. We also had a live concert from a local artist, Nicky James.  We raised a little over 2,000 dollars for the Alzheimer's Association. In the fall, we had our second annual Kappa Kickball. This event is an all day kickball tournament for local fraternities around campus.  We had over 22 teams participate and ended up raising 5,500 dollars for Educate Uganda.  We also sold spots in our parking lot to raise money for the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation for our home football games. Last but not least, we started collecting children's books from alumnae to start up a book drive.  Additionally, Kappas took on the unwritten tradition of participating in Dance Marathon to benefit the Children's  Miracle network and The Big Event, a volunteer day reaching out to the city of Lincoln. Many Kappas served on the executive board for this event.
  
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This past year the existing chapters at Wisconsin Madison voted to welcome a new sorority chapter to our campus. Alpha Xi Delta will be joining our campus next year and we are looking forward to expanding the Greek presence at Madison. Here at Kappa, our bonds as sisters continue to strengthen. We cannot wait for all the new, exciting things to come.
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Along with all the other events Kappas participated in this calendar year, three different formals took place.  Two of which were held at a venue and the girls and their dates dressed up in formal attire. In addition, we had "Kappa Date Night" in the Spring at the house were we enjoyed eating all together and having their dates interact. Last spring we also held dad’s day, the dads and their daughter went on a tour of Memorial Stadium and enjoyed company from each other.  The moms and daughters are eager to attend the mom's day which will be in Spring 2015.  
  
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This past year the chapter was educated in a number of ways.  Last year’s seniors were able to take part in three Senior Programs during the Spring of 2014.  These programs were focused on etiquette, relaxation through yoga, and Celebrate Sigma.  The seniors this year were also able to participate in three Senior Programs.  These were focused on budgeting/finance, building a resume, and once again relaxation through yoga.  In Spring 2014, we had a successful Celebrate Sigma, where the seniors were honored and multiple women received awards and scholarships. The week of September 22-26 of 2014 was National Anti-Hazing Prevention Week. Each day of the week there was a different contest/activity, all of which combined to promote anti-hazing with our fraternity and campus. During the fall of 2014, we also took part in Founder’s Day, where we celebrated the 144th year of Kappa!  In addition, this past year we also participated in Greek Week and Homecoming.  Both events were successful and we had great involvement from everyone in the house.  We also held two dinner exchanges during the fall semester with other sororities on campus. In October, we hosted our annual "Boo and Boo" event where we decorated the whole house, provided snacks, organized Halloween themed games, and had trick-or-treating at each of the rooms.  There was a great turn out with alumnae, their children, family, and friends. 
  
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==Highlights of 2014==
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Another big highlight for Sigma this year were the retreats the ladies of Kappa got to participate in together.  Each pledge class had the opportunity of choosing their retreat in Spring 2014.  A couple initiation classes decided to go to Husker baseball games together, while others took on self defense classes.  In the Fall of 2014, members attended an all house retreat at the recreation center.  During this time together we did many team building/trust building activities as well as a couple childhood games such as playing with a parachute and ships and sailors.  We had a lot of fun getting to know one another a little bit better through the games we played and trust builders we worked through. Also in the Fall the standards committee held a night for all of the new members to come over to carve/paint pumpkins together and eat caramel apples!  Throughout the entire year, the standards committee worked to strengthen the sisterhood of Sigma Chapter and get women more involved in the lives of their sisters.
  
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2014 was an extremely exciting and enjoyable year for the Eta Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma. This year consisted of many fun events that have strengthened our bond as sisters and bettered the name of Kappa Kappa Gamma itself.
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This past summer eight Chapter Council members and two Chapter Council advisers traveled to Houston, Texas to attend Kappa’s Biennial Convention. It was an honor to represent Sigma and we were awarded the Standards Award among five other honorable mentions. We take pride in our chapter, thanks to our devoted members, influential Chapter Council, inspiring Chapter Adviser Mary Ford, and loyal alumnae.  Also in the summer, Sigma had a very successful work week and recruitment week. One day of formal recruitment we focused on our national philanthropy, Reading is Fundamental where the members of the chapter created bookmarks with the women that were coming through. This was a new and exciting experience.  
  
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Continuing to strive for academic success, our members have worked to dedicate themselves to their studies. The chapter consistently displayed its focus on academics through academic sisterhoods. Everyone shares their majors and classes, so members can seek help from fellow sisters. We even employed a tutor to come to the sorority house and assist members with their studies. Also, our members participated in “Letters at the Library,” The weekly Greek-wide event has helped to promote the Greek System’s academic excellence and standing throughout our campus.  
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In other news, it was a great year for finance this past year, members were timely about paying their bills every month. Also, this past year, we  a live out meal plan for members so that they could eat at the chapter house as often as they wanted. This plan seemed to be effective and because one of our chapter goals was the chapter budget, it was great that our finances went smoothly this calendar year.  
  
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In addition to our strong focus on academics, Eta Chapter has dedicated much its time this year to philanthropic events throughout campus. Once again, the chapter participated in Humorology, a musical performance competition that raises money for an all-Greek philanthropy. Existing as one of the oldest traditions at the university, Humorology has become the largest non-profit student service organization in Wisconsin. This year the event raised over $86,000. In addition, our chapter was second runner up, and received awards for “Best Costumes” and “Best Dance Break.” The chapter came to support our cast, and it was a great time for both the people involved and the audience. The entire chapter was extremely proud of the time and effort participants dedicated to support Camp One Heartland.
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Fall was a very exciting time for Sigma because our new members were getting initiated!  We initiated 46 New Members on November 8, 2014. We then held ritual review for the new members following Initiation. For the entire chapter, we continued to improve on ritual and held practices for songs and meanings of ritual. We also continued to follow parliamentary procedure as well as continuing to hold Kappa Kappa Gamma values and ritual to a high standard.  The new members had the opportunity to grow as a class and in sisterhood at their two new member retreats that fall.   They went to the pumpkin patch for one and then passed the key for the other.  
  
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Eta Chapter once again participated in Trick or Treat with the Greeks, where children from local schools come to our campus and trick or treat to different sorority and fraternity houses on campus. Also, our chapter organized a new philanthropy event called “Kappa Karamel Apples,” where we sold caramel apples outside of our sorority house. The event was a great opportunity for our sisters to bond while raising money for our nationwide philanthropy- Reading is Fundamental. 
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Kappas also focused on reaching out to the other Greek organizations on campus this year.  Sigma sent out sympathy cards and flowers to actives and other greek organizations who experienced losses, as well as sent out Valentines and holiday cards in the winter to chapters on campus.
  
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Eta Chapter continues to strive to increase our participation throughout our campus and community. This past year, two of our members were chosen to be on the Panhellenic Executive Board. Also, a large group of our members were initiated into the Greek honor society- Order of Omega. Furthermore, we are proud to have won the Best Philanthropy Award at the All Greek Awards this year, along with 3 other awards. Our chapter remains a strong presence in the Greek community.
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In November we hosted a Staff Appreciation Dinner to thank all of the staff at Kappa for what they do for us.  To ensure the house was held to standard and to show our support for all the house board does for us, we started to have mandatory live-in meetings every first Thursday of the month as something new to keep everybody in the loop. These were extremely successful and helped remind and encourage the women of Kappa Kappa Gamma to respect the house. Overall, the year 2014 was nothing short of excellent for Sigma Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma and they look forward to an exciting and successful 2015!
 
   
 
   
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This past fall, Eta Chapter initiated 53 wonderful women. Our New Member Chair, Samantha Miller, did an outstanding job welcoming the new members into Eta chapter. The new members have been well educated on the chapter and are encouraged to participate in both Kappa-related and campus wide activities. All new members were required to attend a sexual assault and alcohol seminar hosted by the Greek Community to educate them and promote. The organization, called P.A.V.E., consistently benefits our chapter continuing good behavior and awareness on campus. The new members have further strengthened Eta Chapter and are enthusiastic to become even more involved every semester.
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The Greek community at Nebraska is a very strong system.  Summer of 2014 brought in the most amount of women for formal recruitment our campus has ever seen!  It houses 23 Interfraternity Council Fraternities and 15 Panhellenic Council Sororities. The Greek community is very diverse and prides itself community events; each organization hosts at least one philanthropic fundraiser each year.  Kappa Kappa Gamma has immense support from the other organizations, which is apparent in the amount of money raised this year. Just like the Greek system in general, Sigma has a diverse population of young women involved in various things on campus, such as University athletics, officers of clubs, members of Honors Societies, a newly accepted treasurer of Panhellenic, and many more. The overall nature is inspiring, uplifting, and motivating.  
  
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2014 was overall a very fun and successful year for our chapter. We were able strengthen our philanthropic involvement, academic excellence, and overall participation in our community which made us one of the strongest chapters on campus. Eta chapter continues to learn and progress, making every year better than the last and strengthening our sisterly bonds. Eta chapter is eager to begin another exciting year and see what new, fun things are to come.  
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Sigma chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma holds chapter meetings in a multipurpose room in the lower level of their chapter house. It is a chapter owned facility on the campus of University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  Our chapter has their own house that they love and take pride in.  Our chapter was one of the first houses established on campus at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Due to this, it is now considered a national landmark.  The house consists of three levels.  We have two person and three person rooms on each level, and the occupancy of the house is 65 sisters.  Active members from every pledge class love to come to the house and spend their free time there; it is unique, cozy, and makes our members feel "at home."
  
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Our chapter holds its chapter meetings in a chapter owned house. In 1901, Kappa Kappa Gamma was the first sorority on the UW-Madison campus to build its own house on North Park Street. In 1926, The University bought the North Park Street house, and the chapter made plans to build a new house on North Henry Street. The chapter moved into this house in September of 1929, and it has remained the house that our members reside in today. Currently, 55 sisters of Eta Chapter live in our chapter owned house. We are fortunate enough to have one of the few houses that can hold this many members. It's a great aspect of Eta chapter that majority of our members have the opportunity to live in the house. It allows us to strengthen our bonds and grow together as sisters.
 
  
 
==Highlights of 2015==
 
==Highlights of 2015==
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The year 2015 brought many great things for the lovely ladies of Sigma Chapter.  Once again, it was a busy and exciting year for us!  After the installment of the new and eager officers in January, Kappa Kappa Gamma hit the ground running.  Our Chapter Council hosted successful triplet meetings and the annual leadership day with a Kappa Trainer from Nationals for a start.  This helped our chapter set new and strategic goals for the year, most of which were completed.  The main goals we focused on this semester included increasing chapter involvement, increasing knowledge of Kappa Kappa Gamma history, and to increase accountability within the chapter.  Steps were taken in the right direction to reach these goals throughout the semester.  A great way that we facilitated meeting these goals was by hosting two Leadership Consultants, one earlier in the semester and one right before second semester, who met with each council member and gave tips for other chapters on how to meet our goals.
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In the spring of 2015 we had three senior programs, the first was on interior design. Our seniors were able to go to a local decorating shop and be taught one on one skills about how to decorate small living spaces and on a budget.  The next program was hosted by one of our Kappa Advisors and we called it Kappa Kitchen.  The advisor taught the ladies great appetizers and mock tails they could whip up for any occasion.  Of course afterwards, they got to be the taste testers. Our third senior program brings us to Celebrate Sigma.  Celebrate Sigma is our final send off for the seniors and an end of the year banquet for the whole chapter.  Celebrate Sigma was held on Sunday April 26th last year and senior week started Monday the 20th leading up to Celebrate Sigma. Senior week started with our senior ceremony on Monday and a day full of celebrating our seniors. We read sweet goodbye letters from their parents and wish them the best of luck in their future endeavors.
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In addition, this semester included many different events and opportunities for us to grow as sisters and as individuals.  Kappa ladies had the great pleasure of attending many fun events put on by our event chairman, Kathryn Dahl.  These included both Mom’s and Dad’s day, a semi-formal and a formal.  Other things included bon fires, bowling and game nights with other houses on campus.  Spring semester 2015 we held 4 events for Kappa 4 weekends in a row!  We started with semi-formal held with 3 other Greek chapters which was country themed.  We then moved onto Mom’s Day which included lunch at the house, a parents club auction, and painting a fleur-de-lis canvas on East Campus by an art instructor.  Next came Formal “Kites & Keys” held with Kappa Alpha Theta, which had a photo booth and pizza at a spectacular venue downtown.  Lastly, for Dad’s Day, we had lunch at Kappa, Greek merchandise sale at the house, and bowling on teams with our dads.  We were very privileged to have so many great events and memories made!
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Other things Kappa Kappa Gamma was involved in this Spring include: Greek Week hosted by UNL, blood drives, a banner competition, study nights at the Kappa house, attending baseball games together, and sisterhood nights.  Lastly, one of the biggest accomplishments we reached at the end of this semester was that we ranked fifth out of the fifteen Panhellenic chapters on our campus with a GPA of 3.498—the highest ranking and GPA we have held in quite some time. We had seventy-three members receive above a 3.5 GPA and sixteen members receive a perfect 4.0! The past few semesters have proven just how smart Kappas truly are.  It was a great end to the semester!
  
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2015 turned out to be another exciting and eventful year for the Eta Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma! Once again, we focused on maintaining our academic excellence as well as our strong presence on campus.   
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The summer months for Kappa were also extremely exciting! In addition to recruitment planning, we had a big surprise this summer!  With a special thanks to our wonderful house board association and many donations, the lovely 616 underwent a variety of changes including: the bedrooms in the house receiving brand new carpet and paint, as well as new furniture, including bed sets, desks, and dressers.  We also received sleek gray curtains to replace the sliding closet doors, full length mirrors engraved with Kappa keys, new roof installed by the front door, and new washer and dryers that are free of charge to members.  The ladies were extremely grateful for these renovations and very anxious to show off the new rooms during recruitment!
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In regards to scholarship, our chapter had an extremely strong year academically. At our academic banquet, many of our members were recognized for maintaining a 4.0 GPA over the course of the spring academic semester. In addition, the Panhellenic Association awarded two of our members with Panhellenic Scholarships. The Eta Chapter recipients were selected from a large number of applicants across the entire Panhellenic Association. We were so excited to see our sisters win the Outstanding Panhellenic Senior Scholarship and the Outstanding Panhellenic Member Scholarship! Our chapter has also continued to participate in “Letters at the Library.” The weekly Greek-wide event has helped to promote academic excellence and standing within the Greek Community throughout our campus.
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Fall semester started off strong under the recruitment process with the leadership of Amy Baumert, our Membership Chairman.  Throughout formal recruitment, we were seeking women who share the same Kappa ideals that this chapter possesses. We worked hard with the members to represent Kappa Kappa Gamma in a positive light throughout the entire process by always maintaining a positive and energetic attitude.  Along with a successful formal recruitment this fall, we were eligible to participate in a process called Open Recruitment.  What this means is we had the opportunity to meet and consider women at UNL to be potential new members through a more relaxed process than formal recruitment. This was a very exciting thing for us, as it opened the door to many women that we might not have had the opportunity to consider for membership otherwise.  Through Open Recruitment, we were able to meet with women in a casual setting, giving us the opportunity to get to know them and learn more about them. In the end, we were able to initiate 57 new women into the fraternity in November.
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To get involved on campus, Kappa Kappa Gamma initiated a brand new event called “Kool Off With Kappa.” This was held the second week of classes outside of our University Union, where we had a table set up with a banner, and popsicles that we passed out to students as they walked by. Each committee went together at various times and wore special shirts; it got great feedback. It was an awesome way to get to connect with our committees, meet the new members, welcome students back to school, and to get involved! Following this event, we also competed in Homecoming week, where the theme of the week was Heroic Huskers, and we were paired with Beta Theta Pi, Farmhouse, and Kappa Sigma.  The four of us worked together to build an amazing lawn display outside of Beta, create a Monday Night Live skit, participate in the blood drive, run a 5k, and participate in the biggest Husker fan competition. The week ended with the homecoming football game, which was against Southern Mississippi. The week was very busy and lots of fun!  The seniors also had more senior programs, this time we arranged to go to the mall and get styling tips for professional wear, business casual, day to night outfits, and some ideas for dressier events like weddings.  After the styling tips the seniors were allowed to shop around the store and get some great deals.  In addition, a financial advisor from Northwestern Mutual came over to the Kappa house and presented to the seniors some good tips on how to manage your money after college.  In November we will have our last senior program, which will be on etiquette.
  
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Members of our chapter participated in many fun sisterhood events. These events strengthened our sisterly bonds with one another. We rented out a local movie theatre, which made for a fun movie viewing experience. In addition, we made a trip to a Wisconsin State Park- Devil’s Lake. Hiking and taking in the beautiful scenery with our sisters was an amazing experience. These were just some of the many sisterhoods that we had throughout the year. The memories we made during these events have made a lasting impact on us.
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The Fall semester brought even more social events for our Kappa women. We hosted Mom’s Day at the East campus party rooms consisting of lunch and painting pumpkins, which most girls took back to Kappa to decorate outside.  We also had an a capella boys group, The Bathtub Dogs, come sing at the event replacing lyrics with “Kappa’s or Kappa Moms.”  The members loved hearing their talent at this event. The last event of the Fall was formal, which we co-hosted it with Pi Beta Phi and Kappa Alpha Theta. It was called “Triad,” and we replicated t-shirts Sigma made in 1989 and also hosted it with the same houses.  It was special to us to still be able to repeat other events that were special to previous Kappa’s at their time here at UNL.
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Describe the recent changes on your campus and describe the overall nature of your chapter.
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Kappa Kappa Gamma also celebrated our founding sisters from Monmouth college on October 12th with cupcakes, cake balls, alumni, and some great presentations on the creation of Kappa Kappa Gamma and the foundation it has come to be today. Over all this year has been great and hopefully through programs and every day interaction we can keep building education into our Kappa lives.
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Our chapter house underwent some exciting new renovations this summer! We redecorated our chapter room in the house and got beautiful new furniture. It was a great surprise to all of our members, when we returned from summer vacation.
 
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This past fall, Eta Chapter initiated 61 wonderful women! The chapter executed an amazing recruitment this year, and we were extremely to welcome all of these amazing ladies into our sisterhood! Our New Member Chair did an outstanding job welcoming the new members into Eta chapter. The new members have been well educated on the chapter and are encouraged to participate in both Kappa-related and campus wide activities. All new members were required to attend a sexual assault and alcohol seminar hosted by the Greek Community to educate them and promote. The organization, called P.A.V.E., consistently benefits our chapter continuing good behavior and awareness on campus. We are all so excited to see what the new members will contribute to our chapter!
 
  
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Overall, Eta Chapter succeeded in making 2015 an outstanding year. From our philanthropic events to our sisterhoods, there were a plethora of amazing memories made this year. Our chapter continues to improve itself in every single aspect of our sorority. We are looking forward to see what is in store for us in 2016, as every year seems to be better than the last!  
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As you can see, Kappa Kappa Gamma was blessed with another year of great events, involvement, academics, new members, and opportunities to grow as individuals and sisters.  We are very proud of our year and the goals we met. The ladies became close through sisterhood events and encouraging each other to be the best women they can be! We are excited to enjoy our Winter Break and come back to see what 2016 has in store for us!  
  
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Our campus is undergoing the creation of a new Business college this year.  It is very exciting to see the progress!  We also got a brand new Student Recreation Center on both City Campus and East Campus, which our sisters like to enjoy together!  In addition, our campus is constantly growing in students and Greek life.  The overall nature of our chapter is involved, inspiring, close-knit, and energetic.
  
 
Chapter Philanthropy:
 
Chapter Philanthropy:
  
 
What organization(s) has your chapter historically/traditionally raised money for, or donated hours to, in your community?
 
What organization(s) has your chapter historically/traditionally raised money for, or donated hours to, in your community?
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As always, Eta Chapter held philanthropic involvement at a high importance this year. In the Spring, our chapter had our annual philanthropy, “Hoops for Hope.” The event has been a longstanding tradition within our chapter for many years. The event was a 3-on-3-basketball tournament benefiting the UW Children’s Hospital. The philanthropy continues to be an amazing opportunity to raise money for the local hospital. It is also amazing to see members of many different chapters throughout Greek Life come together to support a common cause, and have fun doing it! In the Fall, our chapter organized a new and exciting philanthropy called, “Grabba Grabba Pizza.” Members of Eta Chapter sold pizza outside our house on a Friday night. All of the proceeds from the event benefited our national philanthropy- Reading is Fundamental. The philanthropy was executed seamlessly, and has been one of our most successful philanthropy events to date! In addition to our two philanthropy events, our chapter organized a philanthropy sisterhood this year. A large group of our members spent the afternoon volunteering at a local food pantry. It was a great opportunity to spend time with one another, take a break from schoolwork, and contribute our time towards helping those less fortunate than us in our community. We look forward to organizing more philanthropy sisterhoods in the future!
 
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For the 66th consecutive year, the chapter participated in Humorology, a musical performance competition that raises money for an all-Greek philanthropy. Existing as one of the oldest traditions at the university, Humorology has become the largest non-profit student service organization in Wisconsin. This year the event raised over $116,000 for the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County making the organization the largest student donor to the Boys and Girls Club in the nation! The chapter came to support our cast, and it was a great time for both the people involved and the audience.
 
 
    
 
    
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One of our favorite ways to grow as sisters and individuals is through Philanthropy events, which were planned under our Philanthropy chairman, Sarah Lindstrand.  We vote on our organizations every year!  This Spring, we held an event for an organization called Emma Strong.  The Emma Strong foundation is a fund that was started to help out a little girl battling a life-threatening illness, and it was brought to our attention by a Kappa Alumni.  This is the organization that our chapter felt strongly about and voted on at a chapter meeting.  We teamed up with the fraternity Kappa Sigma to put on a event to donate the proceeds to Emma Strong as, Kappa Sigma was supporting the Wounded warrior organization.  We held an event called, “Kappa Karnival” this event was held in Kappa’s parking lot.  It included music, cotton candy, snow cones, Arby's sandwiches, face painting, bean bags, and a dunk tank.  Everyone that attended this event had a great time, and the women of Kappa really enjoyed getting to know some of the men of Kappa Sigma better.  We made just under $4,000 at this event that we were so excited to donate to Emma strong!  In the beginning of Fall, we held Kappa Kickball, a well-known philanthropy on campus.  Many people enjoy this philanthropy because it’s during the day and all of the players get really into the game.  This year we had great weather and a wonderful turnout with many different teams and with each team a “coach” which is a member of kappa.  The players and coaches get into every game.  The atmosphere during this day was great with cheering and laughter throughout the day. At this event we had Arbys, chips, cookies and water, for everyone to enjoy.  For kappa kickball we made around $2000 for the Melanoma foundation, which again was a foundation we voted on as a chapter.
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Why did your chapter choose this organization(s) to support?
 
Why did your chapter choose this organization(s) to support?
  
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Our chapter continues to support organizations within our community- such as the UW Children’s Hospital and the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County. Our philanthropies are a great opportunity to give back to the community and help those in need around us. It is always gratifying to actually get to see the effects of our service in the community.
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We chose the Emma Strong foundation after it was brought to our attention by a Kappa Alumni.  Because it was so near and dear to her heart, we thought it would be a great opportunity to show our support to her. We chose the Melanoma Foundation because one of our current actives lost her best friend due to Melanoma.  To show our support for her, we voted on this foundation.
  
 
==Highlights of 2016==
 
==Highlights of 2016==
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Sigma Chapter had a very busy and productive 2016 spring semester. We finsihed 5th overall in grades with an all house GPA of 3.524, and set an even higher goal to achieve 3rd in grades for the coming fall 2016 semester. We hosted our spring philanthropy which was cookout themed and benefitted the Muscular Dystrophy Association, something that one of our active members has been personally affected by. Spring semester had its own set of challenges as we were put on warning of probation due to an inncident that happened the previous semester. Sigma chapter and its members handled this with poise not only completing all the required programs but also using these circumstances as a way to better our chapter as a whole and come back from this incident stronger than we were before. Our education chairman hosted our annual senior week and Celebrate Sigma at the end of the semester to celebrate the accomplishments of our dedicated seniors and to celebrate the end of another successful academic year and watch our seniors transition from actives to alumna. We completed various programs as an entire chapter including an alcohol awaremness program led by a Kappa Trainer. We had 7 chapter officers attend convention over the summer where they learned numerous lessons that they brought back to share with the entire chapter in the fall. Fall semester began with a successful recruitment where we invited 57 new members to join Sigma Chapter. They completed a 10 week new member program and were initiated on November 5th, 2016. We hosted our fall philanthropy which was Krispy Kreme and Kappacinos, which benefitted the American Cancer Society. We were able to raise over $5,000 not only during the event but with the help of a Go Fund Me page, something that we had never used before to raise money. We continued to donate to the Kappa Foundation during the fall by selling out our parking lots for home football games, this is a long standing sigma tradition. Philanthrophy was a main focus this semester and through the donations made by our generous alums we were able to donate more time, money, and books to RIF this semester than ever before. The Public Relations chairman hosted our fall event known as Boo & Boo the week of Halloween. This is another Sigma tradition where we invite alums and various members of the community to bring their kids to come and play games and trick-or-treat around our house. We finished all our programs required by our warning of probation, concluding with a presentation led by a Kappa Trainer that was titled "always wearing your letters". This program was received well by all members due to its relevant content about shedding a positive light on Sigma chapter at all times. We are continuing to improve each member and our chapter as a whole as the fall semester comes to an end. We have learned an immense amount during our warning of probation and will take the lessons far into the future to continue to better our sisterhood.
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The Greek community has recently been put under a microscope here on our campus and throughout the United States as a whole. We have worked hard to overcome these negative stereo types and misconceptions about the greek community by having a positive impact on our campus as well as throughout the Lincoln community. We have hosted events at our house as well as involved ourselves in campus events that try and shed a more positive light on the greek community and its members. Our chapter is comprised of a large group of very unique and individual members who all bring their own set of attributes and characteristics to our house. Each member is involved in campus life in a different way, from greek and on greek honors fraternities, to university program council, and various clubs. We use these various outlets to spread a positive message about our chapter and promote as positive greek image to all we encounter.
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Each semester we hold our philanthropy and we are lucky enough to decide who we  would like to see our money benefit. This calendar year we donated to the Muscular Dystrophy Association and the American Cancer Society. We chose these organizations due to the strong personal ties it had to some of our individual members. We donate to the Kappa Foundation on a weekly basis during the fall semester and do RIF events at local elementary schools throughout each semester. We choose these organizations because each member of Sigma chapter is valued in such a way that when they are struggling with things personally we take that to heart and want to support them as much as possible. When emotional support is coupled with financial support and donations we see a real impact in their lives that only strenghens our sisterhood throughout the years. We donate to the Kappa Foundation because of all the great work they do with that money, we have had multiple Kappa Trainers and seen the impact of the Rose Mcgill fund and know that our donations are going to be used in the best ways possible.
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==Highlights of 2017==
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Sigma Chapter stayed extremely active throughout the year. Whether that be hosting events, participating in on campus activities, or studying hard, the Kappa's were everywhere.
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We hosted our Spring philanthropy, which benefitted a local organization, Wonderfully Made, that provides kids with special needs all around the Lincoln area. "Kappa Con Queso" was able to raise $4,000 for this great program! Our mini philanthropy spring semester benfitted the Children's hospital and medical center which raised around $600. This past fall we hosted "Krispy Kremes & Kappacinos" in benefit of the Blood Clot Alliance. We were able to raise $2600 in honor of a member who has struggled with this in the past. Our mini philanthropy was for a local family struggling to keep their three boys happy and healthy due to a rare disease. We were able to donate $900 directly to their medical bills.
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Academically our chapter ranked 8th out of 16 sororities with a 3.45 GPA. Our goal is to push a little harder and attain a 3.52 GPA.  Our education chairman hosted our annual senior week and Celebrate Sigma at the end of the semester to celebrate the accomplishments of our dedicated seniors and to celebrate the end of another successful academic year and watch our seniors transition from actives to alumna.
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We completed various programs as a chapter, including multiple visits from leadership consultants (who were extremely knowledgable and fit in great as Sigmas). We had 5 chapter officers attend a leadership convention in Saint Louis over the spring where they learned numerous lessons that they brought back to share with the entire chapter in the fall.
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Fall semester began with a successful recruitment where we invited 50 new members to join Sigma Chapter. They completed a 10 week new member program and were initiated on November 18th, 2017. We continued to donate to the Kappa Foundation during the fall by selling out our parking lots for home football games, this is a long standing sigma tradition. Philanthrophy was a main focus this semester and through the donations made by our generous alums we were able to donate more time, money, and books to RIF this semester than ever before. The Public Relations chairman hosted our fall event known as Boo & Boo the week of Halloween. This is another Sigma tradition where we invite alums and various members of the community to bring their kids to come and play games and trick-or-treat around our house.
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The Greek community at Nebraska has recently been put under a microscope here on our campus and throughout the United States as a whole. We have worked hard to overcome these negative stereo types and misconceptions about the greek community by having a positive impact on our campus as well as throughout the Lincoln community. We have hosted events at our house as well as involved ourselves in campus events that try and shed a more positive light on the greek community and its members. Our chapter is comprised of a large group of very unique and individual members who all bring their own set of attributes and characteristics to our house. Each member is involved in campus life in a different way, from greek and on greek honors fraternities, to university program council, and various clubs. We use these various outlets to spread a positive message about our chapter and promote as positive greek image to all we encounter. 
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Every semester we are fortunate enough to hear many different personal stories and connections our own Kappa's have with specific organizations, families, etc. This process is so special to us because we are able to donate money somewhere that we can potentially see a difference made in one of our own Kappa's. This past year we donated to Wonderfully Made, The Children's Hospital and Medical Center, The National Blood Clot Alliance, and a local family going through hard times. While we are able to donate money to these wonderful places, there are also Kappa's donating their time all over Lincoln. Many people volunteer at local schools, hospitals, Dance Marathon, The Big Event (University puts it on), and many more. 
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We choose these organizations because each member of Sigma chapter is valued in such a way that when they are struggling with things personally we take that to heart and want to support them as much as possible. When emotional support is coupled with financial support and donations we see a real impact in their lives that only strenghens our sisterhood throughout the years. We donate to the Kappa Foundation because of all the great work they do with that money, we have had multiple Kappa Trainers and seen the impact of the Rose Mcgill fund and know that our donations are going to be used in the best ways possible. We also donate books to financially struggling kids and schools around the area as well as visit those schools and kids and read the books to classrooms  through RIF.
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==Highlights of 2018==
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      Throughout the 2018 year, many girls bustled in and out of the big, blue door of the white, Kappa house at the 616. With a total of 168 active women in the chapter many activities, clubs, majors, jobs, and athletics kept Kappa’s members busy. At the beginning of the year, 18 new officers were installed at Formal Meeting, and Summer Baldwin became the 2018 Kappa Kappa Gamma Sigma Chapter President. The new council members became acquainted with their positions and advisors as they met with previous officers.
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      Within the Greek Community at the university, Kappa’s presence was made clear throughout the year. Sigma’s Panhellenic Delegate, Kali Dodd, attended weekly meetings with fifteen delegates from other chapters, acted as the liaison between Kappa and The National Panhellenic Conference, and created opportunities for Sigma Chapter to build relationships with other chapters on campus. For International Women’s Day, Kappa teamed up with Kappa Alpha Theta and handed out goody bags in front of the Student Union in the spring. This event was a huge success, and Kappa plans to do it again next year in 2019! Kappa had the pleasure of being paired with Beta Theta Pi and Delta Delta Delta for Greek Week in the spring. The Homecoming Week theme was “Bringing Tradition Home” in honor of Scott Frost’s first season as head coach of the football team. Kappa had very high involvement in all of the events and placed in the top three for the blood drive and lawn display competitions. Kappa was paired with FarmHouse, Sigma Chi, and Pi Alpha Chi for Homecoming. Sigma Alpha was added to the Panhellenic Community this year, and Theta Phi Alpha is no longer recognized as a Panhellenic chapter. Sigma chapter received an honorable mention for Panhellenic at the National Conference in Denver, Colorado. Kappa’s very own, Andrea Harris, was elected to serve as the 2019 Panhellenic President.
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      During Formal Recruitment in August of 2018 over 1000 women participated in the action-packed week, visiting a total of 16 chapters each. Kelsey Martinez, Sigma’s Membership Chairman, hosted all Potential New Members throughout the week and prepared for their arrival all summer. This year, Kappa had 5 members volunteer as Rho Gammas during the week, mentoring small groups of women and guiding them throughout the week. Bid Day came at the end of the week planned by Emma Tuttle, Sigma’s New Member Chairman. Bid Day was “Kappa Kandyland” themed with pascal colored props, tank tops, glitter, colorful lipstick, hair dye, and many excited new members and actives. Chapter Registrar, Andrea Harris, organized Bid Day photography to commemorate the special day. After 52 women ran into the arms of joyful Sigma Members, 51 of them successfully completed the new member program with Tuttle throughout the beginning of the 2018 fall semester. On October 26th and 27th, alumni came to initiate the 51 new members composed of daughters, sisters, granddaughters, and nieces. Jessica Moore, Sigma’s Marshal, planned a successful, exciting, and well-rehearsed initiation ceremony for the chapter. She emphasized Kappa’s songs and traditions throughout the process.
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      Many changes to the UNL campus happened this year. One was that the Cather/Pound Dorms behind Neihardt Residence Hall were demolished in late December of 2017. The lot on which both buildings resided has been vacant and blocked off for a year after. Just this December, nearly a year after the implosion, there have been workers cleaning up the site and adding sidewalks through the still roped off area. Another change to the atmosphere of UNL is the Tobacco-Free and Smoke-Free Campus Policy. This new policy at the university was approved back in August of 2017, and it was put into full effect starting on the first of the year in January of 2018. In the fall of 2018, the Nebraska Huskers welcomed back one of their own, Scott Frost, to be the head coach of the Nebraska Huskers Football Team. Many excited fans anxiously awaited his influence on the team which has not been performing as well as they would like. After the Huskers finished their 2018 season with only four wins and eight losses, Nebraskans are not as pleased with Frost as they expected they would be. The Husker Volleyball and Basketball teams have been doing well during their 2018 seasons, and other UNL teams continue to exemplify success and embody what it means to be a D1 athlete at UNL. Finally, the Cather Dining Center and College of Business recent builds have been easily accommodating students and contributing to academic success and university comfort this year.
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      Another project that’s projected to be done in the next month or so is the addition to Sigma Phi Epsilon across 16th Street from Kappa. The fraternity has been making an addition on the south side of their house and ensuring that it matches the rest of the house’s old, genuine, brick exterior aesthetic. Fraternity, Sigma Nu, just to the North of Sigma Phi Epsilon, remains abandoned and unkept. Fraternities Phi Gamma Delta, Delta Tau Delta, and Phi Kappa Psi still remain in band standing with the university and are working to rebuild and reconfirm their fraternity values and status in the Greek and University communities.
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      During the 2018 year, Sigma boosted the house GPA to a 3.476 which was above the all-campus GPA of 3.274 and the all sorority GPA of 3.473. With the assistance of Colleen Doyle, Vice President of Academic Excellence, Sigma got a Chegg account in order to provide more academic assistance to all members. Kappa tried monitoring study hours on the GINsystem App to allow for more flexible study hours. This year, Sigma had an incredible 72 active members with a GPA of 3.5 and above. Sigma has also been able to provide tutors for around 14 girls in the house this year.
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      Kappas were extremely involved on campus in 2018. Select senior members were a part of UNL’s Order of Omega, an all-Greek honors society. Many active members played on intramural sports teams, club sports teams, and the chapter had two D1 athletes in the 2018 year: a women’s soccer player and a women’s tennis player. Women in all colleges from Journalism and Mass Communication, to Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, to Business, to Engineering, and many more were 2018 actives. A handful of Kappa juniors and seniors in the 2018 year attended the new UNMC College of Nursing in Lincoln, Nebraska, with some choosing to remain active members on special status instead of going to associates status. Kappa women participated in summer and semester study abroad programs that took them across Europe to places in Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Ireland, and to many more adventurous destinations along the way. In September of 2018, a Kappa senior, Jordyn Koenig, Vice President of the Big Red Chapter of Pheasants Forever at UNL, organized a Youth Mentor Hunt for college students to test out hunting and have the opportunity to learn how to shot from other Pheasants Forever members. Koenig and six other Kappa members participated in the event, creating an awareness and promotion of the sport across campus.
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      In June of 2018, six actives in Kappa accompanied by advisors and Sigma alumni attended the 2018 Kappa Kappa Gamma National Convention in Denver, Colorado. Those who attended were inspired by many generations of Kappas from across the United States. Women expressed their Kappa spirit with little golden keys, blue clothing, owl accessories, and a common theme of fleur-des-lis. Convention had officer training programs and the Sigma actives who attended, all members of the 2018 council, gained insight into their positions and ideas about how to implement changes to their position in the future. Kappas also learned about diversity, inclusion, and made changes to national Kappa bylaws and standing rules. In 2018, Kappa became inclusive of transgender women, a big step in Kappa’s goal of becoming inclusive to all women. Sigma Chapter submitted applications for awards at the Biennial National Convention, where Sigma received honorable mentions in House Board, Advisory Board, and Panhellenic. Attendees of the Convention left Denver with new ideas, forward-thinking minds, and more Kappa merchandise than they had when they arrived...
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      Philanthropies this year were organized by Aly Burd, Philanthropy Chairman. In the spring of 2018, she and her committee planned Mac and Keys benefiting the Alzheimer’s Association. Kappa raised a total of $5,500. In the fall of 2018, Kappa hosted Krispy Kreme and KAPPAcinos benefiting the John Atkinson Lung Cancer Foundation and $5,000 was raised. In addition, Kappa hosted mini philanthropies benefitting various organizations such as the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and to Write Love on Her Arms. Kappa also hosted Reading is Fundamental events, where members would read to elementary school students at underprivileged schools in Lincoln, as well as donate books to them. In the spring of 2018, many of Kappa’s actives participated in the Big Event and Dance Marathon, University organized volunteering and fundraising events that a large portion of UNL’s student population was involved in and excited about.
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      Kappa had many glam formals, special events, and fun sisterhood retreats throughout the 2018 year. Elizabeth Mattern, Event Chairman, and Madison Felix, Risk Management Chairman, kept events organized and fun. Sigma was able to bring back the Sapphire Ball, a Kappa tradition in the fall of 2018. This event was a hit for all members! Events ran smoothly thanks to these two council members and were approved by national headquarters and obliged by Kappa’s sorority contract. Both council chairmen planned events with other Greek Chapters like Crush Formal and Mom’s Day in the spring and American Social, Dad’s Day, and a self-defense class in the fall.
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      Vice President of Standards, Sydney Hawekotte, made sure that all members were following Kappa bylaws and standing rules. She made sure that all members were reaching the standards Kappa has set in place. She also planned many sisterhood events with the help of her committee. Each member planned a sisterhood event, which occurred about every month like the October trip to Vala’s Pumpkin patch during Nebraska’s peak of the fall season. Hawekotte also hosted a public speaker, Ann Brewer, who talked about the danger and realness of sex-trafficking.
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      Education Chairman, Maggie DeGarmo, held both the Celebrate Sigma and Founder’s Day banquets, which both were a success. At Celebrate Sigma, Kappa honored the seniors and celebrated all the achievements of Sigma Chapter within the last year. Scholarships were also awarded to select actives of Sigma Chapter. Kappa also had a program with the seniors and the alumni where Kappa listened to a motivational speaker who was also an alum of Kappa. Kappa got to celebrate the seniors during senior week which was a great way to send them off into the real world. This fall semester, Kappa held the Founder’s Day Banquet to celebrate the founding of Kappa. Kappa also honored alums, house board, advisors, and new members, and it turned out to be a successful night. The 2018 semester ended with a senior program where the seniors did cooking classes with Kappa’s amazing cooks, Donna and Nicole, who have been working at Sigma Chapter for years. Seniors all really enjoyed it and learned a lot about making enchiladas and baked ziti.
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      With a new year comes new changes, and some definite changes occurred at Kappa over the 2018 year. Susan Hirt, Chapter Council Advisor, spent her last year working with Sigma actives and alumni as she prepared to move out of the state to work. However, some other advisors were introduced into the Sigma family in 2018 like Krista Hafez, Registrar Advisor. Diane Stark is still the Sigma House Mother who works hard to keep the big, white house in order and exercises her “handyman” skills, helping to fix nearly everything in sight. Kappa purchased a new blue couch, which actives call “BC”, and large chair for the living room as overseen by Alexa Berry, House Chairman. Another change of 2018 is the transitioning of paper documents to digital documents that will continue to be a change implemented throughout the coming years. President Baldwin gave other council officers a chance to look over Sigma’s bylaws and standing rules, and Sigma was able to make amendments to the way room preference works, as well as live-out parking lot time frames. Sigma also elected smaller positions for a banner chairman and a t-shirt chairman, and those selected were able to involve committees and the chapter in more events. Hannah Sickler, Vice President of Organization, kept the chapter aware of activities and events by updating the chapter calendar. She worked to restructure committee night so that it was more productive than it had been in the past. Her committee helped come up with ideas on ways to keep Sigma Chapter more organized and is working on cleaning up old files and items that are no longer of use to the chapter. Sickler also worked with two separate LCs, Leadership Consultants, from Nationals and helped host them during their visit to Sigma Chapter.
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      Other components of Sigma’s 2018 year included the chapter’s presence in social media. Public Relations Chairman, Sydney Lenarz, and her committee monitored all social media of active Kappas. They created new social media outlets such as VSCO, kept all social medias up-to-date for active members and alumni, put on an all-house photoshoot in the spring of 2018, and hosted a children's Halloween party called “Boo & Boo” for Kappa alumni, friends, and family in fall of 2018. The final accomplishment for Lenarz was sending out a blog/newsletter to Kappa alumni explaining what each council member had accomplished throughout their time on Sigma’s council. Andrea Harris, Sigma’s Registrar, is working to create the 2018-2019 composite, making it a tribute to the 1982/1983 composite design that depicted many mothers of current Kappa actives. Unfortunately, it was broken in the spring of 2018 when it fell off the third floor hallway wall, which lead to the idea of recapturing its design in 2018’s composite. Macie Kubat, corresponding secretary, replaced the mailboxes in the house, so that live-ins would have their own personal space to receive mail. Kubat also sent out holiday cards, gave flowers for chapters in need, and helped with house announcements. Sydney Miller, recording secretary, took minutes and attendance at chapter council meetings and every Monday night meeting. Her committee took attendance during philanthropies this year. Finally, last but certainly not least, Kappa’s finances were managed by Frannie Folson, Sigma’s Treasurer. Folsom continued to use BillHighway for member dues to be paid, was frugal and conscientious of spending, and added to and reduced officer budgets. The Assistant to the Treasurer in the spring of 2018 was Mollie Sperry and in fall of 2018 was Lauren Leapley. The assistants helped Folsom in charging freshman and other visitors for guest meals. As it is built into their dues, many juniors and seniors still eat at Kappa daily.
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      With the ending of 2018 comes the excitement and anticipation of what the 2019 year in the big, white house at 616 at “Dear old Nebraska U” will bring. Wonders of what the future holds for politics, social development, scientific discoveries, artistic innovation, the global community, and, of course, the legacy of Kappa Kappa Gamma keep us attentive.
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==Highlights of 2019==
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The year of 2019 marked another successful and busy year for Sigma Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma.  At the beginning of the year, 18 new officers were installed at Formal Meeting, and Madison Felix became the 2019 Sigma Chapter President. The new council members had the pleasure of attending Leadership Day bringing new and old officers and chapter advisors together to pave the way for a smooth transition into new roles. The goal was to help promote support between officers as well as motivation for a great year!
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Within the Greek Community at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), Kappa made their mark at the university. Sigma’s very own, Andrea Harris served as the 2019 Panhellenic President and we could not be prouder! Andrea worked alongside the Interfraternity Council (IFC) to install a hard alcohol ban on chapter events except when served by a licensed third- party vendor which went into effect August of 2019. The policy is in line with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s longtime commitment to reduce high risk drinking among students. The Panhellenic Council also created a new bylaw so that all candidates could be reviewed for a position on their council. Previously, if a member from a sorority was president a member from the same sorority could not be president the following year. Sigma’s Panhellenic Delegate, Samantha (Sam) Barnard, attended weekly meetings with fifteen delegates from other chapters, acted as the liaison between Kappa and the Panhellenic council, and created opportunities for Sigma Chapter to build relationships with other chapters on campus. During the spring semester of the 2019 academic school year, Sam focused on increasing Sigma involvement at campus events. She focused on doing this at UNL Homecoming events including competing in the Lip Sync competition, raising money for the Lighthouse Foundation at the block party, creating a banner, pomping for lawn displays, and participating in Homecoming events overall. Kappa Kappa Gamma placed third overall out of the Greek Community with the help of Phi Delta Theta and Phi Kappa Psi. We also collaborated with Kappa Alpha Theta to help women on campus celebrate International Women’s Day. During the fall semester of the 2019 academic school year, Sam mainly focused on Kappa’s involvement with participating in “Greek Week” events. These events included: banner making, the Lip Sync Competition, making lawn displays, parade participation, and house tours.
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During Formal Recruitment in August of 2019, over 1000 women participated by each visiting 16 chapters each. Regina Brokke, Sigma’s Membership Chairman, and Maddy Felix, Chapter President, attended Greek preview in March to speak to potential new members about Kappa and give a sneak peek to recruitment. Regina dedicated her summer to redecorating the house with help from her committee and planning out the recruitment schedule. During recruitment, Regina organized recruitment practice with Pi Beta Phi which was lots of fun! Alexa Berry, New Member Chairman, and her committee worked hard to plan bid day which was themed “Kappa Palooza” where we welcomed 52 new members into our arms. On November 23, 2019, we successfully initiated all 52 members with help from Clare Ellerbee, Chapter Marshal, and her committee. Clare worked hard to emphasize the importance of ritual by educating the whole chapter during her Program Night.
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During the 2019 school year, Sigma had a house GPA of 3.465 ranking 9th out of 51 Greek chapters and earning above the average UNL GPA of 3.149 and the average sorority GPA of 3.455. Lauren Kubat, Vice President of Academic Excellence (VPAE), implemented different academic programs that had not been previously installed. Weekly study nights, individualized approaches to POC, Dead Week study food and incentives, and much more were started. Although we did not improve semester to semester GPA, a deeper appreciation and motivation of academic excellence was found among Sigma’s members. The collaboration with Katie Krzemien, Vice President of Organization, on Dead Week Study Snacks and Prizes was one of the most successful parts of this last year. Over 600 study hours were logged between the Spring and Fall dead weeks. Girls in the new member pledge class used this as an opportunity to come to the house and get to know each other. Another key success from this past year was the purchase of a white board and a white noise machine for “Multi”, Sigma’s silent study room. Lauren Kubat’s main goal was to encourage a strong academic environment for girls to be encouraged to study smarter, not necessarily harder. Sigma Chapter has now been educated about more academic resources on campus and feel more comfortable getting academic support when they need it.
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In February of 2019, President Madison Felix, Vice President of Standards Kylee Hines, Vice President of Organization Katie Krzemien, Vice President of Academic Excellence Lauren Kubat, Education Chairman Mollie Sperry, and VPAE and House Chairman advisor Kim Miller attended the Kappa Leadership Conference in Dallas, Texas. Those who attended roomed with council members from The University of Kansas and collaborated with council members from across the country to learn and brainstorm new ideas. They had the opportunity to listen to speakers who demonstrated the true meaning of being a woman in the 21st century. The Sigma representatives attended workshops including “Courageous Conversations”, “Life after Kappa” and many others. These members left inspired and were reminded to constantly have the confidence to be independent leaders in their endeavors.
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Philanthropies in Spring of 2019 were organized by Ann Krause. Ann and her committee planned “Kamp Kappa” which benefitted the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation and raised $3,000. McKenna Bradley took over as Philanthropy Chairman in the fall semester of 2019. McKenna and her committee hosted “Kapiji Dog Days of Summer” with Phi Gamma Delta (Fiji). Sigma Chapter raised a total of $6,500 for the Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital, setting a new record in fundraising! Sigma members and friends brought their dogs and eat barbeque. In honor of Kappa’s 150th Anniversary, the chapter decided to participate in Kappa National’s 150 Hours of Community Service Initiative. We were able to cumulatively serve over 400 hours in the last two months of the semester! We also hosted a holiday-season toy drive. We collected 116 new toys for HopeSpoke, a local mental health organization that specifically gives resources to struggling kids, families, and young adults. To close out the semester, we partnered with Blaze Pizza to raise money and awareness for the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society. It was quite a philanthropic semester for Sigma!
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Kappa had many glam formals and special events organized by Event Chairman, Brooklyn Housch, and Risk Management Chairman, Brianna Oehm. In January 2019, they planned a Masquerade Ball with Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Alpha Phi. In April 2019, there was a formal themed 80’s dress/workout. The semester was filled with dinner exchanges, socials, and study nights with various Greek chapters on campus. Mom’s Day was held at Kappa as a spa night with massage chairs, polaroid pictures, face masks, nail stations, and lots of food. The fall semester began with a Stampede Formal in September with Delta Gamma, Alpha Gamma Pho, and Farmhouse. The second formal was the annual Sapphire Ball in November. Trying something new, Mom’s and Dad’s Day was combined this semester for a Parents Weekend. We had a barbeque on a Friday evening and a brunch the Saturday morning following. A favorite social of Sigma Chapter was going to the Pla More for swing dancing with Alpha Gamma Rho. The freshman attended several introductions with fraternity freshman where they got to know one another, strengthening our Greek bonds on campus.
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Vice President of Standards, Kylee Hines, worked to establish more transparency and communication between the chapter and the Standards committee all while maintaining confidentiality. Kylee educated the chapter on probation and what nationals allows for terms of probation that benefit members most. Kylee’s mission statement for the term was comprised of guiding members to grow and develop as women, and she worked hard to achieve that. The Standards committee also put together several sisterhood events and a Program Night. The night consisted of two therapists sharing information on eating disorders, how to spot a potential disorder, and what the best next steps are to help the person being treated. One sisterhood event was “Kappa Kanvas”. This event included several artists guiding the chapter on how to paint Sigma’s signature white house. It was a fun and memorable event for all in attendance.
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Education Chairman, Mollie Sperry, facilitated many chapter events and programs for the current chapter members and local alumni association. Mollie worked closely with the 2019 graduating seniors, their parents, and alumni to plan the end of year celebration called Celebrate Sigma. Mollie worked with our adored cooking staff to build the annual senior gift, a Kappa Cookbook with original chapter recipes. Mollie facilitated a senior sisterhood cooking event where they got to learn from cooks Donna and Nicole on how to make our legendary Kappa enchiladas! Mollie facilitated an all-house program through nationals to discuss mental health issues that affect college students.
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House Chairman, Chloe Discoe, was in constant communication with our kitchen staff, house board and director, chapter council and chapter members to maintain our beautiful home. Chloe, Maddy, and Lauren attended house board meetings once a month to discuss the foundation of the “616” (our nickname for the chapter house), potential remodels, and other various financial aspects. Chloe worked with House Director, Diane Stark, to schedule fire drills, inspections and handle any issues that arose in the house. Chloe planned a wonderful staff appreciation dinner to thank our wonderful cooking staff and house director. Chloe also managed live-in room selection and contracts for both live-in and live-out members.
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Public Relations Chairman, Anna Mantini, worked to maintain the chapter’s overall image to the community and alumni through various public events and publicizing chapter activities. Anna focused on social media webpages, the main ones being Twitter and Instagram. Her committee put on a public relations events for Saint Patrick’s Day to cheer up students during midterms. They also planned the all-house photos in April which took place at the Nebraska Capitol building. In the fall, she planned “Kool Off with Kappa” for students to grab a free snow cone outside of the Kappa house. She also held our annual Boo and Boo where alums bring their children to trick or treat and play various games at the house. Maddie Mallisee, Recording Secretary, took minutes and attendance at chapter council and Monday night chapter meetings. She made sure members were held accountable in attending events that were required and encouraged attendance for optional ones. Maddie held a drawing and gave out gift cards to 10 of the 84 members who did not miss a single chapter meeting. Olivia Hartnett, Corresponding Secretary, replaced the mailboxes in the house so that live ins could have their own personal space to receive mail. Sigma’s Treasurer, Lauren Leapley, managed chapter finances and continued to use Bill Highway for members to pay their dues. Lauren allocated more of our dues to officer budgets in order to make more efficient use of our annual funds. The elected Treasurer Assistant, Ellie Hellman, worked to charge freshman and associate members for guest meals at the house and Kappa apparel. Kappa began using Venmo to accept philanthropy donations which increased the amount donated. To balance this, new elements of checks and records were implemented to keep track of our funds. The last in her position, Chapter Registrar Amanda Malashock organized bid day photos, the chapter composite, and reports.
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With 2019 coming to an end, Sigma Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma continues to grow and develop, looking forward to the upcoming year at the big white house!
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==Highlights of 2020==
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The year of 2020 marked a time of hardship, change and growth for Sigma Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). At the beginning of the year, 16 new officers were installed at Formal Meeting – 2 less officers than prior years since of Historian and Recording/Corresponding Secretary were absorbed into other positions. The new and old council members and chapter advisors had the pleasure of attending Leadership Day, hosted by prior Vice President of Organization (VPO) and current Vice President of Standards (VPS) Katie Krzemien, to ensure smooth transitions. The goal was to build a support network which was utilized greatly in 2020 to counter unprecedented challenges faced by Sigma Chapter. The new counsel faced the loss of the Sigma
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Chapter House Director of 8 years, Diane Stark, in January followed by unexpected difficulties with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln shutting down due to COVID-19, affecting many events planned by
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Chapter Council.
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Newly installed Chapter President Lauren Kubat, fondly called “Kubat”, set a goal at the beginning of her term to update Sigma’s Standing Rules. She hosted the first ever Council Retreat with Vice President of Organization Riley Cossen to help the council revise the Standing Rules and bond as a group. Due to the sudden strike of COVID-19, the chapter was unable to vote to pass updates on the
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Standing Rules. The live-in members of the Kappa House were required to move out due to this. In spite of the abrupt change to Kappa life, Kubat hosted weekly council meetings and monthly house board
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meetings via Zoom, even helping interview and hire Sigma’s new House Director Stacia Anderson. Throughout the second semester of her term Kubat updated the bylaws and standing rules to adjust to
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the new COVID-19 reality. Traditional Monday night meetings were moved to a zoom format, where all members would join on their own device via zoom. This offered a safe, socially distanced alternative to
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our normal meeting structure. Announcements continued as normal, as council members would read from the power point that was shared to everyone’s screen.
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Katie Krzemien began her term as VPS with a mission to rebrand Standards at Sigma Chapter as a safe space for members to grow. Katie held a mock Standards meeting during her program night to
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show transparency among her committee as well as assigning more responsibilities to the elected members on her committee. She created a monthly “Sunshine Sister” program to show support to
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individual Kappas where members nominate each other anonymously to receive personalized care- packages and letters from the Standards committee (continuing via mail during COVID-19). Katie hosted
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a “Galentine’s Day” Sisterhood event with Panhellenic Delegate Ericka Knapp to bring Delta Gamma and Kappa together over a spa night, cookie decorating, and more in February. One of the most important
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Katie had to do this year was enforce all of the COVID-19 protocols in the fall semester of 2020. This included making sure all live-in members were socially distanced at all times, and wearing their mask
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throughout the house. Some of the socially distanced protocols included only allowing 4 people at each dinner table, socially discanced markings in “BC” and “pink”, and allowing no visitors into the house. Katie did a great job of making sure everyone followed these new rules.
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Riley Cossen is the Vice President of Organization (VPO) at Kappa, one of three women by the same name on council this year. She started her term out strong by helping host the first ever Council
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Retreat, bringing food and games to help everyone bond. She began laying out the Kappa calendar in regard to events and meetings months in advance and stepped up in light of changed due to COVID-19.
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Riley welcomed our Leadership Consultant (LC) Jenna Patton virtually. It was Jenna’s first virtual visit as an LC since she was scheduled to come to Sigma Chapter the week universities shut down across the
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country in response to the pandemic. Riley continued to meet with her committee via Zoom and plans to make themes for Committee Chapter Meetings at Kappa. After elections Riley was in charge of
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organizing the transitions for the new council. Riley had to help ensure the new council members had two, one-on-one sessions with their old council counterpart to help the transition go smoothly.
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The Vice President of Academic Excellence (VPAE) Mia Soulierre set the goal of raising Sigma Chapter’s grade point average (GPA) from a 3.49 to a 3.5 for the spring semester. Alongside this, she
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transitioned the Academic Excellence program at Kappa for members who struggle academically from “Period of Concern” (POC) to “Academic Progress Plan” (APP). This new program enables a more
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empowering approach to academics. Since COVID-19 forcing UNL to move to digital learning, Mia’s committee has been doing Zoom check-ins with APP members to aid them in this time of transition and
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help them in response to changing university policies. One of the most successful parts of Mia’s VPAE position was during the fall 2020 finals week. The girls in the house logged their study hours for dead
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week on the Omega One app. The three girls with the most hours got gift cards, and all the other girls were entered into a drawing for other study prizes. This was a great way to encourage the girls in the
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house to study for finals, and was very successful in the end.
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The first Sigma Secretary since removal of Corresponding/Recording Secretary is Bethany Meyers. At the beginning of her term, she organized and transferred chapter rosters into the Recognized
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Student Organization (RSO) Portal in response to changing UNL policies regarding how sorority life functioned on campus. She worked with her committee to promote attendance at meetings and events,
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researching ways to make taking attendance more efficient. She created a concise version of meeting minutes called This Week in Kappa (TWIK) to keep the chapter up to date on council plans and actions
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since Sigma could no longer meet in person with COVID-19 and in place of any kind of digital Zoom meeting. During COVID-19 the composite planning presented challenges for Bethany, however, in the
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end she was able to successfully
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Ellie Hellman is the Treasurer at Kappa after serving as the elected Treasurer Assistant in the year prior. She managed member balances, updated the budget, and helped to ensure timely payments
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of chapter dues. Ellie had the difficult job of calculating and organizing refunds to chapter members in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She worked with House Board to refund dues and live-in expenses
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with the shut down of UNL housing and the Kappa house. She is working on creating educational programming for the future regarding Kappa and personal finances. Ellie had to work on finding a
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solution for the refunds to members due to COVID. She worked hard to organize a system to ensure members got back the money that wasn’t used in the last part of the Spring 2020 semester. The next
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semester she organized monthly payments just incase the members had to be refunded again, so it was a simpler system.
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The first Marshal since Historian was absorbed into the position was Elise Gamble. She ensured that all meetings, voting, attire and meeting decorum adhered to Kappa guidelines. Elise made formal
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meeting more efficient by implementing suggestions from her District Specialist and emphasized the importance of Kappa ritual and history at meetings. She updated Key Reports, completed this annual
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chapter history report, and purchased a speaker and mics for the chapter room. Due to COVID-19, she was unable to perform graduating senior ceremonies. One of the most important things was using zoom
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for Monday night meetings. She was able to find a way to get all the members on meetings so we could have our weekly discussions, and google forms for voting. We celebrated Founders Day/the 150th with
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the alumni. They were in-person, the chapter joined via Zoom. The chapter was treated to a cinnamon roll breakfast and the Marshal had a banner made to commemorate the event. Elise had to do virtual
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pledging for the new members, and pinning ceremonies. The in person initiation shifts were at the student union using the All-in-One service, and alumni and advisers were able to attend with no linked
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COVID-19 cases. Kappa families were able to eat dinner together the week of, provided by the Marshal, New Member, and Event Chairmen.
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Education Chairman Dalia Nabulsi held many programs such as Harm Prevention in the beginning of her term. She oversaw new monthly program nights for chapter meetings and coordinated
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speakers such as a police officer from the Omaha Police Department and a UNL employee who spoke on resume building. Dalia was unable to have Celebrate Sigma due to COVID-19 but found a way to honor
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graduating seniors despite this. She sent them care packages including a special cookbook from Sigma Chapter’s beloved cooks and highlighted them individually through social media spotlights. Founders
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Day was a success on zoom, where alumni and all members attended. the Education chairman had a program night with a Kappa Alumni from Arbon, where she educated members about healthy eating.
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Kristen Louden, House Chairman, took on many responsibilities with the Kappa House this semester. She served as a liaison between House Board and the chapter while everyone mourned the
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loss of our House Director Diane. While searching for a new House Director, Sigma’s active alumni network took turns staying the night at the house, revisiting their college days while getting to know the
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active members. Kristen was part of the committee that helped to hire our new House Director Stacia and worked to ensure general upkeep of the house. When the house shut down due to COVID-19, she
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helped live-ins move out quickly and efficiently. Kristen was able to assign move in times to all the live ns so we could have a safe, socially distance move in. This was spread out over two days. There were
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subsequent bathroom assignments where girls were assigned a toilet, shower, and sink to reduce touch points.
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Membership Chairman Emily Evans worked during the Spring Semester to plan Formal Recruitment in the Fall. She held “Rookie Recruitment” in March before UNL shutdown for COVID-19
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where the younger pledge classes trained and prepared for Rush. Emily planned to innovate the Recruitment process by having Kappa’s test their compatibility with Potential New Members (PNMs) via
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the Enneagram personality test. As well, she planned to revamp Philanthropy Day by active members wearing T-shirts naming their favorite philanthropy Sigma has supported these past years. This year was
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the first virtual recruitment in Kappa history. Emily coordinated recruitment over zoom, and it went extremely smoothly and Kappa received a Pledge Class of 51 new members. We then participated in
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open recruitment where we got 10 more members. A standing committee was added to help with recruitment.
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Brooklyn “Brook” Housh is Sigma’s New Member Chairman. She kicked off the 2020 spring semester by hosting the first ever New Member overnight retreat at Nebraska’s Mahoney State Park.
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Many Kappa executive officers past and present held a night of fun festivities, one of which the Freshman Pledge Class wrote a letter to their senior selves which they will open in a few years. It was a
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great, safe night for the New Members to bond with each other and older Kappa sisters. Following this, Brook planned “Sneak”, a day for Littles to surprise their Bigs with shirts and more to say thank you. Due
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to COVID-19, this event was moved to the Fall. Virtual bid day theme was Kappa Disco this year. Bid day boxes were delivered to each girl of the new pledge class that was disco themed. There were Owl Pal
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dates via zoom, and big/little reveal was in waves so it could be in person. The new members participated in a virtual pass the key, and all of the new members were given Valas tickets for a bonding
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experience.
  
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  For the year 2016, Eta Kappa has evolved and grown, and continued a tradition of leadership. In January, we held formal Panhellenic Recruitment. Thanks to the dedication of our Membership Chair and her committee, we met quota. We were also able to add another new member through COB immediately following bid day. We welcomed 9 new members to Eta Kappa as our Winter Formal class, the same size for a new member class that we had in 2015. During Recruitment, we had our LC Ariel there to help us out. She was very helpful as we worked to make sure all chapter members understood the procedures for voting during Recruitment.
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Sigma’s Philanthropy Chair is Andrea Atkinson, a member whose philanthropy submission was selected by chapter vote in 2019. Her passion for philanthropy was unchanged by COVID-19 even
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  During February, Eta Kappa joined Nationals to hold Academic Excellence Month. Every member competed to earn points by sending pictures of themselves studying to their academic liaisons. A lot of members became very involved with it and it was great PR for Kappa on campus. The spirit of competition was fun, but it’s rewarding to see the growth in study habits that our VPAE was able to foster. We also raised funds for the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation through our annual event, Kappa Krush, where we table to have students and faculty send cans of Krush Soda to friends during the week leading up to Valentine’s Day. We raised over $100 for the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation. Our annual Semi-Formal dance was also held in February at Iron Spike; it was a fun and safe event for all the Kappa’s and their dates.
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though the philanthropy she planned, Mac n Keys, had to be cancelled. Sigma Chapter still raised and donated money despite this to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation in order to honor House Mother
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.    In March, we ended the term in full force with the initiation of our new members, our annual Reading is Key event at the Galesburg Public Library, which is our way of supporting Reading is Fundamental, and elections for chapter council right before the end of our Winter Term.
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Diane Stark. Andrea brainstormed on ways to give back during the pandemic and even began planning the Fall philanthropic events. Andrea did a virtual fundraiser for Lolo’s Angels, one of our philanthropies
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    Early April was a time for our officer transitions. Our annual event, Kappa Kabin, was held as a way to unite the new Chapter Council and create goals for the upcoming year. The Chapter Council for 2016-2017 hopes to increase communication and cohesion within the council in order to grow to new heights within each position. Accountability has become a main priority for the Eta Kappa Chapter Council.
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this year, where she sold t-shirts to make money. There was also a toy drive to help with less fortunate kids.
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    Throughout the term, we participated in various events that we have a tradition of being a part of such as Greek Week, Alpha Phi Omega’s Walk-a-Thon, and Tri Delta’s Kickball event for St Jude's. 
 
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  We also held an informal recruitment event, and we were able to get 4 new members, which brought us to total. We held our initiation at the end of our Spring Term to bring our chapter to 40 members right before our senior class graduated. The school year was finished off with our Formal, which was held at the event hall 156 Main and with our annual Senior Sendoff event.
 
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  Over the summer, our VP Standards represented us at Convention in San Diego, CA. She brought back many ideas that other chapters have used to improve accountability as well as some good ideas for sisterhood events,
 
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    Coming back for the fall, we did not hold an informal recruitment event because we were above total. This was the first time in recent memory that Eta Kappa has been the biggest sorority at Knox. Since we did not have new members, our focus has been on improving chapter support and bonding as a whole group so we can successfully welcome new members in January. Our diversity chairman has put together many events to help us foster a better understanding of each other.
 
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    Our chapter also championed a major philanthropic event for the second time called the Kappa Kolor Run! Our Philanthropy chairman worked tirelessly to create a fun event that was accessible to our entire campus. We were able to raise $430 dollars for the Alzheimer’s Association. We selected this philanthropy because two of our members have a grandmother who is dealing with alzheimer’s and we always choose a philanthropy that is near and dear to our members. We are there for each other to lift one another up and make the world a better place.  
 
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    We wrapped up our fall term with some membership workshops and the selection of day chairs for recruitment so that we can go all out when we return to campus in January for Formal Recruitment.
 
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    Our chapter has also been very active within the Greek community. Currently, we are the most represented organization in Order of Omega, a National Greek Honor Society in which one of our sisters, Allie Whitehill, is the Vice President.. Eta Kappa prides itself on being very well represented on Panhellenic Council as well. Junior Maggie Brick is the Vice President of Panhellenic Council and served as the interim President in the Spring of 2016. Six of our sisters were a part of the Women’s Soccer team that went to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history. We were all so proud to cheer them all on in their historic run to an undefeated conference season.
 
  
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==Highlights of 2020s:==
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Reilly Kortus, Public Relations Chairman, worked hard to represent Kappa Kappa Gamma well on campus and on social media. She did introductory posts on Sigma’s Instagram @kkg_unl for each new
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member of council, “takeovers” for members studying abroad, and encouragement posts during COVID- 19. Reilly planned to have a booth on UNL’s campus called “Kiss Me I’m a Kappa&#39;&#39; for Saint Patrick’s Day where Kappa’s would hand out stickers to passersby. Reilly was also in charge of the council photos thatwere taken at the end of the fall 2020 semester. These photos had to be coordinated during thepandemic, and showcased masks and social distancing.
  
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(scholarship, honors/awards, special events, philanthropy and service projects, etc.):
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Event Chair Claire Andry and Risk Chair Rylee Reggio worked together to plan fun, safe formals where all Kappa protocols and paperwork was followed. They hosted a Crush formal with Alpha Xi Delta, Sigma Phi Epsilon, and Pike. Due to COVID-19, they were forced to cancel their “80’s in Aspen” semi- formal and events through the remainder of the spring semester. Claire and Rylee innovated the formal
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transportation system according to Kappa requirements to ensure ease and safety traveling to and from the venue. Rylee also collected driver forms alongside House Chair Kristen to encourage members to
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submit them. One creative way to keep the members engaged during the fall semester of 2020 withoutformals was to create “Kappa Pods”. These pods were composed of 8-10 members of the chapter who
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had the same available times. The kappa pods were given money to do fun things around Lincoln, suchas going out for lunch, dinner, or ice cream.
  
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'''Philanthropy:'''
+
Ericka Knapp served as the Panhellenic Delegate, working like no delegate before to make sure all Sigma members had a say in Panhellenic matters and furthering Kappa’s relationships with other
 +
Greek houses at UNL. She held a sisterhood event with Delta Gamma and celebrated International Women’s Day with Kappa Alpha Theta where everyone handed out stickers and succulents together.
 +
Ericka’s main event of the Spring, Greek Weekend, was cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.However, she continued to meet with the Panhellenic Council via Zoom to discuss Recruitment rule
 +
changes for the Fall. Through the entire year of 2020, Sigma’s Chapter Council worked tirelessly to ensure everyone in Kappa had an amazing time despite all the hardships faced. Even throughout the COVID-19 pandemic,Kappa bonded together via endless Zoom calls, text messages, and some hand-written letters. Sigma
 +
Chapter is a proud representation of the values of Kappa Kappa Gamma, ready to face 2021 even stronger than before.
 
   
 
   
 +
In Memory of Diane Stark
 +
Sigma Chapter’s House Director, Diane Stark, has been a huge and influential part of Kappa for the past 8 years. Diane was a smart, multi-tasking, strong woman who could do ANYTHING! She loved her
 +
flowers and transformed the Kappa house to have the most beautiful yard on campus. She took so much pride in the house itself and the ladies living in it each semester. She prided herself in saving Kappa
 +
money by fixing a multitude of things in the house and streamlining Kappa’s budget. Diane had two sons, Todd and Travis, and their families that lived close by. Her biggest pride and joy were her 4
 +
grandchildren, loved by the Kappa girls, that would often visit her at the house. The grandkids would beg to have sleepovers at the Kappa house. After a courageous 3 ½ year battle with breast cancer, she
 +
passed away on January 29th, 2020. Diane never wanted to worry the girls in the house and was very private about her illness. She wanted life to be normal for everyone around her, and she did an amazing
 +
job of that. Kappa was so lucky to have her for 8 incredible years and will be forever grateful for how much she taught us about how to live life to the fullest. Diane Stark will be greatly missed by so many.
 +
 +
==Highlights of 2021==
 +
 +
This year marked the year of recovery from Covid-19 for Sigma chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). Navigating the new “normal” was an obstacle the 2021 Sigma chapter council had to face head on. However, we were still able to hold events and traditions to keep chapter morale high. At the beginning of the year the new officers were installed at a formal meeting, and the 2020 VPO Riley Cosson helped wrap up transitions for the new officers. The most memorable moment of our year was the fact that we introduced Stevie, our house dog! Stevie is under the direct care of Stacia, our house mom. He loves running around the house when gets zoomies, cuddling with the girls on the couch, and greeting the girls every time they enter the house. Stevie has been one of the most unique, positive, and wonderful additions to our Sigma chapter house.
 +
 +
Newly installed Chapter President Ellie Hellmen, helped oversee all operations throughout the 2021 Spring and Fall semesters. Ellie did a wonderful job of making the Sunday night council meetings more proactive by allowing very engaging conversation that included all of the council's opinions. She assisted the recruitment chair with a very successful recruitment the first two weeks of August, and was a wonderful leader and resource for all the new members to talk to throughout the Fall semester.
 +
 +
Vice President of Standards, Riley Cosson, kept our chapter connected through multiple sisterhood events. Two examples of events she did this year was “Stevie's Birthday Party” and “Mental Health Study Week. Stevie’s birthday party was an all house event where there was games, bonding, and lots of cake! During dead week we had our “mental health study week” where there were activities every night for girls to voluntarily participate in. This helped the girls with their stress management, and was a great idea from Riley for us to participate in.
 +
 +
Vice President Organization, Abby Butler, helped keep the chapter organized through infographics, and scheduling. One thing Abby did this year that really helped with the chapter's organization was creating infographics that were sent out to the chapter whenever there was a Kappa event occurring. This helped keep the chapter organized and aware of any events going on. As seen below, I have included an example of an infographic Abby created to stay organized. She helped with the annual LC meetings this year as well. Since everything was online and over zoom, she helped keep us accountable for our meetings. Along with this she assisted in a very smooth transition for the incoming council of 2022.
 +
 +
Vice President Academic Excellence, Sarah Rpgoz, did an excellent job of managing our APP girls the past two semesters. Along with this she was able to help raise our all house GPA to a 3.623. She accomplished this through weekly study nights, which included bonding in the Sigma house basement doing homework, studying, and eating snacks all while encouraging a healthy school-social life relationship with all the girls.
  
 +
Secretary, Jordan Kuhn, organized meetings half in person and half online during covid to be conscientious of social distancing and others health while encouraging people to go with
 +
gift cards. She took attendance for all events including recruitment and meetings. When meetings had to be on zoom for events, she overlooked the chapter to make sure they were there and engaged. Jordan also organized the chapter composites with GreekYearbook including our house dog Stevie on it and ordered new member keys in the midst of the supply shortage.
  
−
'''Housing:'''
+
Treasurer, Sydney Holsinger, faced issues with the house not being filled and working with council to brainstorm ideas to either cut the budget or supplement it with other sources. Sydney came together with house board to cut the budget accordingly so that we don’t have to cut out our important events and experience for our members. She also managed the chapter budget and member billing statements as usual but also helped the house chair with preventing the same situation in future years.
 +
 
 +
Marshal, Jamie Guszak,led different ritual events in the most “normal” way possible this year to try and navigate state and local COVID 19 guidelines. In the Spring there was a senior fireside service, and in the fall she led a combined initiation for the new member pledge class of 2021. We were able to do the combined service in the basement of our Sigma chapter house, which helped restore tradition after last year's initiation. Bringing tradition back to Sigma chapter was one of the most important parts of initiation this year, and it was successfully achieved through ritual at monday night meetings and initiation.
 +
 
 +
Education, Riley Miller, planned a wonderful celebrate sigma getting it approved by the university following all covid guidelines sadly not being able to have all the alumni and parents of seniors there. She organized senior week and founders day incorporating Kappa ritual, planned monthly programs within the chapter along with organizations outside of Kappa, and worked with the district specialist for the national Kappa program that is put on every semester.
 +
 
 +
House chair, Hadley Hiatt, collaborated with houseboard throughout the year on a variety of topics including raising dues for live outs and guest meals for next year and working with advisors to fill the house. She held an amazing staff dinner to recognize the hard work of our cooks Donna, Nicole, and Trent, and house director Stacia. Throughout the semester, Hadley worked weekly with the cooks and house director with meals and created a weekly cleaning list. She was able to gather a ton of volunteers for hashing for every Monday night dinner, do room pref and draw people for the parking spots on Kappa.
 +
 
 +
Membership chairman, Dalia Nabulsi led a very successful recruitment in the acquisition of the new member pledge class of 2021. Recruitment week followed a very long work week where girls spent many hours preparing, and practicing for recruitment, which all paid off! Dalia also helped with COB recruitment (continuous open bidding) where we welcomed even more new members to our house.
 +
 
 +
New Member, Lily Parizek, welcomed the new member to Kappa with a Bid Day theme of Kappa Kloud 9. She met with New Members every Sunday evening discussing Kappa values
 +
and Minerva. Lily did several bonding activities with the new members and met with other chapters on campus creating sober social activities to meet more people.
 +
 
 +
Panhellenic chair, Maggie McCabe, collaborated with other chapters delegates to promote greek life and campus involvement. She attended meetings every other Thursday to learn of other Panhellenic chapters activities and plan sisterhood events. Maggie led Sigma chapter during greek week in the spring and homecoming week activities in the fall.
 +
 
 +
Philanthropy chair, Jessi Burd, worked tirelessly on multiple philanthropies throughout the year. Sigma chapter continued with our tradition to vote on the philanthropies we want to raise money for throughout the year, that way all of the girls in the house get a voice. However, Jessi also incorporated voting on our new national philanthropy mid semester. This allows Sigma chapter to support the national philanthropy of mental health, but also our own. Jessi was able to execute our big philanthropy in the face of COVID restrictions with the University. Through this she was able to lead our philanthropy to raise $5300 for the National Brain Tumor Society via Krispy Kreme x KKG.
 +
 
 +
Public Relations chair, Rachel Dempsy, has done such an amazing job in her position, she was reelected for the 2022 council year. Rachel updated all social media accounts to look cohesive by posting regularly. On these social media accounts she made special posts for every single new member in PC 21, which was a great way to make them feel special.
 +
 
 +
Event and Risk, Tauhni Willenborg and Natalee Noble, lead the way in creating fun and safe events for the chapter this year. In the heat of Covid they put on the Spring Soiree, which was a dinner social for our sisters and the safest way in the midst of the pandemic. The next event they helped plan was the American social which was done with another sorority and two fraternities on campus. They faced the challenges of a low number of bus drivers so they went with the idea of party buses which was a fun/alternative way than we usually do. They also put on Parents Weekend, which consisted of a formal dinner and dance party at Suite 111 followed by candle making, pizza, and cornhole the next day. As a last celebration to the end of the semester was the Masquerade formal at Das Haus with Phi Delt and Beta. Throughout all of these events, they completed all the proper paperwork, collection of COI’s, and approval of contracts.
 +
 
 +
==Highlights of 2022=
 +
 
 +
==Highlights of 2020s:==
  
 +
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:'''
 
'''Chapter Convention Awards:'''
  
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--------------------
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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!
−
-------------------------------
 
−
'''Note to Chapter Registrar:'''
 
−
Please refer to your chapter archives and chapter meeting minutes 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!
 

Latest revision as of 11:52, 31 May 2022

 

Sigma
Σ
Sigma.jpg
FoundedMay 19, 1884 (1884-05-19) (141 years ago)
CollegeUniversity of Nebraska
LocationLincoln, Nebraska
HomepageSigma Homepage
Media related to Sigma Chapter


University of Nebraska established 1869 in Lincoln, Nebraska


Founded May 19, 1884


3,044 initiates (as of June 2018)

Charter members:

Edith P. Doolittle, Cora Ellen Fisher, Mary Letitia Jones, Alla Lantz, Sopha Myers, Adella Eugenia Stratton

Fraternity Council Officers:

May C. Whiting Westermann, Fraternity President 1902-1904, Grand Secretary 1919-1902, Fraternity President 1922-1926; Ruth Kadel Seacrest, Fraternity President 1944-1948, Director of Chapter Programs 1940-1944; Kelly Riggs, Field Secretary 1978-1980; Stephanie Nelson (Whiten), Traveling Consultant 1996-1997; Lori Armiger, Traveling Consultant 2002-2003; Lizzie Fraser, Traveling Consultant 2003-2004; Ann Moernius, Leadership Consultant 2009-2010, Amy Johnson Sutton, Fraternity Treasurer, 2018-2020


Fraternity Loyalty Award:


Fraternity Alumnae Achievement Award Recipients:

Louise Pound, Ph.D., 1951, English literature professor; writer; Adele Coryell Hall, 1984, member of National Board of Governors of the United Way and other nonprofit boards, wife of Don Hall of Hallmark, Inc.; Martha Cook Fricke, 1992, National School Boards Association president


Additional Outstanding Sigma Alumnae:

Molly Beard (Rung), Graduate Counselor 1974-1976; Kelly Riggs, Graduate Counselor 1979-1981; Robin Darst (Hanus), Graduate Counselor 1975-1977; Catherine Hove (Breen), Graduate Counselor 1980-1982; Wendy Wiseman (Gustafson), Graduate Counselor 1982-1984; Beth Penner (Witherspoon) Chapter Consultant 1988-1989; Stephanie Nelson (White) Chapter Consultant 1997-1997; Lizzie Fraser, Chapter Consultant 2005-2007; Sunny Backlund (Bellows) Chapter Consultant 2006-2007; Betsy Strain, Convention Chairman, Chairman of Field Reps, Sesquicentennial Committee.

The Early Years (From The History of Kappa Kappa Gamma 1870–1976)[edit]

The name Sigma was assigned to several Kappa chapters, but then recalled, before it became permanently assigned, on May 19, 1884, to the chapter at the University of Nebraska. Those former chapters included the University of Michigan; Lasell Seminary in Auburndale, Mass.; and possibly Callanan College (now part of Drake University) in Des Moines, Iowa.

The University of Nebraska was but 15 years old when Sigma Chapter was established through correspondence with Mu Chapter and members of Grand Council. The State Legislature had, in 1869, set aside four square blocks in the town of Lincoln for a campus, and had appropriated $100,000 for a building, University Hall. This was the only college building when Sigma was founded. In 1915, land was condemned north and east of the city campus to make room for new buildings.

During the early years, no honors or prizes were given, the expression “extra-curricular activities” was unknown and athletics were slowly being organized. Even caps and gowns were not yet in the picture, and the Class of 1890 was much concerned over the selection of senior robes. The black mortar board and gown of the East was finally the choice.

Sigma’s early policy of initiating no preparatory students, its great desire to have its own hall, the organization within its own ranks of a Shakespeare Club, its strong sense of Fraternity, helped determine its character: “Our chapter is small now but of one heart, one soul,” wrote an early member. Spring was usually a quiet time in Lincoln, but the spring of 1890 contained drama never to be forgotten. It began with the decision on the part of the Kappas, Kappa Alpha Thetas and Delta Gammas to plant a Greek-letter flower bed.

On Arbor Day, armed with the permission of the chancellor, steward, and janitor, the young ladies set out 200 plants in the form of a key, a kite, and an anchor. The next morning, the girls found all their work undone. Some cried. Some “wished we were boys and could swear.” The destructive “barbarians” or anti-Greeks explained that they would not have an advertisement for fraternities attract the attention of the delegates to the Interstate Oratorical Convention. This contest found the university “reasonably distracted,” not only because of the episode of the flower bed (which neither a lawyer nor the authorities wanted to bother with) but because the Nebraska orator was being tried for plagiarism.

Such furious farce was not uncommon. The Sigma charter had been granted to a group emanating from one called TTT or “The Tempest Tossed,” and September 1884 saw the outbreak of the “Greek–Barbarian War,” with the barbarians claiming that the sacrosanct literary societies would be supplanted by the Greeks. New bylaws were passed, forbidding Greeks to join these old societies, so a new one, Philodicean, was formed.

This unpleasant feud left its mark on all aspects of university life. When Phi Beta Kappa was founded in 1896 (May Whiting [Westermann] was one of the two women named first members), a conscientious “barb” was undecided about joining any organization with Greek letters in its name. That year, the Nebraska legislature was preparing a bill to abolish fraternities in the state university.

In April 1897, The Key contained suggestions from N.E.L. (who must have been Naahmah Elizabeth Lowe) that elimination of the gulf between the groups would be accomplished if Greeks would “avoid an excessive exhibition of fraternal love in the presence of non-fraternity members” and if pins were worn “in some modest place so as not to remind non-members of the existing barrier.” Even so, it was considered a great triumph when Sigma’s Anna Broady (Haggard) won the short story contest in the campus periodical while Willa Cather, prominent barb, was editor. Distinguished Louise Pound bridged the gap to some extent by becoming a Kappa after a brilliant student career as a barb. She later served the Fraternity as one if its first province presidents.

In 1891, Dr. James H. Canfield, who had been professor of history at the University of Kansas, became chancellor at Nebraska. The university had grown steadily, but he popularized it in a remarkable way, and before he left in June 1895, to become president of Ohio State University, he had the satisfaction of seeing students thronging to its gates. It had gates in those days, and a fence that has gone to the cemetery. Much might be written of Dr. Canfield as a brilliant scholar and an able executive, but to Kappas the world over, he is known as “the father of Dorothy.” (Dorothy Canfield Fisher). How Sigma had watched Dorothy during her prep years and with what joy they heard of her initiation by Beta Nu Chapter when she entered Ohio State!

Dr. Canfield’s interest in the small university library led to the erection of the new Library Building and to the appointment, in 1892, of one of Sigma’s charter members, Mary Jones, as librarian.

In 1896, eight members of Sigma attended the General Convention at Evanston, the first time there had been a real delegation. So enthusiastic did the girls become that they invited the next Convention to meet with Sigma. Now Lincoln at the end of August was hardly an ideal place for girls who had been summering in the mountains and at the seashore, but it was a Convention long to be remembered (and long before air-conditioning), nonetheless. There were blue-and-blue decorations in the windows of the most important stores, a tribute to Kappa unknown before or since. Meetings were held in the old chapel in Uni Hall, and with the stars and stripes floated a huge pennant of Kappa colors. The Phi Kappa Psis gave their chapter house for the use of the Council, and the other fraternities vied in entertaining.

It was at this Convention that May Whiting (Westermann) began her Fraternity career, as an assistant to the Marshal.

The Key of July 1896 reported a chapter dinner at which charter member Mary Jones told of the girls of 1884, the pioneers who bravely defied all kinds of opposition. “Had you heard it,” goes the account, “you would have known what Sigma used to be, and had you heard May Whiting’s toast, ‘The Ideal Kappa,’ you would know what Sigma hopes to be. ...”

Highlights of the 1910s-1920s[edit]

During the spring vacation of 1901, 13 members of Sigma accompanied the Grand Secretary, May Whiting, to Boulder, to install Beta Mu Chapter at the University of Colorado. The fact that they all had railroad passes added to the pleasure of the occasion. The girls, in preparation for this event, tried song writing and fitting Fraternity words to popular tunes. They were delightfully entertained by the Boulder girls and the Denver alumnae. Many years later, in 1927, two of Sigma’s actives and half a dozen members living in Wyoming helped install Gamma Omicron Chapter at the University of Wyoming.

Early meetings were in members’ homes, but in the fall of 1902, Sigma rented its first house. It was a little red cottage of seven rooms and was called Kappa Lodge. The most interesting recorded memory of that first home is the chapter library, which the girls began to build as a memorial to Grace Leming, the only active member who had died. Each girl gave a book to the little library on her own birthday, and Mrs. Leming gave a framed picture of Grace to be hung over the bookcases. After three years, the house was given up as being too expensive.

By March 1925, after a time in another rented property, a chapter house became a necessity, and ground was purchased for it. Construction began May 1.. The alumnae association negotiated the mortgage, and a loan was secured from the Fraternity Endowment Fund. The Kappa house, of brick and in the English style with gables and long, sloping roofs, was impressive.

In subsequent years, two large additions were made to the house. Sigma received the first scholarship cup awarded by Panhellenic. In 1954, the chapter had the highest all-around average for sororities and again won the cup. It also won the Mortar Board cup for scholarship and activities.

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.


Change was in the air during the late 60's. Suddenly Kappas and other girls on campus could wear slacks to class..... and soon after that jeans! And the legislature lowered the drinking age to 20. Kappas became more involved in national affairs, even attending the 1968 Chicago Democratic convention and participating in sit ins.

Highlights of the 1980s:[edit]

The University campus expanded as The Lied Center for Performing Arts and the Campus Recreational Athletic Center were constructed during this decade. The chapter house also welcomed change as the first computer room was carved from a former storage area, the kitchen received necessary updates and the main level was completely redecorated.

The chapter averaged 96 members during this time and programming focused on the Fraternity and chapter heritage as well as utilizing communication skills to facilitate chapter functions. Always striving to be campus leaders, Sigma was the first of the Nebraska Greek community to establish a designated driver program, and one of the first to vote to hold a non-alcoholic date parties with fraternities.

In 1983, a legendary pledge class met again for their regular reunion with 19 of the original 22 members celebrating their 45th reunion and planning to be together to receive their 50-year pins four years later. Louise Benson Ball was a proud member of this reunion group.

“A Century of Sisterhood” was the theme of Sigma’s Centennial celebration of April 6–8, 1984. The weekend began with an open house on Saturday at the Kappa House with tours of the house and campus. Alumna Nancy Hoch, University of Nebraska Regent and U.S. Senate candidate, served as mistress of ceremonies at a luncheon at the Cornhusker Hotel. Honored guests were Lucy VanHorne Sawyer (1904 initiate), Sigma’s oldest living member; Adele Coryell Hall, Alumnae Achievement Award recipient; Wilma Winberg Johnson, Fraternity Director of Alumnae, and Virginia Bonville Thomas, Zeta Province Director of Alumnae. Also, Martin Massengale, Chancellor of the University of Nebraska—Lincoln, was in attendance and received a $1,000 gift to the university from the Fraternity in honor of Sigma’s Centennial.

Sigma actives served as “decade hostesses” during the luncheon, dressed in costumes representative of each decade of Sigma’s history. Actives also sang a medley of Kappa songs, which provided the background for a slideshow depicting the lives of Sigma members from 1884–1984. Many alumnae joined in the singing, especially “Oh Pat.”

The luncheon also featured the pinning of five 50-year members and a presentation of a lovely stained-glass window with the Centennial chapter logo by the Lincoln, Omaha and Fremont alumnae associations. Awards and scholarships were also presented.

A Saturday evening gala, which doubled as Sigma’s spring formal, allowed actives and alumnae to enjoy each other’s company during this special occasion.

A Sunday brunch at the Kappa House included an archives display. Barb Miller Hoppe, Colorado, compiled a special book of Sigma history with the help of several other members. Sigma alumnae Betsy Stillwell Strain and Michelle Sample organized the Centennial, which saw approximately 600 participants from 22 states celebrating 100 years of sisterhood in Sigma Chapter.

Philanthropy efforts were most successful as funds were raised in support of the Lincoln Action Program and the Nebraska Human Resource Research Foundation as well the Rose McGill Fund. The chapter received awards for Outstanding Philanthropy at the 1987 and 1989 Zeta Province Meetings. Honors included Zeta Province Meeting awards for Scholarship Programming, Highest Grade Point Average and Outstanding Chapter.

Highlights of the 1990s[edit]

Panhellenic challenges included Recruitment revisions. The focus on No Frills presented a paradigm change for the 15 NPC groups, and a great deal of effort went into planning effective recruiting. The dates for Recruitment changed during the decade including the week before the start of classes and during Labor Day Weekend after classes began.

The chapter house received improvements to the main entrance with paint and the installation of bike racks. The lower level T.V. room, fondly known as the Pink Room because of an earlier color scheme, was refurbished. Increasing membership resulted in a few beds added to accommodate more members wishing to live in the house.

Sigma Chapter was selected as a pilot chapter for the Fraternity’s New Member Program. They found success as well as challenges with the program and provided constructive feedback to the Fraternity for possible revisions.

During the early part of the decade, scholarship efforts waned and the chapter’s G.P.A. dipped below the all-sorority average. Improving scholarship became a major focus. Programs such as Registration Night during which upperclassmen assisted the freshmen and sophomores with registration decisions, study skills workshops, incentives and positive reinforcement were successful, and by the end of the decade the chapter achieved its goal.

Philanthropy efforts made a shift to the giving of time and service to the community. Chapter members assisted with an elementary school’s fun night, Honey Sunday, baby-sitting at the YWCA and participation in clothing drives and blood drives.

Sigma celebrated its 110th anniversary with special t-shirts celebrating the chapter’s heritage, and held a special Founders Day ceremony with alumnae. A special emphasis was placed on conducting the initiation ceremony exactly as written in the Book of Ritual, and new initiation equipment and robes were purchased with donations from alumnae.

Province Meeting awards included recognition for scholastic efforts, philanthropy, Advisory Board and the Sally Kiehne Kelby Award. The chapter was recognized at the 1996 Fraternity Convention with the Gracious Living and Advisory Board honors.

Highlights of 2000-2010[edit]

The University Panhellenic adopted the National Panhellenic Conference’s long-standing system of quota total for recruitment, thus allowing more women the opportunity to become a member of a Greek organization. Sigma’s membership grew to 136 during the decade. The chapter met the challenge of growth by strengthening the New Member Program and expanding the KORE group activities. Movie nights, bowling and painting pumpkins for Halloween were a few of the activities scheduled to help members develop friendships.

Sigma Chapter actively participated in Hazing Prevention Week and initiated creative ways to spread the anti-hazing message. It won the campus hazing prevention competition two years in a row.

Two major philanthropy fundraisers were held throughout the decade. Kappa Karnival and Kappa Kabana proved to be very successful, and proceeds were donated to many groups, including Lighthouse, a teen youth center, the local Alzheimer’s chapter, Peoples’ City Mission and the Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund. A local radio station saluted Sigma Chapter on air for donating the greatest amount of money to Katrina relief of any Greek organization. Funds were also donated to support Kappa’s philanthropy, Reading is Fundemental, and Boys for Books, a local school district project dedicated to improving the reading levels of elementary school boys.Philanthropic efforts also included the gift of service when the chapter members collaborated with different fraternities to write more than one hundred Valentine cards to distribute to Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital patients.

The chapter scholarship standing rose to fourth place among the fifteen NPC groups on campus.

In 2005, Sigma members assisted in recruiting members and served as a sister chapter for Eta Iota, Creighton University.

Sigma received recognition at Province Meetings for Gracious Living, Communications and Advisory Board, and received the Barbara Sarich Programming Award and the Meg Cherry Smith Standards Award. Convention awards for 2006 were for Reading is Fundamental and Technology.


Highlights of 2011-2019[edit]

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 2011[edit]

Kappa Kappa Gamma, Sigma Chapter, has had an amazing 2011. In January, 18 officers were installed and eager to start their new positions, led by chapter president, Lauren Jewell. We began the year with Leadership Day in which the 2010 Chapter Council and 2011 Chapter Council worked with Amelia McCormick, the Fraternity Chairman of Academic Excellence and Fraternity Trainer, on improving leadership skills, setting goals for the year, and assisting with the transition of chapter officers.

The spring semester was full of volunteer opportunities that our members took part in. We participated in the Big Event, a campus-wide day of service throughout the city of Lincoln. Many of our members also participated in Dance Marathon benefiting Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and Relay for Life benefiting the American Cancer Society. We continued to support Kappa’s national philanthropy Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) with our pen pal program with a local Lincoln public school.

We held our first Kappa Goes Country philanthropic event in which we raised funds for the American Cancer Society led by our philanthropy chairman, Molly Brown. Kappa Goes Country featured cowboy boots and hats, a lasso game, and even a mechanical bull. Sigma held our annual Spring Tea at the Jackie Gaughn Multicultural Center on April 3rd to recognize scholastic achievements of our active members, award scholarships to many members, and honor our graduating seniors. This year the Lincoln Alumnae Association and the National Kappa Kappa Gamma Organization granted over 28,000 dollars in scholarships to current members of Kappa Kappa Gamma. The scholarship winners were not only girls who excelled in academics, but also individuals who showed dedication to Kappa and involvement on campus.

Scholarship is just one aspect to Spring Tea. The afternoon event was also set aside to recognize Kappa’s loved seniors. The seniors were highlighted with a spotlight video and are also asked to share their future aspirations upon leaving Kappa. Our entire Chapter Council took a road trip to Columbia, Missouri for our regional Zeta Province meeting where we were able to meet officers from all of the other chapters in our province and share ideas. Sigma was awarded Excellence in Communication and the Barbara Sarich Programming Award, along with honorable mentions in the Advisory Board Award and the Meg Cherry Smith Standards Award. Sigma members also had a fun time at a Husker baseball game with our dads for Dad’s Day planned by Kim McManus, our event chairman, and Ashley Christianson, our risk management chairman. Recruitment 2011 was completely changed due to our transition into the Big Ten.

Our new recruitment had us add in a open house round the first two days, in which every potential new member visited every house before invitations were handed out. We moved the hose tours to later in the week and ended with a preference day video about life as a Kappa and a meaningful ceremony. UNL also decided to implement a new quota total system when matching bids. This year bid matching was done all by computer instead of exclusively by hand. Also, instead of each house getting different numbers of potential new members, we implemented a new system where each house gets the same number of potential new members in order to try and even out the playing field. On Bid Day, we welcomed in a New Member class of 41 outstanding women. We all grew closer to them over the next two months during the New Member Program, and they were initiated on October 29, 2011.

All Sigma members returned for the new school year to a house that had undergone amazing renovations done by our House Board. The fall semester began with our annual Kappa Karnival, led by Megan Videditch, benefiting the Alzheimer’s Association where we made funnel cakes and had a blow-up bungee run in the spirit of the carnival theme. Sigma members also participated in the Memory Walk hosted by the Lincoln chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association. At the Memory Walk, we donated our earnings of $4,300. We also raised money for two other foundations during the fall semester. We donated $800 to the Zitek family from Kappa Gear sales and $930 for 1 million for Anna foundation. We celebrated Kappa’s founding on October 13 at the Wick Alumni Center, led by Caitlin Guenther.

At Founders Day, we took the time to honor not only the founders but also groups and individuals who continue to contribute to our fraternity today. By recognizing individuals and groups, Kappas from many different years of initiation, we were able to see the powerful links we have created overtime. The evening was spent also honoring distinguished alumnae and handing out awards. The Alumnae of the Year was Kaye Jesske and the Spirit Key was given to Sarah Yost and Amy Gratzinger. A Special Ceremony for Presentation of 25-year Kappas was also preformed. Those honored were: Jacqueline Milton Burmeister, Victoria Domina Fischer, Judith Hodapp, Kaye Balfour Jesske, Amy Fuerst Johnson, Dada Crandall Johnson, and Kayla Peters. The Forty year Kappas who received an iris were: Rebecca Halpin Koller, Janice Shook Erwin, Julie Moreland Pittenger, Mary Easley Schmidt, Theresa Fitle Smith, Karen Anderson Walls, and Sara McIntosh Wooten. 50 year Kappas pins were given to: Susan Irvine Garwood and Sherry Hoppe Zehr. Finally, the 65 year Kappas recognized were: Elizabeth Shellenberger Liggett, Barbara Hockenberger Ferguson, Nancy Lawlor Jenkins, and Mary Dunnell Peters.

Anti-Hazing Prevention Week was led by our Education Chairman, Caitlyn Guenther. Sigma Chapter was the proud winner, now two years running. Throughout the week we passed out cards to learn to respect ourselves. On the card we each wrote a goal for ourselves, sealed it in an envelop, and was told to carry it with us as a reminder of our goal. This followed our motto for the week : "Do you respect the person looking back at you?" We also implemented a week long sharing of encouragement called "Kappa Kindness, Keep it Flowing". This is where we posted 5 annoyomus sticky notes on girls doors and if you received one on your door, you were to write another for a friend and leave it annoyoms. #kkgrespect.

Homecoming this year was exceptionally exciting for Sigma because we had three seniors chosen to be on Homecoming Court, the most of any house on campus. This fall, we hosted Meggie Centers, a Kappa Leadership Consultant during our Initiation Week. In the fall we also had Dad's weekend where we attended a hockey game, bowling and brunch. This was very helpful and a great time for the girls who have dad's that are from out of town. They were able to spend the entire weekend together, rather than just a day. Our parents auction was held at the Cornhusker Marriott hotel on November 4th, 2011. This event was put on by parents club.

Campus: The University of Nebraska–Lincoln, chartered in 1869, is an educational institution of international stature. A member of the Association of American Universities since 1909, Nebraska is recognized by the Carnegie Foundation as a Doctoral/Research Extensive university. UNL is a land-grant university and a member of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU). The university is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. Today, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln is one of the nation's leading teaching institutions, and a research leader with a wide array of grant-funded projects aimed at broadening knowledge in the sciences and humanities.

Lincoln offers all the amenities of a midsize regional city of 250,000. Ranked in the Top 10 in many quality of life, safety, environmental and other studies, this is a remarkably comfortable and friendly place; when you're here, you're among friends. With more parkland per capita than any other city in the United States and an intricate trails network, Lincoln offers a wealth of outdoor diversions. Lincoln is also one of the fastest growing metro areas in the Midwest, with abundant employment opportunities. Downtown Lincoln lies at the southern edge of UNL's City Campus, and is seasoned by coffee houses, theaters, specialty shops and restaurants offering cuisines from around the world. Shopping opportunities are everywhere, with national retailers anchoring large malls in both east and south Lincoln. Boutiques, galleries and salons are located in neighborhoods throughout the city.

On June 11, 2010, the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors formally accepeted the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to join their conference. The Big Ten expanded the conference to 12 schools for the 2011-12 school year. The Big Ten Conference was formed more han 115 years ago. This conference is known for the world-class academics and has a strong sense of goals and values. The Greek community at Nebraska is one of the strongest in the country with 24 Interfraternity Council Fraternities (19 are residential) and 15 Panehllenic Council Sororities (13 are residential).

The Greek Community at UNL prides itself on the selfless service it provides to the community. Each chapter on campus has a special fundraiser or event they host every year. The Greek Community at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln is known for developing leaders. You will find Greek Members as student government leaders, student organization members, and NU athletes. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is a large campus with a diverse student body. The Greek Community at UNL helps its members to become comfortable living on a large campus and to become an important part of campus life. Chapter: Sigma Chapter was one of the first houses established at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, therefore naming it a national landmark. The house holds space for 65 women to live in, either three or two-person bedrooms. While the house provides a place to live, it means so much more to its members. Sigma has 136 active members.

Every woman in Sigma offers something special and unique to our house, making it stand apart from other sororities and organizations at UNL. The women in Kappa are very involved in a variety of activities both on campus and in the community. By participating in student government, professional groups, honoraries, intramurals and clubs we communicate our Kappa pride all over Lincoln. Our two major philanthropies continue to be a success, and we are always looking for ways to improve our chapter by setting annual goals. We have grown as a chapter in the last couple years making it a point to recruit girls that are Kappas at heart and right for our chapter. We take pride in being ourselves at recruitment to ensure the satisfaction of the new members and continue the outstanding reputation Sigma holds on campus and in the community.

This year, Sigma Chapter tried to minimize the membership selection session time by using clickers instead of using paper to vote on the girls going through recruitment. This was very beneficial for the chapter and was very efficient. We continued to use these clickers for voting issues during meetings along with elections. Our only other challenge was switching from Quickbooks to BillHighway. It was a lot of work for our treasurer, Kayla Stauffer, to learn and implement the new system. In doing that, we no longer handle any paper money, checks or cash. This was a great move for us here at Sigma.

Highlights 2012[edit]

Sigma chapter kicked off 2012 eager to be back in the Chapter House for the spring semester. As always, the Kappas were busy taking part in many campus events, as well as their own Kappa happenings. January brought new officers into Chapter Council.

As February rolled around, with a chill in the air, the Kappa girls treated themselves to a much-needed night out dancing. Kappa Krush was held at the Wick Alumni Center on campus for a night of fancy dresses and fun. Later in the month, some Kappas chose to dance the night away at the campus event Dance Marathon. Girls in attendance were delighted to meet the author of the popular book, “Heaven Is For Real,” Todd Burpo.

March was much welcomed as girls looked forward to traveling, and going home for Spring Break! Mid term tests were a bit easier to get through because of the unusually warm weather; wearing shorts in March can make any girl happy! Kappas took advantage of the balmy weather by holding the “Kappa Hunger Games” in the Selleck green space. This variation of the game Dodgeball served as the perfect chapter bonding for the All House Retreat before the week of Spring Break.

The week back from Spring Break was full of Kappa events AND a re-vamped Kappa Kitchen thanks to Kate Kollars and her work with House Board. A new fridge, variety of snacks, and a salad bar cart were included! This sweet surprise had the whole house excited, even Donna and Nicole couldn’t hide their smiles.

Kappa Goes Country, Mom’s Day, Relay for Life, and Celebrate Sigma (formerly Spring Tea) were all packed into the first weekend back from Spring Break! Kappa Goes Country, the spring philanthropy, was co-hosted with Phi Kappa Theta in the KKG parking lot. The event was complete with a mechanical bull, nachos, pulled pork sandwiches, and country music. However, due to a noise complaint from the fall philanthropy, the music was kept fairly quiet and was turned off at 1 a.m. The proceeds of $3,060 were donated to the American Cancer Society.

The following day, the fun continued with Mom’s Day. Wearing their shorts and adorable Mom’s Day shirts, Kappas and their mothers went to Paint Yourself Silly in the Haymarket. Afterwards they treated themselves to supper at Lazlo’s. Some members even invited their mothers to walk alongside them at Relay for Life later that night. All the mothers were also invited to attend Celebrate Sigma the following day. This special event was held at the Wick Center, to honor scholarship winners and wish the senior class well as they shifted into alumni status.

As April came about, campus turned green and spirits rose in the 616. The month was filled with The Big Event, Pen Pals Party, Rookie Recruitment, Senior Week, and Dead Week. As the school year drew to an end, the Kappas left the 616 ready for a break from their studies, but sad to leave their sisters for the summer.

Though summer break was in full swing, some lucky chapter memebers had the opportunity to travel to Jacksonville, Florida for the National Kappa Kappa Gamma Convention. Sidney Peterson, Megan Videtich, Alyssa Fishbaugh, Natalie Pavlish, Kristin Richter, along with Chapter Council Advisor Mary Ford and House Board President Karen Meginnis all made the once in a life time trip.

August brought the Greeks back to campus, with the excitement of Recruitment and catching up with friends. The Kappa house had a definite glow to it, with its fresh coat of paint and new roof that was part of the summer maintenance. The chapter women moved in and geared up for Work Week, and Recruitment Week. As always, this time was emotional and trying for all, but when all was said and done, Kappa bid 36 new members. Bid Day’s theme, “The Best Just Got Better,” was highly appropriate. The new member class was welcomed with an afternoon full of taking pictures, painting coffee mugs, eating at Chipotle, and getting to know their new friends. Two days later, these 36 young women formally pledged to become a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma.

Just as classes started for the fall semester, philanthropy season and football season kicked-off as well. Kappa Kandyland philanthropy was held on Thursday, August 30th in the KKG parking lot. Complete with a cotton candy machine and photo booth, the chapter raised $4,000 for the Make A Wish Foundation. Two days later, Husker Football had their season opening game against Southern Mississippi. This exhilarating day had the Kappa girls sporting their stylish new KKG husker tanks and crop top shirts, along with a great pair of sunglasses.

August was gone in the blink of an eye, and September brought an exciting, new Kappa event: the Parent’s Banquet. Alongside the Parent’s Club, Natalie Marcuzzo the event chair planned this elegant dinner to honor and recognize the beloved family members of chapter members. The event was held at the Holiday Inn downtown, and raised money with a silent auction. Members and their family dressed up in their best for this special night, cherishing their time in the company of loved ones.

September also meant Kappa’s National Anti-Hazing Week would take place. The 3rd annual weeklong campaign to recognize chapters for promoting anti-hazing on their campus was again embraced by Sigma Chapter. The chapter women took to social media to show their anti-hazing spirit. Particularly memorable were the hilarious anti-hazing captions and slogans created for pictures of movie scenes. Despite the attempts to win the Anti-Hazing Week competition for the 3rd year in a row, the countless “retweets” and Facebook tags to Headquarters were not enough to lock in the title.

October is always a busy month to be a Kappa. Between Founder’s Day, Boo & Boo, Big/Little Reveal, Key Reveal, and Initiation Week, things can get pretty hectic! Founder’s Day was held at the City Campus Union on October 7th. Education Chairman, Sydney McCoun and her committee planned and hosted the lovely occasion. Chapter members and alumni whom attended were treated to a tasty scoop-able cheesecake bar catered by High Society Cheesecakes. The tables were decorated with burlap runners and daisies in Mason jars. Registrar Samantha Samuelson also created a memorable display of archives for the occasion.

Initiation Week packed Big/Little Reveal, Key Reveal, Boo & Boo, and Initiation all into 7 days! The chapter was also fortunate to have a Leadership Consultant, Kristi, stay with them for the week. But at the end of this Kappa-filled week, 36 new members were initiated into Sigma Chapter as the Pledge Class of 2012.

With the crazy month of October under their belts, November seemed much calmer. The girls welcomed Thanksgiving Break with open arms as a week to go back home and enjoy time with family before beginning the “grind to Christmas Break.” But more excitement awaited the Kappas as they returned from Thanksgiving Break. Elections of new chapter officers and the highly anticipated Winter Formal took place the last week of November. Allowing for a bit of a distraction from the fast approaching Finals Week.

Dead Week and Finals Week are never too terrible if you are a Kappa. Especially this year, when the chapter women were spoiled with snacks every night from Parent’s Club and House Board. Also the new Christmas decorations hanging around the house kept everyone’s spirits bright. By the Saturday morning after the last final tests, the 616 was quiet and empty. But it wouldn’t be long until the halls of Kappa would again be filled with the joy of friendship and sisterhood once more.

An overall description of Sigma Chapter and UNL campus is "growth." With our school’s first year playing in the Big 10, the college is growing and improving in every aspect. From new dorm halls, to the Memorial Stadium expansion, an addition to the Devany Center, and attempts to increase student enrollment, the physical growth is obvious. However, the college, and entire state of Nebraska, was sad to see one of their biggest proponents for growth leave them at the end of 2012. Dr. Tom Osborne began his retirement from the UNL Athletic Director position, and was honored in a most memorable way at the last home football game on Novemeber 17th against Minnesota.

But “growth” is something that Sigma Chapter is always striving for as well. With any bumps in the road, or everyday challenges that arise, the women of this chapter adapt, learn, and grow with each step. Everyday they are growing in their academics, friendships, and sisterhood. They learn that with every step forward, or backward, their Kappa sisters are there to help them and uplift them. Growing in Kappa is something these women will carry with them for the rest of their lives.


Highlights of 2013[edit]

Sigma chapter kicked off 2013 eager to move back into the Chapter House for the spring semester. Per usual, the Sigma Kappa’s were very busy taking part in many events around campus, as well as their own Kappa events. January brought a new Chapter Council.

-February also brought a fun weekend at Province for our Chapter Council. The Zeta province meetings were held in Lawrence, Kansas at Kansas University. Sigma Kappa won four awards including, the Advisory Board Award, the Jayme Morris-Hardeman Risk Management Award, Honorable Mention Martha Gallagher Cox Chapter Award, and an Honorable Mention Excellence in Communication Award.

-April brought our every growing spring philanthropy titled Kappa Goes Country. This year it was co-hosted with Kappa Sigma in Sigma’s back parking lot. The UNL Rodeo Team made an appearance and taught girls how to rope a fake calf. There were also two mini ponies that gave people rides around the lot. Arby’s sandwiches, chips, cookies and lemonade was the cuisine on the menu. Sigma raised $3,350 for Touch of Hope Haiti.

-The Sunday after Kappa Goes Country was Celebrate Sigma (formerly Spring Tea). This year it was held at the Champions Club here on campus. Celebrate Sigma is to honor scholarship winners and is the last hoorah for the senior class to be recognized and honored and for them to officially shift into alumni status.

-The summer brought a brand new first floor to Sigma. Much to the girls surprise the first floor was completely redone for recruitment in the fall. The house mom Diane Stark, and Kandy Denker were the woman in charge of design and buying all of the new things. Samantha Samuelson, Kelsey Moreland, and Raylynn Mosel also gave their creative inputs. In the end the walls got a fresh coat of paint, new couches and chairs, new study tables and all new lighting completed the fresh new look to the house.

-August brought the Greeks back to UNL, the Sigmas moved back into the 616 and got ready for Work Week and Recruitment weeks to begin. As always, it was an emotional and exciting week for everyone, but when it came to an end, Kappa bid 45 new members. Bid Day’s theme this year was, “Forget the Good Life, Welcome to the Great Life.” Activities included taking pictures in a photo booth, a DJ and cotton candy at the house and then a dinner at the Single Barrel. Two days later, all 45 members formally pledged to become members of Kappa Kappa Gamma.

-This year the Sigma’s decided to try something different for the fall philanthropy, Kappa Kickball was created. It was a kickball tournament between groups of men from the fraternities on campus. It was a beautiful day for the Sigma’s to coach, referee and cheer on the boys at the Vine Street Fields on campus. Kappa raised $1,400 for the American Cancer Society.

-October brought Sigma Founder’s Day, Boo & Boo and gearing up for Initiation. Founders Day held on October 13th was a fun night at the City Campus Union. There were cupcakes and cake pops for the girls to eat while we celebrated Kappa’s founding.

-November started off to a great start with the first full week being Initiation Week. The Sigma’s packed in Big/Little Reveal, Key Reveal and Initiation all in one week. The chapter was also fortunate to have the Leadership Consultant, Morgan, stay with them for the week. At the end of the week 44 new members were initiated into Sigma Chapter as the New Member Class of 2013.

An overall description of Sigma Chapter and the UNL campus is “growth.” This year brought Sigma the biggest pledge class that it has seen in awhile, with over 1,000 girls going through recruitment this past fall it was bound to happen. UNL has also been building new dorm halls and a new housing building called the 50/50 building. Lincoln has also been growing. Building a new area in the Downtown area of Lincoln, called the Railyard, which is where the new Pinnacle Bank Arena is. The new Arena has brought many concerts and fun events to Lincoln and is also where the UNL men’s basketball team plays their home games. “Growth” is a word that is heard around Kappa all the time. With the bigger and bigger pledge classes every year, growth is a common word. Sigma is always looking towards the future and to how the chapter can improve and become the best that it can be.


Highlights of 2014[edit]

The year of 2014 marked yet another successful and busy time for Sigma chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma. To kick off the year, 18 new officers were installed at formal meeting and they had the pleasure of attending Leadership Day. Leadership day brought the new and old officers together under the assistance and activities of Sharon Gober, Director of Standards. This paved the way for a smooth transition into the new roles and helped promote support between officers as well as motivation for a great year! Under the leadership of President Hannah Kupka, the chapter took on a great year of events.

2014 brought new chapter goals for the actives to work towards including: to increase involvement outside of Kappa and improve social media image, improve chapter academic excellence, establish awareness of Fraternity/Chapter History, By-Laws/Standing Rules, Chapter Budget, and Ritual, and lastly to strengthen chapter accountability, courtesy, and trustworthiness. To achieve these goals, a monthly focus action plan was implemented. VPO, Lindsey Arneson established a theme each month and programs were put on to that concentrated on this theme. For example, October is Fraternity/Chapter History Month. To put this into practice, in October 2014 we celebrated Founder’s Day, which celebrates the establishment of our national fraternity. Throughout the month, the members were further educated on Sigma history through trivia questions and quizzes during meeting and a newsletter around the house with many fun facts.

For Spring 2014, our All-House GPA was a 3.35. Of this, 43 members received a 3.5 GPA or above and 10 members received a 4.0. We had tremendous support and financial donations from the local Alumnae Associations. We are so fortunate to have such generous alumni. They provided us with many scholarships just for Sigma Chapter amounting to over $25,000. They were presented at our event, Celebrate Sigma, during the Spring of 2014. Challenges include increasing our chapter’s GPA and academic rank on campus. I believe we succeeded in informing our chapter of our academic expectations. We provided exciting incentives for attending class through the “No Skippy Jar” and reward academic successes through the “Owl Jar.” For recruitment, we voted to increase the grade requirement for incoming freshman from a 3.33 to a 3.5 GPA. We are very excited about these changes!

Sigma chapter successfully completed two main philanthropies under guidance of Philanthropy chairman Ally Patterson. In the Spring, our chapter put on Kappa Goes Country in our parking lot with a local fraternity on campus. At Kappa Goes Country, the girls helped facilitate games and line dances, while also passing out Arby’s sandwiches. We also had a live concert from a local artist, Nicky James. We raised a little over 2,000 dollars for the Alzheimer's Association. In the fall, we had our second annual Kappa Kickball. This event is an all day kickball tournament for local fraternities around campus. We had over 22 teams participate and ended up raising 5,500 dollars for Educate Uganda. We also sold spots in our parking lot to raise money for the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation for our home football games. Last but not least, we started collecting children's books from alumnae to start up a book drive. Additionally, Kappas took on the unwritten tradition of participating in Dance Marathon to benefit the Children's Miracle network and The Big Event, a volunteer day reaching out to the city of Lincoln. Many Kappas served on the executive board for this event.

Along with all the other events Kappas participated in this calendar year, three different formals took place. Two of which were held at a venue and the girls and their dates dressed up in formal attire. In addition, we had "Kappa Date Night" in the Spring at the house were we enjoyed eating all together and having their dates interact. Last spring we also held dad’s day, the dads and their daughter went on a tour of Memorial Stadium and enjoyed company from each other. The moms and daughters are eager to attend the mom's day which will be in Spring 2015.

This past year the chapter was educated in a number of ways. Last year’s seniors were able to take part in three Senior Programs during the Spring of 2014. These programs were focused on etiquette, relaxation through yoga, and Celebrate Sigma. The seniors this year were also able to participate in three Senior Programs. These were focused on budgeting/finance, building a resume, and once again relaxation through yoga. In Spring 2014, we had a successful Celebrate Sigma, where the seniors were honored and multiple women received awards and scholarships. The week of September 22-26 of 2014 was National Anti-Hazing Prevention Week. Each day of the week there was a different contest/activity, all of which combined to promote anti-hazing with our fraternity and campus. During the fall of 2014, we also took part in Founder’s Day, where we celebrated the 144th year of Kappa! In addition, this past year we also participated in Greek Week and Homecoming. Both events were successful and we had great involvement from everyone in the house. We also held two dinner exchanges during the fall semester with other sororities on campus. In October, we hosted our annual "Boo and Boo" event where we decorated the whole house, provided snacks, organized Halloween themed games, and had trick-or-treating at each of the rooms. There was a great turn out with alumnae, their children, family, and friends.

Another big highlight for Sigma this year were the retreats the ladies of Kappa got to participate in together. Each pledge class had the opportunity of choosing their retreat in Spring 2014. A couple initiation classes decided to go to Husker baseball games together, while others took on self defense classes. In the Fall of 2014, members attended an all house retreat at the recreation center. During this time together we did many team building/trust building activities as well as a couple childhood games such as playing with a parachute and ships and sailors. We had a lot of fun getting to know one another a little bit better through the games we played and trust builders we worked through. Also in the Fall the standards committee held a night for all of the new members to come over to carve/paint pumpkins together and eat caramel apples! Throughout the entire year, the standards committee worked to strengthen the sisterhood of Sigma Chapter and get women more involved in the lives of their sisters.

This past summer eight Chapter Council members and two Chapter Council advisers traveled to Houston, Texas to attend Kappa’s Biennial Convention. It was an honor to represent Sigma and we were awarded the Standards Award among five other honorable mentions. We take pride in our chapter, thanks to our devoted members, influential Chapter Council, inspiring Chapter Adviser Mary Ford, and loyal alumnae. Also in the summer, Sigma had a very successful work week and recruitment week. One day of formal recruitment we focused on our national philanthropy, Reading is Fundamental where the members of the chapter created bookmarks with the women that were coming through. This was a new and exciting experience.

In other news, it was a great year for finance this past year, members were timely about paying their bills every month. Also, this past year, we a live out meal plan for members so that they could eat at the chapter house as often as they wanted. This plan seemed to be effective and because one of our chapter goals was the chapter budget, it was great that our finances went smoothly this calendar year.

Fall was a very exciting time for Sigma because our new members were getting initiated! We initiated 46 New Members on November 8, 2014. We then held ritual review for the new members following Initiation. For the entire chapter, we continued to improve on ritual and held practices for songs and meanings of ritual. We also continued to follow parliamentary procedure as well as continuing to hold Kappa Kappa Gamma values and ritual to a high standard. The new members had the opportunity to grow as a class and in sisterhood at their two new member retreats that fall. They went to the pumpkin patch for one and then passed the key for the other.

Kappas also focused on reaching out to the other Greek organizations on campus this year. Sigma sent out sympathy cards and flowers to actives and other greek organizations who experienced losses, as well as sent out Valentines and holiday cards in the winter to chapters on campus.

In November we hosted a Staff Appreciation Dinner to thank all of the staff at Kappa for what they do for us. To ensure the house was held to standard and to show our support for all the house board does for us, we started to have mandatory live-in meetings every first Thursday of the month as something new to keep everybody in the loop. These were extremely successful and helped remind and encourage the women of Kappa Kappa Gamma to respect the house. Overall, the year 2014 was nothing short of excellent for Sigma Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma and they look forward to an exciting and successful 2015!

The Greek community at Nebraska is a very strong system. Summer of 2014 brought in the most amount of women for formal recruitment our campus has ever seen! It houses 23 Interfraternity Council Fraternities and 15 Panhellenic Council Sororities. The Greek community is very diverse and prides itself community events; each organization hosts at least one philanthropic fundraiser each year. Kappa Kappa Gamma has immense support from the other organizations, which is apparent in the amount of money raised this year. Just like the Greek system in general, Sigma has a diverse population of young women involved in various things on campus, such as University athletics, officers of clubs, members of Honors Societies, a newly accepted treasurer of Panhellenic, and many more. The overall nature is inspiring, uplifting, and motivating.

Sigma chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma holds chapter meetings in a multipurpose room in the lower level of their chapter house. It is a chapter owned facility on the campus of University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Our chapter has their own house that they love and take pride in. Our chapter was one of the first houses established on campus at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Due to this, it is now considered a national landmark. The house consists of three levels. We have two person and three person rooms on each level, and the occupancy of the house is 65 sisters. Active members from every pledge class love to come to the house and spend their free time there; it is unique, cozy, and makes our members feel "at home."


Highlights of 2015[edit]

The year 2015 brought many great things for the lovely ladies of Sigma Chapter. Once again, it was a busy and exciting year for us! After the installment of the new and eager officers in January, Kappa Kappa Gamma hit the ground running. Our Chapter Council hosted successful triplet meetings and the annual leadership day with a Kappa Trainer from Nationals for a start. This helped our chapter set new and strategic goals for the year, most of which were completed. The main goals we focused on this semester included increasing chapter involvement, increasing knowledge of Kappa Kappa Gamma history, and to increase accountability within the chapter. Steps were taken in the right direction to reach these goals throughout the semester. A great way that we facilitated meeting these goals was by hosting two Leadership Consultants, one earlier in the semester and one right before second semester, who met with each council member and gave tips for other chapters on how to meet our goals.

In the spring of 2015 we had three senior programs, the first was on interior design. Our seniors were able to go to a local decorating shop and be taught one on one skills about how to decorate small living spaces and on a budget. The next program was hosted by one of our Kappa Advisors and we called it Kappa Kitchen. The advisor taught the ladies great appetizers and mock tails they could whip up for any occasion. Of course afterwards, they got to be the taste testers. Our third senior program brings us to Celebrate Sigma. Celebrate Sigma is our final send off for the seniors and an end of the year banquet for the whole chapter. Celebrate Sigma was held on Sunday April 26th last year and senior week started Monday the 20th leading up to Celebrate Sigma. Senior week started with our senior ceremony on Monday and a day full of celebrating our seniors. We read sweet goodbye letters from their parents and wish them the best of luck in their future endeavors.

In addition, this semester included many different events and opportunities for us to grow as sisters and as individuals. Kappa ladies had the great pleasure of attending many fun events put on by our event chairman, Kathryn Dahl. These included both Mom’s and Dad’s day, a semi-formal and a formal. Other things included bon fires, bowling and game nights with other houses on campus. Spring semester 2015 we held 4 events for Kappa 4 weekends in a row! We started with semi-formal held with 3 other Greek chapters which was country themed. We then moved onto Mom’s Day which included lunch at the house, a parents club auction, and painting a fleur-de-lis canvas on East Campus by an art instructor. Next came Formal “Kites & Keys” held with Kappa Alpha Theta, which had a photo booth and pizza at a spectacular venue downtown. Lastly, for Dad’s Day, we had lunch at Kappa, Greek merchandise sale at the house, and bowling on teams with our dads. We were very privileged to have so many great events and memories made!

Other things Kappa Kappa Gamma was involved in this Spring include: Greek Week hosted by UNL, blood drives, a banner competition, study nights at the Kappa house, attending baseball games together, and sisterhood nights. Lastly, one of the biggest accomplishments we reached at the end of this semester was that we ranked fifth out of the fifteen Panhellenic chapters on our campus with a GPA of 3.498—the highest ranking and GPA we have held in quite some time. We had seventy-three members receive above a 3.5 GPA and sixteen members receive a perfect 4.0! The past few semesters have proven just how smart Kappas truly are. It was a great end to the semester!

The summer months for Kappa were also extremely exciting! In addition to recruitment planning, we had a big surprise this summer! With a special thanks to our wonderful house board association and many donations, the lovely 616 underwent a variety of changes including: the bedrooms in the house receiving brand new carpet and paint, as well as new furniture, including bed sets, desks, and dressers. We also received sleek gray curtains to replace the sliding closet doors, full length mirrors engraved with Kappa keys, new roof installed by the front door, and new washer and dryers that are free of charge to members. The ladies were extremely grateful for these renovations and very anxious to show off the new rooms during recruitment!

Fall semester started off strong under the recruitment process with the leadership of Amy Baumert, our Membership Chairman. Throughout formal recruitment, we were seeking women who share the same Kappa ideals that this chapter possesses. We worked hard with the members to represent Kappa Kappa Gamma in a positive light throughout the entire process by always maintaining a positive and energetic attitude. Along with a successful formal recruitment this fall, we were eligible to participate in a process called Open Recruitment. What this means is we had the opportunity to meet and consider women at UNL to be potential new members through a more relaxed process than formal recruitment. This was a very exciting thing for us, as it opened the door to many women that we might not have had the opportunity to consider for membership otherwise. Through Open Recruitment, we were able to meet with women in a casual setting, giving us the opportunity to get to know them and learn more about them. In the end, we were able to initiate 57 new women into the fraternity in November.

To get involved on campus, Kappa Kappa Gamma initiated a brand new event called “Kool Off With Kappa.” This was held the second week of classes outside of our University Union, where we had a table set up with a banner, and popsicles that we passed out to students as they walked by. Each committee went together at various times and wore special shirts; it got great feedback. It was an awesome way to get to connect with our committees, meet the new members, welcome students back to school, and to get involved! Following this event, we also competed in Homecoming week, where the theme of the week was Heroic Huskers, and we were paired with Beta Theta Pi, Farmhouse, and Kappa Sigma. The four of us worked together to build an amazing lawn display outside of Beta, create a Monday Night Live skit, participate in the blood drive, run a 5k, and participate in the biggest Husker fan competition. The week ended with the homecoming football game, which was against Southern Mississippi. The week was very busy and lots of fun! The seniors also had more senior programs, this time we arranged to go to the mall and get styling tips for professional wear, business casual, day to night outfits, and some ideas for dressier events like weddings. After the styling tips the seniors were allowed to shop around the store and get some great deals. In addition, a financial advisor from Northwestern Mutual came over to the Kappa house and presented to the seniors some good tips on how to manage your money after college. In November we will have our last senior program, which will be on etiquette.

The Fall semester brought even more social events for our Kappa women. We hosted Mom’s Day at the East campus party rooms consisting of lunch and painting pumpkins, which most girls took back to Kappa to decorate outside. We also had an a capella boys group, The Bathtub Dogs, come sing at the event replacing lyrics with “Kappa’s or Kappa Moms.” The members loved hearing their talent at this event. The last event of the Fall was formal, which we co-hosted it with Pi Beta Phi and Kappa Alpha Theta. It was called “Triad,” and we replicated t-shirts Sigma made in 1989 and also hosted it with the same houses. It was special to us to still be able to repeat other events that were special to previous Kappa’s at their time here at UNL.

Kappa Kappa Gamma also celebrated our founding sisters from Monmouth college on October 12th with cupcakes, cake balls, alumni, and some great presentations on the creation of Kappa Kappa Gamma and the foundation it has come to be today. Over all this year has been great and hopefully through programs and every day interaction we can keep building education into our Kappa lives.

As you can see, Kappa Kappa Gamma was blessed with another year of great events, involvement, academics, new members, and opportunities to grow as individuals and sisters. We are very proud of our year and the goals we met. The ladies became close through sisterhood events and encouraging each other to be the best women they can be! We are excited to enjoy our Winter Break and come back to see what 2016 has in store for us!

Our campus is undergoing the creation of a new Business college this year. It is very exciting to see the progress! We also got a brand new Student Recreation Center on both City Campus and East Campus, which our sisters like to enjoy together! In addition, our campus is constantly growing in students and Greek life. The overall nature of our chapter is involved, inspiring, close-knit, and energetic.

Chapter Philanthropy:

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

One of our favorite ways to grow as sisters and individuals is through Philanthropy events, which were planned under our Philanthropy chairman, Sarah Lindstrand. We vote on our organizations every year! This Spring, we held an event for an organization called Emma Strong. The Emma Strong foundation is a fund that was started to help out a little girl battling a life-threatening illness, and it was brought to our attention by a Kappa Alumni. This is the organization that our chapter felt strongly about and voted on at a chapter meeting. We teamed up with the fraternity Kappa Sigma to put on a event to donate the proceeds to Emma Strong as, Kappa Sigma was supporting the Wounded warrior organization. We held an event called, “Kappa Karnival” this event was held in Kappa’s parking lot. It included music, cotton candy, snow cones, Arby's sandwiches, face painting, bean bags, and a dunk tank. Everyone that attended this event had a great time, and the women of Kappa really enjoyed getting to know some of the men of Kappa Sigma better. We made just under $4,000 at this event that we were so excited to donate to Emma strong! In the beginning of Fall, we held Kappa Kickball, a well-known philanthropy on campus. Many people enjoy this philanthropy because it’s during the day and all of the players get really into the game. This year we had great weather and a wonderful turnout with many different teams and with each team a “coach” which is a member of kappa. The players and coaches get into every game. The atmosphere during this day was great with cheering and laughter throughout the day. At this event we had Arbys, chips, cookies and water, for everyone to enjoy. For kappa kickball we made around $2000 for the Melanoma foundation, which again was a foundation we voted on as a chapter.

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

We chose the Emma Strong foundation after it was brought to our attention by a Kappa Alumni. Because it was so near and dear to her heart, we thought it would be a great opportunity to show our support to her. We chose the Melanoma Foundation because one of our current actives lost her best friend due to Melanoma. To show our support for her, we voted on this foundation.

Highlights of 2016[edit]

Sigma Chapter had a very busy and productive 2016 spring semester. We finsihed 5th overall in grades with an all house GPA of 3.524, and set an even higher goal to achieve 3rd in grades for the coming fall 2016 semester. We hosted our spring philanthropy which was cookout themed and benefitted the Muscular Dystrophy Association, something that one of our active members has been personally affected by. Spring semester had its own set of challenges as we were put on warning of probation due to an inncident that happened the previous semester. Sigma chapter and its members handled this with poise not only completing all the required programs but also using these circumstances as a way to better our chapter as a whole and come back from this incident stronger than we were before. Our education chairman hosted our annual senior week and Celebrate Sigma at the end of the semester to celebrate the accomplishments of our dedicated seniors and to celebrate the end of another successful academic year and watch our seniors transition from actives to alumna. We completed various programs as an entire chapter including an alcohol awaremness program led by a Kappa Trainer. We had 7 chapter officers attend convention over the summer where they learned numerous lessons that they brought back to share with the entire chapter in the fall. Fall semester began with a successful recruitment where we invited 57 new members to join Sigma Chapter. They completed a 10 week new member program and were initiated on November 5th, 2016. We hosted our fall philanthropy which was Krispy Kreme and Kappacinos, which benefitted the American Cancer Society. We were able to raise over $5,000 not only during the event but with the help of a Go Fund Me page, something that we had never used before to raise money. We continued to donate to the Kappa Foundation during the fall by selling out our parking lots for home football games, this is a long standing sigma tradition. Philanthrophy was a main focus this semester and through the donations made by our generous alums we were able to donate more time, money, and books to RIF this semester than ever before. The Public Relations chairman hosted our fall event known as Boo & Boo the week of Halloween. This is another Sigma tradition where we invite alums and various members of the community to bring their kids to come and play games and trick-or-treat around our house. We finished all our programs required by our warning of probation, concluding with a presentation led by a Kappa Trainer that was titled "always wearing your letters". This program was received well by all members due to its relevant content about shedding a positive light on Sigma chapter at all times. We are continuing to improve each member and our chapter as a whole as the fall semester comes to an end. We have learned an immense amount during our warning of probation and will take the lessons far into the future to continue to better our sisterhood.

The Greek community has recently been put under a microscope here on our campus and throughout the United States as a whole. We have worked hard to overcome these negative stereo types and misconceptions about the greek community by having a positive impact on our campus as well as throughout the Lincoln community. We have hosted events at our house as well as involved ourselves in campus events that try and shed a more positive light on the greek community and its members. Our chapter is comprised of a large group of very unique and individual members who all bring their own set of attributes and characteristics to our house. Each member is involved in campus life in a different way, from greek and on greek honors fraternities, to university program council, and various clubs. We use these various outlets to spread a positive message about our chapter and promote as positive greek image to all we encounter.

Each semester we hold our philanthropy and we are lucky enough to decide who we would like to see our money benefit. This calendar year we donated to the Muscular Dystrophy Association and the American Cancer Society. We chose these organizations due to the strong personal ties it had to some of our individual members. We donate to the Kappa Foundation on a weekly basis during the fall semester and do RIF events at local elementary schools throughout each semester. We choose these organizations because each member of Sigma chapter is valued in such a way that when they are struggling with things personally we take that to heart and want to support them as much as possible. When emotional support is coupled with financial support and donations we see a real impact in their lives that only strenghens our sisterhood throughout the years. We donate to the Kappa Foundation because of all the great work they do with that money, we have had multiple Kappa Trainers and seen the impact of the Rose Mcgill fund and know that our donations are going to be used in the best ways possible.

Highlights of 2017[edit]

Sigma Chapter stayed extremely active throughout the year. Whether that be hosting events, participating in on campus activities, or studying hard, the Kappa's were everywhere.

We hosted our Spring philanthropy, which benefitted a local organization, Wonderfully Made, that provides kids with special needs all around the Lincoln area. "Kappa Con Queso" was able to raise $4,000 for this great program! Our mini philanthropy spring semester benfitted the Children's hospital and medical center which raised around $600. This past fall we hosted "Krispy Kremes & Kappacinos" in benefit of the Blood Clot Alliance. We were able to raise $2600 in honor of a member who has struggled with this in the past. Our mini philanthropy was for a local family struggling to keep their three boys happy and healthy due to a rare disease. We were able to donate $900 directly to their medical bills.

Academically our chapter ranked 8th out of 16 sororities with a 3.45 GPA. Our goal is to push a little harder and attain a 3.52 GPA. Our education chairman hosted our annual senior week and Celebrate Sigma at the end of the semester to celebrate the accomplishments of our dedicated seniors and to celebrate the end of another successful academic year and watch our seniors transition from actives to alumna.

We completed various programs as a chapter, including multiple visits from leadership consultants (who were extremely knowledgable and fit in great as Sigmas). We had 5 chapter officers attend a leadership convention in Saint Louis over the spring where they learned numerous lessons that they brought back to share with the entire chapter in the fall.

Fall semester began with a successful recruitment where we invited 50 new members to join Sigma Chapter. They completed a 10 week new member program and were initiated on November 18th, 2017. We continued to donate to the Kappa Foundation during the fall by selling out our parking lots for home football games, this is a long standing sigma tradition. Philanthrophy was a main focus this semester and through the donations made by our generous alums we were able to donate more time, money, and books to RIF this semester than ever before. The Public Relations chairman hosted our fall event known as Boo & Boo the week of Halloween. This is another Sigma tradition where we invite alums and various members of the community to bring their kids to come and play games and trick-or-treat around our house.

The Greek community at Nebraska has recently been put under a microscope here on our campus and throughout the United States as a whole. We have worked hard to overcome these negative stereo types and misconceptions about the greek community by having a positive impact on our campus as well as throughout the Lincoln community. We have hosted events at our house as well as involved ourselves in campus events that try and shed a more positive light on the greek community and its members. Our chapter is comprised of a large group of very unique and individual members who all bring their own set of attributes and characteristics to our house. Each member is involved in campus life in a different way, from greek and on greek honors fraternities, to university program council, and various clubs. We use these various outlets to spread a positive message about our chapter and promote as positive greek image to all we encounter.

Every semester we are fortunate enough to hear many different personal stories and connections our own Kappa's have with specific organizations, families, etc. This process is so special to us because we are able to donate money somewhere that we can potentially see a difference made in one of our own Kappa's. This past year we donated to Wonderfully Made, The Children's Hospital and Medical Center, The National Blood Clot Alliance, and a local family going through hard times. While we are able to donate money to these wonderful places, there are also Kappa's donating their time all over Lincoln. Many people volunteer at local schools, hospitals, Dance Marathon, The Big Event (University puts it on), and many more.

We choose these organizations because each member of Sigma chapter is valued in such a way that when they are struggling with things personally we take that to heart and want to support them as much as possible. When emotional support is coupled with financial support and donations we see a real impact in their lives that only strenghens our sisterhood throughout the years. We donate to the Kappa Foundation because of all the great work they do with that money, we have had multiple Kappa Trainers and seen the impact of the Rose Mcgill fund and know that our donations are going to be used in the best ways possible. We also donate books to financially struggling kids and schools around the area as well as visit those schools and kids and read the books to classrooms through RIF.

Highlights of 2018[edit]

      Throughout the 2018 year, many girls bustled in and out of the big, blue door of the white, Kappa house at the 616. With a total of 168 active women in the chapter many activities, clubs, majors, jobs, and athletics kept Kappa’s members busy. At the beginning of the year, 18 new officers were installed at Formal Meeting, and Summer Baldwin became the 2018 Kappa Kappa Gamma Sigma Chapter President. The new council members became acquainted with their positions and advisors as they met with previous officers.

      Within the Greek Community at the university, Kappa’s presence was made clear throughout the year. Sigma’s Panhellenic Delegate, Kali Dodd, attended weekly meetings with fifteen delegates from other chapters, acted as the liaison between Kappa and The National Panhellenic Conference, and created opportunities for Sigma Chapter to build relationships with other chapters on campus. For International Women’s Day, Kappa teamed up with Kappa Alpha Theta and handed out goody bags in front of the Student Union in the spring. This event was a huge success, and Kappa plans to do it again next year in 2019! Kappa had the pleasure of being paired with Beta Theta Pi and Delta Delta Delta for Greek Week in the spring. The Homecoming Week theme was “Bringing Tradition Home” in honor of Scott Frost’s first season as head coach of the football team. Kappa had very high involvement in all of the events and placed in the top three for the blood drive and lawn display competitions. Kappa was paired with FarmHouse, Sigma Chi, and Pi Alpha Chi for Homecoming. Sigma Alpha was added to the Panhellenic Community this year, and Theta Phi Alpha is no longer recognized as a Panhellenic chapter. Sigma chapter received an honorable mention for Panhellenic at the National Conference in Denver, Colorado. Kappa’s very own, Andrea Harris, was elected to serve as the 2019 Panhellenic President.

      During Formal Recruitment in August of 2018 over 1000 women participated in the action-packed week, visiting a total of 16 chapters each. Kelsey Martinez, Sigma’s Membership Chairman, hosted all Potential New Members throughout the week and prepared for their arrival all summer. This year, Kappa had 5 members volunteer as Rho Gammas during the week, mentoring small groups of women and guiding them throughout the week. Bid Day came at the end of the week planned by Emma Tuttle, Sigma’s New Member Chairman. Bid Day was “Kappa Kandyland” themed with pascal colored props, tank tops, glitter, colorful lipstick, hair dye, and many excited new members and actives. Chapter Registrar, Andrea Harris, organized Bid Day photography to commemorate the special day. After 52 women ran into the arms of joyful Sigma Members, 51 of them successfully completed the new member program with Tuttle throughout the beginning of the 2018 fall semester. On October 26th and 27th, alumni came to initiate the 51 new members composed of daughters, sisters, granddaughters, and nieces. Jessica Moore, Sigma’s Marshal, planned a successful, exciting, and well-rehearsed initiation ceremony for the chapter. She emphasized Kappa’s songs and traditions throughout the process.

      Many changes to the UNL campus happened this year. One was that the Cather/Pound Dorms behind Neihardt Residence Hall were demolished in late December of 2017. The lot on which both buildings resided has been vacant and blocked off for a year after. Just this December, nearly a year after the implosion, there have been workers cleaning up the site and adding sidewalks through the still roped off area. Another change to the atmosphere of UNL is the Tobacco-Free and Smoke-Free Campus Policy. This new policy at the university was approved back in August of 2017, and it was put into full effect starting on the first of the year in January of 2018. In the fall of 2018, the Nebraska Huskers welcomed back one of their own, Scott Frost, to be the head coach of the Nebraska Huskers Football Team. Many excited fans anxiously awaited his influence on the team which has not been performing as well as they would like. After the Huskers finished their 2018 season with only four wins and eight losses, Nebraskans are not as pleased with Frost as they expected they would be. The Husker Volleyball and Basketball teams have been doing well during their 2018 seasons, and other UNL teams continue to exemplify success and embody what it means to be a D1 athlete at UNL. Finally, the Cather Dining Center and College of Business recent builds have been easily accommodating students and contributing to academic success and university comfort this year. 

      Another project that’s projected to be done in the next month or so is the addition to Sigma Phi Epsilon across 16th Street from Kappa. The fraternity has been making an addition on the south side of their house and ensuring that it matches the rest of the house’s old, genuine, brick exterior aesthetic. Fraternity, Sigma Nu, just to the North of Sigma Phi Epsilon, remains abandoned and unkept. Fraternities Phi Gamma Delta, Delta Tau Delta, and Phi Kappa Psi still remain in band standing with the university and are working to rebuild and reconfirm their fraternity values and status in the Greek and University communities.

      During the 2018 year, Sigma boosted the house GPA to a 3.476 which was above the all-campus GPA of 3.274 and the all sorority GPA of 3.473. With the assistance of Colleen Doyle, Vice President of Academic Excellence, Sigma got a Chegg account in order to provide more academic assistance to all members. Kappa tried monitoring study hours on the GINsystem App to allow for more flexible study hours. This year, Sigma had an incredible 72 active members with a GPA of 3.5 and above. Sigma has also been able to provide tutors for around 14 girls in the house this year.

      Kappas were extremely involved on campus in 2018. Select senior members were a part of UNL’s Order of Omega, an all-Greek honors society. Many active members played on intramural sports teams, club sports teams, and the chapter had two D1 athletes in the 2018 year: a women’s soccer player and a women’s tennis player. Women in all colleges from Journalism and Mass Communication, to Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, to Business, to Engineering, and many more were 2018 actives. A handful of Kappa juniors and seniors in the 2018 year attended the new UNMC College of Nursing in Lincoln, Nebraska, with some choosing to remain active members on special status instead of going to associates status. Kappa women participated in summer and semester study abroad programs that took them across Europe to places in Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Ireland, and to many more adventurous destinations along the way. In September of 2018, a Kappa senior, Jordyn Koenig, Vice President of the Big Red Chapter of Pheasants Forever at UNL, organized a Youth Mentor Hunt for college students to test out hunting and have the opportunity to learn how to shot from other Pheasants Forever members. Koenig and six other Kappa members participated in the event, creating an awareness and promotion of the sport across campus.

      In June of 2018, six actives in Kappa accompanied by advisors and Sigma alumni attended the 2018 Kappa Kappa Gamma National Convention in Denver, Colorado. Those who attended were inspired by many generations of Kappas from across the United States. Women expressed their Kappa spirit with little golden keys, blue clothing, owl accessories, and a common theme of fleur-des-lis. Convention had officer training programs and the Sigma actives who attended, all members of the 2018 council, gained insight into their positions and ideas about how to implement changes to their position in the future. Kappas also learned about diversity, inclusion, and made changes to national Kappa bylaws and standing rules. In 2018, Kappa became inclusive of transgender women, a big step in Kappa’s goal of becoming inclusive to all women. Sigma Chapter submitted applications for awards at the Biennial National Convention, where Sigma received honorable mentions in House Board, Advisory Board, and Panhellenic. Attendees of the Convention left Denver with new ideas, forward-thinking minds, and more Kappa merchandise than they had when they arrived... 

      Philanthropies this year were organized by Aly Burd, Philanthropy Chairman. In the spring of 2018, she and her committee planned Mac and Keys benefiting the Alzheimer’s Association. Kappa raised a total of $5,500. In the fall of 2018, Kappa hosted Krispy Kreme and KAPPAcinos benefiting the John Atkinson Lung Cancer Foundation and $5,000 was raised. In addition, Kappa hosted mini philanthropies benefitting various organizations such as the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and to Write Love on Her Arms. Kappa also hosted Reading is Fundamental events, where members would read to elementary school students at underprivileged schools in Lincoln, as well as donate books to them. In the spring of 2018, many of Kappa’s actives participated in the Big Event and Dance Marathon, University organized volunteering and fundraising events that a large portion of UNL’s student population was involved in and excited about.

      Kappa had many glam formals, special events, and fun sisterhood retreats throughout the 2018 year. Elizabeth Mattern, Event Chairman, and Madison Felix, Risk Management Chairman, kept events organized and fun. Sigma was able to bring back the Sapphire Ball, a Kappa tradition in the fall of 2018. This event was a hit for all members! Events ran smoothly thanks to these two council members and were approved by national headquarters and obliged by Kappa’s sorority contract. Both council chairmen planned events with other Greek Chapters like Crush Formal and Mom’s Day in the spring and American Social, Dad’s Day, and a self-defense class in the fall. 

      Vice President of Standards, Sydney Hawekotte, made sure that all members were following Kappa bylaws and standing rules. She made sure that all members were reaching the standards Kappa has set in place. She also planned many sisterhood events with the help of her committee. Each member planned a sisterhood event, which occurred about every month like the October trip to Vala’s Pumpkin patch during Nebraska’s peak of the fall season. Hawekotte also hosted a public speaker, Ann Brewer, who talked about the danger and realness of sex-trafficking. 

      Education Chairman, Maggie DeGarmo, held both the Celebrate Sigma and Founder’s Day banquets, which both were a success. At Celebrate Sigma, Kappa honored the seniors and celebrated all the achievements of Sigma Chapter within the last year. Scholarships were also awarded to select actives of Sigma Chapter. Kappa also had a program with the seniors and the alumni where Kappa listened to a motivational speaker who was also an alum of Kappa. Kappa got to celebrate the seniors during senior week which was a great way to send them off into the real world. This fall semester, Kappa held the Founder’s Day Banquet to celebrate the founding of Kappa. Kappa also honored alums, house board, advisors, and new members, and it turned out to be a successful night. The 2018 semester ended with a senior program where the seniors did cooking classes with Kappa’s amazing cooks, Donna and Nicole, who have been working at Sigma Chapter for years. Seniors all really enjoyed it and learned a lot about making enchiladas and baked ziti.

      With a new year comes new changes, and some definite changes occurred at Kappa over the 2018 year. Susan Hirt, Chapter Council Advisor, spent her last year working with Sigma actives and alumni as she prepared to move out of the state to work. However, some other advisors were introduced into the Sigma family in 2018 like Krista Hafez, Registrar Advisor. Diane Stark is still the Sigma House Mother who works hard to keep the big, white house in order and exercises her “handyman” skills, helping to fix nearly everything in sight. Kappa purchased a new blue couch, which actives call “BC”, and large chair for the living room as overseen by Alexa Berry, House Chairman. Another change of 2018 is the transitioning of paper documents to digital documents that will continue to be a change implemented throughout the coming years. President Baldwin gave other council officers a chance to look over Sigma’s bylaws and standing rules, and Sigma was able to make amendments to the way room preference works, as well as live-out parking lot time frames. Sigma also elected smaller positions for a banner chairman and a t-shirt chairman, and those selected were able to involve committees and the chapter in more events. Hannah Sickler, Vice President of Organization, kept the chapter aware of activities and events by updating the chapter calendar. She worked to restructure committee night so that it was more productive than it had been in the past. Her committee helped come up with ideas on ways to keep Sigma Chapter more organized and is working on cleaning up old files and items that are no longer of use to the chapter. Sickler also worked with two separate LCs, Leadership Consultants, from Nationals and helped host them during their visit to Sigma Chapter.

      Other components of Sigma’s 2018 year included the chapter’s presence in social media. Public Relations Chairman, Sydney Lenarz, and her committee monitored all social media of active Kappas. They created new social media outlets such as VSCO, kept all social medias up-to-date for active members and alumni, put on an all-house photoshoot in the spring of 2018, and hosted a children's Halloween party called “Boo & Boo” for Kappa alumni, friends, and family in fall of 2018. The final accomplishment for Lenarz was sending out a blog/newsletter to Kappa alumni explaining what each council member had accomplished throughout their time on Sigma’s council. Andrea Harris, Sigma’s Registrar, is working to create the 2018-2019 composite, making it a tribute to the 1982/1983 composite design that depicted many mothers of current Kappa actives. Unfortunately, it was broken in the spring of 2018 when it fell off the third floor hallway wall, which lead to the idea of recapturing its design in 2018’s composite. Macie Kubat, corresponding secretary, replaced the mailboxes in the house, so that live-ins would have their own personal space to receive mail. Kubat also sent out holiday cards, gave flowers for chapters in need, and helped with house announcements. Sydney Miller, recording secretary, took minutes and attendance at chapter council meetings and every Monday night meeting. Her committee took attendance during philanthropies this year. Finally, last but certainly not least, Kappa’s finances were managed by Frannie Folson, Sigma’s Treasurer. Folsom continued to use BillHighway for member dues to be paid, was frugal and conscientious of spending, and added to and reduced officer budgets. The Assistant to the Treasurer in the spring of 2018 was Mollie Sperry and in fall of 2018 was Lauren Leapley. The assistants helped Folsom in charging freshman and other visitors for guest meals. As it is built into their dues, many juniors and seniors still eat at Kappa daily. 

      With the ending of 2018 comes the excitement and anticipation of what the 2019 year in the big, white house at 616 at “Dear old Nebraska U” will bring. Wonders of what the future holds for politics, social development, scientific discoveries, artistic innovation, the global community, and, of course, the legacy of Kappa Kappa Gamma keep us attentive.

Highlights of 2019[edit]

The year of 2019 marked another successful and busy year for Sigma Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma. At the beginning of the year, 18 new officers were installed at Formal Meeting, and Madison Felix became the 2019 Sigma Chapter President. The new council members had the pleasure of attending Leadership Day bringing new and old officers and chapter advisors together to pave the way for a smooth transition into new roles. The goal was to help promote support between officers as well as motivation for a great year!

Within the Greek Community at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), Kappa made their mark at the university. Sigma’s very own, Andrea Harris served as the 2019 Panhellenic President and we could not be prouder! Andrea worked alongside the Interfraternity Council (IFC) to install a hard alcohol ban on chapter events except when served by a licensed third- party vendor which went into effect August of 2019. The policy is in line with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s longtime commitment to reduce high risk drinking among students. The Panhellenic Council also created a new bylaw so that all candidates could be reviewed for a position on their council. Previously, if a member from a sorority was president a member from the same sorority could not be president the following year. Sigma’s Panhellenic Delegate, Samantha (Sam) Barnard, attended weekly meetings with fifteen delegates from other chapters, acted as the liaison between Kappa and the Panhellenic council, and created opportunities for Sigma Chapter to build relationships with other chapters on campus. During the spring semester of the 2019 academic school year, Sam focused on increasing Sigma involvement at campus events. She focused on doing this at UNL Homecoming events including competing in the Lip Sync competition, raising money for the Lighthouse Foundation at the block party, creating a banner, pomping for lawn displays, and participating in Homecoming events overall. Kappa Kappa Gamma placed third overall out of the Greek Community with the help of Phi Delta Theta and Phi Kappa Psi. We also collaborated with Kappa Alpha Theta to help women on campus celebrate International Women’s Day. During the fall semester of the 2019 academic school year, Sam mainly focused on Kappa’s involvement with participating in “Greek Week” events. These events included: banner making, the Lip Sync Competition, making lawn displays, parade participation, and house tours.

During Formal Recruitment in August of 2019, over 1000 women participated by each visiting 16 chapters each. Regina Brokke, Sigma’s Membership Chairman, and Maddy Felix, Chapter President, attended Greek preview in March to speak to potential new members about Kappa and give a sneak peek to recruitment. Regina dedicated her summer to redecorating the house with help from her committee and planning out the recruitment schedule. During recruitment, Regina organized recruitment practice with Pi Beta Phi which was lots of fun! Alexa Berry, New Member Chairman, and her committee worked hard to plan bid day which was themed “Kappa Palooza” where we welcomed 52 new members into our arms. On November 23, 2019, we successfully initiated all 52 members with help from Clare Ellerbee, Chapter Marshal, and her committee. Clare worked hard to emphasize the importance of ritual by educating the whole chapter during her Program Night.

During the 2019 school year, Sigma had a house GPA of 3.465 ranking 9th out of 51 Greek chapters and earning above the average UNL GPA of 3.149 and the average sorority GPA of 3.455. Lauren Kubat, Vice President of Academic Excellence (VPAE), implemented different academic programs that had not been previously installed. Weekly study nights, individualized approaches to POC, Dead Week study food and incentives, and much more were started. Although we did not improve semester to semester GPA, a deeper appreciation and motivation of academic excellence was found among Sigma’s members. The collaboration with Katie Krzemien, Vice President of Organization, on Dead Week Study Snacks and Prizes was one of the most successful parts of this last year. Over 600 study hours were logged between the Spring and Fall dead weeks. Girls in the new member pledge class used this as an opportunity to come to the house and get to know each other. Another key success from this past year was the purchase of a white board and a white noise machine for “Multi”, Sigma’s silent study room. Lauren Kubat’s main goal was to encourage a strong academic environment for girls to be encouraged to study smarter, not necessarily harder. Sigma Chapter has now been educated about more academic resources on campus and feel more comfortable getting academic support when they need it.

In February of 2019, President Madison Felix, Vice President of Standards Kylee Hines, Vice President of Organization Katie Krzemien, Vice President of Academic Excellence Lauren Kubat, Education Chairman Mollie Sperry, and VPAE and House Chairman advisor Kim Miller attended the Kappa Leadership Conference in Dallas, Texas. Those who attended roomed with council members from The University of Kansas and collaborated with council members from across the country to learn and brainstorm new ideas. They had the opportunity to listen to speakers who demonstrated the true meaning of being a woman in the 21st century. The Sigma representatives attended workshops including “Courageous Conversations”, “Life after Kappa” and many others. These members left inspired and were reminded to constantly have the confidence to be independent leaders in their endeavors.

Philanthropies in Spring of 2019 were organized by Ann Krause. Ann and her committee planned “Kamp Kappa” which benefitted the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation and raised $3,000. McKenna Bradley took over as Philanthropy Chairman in the fall semester of 2019. McKenna and her committee hosted “Kapiji Dog Days of Summer” with Phi Gamma Delta (Fiji). Sigma Chapter raised a total of $6,500 for the Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital, setting a new record in fundraising! Sigma members and friends brought their dogs and eat barbeque. In honor of Kappa’s 150th Anniversary, the chapter decided to participate in Kappa National’s 150 Hours of Community Service Initiative. We were able to cumulatively serve over 400 hours in the last two months of the semester! We also hosted a holiday-season toy drive. We collected 116 new toys for HopeSpoke, a local mental health organization that specifically gives resources to struggling kids, families, and young adults. To close out the semester, we partnered with Blaze Pizza to raise money and awareness for the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society. It was quite a philanthropic semester for Sigma!

Kappa had many glam formals and special events organized by Event Chairman, Brooklyn Housch, and Risk Management Chairman, Brianna Oehm. In January 2019, they planned a Masquerade Ball with Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Alpha Phi. In April 2019, there was a formal themed 80’s dress/workout. The semester was filled with dinner exchanges, socials, and study nights with various Greek chapters on campus. Mom’s Day was held at Kappa as a spa night with massage chairs, polaroid pictures, face masks, nail stations, and lots of food. The fall semester began with a Stampede Formal in September with Delta Gamma, Alpha Gamma Pho, and Farmhouse. The second formal was the annual Sapphire Ball in November. Trying something new, Mom’s and Dad’s Day was combined this semester for a Parents Weekend. We had a barbeque on a Friday evening and a brunch the Saturday morning following. A favorite social of Sigma Chapter was going to the Pla More for swing dancing with Alpha Gamma Rho. The freshman attended several introductions with fraternity freshman where they got to know one another, strengthening our Greek bonds on campus.

Vice President of Standards, Kylee Hines, worked to establish more transparency and communication between the chapter and the Standards committee all while maintaining confidentiality. Kylee educated the chapter on probation and what nationals allows for terms of probation that benefit members most. Kylee’s mission statement for the term was comprised of guiding members to grow and develop as women, and she worked hard to achieve that. The Standards committee also put together several sisterhood events and a Program Night. The night consisted of two therapists sharing information on eating disorders, how to spot a potential disorder, and what the best next steps are to help the person being treated. One sisterhood event was “Kappa Kanvas”. This event included several artists guiding the chapter on how to paint Sigma’s signature white house. It was a fun and memorable event for all in attendance.

Education Chairman, Mollie Sperry, facilitated many chapter events and programs for the current chapter members and local alumni association. Mollie worked closely with the 2019 graduating seniors, their parents, and alumni to plan the end of year celebration called Celebrate Sigma. Mollie worked with our adored cooking staff to build the annual senior gift, a Kappa Cookbook with original chapter recipes. Mollie facilitated a senior sisterhood cooking event where they got to learn from cooks Donna and Nicole on how to make our legendary Kappa enchiladas! Mollie facilitated an all-house program through nationals to discuss mental health issues that affect college students.

House Chairman, Chloe Discoe, was in constant communication with our kitchen staff, house board and director, chapter council and chapter members to maintain our beautiful home. Chloe, Maddy, and Lauren attended house board meetings once a month to discuss the foundation of the “616” (our nickname for the chapter house), potential remodels, and other various financial aspects. Chloe worked with House Director, Diane Stark, to schedule fire drills, inspections and handle any issues that arose in the house. Chloe planned a wonderful staff appreciation dinner to thank our wonderful cooking staff and house director. Chloe also managed live-in room selection and contracts for both live-in and live-out members.

Public Relations Chairman, Anna Mantini, worked to maintain the chapter’s overall image to the community and alumni through various public events and publicizing chapter activities. Anna focused on social media webpages, the main ones being Twitter and Instagram. Her committee put on a public relations events for Saint Patrick’s Day to cheer up students during midterms. They also planned the all-house photos in April which took place at the Nebraska Capitol building. In the fall, she planned “Kool Off with Kappa” for students to grab a free snow cone outside of the Kappa house. She also held our annual Boo and Boo where alums bring their children to trick or treat and play various games at the house. Maddie Mallisee, Recording Secretary, took minutes and attendance at chapter council and Monday night chapter meetings. She made sure members were held accountable in attending events that were required and encouraged attendance for optional ones. Maddie held a drawing and gave out gift cards to 10 of the 84 members who did not miss a single chapter meeting. Olivia Hartnett, Corresponding Secretary, replaced the mailboxes in the house so that live ins could have their own personal space to receive mail. Sigma’s Treasurer, Lauren Leapley, managed chapter finances and continued to use Bill Highway for members to pay their dues. Lauren allocated more of our dues to officer budgets in order to make more efficient use of our annual funds. The elected Treasurer Assistant, Ellie Hellman, worked to charge freshman and associate members for guest meals at the house and Kappa apparel. Kappa began using Venmo to accept philanthropy donations which increased the amount donated. To balance this, new elements of checks and records were implemented to keep track of our funds. The last in her position, Chapter Registrar Amanda Malashock organized bid day photos, the chapter composite, and reports.

With 2019 coming to an end, Sigma Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma continues to grow and develop, looking forward to the upcoming year at the big white house!

Highlights of 2020[edit]

The year of 2020 marked a time of hardship, change and growth for Sigma Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). At the beginning of the year, 16 new officers were installed at Formal Meeting – 2 less officers than prior years since of Historian and Recording/Corresponding Secretary were absorbed into other positions. The new and old council members and chapter advisors had the pleasure of attending Leadership Day, hosted by prior Vice President of Organization (VPO) and current Vice President of Standards (VPS) Katie Krzemien, to ensure smooth transitions. The goal was to build a support network which was utilized greatly in 2020 to counter unprecedented challenges faced by Sigma Chapter. The new counsel faced the loss of the Sigma Chapter House Director of 8 years, Diane Stark, in January followed by unexpected difficulties with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln shutting down due to COVID-19, affecting many events planned by Chapter Council.

Newly installed Chapter President Lauren Kubat, fondly called “Kubat”, set a goal at the beginning of her term to update Sigma’s Standing Rules. She hosted the first ever Council Retreat with Vice President of Organization Riley Cossen to help the council revise the Standing Rules and bond as a group. Due to the sudden strike of COVID-19, the chapter was unable to vote to pass updates on the Standing Rules. The live-in members of the Kappa House were required to move out due to this. In spite of the abrupt change to Kappa life, Kubat hosted weekly council meetings and monthly house board meetings via Zoom, even helping interview and hire Sigma’s new House Director Stacia Anderson. Throughout the second semester of her term Kubat updated the bylaws and standing rules to adjust to the new COVID-19 reality. Traditional Monday night meetings were moved to a zoom format, where all members would join on their own device via zoom. This offered a safe, socially distanced alternative to our normal meeting structure. Announcements continued as normal, as council members would read from the power point that was shared to everyone’s screen.

Katie Krzemien began her term as VPS with a mission to rebrand Standards at Sigma Chapter as a safe space for members to grow. Katie held a mock Standards meeting during her program night to show transparency among her committee as well as assigning more responsibilities to the elected members on her committee. She created a monthly “Sunshine Sister” program to show support to individual Kappas where members nominate each other anonymously to receive personalized care- packages and letters from the Standards committee (continuing via mail during COVID-19). Katie hosted a “Galentine’s Day” Sisterhood event with Panhellenic Delegate Ericka Knapp to bring Delta Gamma and Kappa together over a spa night, cookie decorating, and more in February. One of the most important Katie had to do this year was enforce all of the COVID-19 protocols in the fall semester of 2020. This included making sure all live-in members were socially distanced at all times, and wearing their mask throughout the house. Some of the socially distanced protocols included only allowing 4 people at each dinner table, socially discanced markings in “BC” and “pink”, and allowing no visitors into the house. Katie did a great job of making sure everyone followed these new rules.

Riley Cossen is the Vice President of Organization (VPO) at Kappa, one of three women by the same name on council this year. She started her term out strong by helping host the first ever Council Retreat, bringing food and games to help everyone bond. She began laying out the Kappa calendar in regard to events and meetings months in advance and stepped up in light of changed due to COVID-19. Riley welcomed our Leadership Consultant (LC) Jenna Patton virtually. It was Jenna’s first virtual visit as an LC since she was scheduled to come to Sigma Chapter the week universities shut down across the country in response to the pandemic. Riley continued to meet with her committee via Zoom and plans to make themes for Committee Chapter Meetings at Kappa. After elections Riley was in charge of organizing the transitions for the new council. Riley had to help ensure the new council members had two, one-on-one sessions with their old council counterpart to help the transition go smoothly.

The Vice President of Academic Excellence (VPAE) Mia Soulierre set the goal of raising Sigma Chapter’s grade point average (GPA) from a 3.49 to a 3.5 for the spring semester. Alongside this, she transitioned the Academic Excellence program at Kappa for members who struggle academically from “Period of Concern” (POC) to “Academic Progress Plan” (APP). This new program enables a more empowering approach to academics. Since COVID-19 forcing UNL to move to digital learning, Mia’s committee has been doing Zoom check-ins with APP members to aid them in this time of transition and help them in response to changing university policies. One of the most successful parts of Mia’s VPAE position was during the fall 2020 finals week. The girls in the house logged their study hours for dead week on the Omega One app. The three girls with the most hours got gift cards, and all the other girls were entered into a drawing for other study prizes. This was a great way to encourage the girls in the house to study for finals, and was very successful in the end.

The first Sigma Secretary since removal of Corresponding/Recording Secretary is Bethany Meyers. At the beginning of her term, she organized and transferred chapter rosters into the Recognized Student Organization (RSO) Portal in response to changing UNL policies regarding how sorority life functioned on campus. She worked with her committee to promote attendance at meetings and events, researching ways to make taking attendance more efficient. She created a concise version of meeting minutes called This Week in Kappa (TWIK) to keep the chapter up to date on council plans and actions since Sigma could no longer meet in person with COVID-19 and in place of any kind of digital Zoom meeting. During COVID-19 the composite planning presented challenges for Bethany, however, in the end she was able to successfully

Ellie Hellman is the Treasurer at Kappa after serving as the elected Treasurer Assistant in the year prior. She managed member balances, updated the budget, and helped to ensure timely payments of chapter dues. Ellie had the difficult job of calculating and organizing refunds to chapter members in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She worked with House Board to refund dues and live-in expenses with the shut down of UNL housing and the Kappa house. She is working on creating educational programming for the future regarding Kappa and personal finances. Ellie had to work on finding a solution for the refunds to members due to COVID. She worked hard to organize a system to ensure members got back the money that wasn’t used in the last part of the Spring 2020 semester. The next semester she organized monthly payments just incase the members had to be refunded again, so it was a simpler system.

The first Marshal since Historian was absorbed into the position was Elise Gamble. She ensured that all meetings, voting, attire and meeting decorum adhered to Kappa guidelines. Elise made formal meeting more efficient by implementing suggestions from her District Specialist and emphasized the importance of Kappa ritual and history at meetings. She updated Key Reports, completed this annual chapter history report, and purchased a speaker and mics for the chapter room. Due to COVID-19, she was unable to perform graduating senior ceremonies. One of the most important things was using zoom for Monday night meetings. She was able to find a way to get all the members on meetings so we could have our weekly discussions, and google forms for voting. We celebrated Founders Day/the 150th with the alumni. They were in-person, the chapter joined via Zoom. The chapter was treated to a cinnamon roll breakfast and the Marshal had a banner made to commemorate the event. Elise had to do virtual pledging for the new members, and pinning ceremonies. The in person initiation shifts were at the student union using the All-in-One service, and alumni and advisers were able to attend with no linked COVID-19 cases. Kappa families were able to eat dinner together the week of, provided by the Marshal, New Member, and Event Chairmen.

Education Chairman Dalia Nabulsi held many programs such as Harm Prevention in the beginning of her term. She oversaw new monthly program nights for chapter meetings and coordinated speakers such as a police officer from the Omaha Police Department and a UNL employee who spoke on resume building. Dalia was unable to have Celebrate Sigma due to COVID-19 but found a way to honor graduating seniors despite this. She sent them care packages including a special cookbook from Sigma Chapter’s beloved cooks and highlighted them individually through social media spotlights. Founders Day was a success on zoom, where alumni and all members attended. the Education chairman had a program night with a Kappa Alumni from Arbon, where she educated members about healthy eating. Kristen Louden, House Chairman, took on many responsibilities with the Kappa House this semester. She served as a liaison between House Board and the chapter while everyone mourned the loss of our House Director Diane. While searching for a new House Director, Sigma’s active alumni network took turns staying the night at the house, revisiting their college days while getting to know the active members. Kristen was part of the committee that helped to hire our new House Director Stacia and worked to ensure general upkeep of the house. When the house shut down due to COVID-19, she helped live-ins move out quickly and efficiently. Kristen was able to assign move in times to all the live ns so we could have a safe, socially distance move in. This was spread out over two days. There were subsequent bathroom assignments where girls were assigned a toilet, shower, and sink to reduce touch points.

Membership Chairman Emily Evans worked during the Spring Semester to plan Formal Recruitment in the Fall. She held “Rookie Recruitment” in March before UNL shutdown for COVID-19 where the younger pledge classes trained and prepared for Rush. Emily planned to innovate the Recruitment process by having Kappa’s test their compatibility with Potential New Members (PNMs) via the Enneagram personality test. As well, she planned to revamp Philanthropy Day by active members wearing T-shirts naming their favorite philanthropy Sigma has supported these past years. This year was the first virtual recruitment in Kappa history. Emily coordinated recruitment over zoom, and it went extremely smoothly and Kappa received a Pledge Class of 51 new members. We then participated in open recruitment where we got 10 more members. A standing committee was added to help with recruitment.

Brooklyn “Brook” Housh is Sigma’s New Member Chairman. She kicked off the 2020 spring semester by hosting the first ever New Member overnight retreat at Nebraska’s Mahoney State Park. Many Kappa executive officers past and present held a night of fun festivities, one of which the Freshman Pledge Class wrote a letter to their senior selves which they will open in a few years. It was a great, safe night for the New Members to bond with each other and older Kappa sisters. Following this, Brook planned “Sneak”, a day for Littles to surprise their Bigs with shirts and more to say thank you. Due to COVID-19, this event was moved to the Fall. Virtual bid day theme was Kappa Disco this year. Bid day boxes were delivered to each girl of the new pledge class that was disco themed. There were Owl Pal dates via zoom, and big/little reveal was in waves so it could be in person. The new members participated in a virtual pass the key, and all of the new members were given Valas tickets for a bonding experience.

Sigma’s Philanthropy Chair is Andrea Atkinson, a member whose philanthropy submission was selected by chapter vote in 2019. Her passion for philanthropy was unchanged by COVID-19 even though the philanthropy she planned, Mac n Keys, had to be cancelled. Sigma Chapter still raised and donated money despite this to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation in order to honor House Mother Diane Stark. Andrea brainstormed on ways to give back during the pandemic and even began planning the Fall philanthropic events. Andrea did a virtual fundraiser for Lolo’s Angels, one of our philanthropies this year, where she sold t-shirts to make money. There was also a toy drive to help with less fortunate kids.

Reilly Kortus, Public Relations Chairman, worked hard to represent Kappa Kappa Gamma well on campus and on social media. She did introductory posts on Sigma’s Instagram @kkg_unl for each new member of council, “takeovers” for members studying abroad, and encouragement posts during COVID- 19. Reilly planned to have a booth on UNL’s campus called “Kiss Me I’m a Kappa'' for Saint Patrick’s Day where Kappa’s would hand out stickers to passersby. Reilly was also in charge of the council photos thatwere taken at the end of the fall 2020 semester. These photos had to be coordinated during thepandemic, and showcased masks and social distancing.

Event Chair Claire Andry and Risk Chair Rylee Reggio worked together to plan fun, safe formals where all Kappa protocols and paperwork was followed. They hosted a Crush formal with Alpha Xi Delta, Sigma Phi Epsilon, and Pike. Due to COVID-19, they were forced to cancel their “80’s in Aspen” semi- formal and events through the remainder of the spring semester. Claire and Rylee innovated the formal transportation system according to Kappa requirements to ensure ease and safety traveling to and from the venue. Rylee also collected driver forms alongside House Chair Kristen to encourage members to submit them. One creative way to keep the members engaged during the fall semester of 2020 withoutformals was to create “Kappa Pods”. These pods were composed of 8-10 members of the chapter who had the same available times. The kappa pods were given money to do fun things around Lincoln, suchas going out for lunch, dinner, or ice cream.

Ericka Knapp served as the Panhellenic Delegate, working like no delegate before to make sure all Sigma members had a say in Panhellenic matters and furthering Kappa’s relationships with other Greek houses at UNL. She held a sisterhood event with Delta Gamma and celebrated International Women’s Day with Kappa Alpha Theta where everyone handed out stickers and succulents together. Ericka’s main event of the Spring, Greek Weekend, was cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.However, she continued to meet with the Panhellenic Council via Zoom to discuss Recruitment rule changes for the Fall. Through the entire year of 2020, Sigma’s Chapter Council worked tirelessly to ensure everyone in Kappa had an amazing time despite all the hardships faced. Even throughout the COVID-19 pandemic,Kappa bonded together via endless Zoom calls, text messages, and some hand-written letters. Sigma Chapter is a proud representation of the values of Kappa Kappa Gamma, ready to face 2021 even stronger than before.

In Memory of Diane Stark Sigma Chapter’s House Director, Diane Stark, has been a huge and influential part of Kappa for the past 8 years. Diane was a smart, multi-tasking, strong woman who could do ANYTHING! She loved her flowers and transformed the Kappa house to have the most beautiful yard on campus. She took so much pride in the house itself and the ladies living in it each semester. She prided herself in saving Kappa money by fixing a multitude of things in the house and streamlining Kappa’s budget. Diane had two sons, Todd and Travis, and their families that lived close by. Her biggest pride and joy were her 4 grandchildren, loved by the Kappa girls, that would often visit her at the house. The grandkids would beg to have sleepovers at the Kappa house. After a courageous 3 ½ year battle with breast cancer, she passed away on January 29th, 2020. Diane never wanted to worry the girls in the house and was very private about her illness. She wanted life to be normal for everyone around her, and she did an amazing job of that. Kappa was so lucky to have her for 8 incredible years and will be forever grateful for how much she taught us about how to live life to the fullest. Diane Stark will be greatly missed by so many.

Highlights of 2021[edit]

This year marked the year of recovery from Covid-19 for Sigma chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). Navigating the new “normal” was an obstacle the 2021 Sigma chapter council had to face head on. However, we were still able to hold events and traditions to keep chapter morale high. At the beginning of the year the new officers were installed at a formal meeting, and the 2020 VPO Riley Cosson helped wrap up transitions for the new officers. The most memorable moment of our year was the fact that we introduced Stevie, our house dog! Stevie is under the direct care of Stacia, our house mom. He loves running around the house when gets zoomies, cuddling with the girls on the couch, and greeting the girls every time they enter the house. Stevie has been one of the most unique, positive, and wonderful additions to our Sigma chapter house.

Newly installed Chapter President Ellie Hellmen, helped oversee all operations throughout the 2021 Spring and Fall semesters. Ellie did a wonderful job of making the Sunday night council meetings more proactive by allowing very engaging conversation that included all of the council's opinions. She assisted the recruitment chair with a very successful recruitment the first two weeks of August, and was a wonderful leader and resource for all the new members to talk to throughout the Fall semester.

Vice President of Standards, Riley Cosson, kept our chapter connected through multiple sisterhood events. Two examples of events she did this year was “Stevie's Birthday Party” and “Mental Health Study Week. Stevie’s birthday party was an all house event where there was games, bonding, and lots of cake! During dead week we had our “mental health study week” where there were activities every night for girls to voluntarily participate in. This helped the girls with their stress management, and was a great idea from Riley for us to participate in.

Vice President Organization, Abby Butler, helped keep the chapter organized through infographics, and scheduling. One thing Abby did this year that really helped with the chapter's organization was creating infographics that were sent out to the chapter whenever there was a Kappa event occurring. This helped keep the chapter organized and aware of any events going on. As seen below, I have included an example of an infographic Abby created to stay organized. She helped with the annual LC meetings this year as well. Since everything was online and over zoom, she helped keep us accountable for our meetings. Along with this she assisted in a very smooth transition for the incoming council of 2022.

Vice President Academic Excellence, Sarah Rpgoz, did an excellent job of managing our APP girls the past two semesters. Along with this she was able to help raise our all house GPA to a 3.623. She accomplished this through weekly study nights, which included bonding in the Sigma house basement doing homework, studying, and eating snacks all while encouraging a healthy school-social life relationship with all the girls.

Secretary, Jordan Kuhn, organized meetings half in person and half online during covid to be conscientious of social distancing and others health while encouraging people to go with 

gift cards. She took attendance for all events including recruitment and meetings. When meetings had to be on zoom for events, she overlooked the chapter to make sure they were there and engaged. Jordan also organized the chapter composites with GreekYearbook including our house dog Stevie on it and ordered new member keys in the midst of the supply shortage.

Treasurer, Sydney Holsinger, faced issues with the house not being filled and working with council to brainstorm ideas to either cut the budget or supplement it with other sources. Sydney came together with house board to cut the budget accordingly so that we don’t have to cut out our important events and experience for our members. She also managed the chapter budget and member billing statements as usual but also helped the house chair with preventing the same situation in future years.

Marshal, Jamie Guszak,led different ritual events in the most “normal” way possible this year to try and navigate state and local COVID 19 guidelines. In the Spring there was a senior fireside service, and in the fall she led a combined initiation for the new member pledge class of 2021. We were able to do the combined service in the basement of our Sigma chapter house, which helped restore tradition after last year's initiation. Bringing tradition back to Sigma chapter was one of the most important parts of initiation this year, and it was successfully achieved through ritual at monday night meetings and initiation.

Education, Riley Miller, planned a wonderful celebrate sigma getting it approved by the university following all covid guidelines sadly not being able to have all the alumni and parents of seniors there. She organized senior week and founders day incorporating Kappa ritual, planned monthly programs within the chapter along with organizations outside of Kappa, and worked with the district specialist for the national Kappa program that is put on every semester.

House chair, Hadley Hiatt, collaborated with houseboard throughout the year on a variety of topics including raising dues for live outs and guest meals for next year and working with advisors to fill the house. She held an amazing staff dinner to recognize the hard work of our cooks Donna, Nicole, and Trent, and house director Stacia. Throughout the semester, Hadley worked weekly with the cooks and house director with meals and created a weekly cleaning list. She was able to gather a ton of volunteers for hashing for every Monday night dinner, do room pref and draw people for the parking spots on Kappa.

Membership chairman, Dalia Nabulsi led a very successful recruitment in the acquisition of the new member pledge class of 2021. Recruitment week followed a very long work week where girls spent many hours preparing, and practicing for recruitment, which all paid off! Dalia also helped with COB recruitment (continuous open bidding) where we welcomed even more new members to our house.

New Member, Lily Parizek, welcomed the new member to Kappa with a Bid Day theme of Kappa Kloud 9. She met with New Members every Sunday evening discussing Kappa values and Minerva. Lily did several bonding activities with the new members and met with other chapters on campus creating sober social activities to meet more people.

Panhellenic chair, Maggie McCabe, collaborated with other chapters delegates to promote greek life and campus involvement. She attended meetings every other Thursday to learn of other Panhellenic chapters activities and plan sisterhood events. Maggie led Sigma chapter during greek week in the spring and homecoming week activities in the fall.

Philanthropy chair, Jessi Burd, worked tirelessly on multiple philanthropies throughout the year. Sigma chapter continued with our tradition to vote on the philanthropies we want to raise money for throughout the year, that way all of the girls in the house get a voice. However, Jessi also incorporated voting on our new national philanthropy mid semester. This allows Sigma chapter to support the national philanthropy of mental health, but also our own. Jessi was able to execute our big philanthropy in the face of COVID restrictions with the University. Through this she was able to lead our philanthropy to raise $5300 for the National Brain Tumor Society via Krispy Kreme x KKG.

Public Relations chair, Rachel Dempsy, has done such an amazing job in her position, she was reelected for the 2022 council year. Rachel updated all social media accounts to look cohesive by posting regularly. On these social media accounts she made special posts for every single new member in PC 21, which was a great way to make them feel special.

Event and Risk, Tauhni Willenborg and Natalee Noble, lead the way in creating fun and safe events for the chapter this year. In the heat of Covid they put on the Spring Soiree, which was a dinner social for our sisters and the safest way in the midst of the pandemic. The next event they helped plan was the American social which was done with another sorority and two fraternities on campus. They faced the challenges of a low number of bus drivers so they went with the idea of party buses which was a fun/alternative way than we usually do. They also put on Parents Weekend, which consisted of a formal dinner and dance party at Suite 111 followed by candle making, pizza, and cornhole the next day. As a last celebration to the end of the semester was the Masquerade formal at Das Haus with Phi Delt and Beta. Throughout all of these events, they completed all the proper paperwork, collection of COI’s, and approval of contracts.

=Highlights of 2022[edit]

Highlights of 2020s:[edit]

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:

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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