Difference between revisions of "Beta Beta Deuteron"

St. Lawrence University established in 1856, Canton, New York

Founded as Beta Beta September 26, 1881; Closed 1903 - 13 charter members

139 initiates (as of 1903 closure)

Founded as Beta Beta Deuteron on October 16, 1915 - 28 charter members

2,190 initiates (as of June 2015)

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

Fraternity Council Officers: Florence Lee Whitman, Grand Treasurer, 1881 – 1883; Lucy Evelyn Wight (Allan), Grand President, 1890 – 1892, elected first Panhellenic President at the 1891 meeting in Boston; Janeen Gould (Frank), Field Secretary, 1976-1977; Carolyn Waszkiewicz, Traveling Consultant, 2000-2001;

Fraternity Loyalty Award Recipients:

Fraternity Alumnae Achievement Award Recipients: Lucy Evelyn Wight Allan, Principal of Girls Commercial High School of Brooklyn, the world's largest school for girls, 1950; Emily Eaton Hepburn, Civic and business leader, 1954; Olive Gunnison, 1956; Marjorie Watters Longley, 1990

Additional Outstanding Beta Beta Alumnae

Florence Lee Whitman, Grand Treasurer 1881-83; Lucy Wight Allan, Grand President 1890-92

Additional Outstanding Beta Beta Deuteron Alumnae

Judy Lennon (Cashman), Graduate Counselor, 1958-1959; Janeen Gould (Frank), Graduate Counselor, 1975-1976, PDC 1997-99; Helen Probst Abbott, Province President 1916-20; Beverly Knapp Pullis, PDA 2001-03; Carol Davis DeCatur, PDA 1993-95; ; Judy Lennon Cashman, Graduate Counselor 1958-59, PDA 1989-91, PDC 1997; Katherine Benton Walsh, Graduate Counselor, 1937-39; Loraine Heaton Livesey, PDA 1953-54; Sally Crowder Spencer, PDC 1991-94, RDC 1994-1998;

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

“Between the hours of twelve and one on Monday, September 20, 1875, Misses Weeks, Weaver, Jones, Church, Stickles, and Bacheller met in Room 11, second floor College Hall and became the founders of the Browning Society.” Thus read the minutes of the first organized meeting of the first women’s society at St. Lawrence University. The society took its name from the poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and took for its aims self-improvement and demonstration of women’s equal capacity and fitness for intellectual advancement. No men were allowed to take part in any strictly society enterprise.

The society first met at members’ homes but soon felt the need for a permanent meeting place and applied for a room at a college building. When the request was not immediately granted, a small room was rented in one of the business blocks in town on March 4, 1876. It was not until 1880 that the society moved into a college building, so it was here that traditions and customs originated. Here the members formulated the earliest St. Lawrence University “honor code” embodied in a series of resolutions against cheating and started the custom of the May Breakfast, now called Strawberry Breakfast.

In 1891, at the unsolicited invitation of Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity, the Browning Society became Beta Chapter of the Fraternity (given the name of the defunct Beta – St. Mary’s School, Knoxville, Illinois), and Kappa soon found that it had added to its ranks a flourishing, original, and energetic chapter, rich in ritual, insignia, and songs. Athena, the goddess of the Brownings, with her owl, became the watchful guardian of the whole Fraternity. The Fraternity call, the heraldic shield, much of the ritual, and many songs were also adopted. The seventh Convention of the Fraternity is of special interest. It was held in Canton, New York, during August, 1884. Beta, already known for its original songs as “the singing chapter,” was chosen to publish the first Kappa Kappa Gamma songbook.

Beta was again honored at the Convention of 1890, in Bloomington, Illinois, when Lucy Evelyn Wight (Allan) was elected grand President while still a senior at St. Lawrence University. At this time, Beta was renamed Beta Beta.

In 1898 the Fraternity, feeling that chapters of Kappa Kappa Gamma should be confined to large colleges and universities began to put this policy into effect by voting to withdraw the Beta Beta charter. The members of the chapter objected, and, unable to convince the Grand Council of their right to continue operating under their charter, referred the matter to the courts. Much feeling resulted from the controversy, and in 1903, Beta Beta ceased to be known as an active chapter and was reorganized as Zeta Phi, a local fraternity.

The chapter continued to maintain its high standing. Members lived in their own club house, the first owned by a women’s fraternity at St. Lawrence, occupied by them from the fall of 1900, and purchased by the St. Lawrence Alumnae of Kappa Kappa Gamma.

In May of 1914, Zeta Phi, wishing to enter a national organization and not wishing to give up the loyal Kappa alumnae, petitioned the Fraternity for a charter, and in April, 1915, the petition was granted by vote of the Grand Council, chapters, and alumnae associations. Installation took place the following October, creating the Beta Beta Deuteron chapter was born. In December of 1915 the chapter held its customary meeting with the alumnae, at which time the new active chapter was presented with the original charter of Beta. It has never been surrendered.

At the 1920 Convention of the Fraternity, Beta Beta Deuteron presented a petition asking special permission to initiate members who had joined the chapter, whatever its name between the years 1898 and 1915. It was an unprecedented request but it was impressive. The strong appeal of the chapter was supported by the Grand Council and by letters from Charlotte Barrell Ware, Boston; Lucy Evelyn Wight Allan, St. Lawrence; and Jean Nelson Penfield, DePauw, all former Grand Presidents. A stirring speech by Tade Hartsuff Kuhns, Butler, first Grand President, brought about a favorable vote of the Convention, and dispensation was granted. In October, 1920, 26 Zeta Phis were initiated as Kappas and from time to time after that other Zeta Phis were also initiated as members of Kappa Kappa Gamma.

With the increase of student activities came a decidedly feminist feeling on the St. Lawrence campus. Largely responsible were four Kappas – Emily Eaton Hepburn, 1886; Lucia Heaton, 1879; Florence Lee Whitman, 1882; and Grace Lynd, 1893 – the only women trustees of the university. A director of women’s athletics was hired in 1926 and since then, all sports and play-days have been open to women.

During the next years St. Lawrence entered upon a period of expansion. New buildings were begun, the campus was landscaped. The Campbellina Pendleton Gaines Out-Door Theatre was erected by Owen D. Young, 1894, in honor of the chapter’s beloved alumna who had been interested in dramatics.

Housing Extensive remodeling of the house, including front porch removal and extension of the wings, was begun in 1941. Final renovations were completed in 1967, which left the house as it is today.

Philanthropy The giving of Thanksgiving baskets to needy families started in 1949 and is still continued. In 1963 Alpha Province Convention saw Beta Beta Δ as host chapter, and the spirit of the original, energetic chapter prevails today.

The previous information was excerpted from The History of Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity, 1870-1976. The information that follows has been gleaned from available resources including Chapter History Reports, chapter meeting minutes, letters and comments from chapter members and alumnae, the Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity Archives, and The Key. Each chapter is expected to update its history record annually. Contact Fraternity Headquarters at kkghq@kkg.org with questions.

Highlights of the 1980s:

Philanthropy: In 1987, the chapter participated in the Festival of Nations, a significant campus fund-raiser.

On March 17, 1988, 20 sisters were excited and proud to join the installation of a new chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma at Colgate University. The proud traditions of the Strawberry Breakfast and the Alumnae Dessert were continued. The Kappa and Pi Beta Phi pledges participated in the first annual St. Lawrence Monmouth Day. The girls pitched in and cleaned up the two square doing things from yard work to painting benches.

Highlights of the 1990s

During the 1991-1992 school year, pledges participated in a clean-up day along with other Greek groups. The clean-up was appreciated by the elderly of Canton, NY, whose yards were cleaned. The Strawberry Breakfast was a big success with the St. Lawrence University faculty. The chapter participated in a Little Brothers and Sisters of Canton Christmas party with SAE and held an Easter egg hunt for the children of Canton.

Education of the chapter about alcohol was a big part of the fall semester in 1994. The chapter created poster about alcohol abuse that were placed in downtown Canton windows. During the Christmas holidays, the chapter invited the children in Canton to come to the house to decorate cookies and trim trees with the members.

Strawberry Breakfast, an annual event held at the chapter house where each member invites a faculty member for breakfast was a success and coincided this year with the Kappa Parents’ Weekend.The Great Grades program was a huge success, motivating the chapter to improve their academics throughout the year. Many of the chapter members also participated in a safe rides program through the university to encourage campus safety.

One highlight during the 1997-1998 school year was the scholarship dinner held with alumnae where sisters were recognized for achieving high levels of academic standards. The chapter exceeded its GPA goal of 2.9 with a GPA of 3.05!

The No Skippy Jar program was implemented during the year. Each member who attended all of her classes during any given week would put her name in the jar. Then at the end of each chapter meeting a name was drawn and the winner was given a small prize. The jar was always full of names each week.

The chapter participated in lots of events during the 1999-2000 year including the annual canned food drive when the Kappas gathered more food than any other Greek group on campus. The chapter also sold carnations for Valentine’s Day to raise money for Planned Parenthood. They also held a Valentine’s Day tea which included members of the campus community from all over the world who read poetry in their native languages and shared food from their native countries.

Housing: In the fall of 1990, chapter members arrived back in the fall to find a new addition to house. The kitchen was doubled in size, very spacious and up-to-date including a large walk-in refrigerator, lots of sink space and a stove with an extremely advanced fire prevention system.

Philanthropy: The chapter held a clothing drive in 1990 and the clothes were given to a nearby church which distributed them to children in need in the area. The chapter held a Thanksgiving dinner for the elderly. Each sister brought home a resident from the nursing home to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner at the chapter house. In 1999, the chapter held a breast cancer dinner which attracted more than 75 people and raised more than $300. Survivors spoke of their experiences and specialists discussed the disease.

During 1997-1998, the chapter caroled at nursing homes during the holidays and raised money for underprivileged schools in the area. The sisters also walked for hunger, AIDS and breast cancer charities during the year and participated in the Canton Winterfest by supervising community youth during the festival.

A New Millennium -- Highlights of 2000-2010

In 2006–2007, the chapter Vice President of Academics continued with the semi-annual Scholarship Dessert which honored faculty members on campus who have made a difference in the chapter members’ academic lives.

Housing:

Philanthropy: The chapter sold “Kappa Kisses for Your Crush” in February 2006 to raise money for the Rose McGill Fund. In March, the chapter made cards for local veterans and in April, participated in a local walk/run to raise money for Alzheimer’s. The chapter also participated in a number of walks during the year that raised and donated money to local organizations

Highlights of 2011-2019:

2012

In December we hosted our annual Scholarship Dessert where we invite our professors to attend, five members were chosen to receive scholarship awards for their academic excellence, each girl was awarded five hundred dollars for their great achievements. Throughout the year there has been great involvement in philanthropic events, including setting up tables at "Phantom in the Park" in the fall as well as "Peter Rabbit in the park" in the Spring, which involved cookie decorating for the children in our community. Members also took place in the women’s resource center's "Run for Congo women" in the spring. We also helped with the "Kick it for Krissy" event setting up a booth there as well, all donations go to Krissy’s family, a local five year old who was recently diagnosed with Leukemia. As a whole KKG helped the owner of Fairview Cemetery to do his Spring-cleaning, and had the annual "Reading is Key" at the Canton Library, which included reading to children as well as doing arts and crafts.

Over the past year, St. Lawrence University has revised the sorority and fraternity recruitment policies. Our chapter benefited from this change during fall rush. Our chapter currently has fifty-five active members and we are currently planning spring recruitment. As St. Lawrence has recently been increasing the size of incoming freshmen class this will also be beneficial to us as we know the chapter will continue to maintain its size or even grow even larger in the future.

Highlights of 2015

The Beta Beta Deuteron chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma is located on 45 East Main Street in Canton , NY . Although our chapter is smaller in comparison to other Kappa chapters, we currently have 51 initiated members, 35 of whom live in the house, filling the entire house, which is the largest private house in the St. Lawrence county. We are a very close and supportive group of girls who play an active role both inside and outside of the house. While many girls hold positions in our Chapter Council, Kappa Kappa Gamma has a strong presence in the community with involvement in other activities including sports teams, on campus and off campus jobs and leaders of clubs and organizations. We currently have seven girls involved in athletic teams including squash, basketball, riding and alpine ski team. We have three girls involved in the St. Lawrence Panhellenic Council and others who hold leadership positions in Thelomathesian Society, our school government.

As a sorority, we love to stay involved in the community and help give back in anyway possible. This past fall we participated in numerous philanthropic events as a group. During Make-a-Difference-Day, we went out in small groups to houses around the community and helped them with yard work or tasks that needed to be accomplished. St. Lawrence also puts on Shawna’s Walk for Wishes, which is a fundraising event/walk for a young girl in the community struggling with a metabolic disease. All of the sisters attended the event and walked around the track with other participants in order to raise money for Shawna. Kappa Kappa Gamma also had a table at the event where people could come to talk, eat candy or get their nails painted by one of the girls. Additionally, small groups volunteered weekly at the local soup kitchen where we helped prepare meals for homeless people in the community. Going to the soup kitchen involved working with other town members in cooking, cleaning and serving to those less fortunate. Some sisters were also involved in volunteer clubs such as SLU Buddies and Reading Buddies. These programs involve St. Lawrence students pairing up with younger kids at the local schools and attending their after school programs essentially as a reading tutor and/or someone to just talk with and get to know. At the end of the semester, the school events put together a Study-a-Thon prior to exams week. The sisters took turns attending to help facilitate the event along with other sororities and fraternities. Collectively, the girls thoroughly enjoy participating in philanthropic events at our school and in surrounding areas. As a sisterhood, we want to be there for each other as well as our community and feel that through our involvement, we positively impact others.

At the end of every semester, our academic excellence chairman puts on an award ceremony for academic achievements. At the ceremony, girls are acknowledged for their academic achievements and scholarships are given by the Beta Beta Alumnae Association to those who applied and were chosen by a alumnae committee. Kappa Kappa Gamma is tight-knit sisterhood and through our special events and traditions, we celebrate one another’s achievements and successes.

The house puts on other special events throughout the year including our holiday dinner around Christmas time and our senior dinner, which is put on for our graduating sisters at the end of every year. The Alumnae Association also sponsors a special brunch for the seniors during Senior Week. Additionally, we hold a parents weekend brunch where parents are invited to get a tour of the house and meet other families.

The Beta Beta Deuteron Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma represents a strong sense of loyalty, passion and dedication to our sisterhood, our community and one another. We strive to empower and motivate each another to be the best sisters and community members we can be. Our Chapter represents a strong knit sisterhood filled with unique and powerful women who strive to put their best foot forward in everyway possible. As a sisterhood, we overcome challenges both personal and worldwide through our strong loving support and care for one another.

Although there has been a decline in the number of girls interested in Greek life on campus, it has not negatively impacted our chapter. We received 13 new members in the fall and have more girls interested in spring rush. Our chapter is continuing to grow with new girls who are dedicated and committed to joining our sisterhood.

Highlights of 2020s:

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

Housing:

Philanthropy:

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.