Epsilon Omicron
| Epsilon Omicron | |
|---|---|
| EO | |
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| Founded | February 15, 1975 |
| College | University of California, Davis |
| Location | Davis, CA |
| Homepage | Epsilon Omicron Homepage |
| Media related to Epsilon Omicron Chapter | |
1,245 initiates (as of June 2013)
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Highlights of 2011
In the year 2011, the Epsilon Omicron chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma enjoyed a year of sisterhood and charity. Beginning in February, for Valentines for the Elderly, over fifteen Kappas baked cookies and brought them to a local retirement home on Valentine's Day. This was incredibly rewarding for the girls involved because they were able to strengthen bonds with the elderly of the Davis community, while spreading the love on Valentine's Day!
The spring was an incredible quarter filled with charity as Davis Kappas held two philanthropy events: Kappa Dash and Kappa Klassic. In April, we made Epsilon Omicron history by hosting our first annual Kappa Dash 5K walk/run to benefit the American Cancer Society. Kappa raised over $1,200 with nearly 100 participants involved. While participating in our own philanthropies, we also strengthed ties within the Greek community by taking part in the 24-hour cancer walk, Relay for Life. In May, we also hosted our annual Kappa Klassic Golf Tournament and silent auction, raising over $4,300 with 100 participants. Money raised went toward aiding the Kappa Kappa Gamma foundation and the Taylor Family Foundation, a camp for children with special needs. Also in the spring, Kappa donated over 300 books to local Reading is Fundamental programs and to schools rebuilding in New Orleans from the hurricane. During the entire summer, Kappas dedicated their time toward preparing for the fall 2011 recruitment week.
This year Kappa took pride in bringing in a new member class of 39 beautiful and loyal girls to join Epsilon Omicron. Of these 39, ten were juniors, twelve were sophomores, and seventeen were freshmen. The entire chapter rejoiced at our luck of gaining nearly 40 beautiful new sisters! In October, we resumed our philanthropies by hosting our 2nd annual Kappa Dash. Our second experience with Kappa Dash produced even better results: 150 participants and over $2,200 raised for the American Cancer Society and for one of our own sister's cancer treatments. In general, the UC Davis chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma once again enjoyed a year filled with sisterhood and charity.
Campus: Most people are probably by now well aware of the pepper-spray incident which occurred on our campus on November 18, 2011. As a result of economic issues affecting both our school and the nation as a whole, the Occupy Wall Street movement decided to camp in the middle of our quad as a demonstration for both tuition increases and potential tax increases as well.
In an act intended to protect UC Davis students, Chancellor Katehi ordered that riot police use means to force the protesters off campus. As a result, riot police used pepper spray on the peaceful Occupy demonstrators, igniting intense criticism from all over the world. Chancellor Katehi's decision to allow the riot police to intervene in the situation was criticized harshly, and shortly after the incident, multiple staff members requested her resignation; however, the Chancellor still remains in her position currently. Not only has this incident brought much attention, both negative and positive, to our campus, but it has also managed to intensify our school spirit as students fighting for our rights. Chapter: Overall, the year 2011 proved to be a real break out year for the UC Davis chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma. Davis Kappas proved their school spirit and intelligence in assessing and examining the pepper-spray incident in November.
For example, one Kappa involved in the UC Davis government provided insightful thoughts on the incident while holding her own on a panel of brilliant professors . Another Kappa pursuing a career in journalism even conducted an intuitive and thoughtful interviews with the Chancellor. It is Davis Kappas like these who make our entire chapter proud. In other instances, our chapter has proved to possess a sisterly bond which is unrivaled by other Davis sororities. Our philanthropies consistently managed to gain a high turn out as a result of our advertising throughout campus always with a friendly smile. Davis Kappas have always had a great reputation on campus; however, this past year was filled with numerous gracious compliments about Kappa's kindness from other sororities, fraternities, and even random people around campus. It is for these reasons, that Davis Kappas wear their letters around campus loud and proud!
The most significant challenge which our chapter faced during this past year was learning that one of our new members had contracted cancer. With this devastating news, our wonderful President Kylie Reich alerted each Kappa via email about our new member's condition. In response, our Kappas banded together to give our member and her family all that they could ever wish for in her time of need. During weekly meetings we gathered supplies and other necessities such as magazines, pajamas, blankets, cookies, etc. to be sent to our member as she underwent tests and treatments in the hospital. Not only did our Kappas dedicate their time to ensuring our member's happiness, but we also dedicated our fall philanthropy Kappa Dash to our ailing member. At the philanthropy event, our member's family attended and cried tears of joy at the love and support which Kappa provided for their daughter. As a chapter, we firmly believe that fate brought this member to us at this time, so that we could care for her during her time of need.
Highlights of 2012
The year 2012 for Epsilon Omicron chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma was a wonderful year on many levels. The ladies of the chapter strengthened their bonds of sisterhood through philanthropy events such as the annual 5k Kappa Dash. This event raised almost $2000 for the Taylor Family Foundation. This foundation's goal is to preserve the wellness and enhance the quality of life for children in Northern California living with life-threatening and chronic illnesses, developmental disabilities and youth at-risk through unique therapeutic experiences and support.
Last year, 2011, one of our new member sisters was diagnosed with cancer and unfortunately she could not be as involved with chapter activities. This fall, many of the active women rallied together to insure that we made her status as a Kappa, official. We worked very hard to initiate her, showing our love and support for our sister who was in a time of need. The women of the Epsilon Omicron chapter are proud of the initiation of our new sister.
Not only are our women proud of the initiation of just one new Kappa, but welcomed a beautiful new member class of 49 girls, the most this chapter has ever received. These amazing new women are such an asset to the chapter and are well-rounded individuals who represent all that Kappa Kappa Gamma exemplifies.
Our ladies continued to strengthen their sisterhood bonds through teamwork and dedication during Greek Week. For the 5th straight year in a row, the ladies of the Epsilon Omicron chapter won Greek week, and are hoping to continue the streak! The women of the chapter have been very involved in powder-puff football and other Intramural Sports on campus. Our chapter is extremely proud of recently winning “The Most Spirited Chapter Award” at Greek Awards Night here at UC Davis.
Another great achievement to be proud of is the Standards Award of Excellence which was presented to Epsilon Omicron chapter this year at convention. We were presented the award in recognition of our commitment to the improvement of Standards in our chapter, our commitment to sisterhood, and our commitment to the unity and success of chapter as a whole. It is a great honor to receive recognition out of all the kappa chapters nationally and we are very grateful to have been given this award! We also received honorable mention at convention for our Academics as well as donations to the kappa foundation.
We are so very proud of all that our chapter has accomplished and the wonderful path we are on! Our ladies’ excellence in academics truly shined as well. The intelligent women of the Epsilon Omicron chapter maintained the highest GPA of the Panhellenic system at UCD throughout the entire year.
We had two women with the highest cumulative GPA in their individual colleges at Davis, Brianna Frisch and Hailey Hinkle while Kellie McFarland won a Panhellenic scholarship. Lastly, senior Amy Martin was inducted into the order of the Omega along with winning Greek Woman of the year. We are so very proud of each of our sisters' accomplishments.
Around campus at Davis, Greek life is growing. The growing interest in the Greek system at Davis, creates the need for larger new member classes and expanded campus involvement. Despite tuition increases for the whole University of California system, the number of students attending Davis and becoming Greek affiliates is larger than ever. Davis hosted former President Bill Clinton as a speaker, just before the November presidential elections. This rallied many students together on campus to listen and become informed on numerous current issues.
The Epsilon Omicron chapter in 2012 grew significantly. The women are becoming more and more involved in the philanthropy events of other sororities on campus as well. As a whole, the chapter is becoming closer as a sisterhood. Our chapter has been involved in many sisterhood events to create memories and bonds to last a lifetime.
The women of the chapter have been very involved in Kappa this year and are proud to wear the Kappa letters! The chapter has great relationships within the Greek system, and has a great reputation on campus. The chapter is very excited about their new member class, and continues to nurture and guide their wonderful new sisters, while showing them all the fantastic benefits of being a Kappa.
Highlights of 2013
2013 was an excellent year for the Epsilon Omicron chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma at UC Davis. We expanded the strength of our sisterhood by putting on many successful philanthropy and sisterhood events as well as welcoming a brand new pledge class! We began the 2013 year with our annual fall philanthropy, Kappa Dash, a 5k run/walk to benefit the Taylor Family Foundation. The Taylor Family Foundation is a foundation run in Northern California whose goal is to improve the quality of life for children living with life-threatening diseases and chronic illnesses. This run through the UC Davis campus had a very positive outcome and we were able to donate $2,091 to the Taylor Family Foundation. One of the co founders of the Taylor Family Foundation, Barry Taylor, recently passed away and the Epsilon Omicron chapter is proud to continue to support his wonderful legacy by donating our proceeds of Kappa Dash to the Taylor Family Foundation.
In addition to Kappa Dash, Epsilon Omicron also introduced two new philanthropies for winter and spring, Kappaccino and Kappa Klassic! During winter quarter 2013, our Kappas sold coffee out of our house to all who stopped by. It was extremely successful and all the proceeds went to Reading is Fundamental. Kappaccino raised $690, and we had over 300 people attend, which was a great turnout for our very first time running it. In the spring of 2013, our lovely sisters also hosted Kappa Klassic, a golf tournament to raise money for the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation. Epsilon Omicron is proud of how dedicated and caring all our sisters are to each of our wonderful philanthropies.
As well as welcoming a brand new pledge class of 43 beautiful new Kappas, we had an amazing surge in sisterhood over the past year. Our sisterhood chair of 2013 did a fantastic job planning wonderful events for Epsilon Omicron ladies to bond over. Some of our adventures included: Trips into Walnut Creek for private shopping at Brandy Melville, expeditions into downtown Davis to explore our famous farmer’s market, volunteering at the student farm on campus, supporting our Aggie sports teams, movie nights at the house, and sisterhood potlucks. Sisterhood throughout our chapter was strong before, but we are always looking for new ways to come together, and these events were a fun way to do so! The women of Epsilon Omicron also pride ourselves on our participation in Greek Week, an inter-Greek competition series. Through our teamwork as sisters, we managed to earn our 6th consecutive Greek Week win! Our chapter is also very involved with intramural sports on campus including powder-puff football.
At UC Davis, Greek life continues to grow and expand over the years. Each of our amazing sororities and fraternities welcomed strong new member classes and inter-Greek relations have been very good. By participating in many other philanthropy events and supporting other chapters on campus Kappa Kappa Gamma has tried to maintain a strong influence on campus. At this year’s Greek Awards night, Kappa won “Most Spirited Chapter” on campus. Our sister Chloe Hull also won the Jill Peckler award, an award for embodying all that it means to be a wonderful involved sister both on campus and in chapter. As well as being our Academic Excellence Chair, Chloe is on the women’s lacrosse team and has the highest GPA in our chapter. Krystal DePorto, one of our fabulous new members, also won an award for having the highest cumulative GPA for the college of Biological Sciences.
UC Davis Panhellenic has also voted to investigate how much work it would take to start a brand new chapter here! The addition of a brand new sorority or fraternity would be a great asset to our campus and we can’t wait to see how that turns out!
As a whole, Epsilon Omicron has shown that it will continue to grow and expand under our Kappa ideals and traditions. The women of our chapter have shown to be beautiful, brilliant, caring and respectful young women, always wearing our letters proudly. We are so excited about our new member class and we cannot wait too see what 2014 will bring to us.
