| Zeta Omicron | |
|---|---|
| ZO | |
 | |
| Founded | May 2, 1987 |
| College | University of Richmond |
| Location | Richmond, VA |
| Homepage | Zeta Omicron Homepage |
| Media related to Zeta Omicron Chapter | |
University of Richmond, Virginia, Founded in 1830. The second largest private university in the state of Virginia, with approximately 4,500 students.
Zeta Omicron founded May 2-4, 1987 -- 89 charter members
1,078 initiates (as of June 2015)
Some of Zeta Omicron’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:
Jessica Hallberg (Beringer), Traveling Consultant 1996-1997; Cori Egnew (Woods), Traveling Consultant 1996-2000;
Fraternity Loyalty Award Recipients:
Fraternity Alumnae Achievement Award Recipients:
Additional Outstanding Zeta Omicron Alumnae
Holly Pittman, Chapter Consultant 1991-1993;
Contents
The Early Years
As early as 1906, university guidelines prohibited the establishment of sororities, but in 1985, the students voted to establish national sororities. In October 1985 a panel of faculty, administrators and students interviewed nine National Panhellenic Conference groups, and six were chosen to colonize: Kappa Kappa Gamma, Kappa Alpha Theta, Delta Delta Delta, Pi Beta Phi, Chi Omega and Delta Gamma. On February 6, 1987, colonization teams from these groups arrived on campus to spend a week entertaining, informing and getting to know more than 600 women who had signed interest forms. In a unique undertaking in the Panhellenic world, 540 women donned pledge pins and installations occurred the weekend of May 2-4, 1987. Fraternity president Marian Klingbeil Williams presided over the installation services for Zeta Omicron chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma. The installation of six women's Greek groups at the University of Richmond was a landmark event not only on this campus but nationwide.
Highlights of the 1980s:
From chapter’s History Report: 1987 saw the pledging and initiation of the charter members. Important events of the year that brought this group together included a pledge retreat in April, a sorority formal with the other five sororities, our installation by Fraternity president Marian Klingbeil Williams, our first formal meeting in October, sharing Founders Day with the Richmond Alumnae Association, and preparing for our first recruitment in January of 1988, where we welcomed 49 new members.
Our first pledge class grew close through retreats and a philanthropy project. Sisters participated in Greek Week, the U of R Century Bike Race benefiting Habitat for Humanity and socials with other Greek organizations. Kappa Kidnap became an annual event, where the men kidnapped didn't know who their date was or where they were going.
Philanthropies included the bike race, visits to the Virginia Girls Club, a Thanksgiving food drive and a magazine drive for Rose McGill. Social events included a Kite and Key party with Kappa Alpha Theta, a parent-sister brunch on Parent's Weekend, a successful intramural team and spring formal.
In 1988 we attended our first Biennial Convention in Boca Raton, Florida, where we were officially seated and given the blue and gold Zeta Omicron patch which will remain with the president's robe. This year Alpha Phi joined our Panhellenic group on campus.
We ended the decade 93 members strong, active on campus in many organizations, represented in several honor societies and Dean's List, and involved in several philanthropies.
Philanthropy:
Virginia Girls Clubs, food drive for needy families, the U of R Century Bike Race to benefit Habitat for Humanity, magazine drive for Rose McGill, Phone-a-thons to support the Spider Athletic Club.
Chapter Convention Awards:
Highlights of the 1990s
From chapter’s History Report: The charter members of Zeta Omicron have all graduated but with each new pledge class we welcomed bright minds and fresh ideas and are becoming a wonderfully diverse chapter. Members work with the local Ronald McDonald House, with two girls volunteering their Friday and Saturday nights to sleep over at the house to act as managers. Volunteers also baked, played with the children, and helped families in any way possible. For the UR the Difference Day, Kappas went into the Richmond community and raked leaves for Catholic Charities. We are also planning an after-school program at the Girls Club and participate in phone-a-thons, bake sales, t-shirt sales to raise money for philanthropies like Teeter for Tots, a “seesaw-a-thon” for the Friends Association.
At the 1991 Lambda Province meeting in Chapel Hill, NC, Zeta Omicron won honorable mention for Efficiency and Finance, Membership Award, Personnel Award and Best Alumnae Association Award. By the mid-90s new philanthropies were added: a Spaghetti Pull, a Halloween Party at the Boys Club, Christmas Caroling at local nursing homes and helping out at soup kitchens. In 1995, knowing our scholarship needed help, we met our chapter goal of improving our GPA, and held a celebration recognizing those who made the Dean's List. We again met this goal in 1996. We ended the decade with two goals: “Strive for Pi” where each member tries to achieve a 3.14 GPA, and “Dedication Through Participation” where each sister tries to fulfill at least ten hours for our philanthropy or for community service each semester.
Philanthropy:
Kappa Klassic Golf Tournament supports the Kappa Foundation and YMCA. Volunteering at William Byrd Community House each month helping children enjoy arts and crafts, a carnival for inner-city children, selling Hershey Kisses to deliver to students on Valentine's Day, making crafts for the YWCA women's shelter. We participate in other Greek organization's philanthropies.
Chapter Convention Awards:
Highlights of 2000-2010
From chapter’s History Report: Zeta Omicron continued most of its traditional chapter activities while also adding some new ones. Memorable activities include participation in philanthropy projects such as Trick or Treat Street and Kappa Klassic Golf Tournament. In 2005 we held a contest to determine “Kappa King” to raise money for Habitat for Humanity. We began a “Kappa Kindness” project to strengthen the spirit of sisterhood. We worked during the mid-2000s to increase our knowledge and participation in Rituals with ritual reviews at chapter meetings, worked on strengthening our Recruitment, worked to strengthen our GPA and implemented a new e-mailing system with a Google Group to improve communication among members.
Chapter challenges included probationary sanctions from Panhellenic and the Fraternity, and we worked to improve our relationships with other sororities, our Advisory Board and Greek adviser, educated our chapter on Panhellenic and Kappa regulations and increased our philanthropy requirements to 8 hours of service from each sister. The chapter instilled a policy prohibiting members from posting on Internet gossip sites and censored photos that involve alcohol. We had leadership changes in 2009 when the president resigned, with others stepping into roles they were unaccustomed to, but with the help of the Advisory Board we took on these new responsibilities.
In March of 2009 we hosted Province Meeting which enhanced our chapter's leadership skills. We successfully hosted a new campus-wide philanthropy, mobilizing the university to accomplish several service tasks. We started a letter writing campaign to keep in touch with sisters studying abroad. At the end of the decade our chapter challenge intensified focus on increasing our chapter GPA with individualized attention and programs.
Philanthropy:
Trick or Treat Street, Kappa Klassic Golf Tournament, Habitat for Humanity, International Hospital for Children, mobilizing the campus with philanthropy service projects like clothing and canned food collection and sandwich making, volunteering at a local elementary school and a rehabilitation center, raising funds through Kappa Kisses and Kappa Kickball and hosting events for RIF.
Chapter Convention Awards:
Highlights of 2011-2019
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
2011 was an exciting year in the Zeta Omicron Chapter. Kappa brought home the Powderpuff Football 1st place trophy for the Sigma Chi Derby Days philanthropy. We also were intramural champions at the end of the 2010-2011 school year. In the second half of the year we held a new philanthropy event, Kappa Kourtide. This co-ed tennis tournament attracted a lot of participants and helped raise a ton of money. The event went so well we hope to make it an annual affair. Girls continue to help out weekly at the Faison School for Autism, and we have continued to strive to maintain the highest standards and ideals of Kappa.
Campus: Last year we learned that the University will be building cottages for each sorority. The new buildings will be used for recruitment events, chapter meetings, sisterhood events, and just hanging out. Everyone in the chapter is extremely excited to have a central anchor point for the sorority. They will be finished in the fall of 2012.
Chapter: People would agree that Kappa this past fall semster had the most energy and excitement for January recruitment than ever before. Every officer, especially the president, was devoted to improving our chapter's standing with both the school administration and nationals. Also, because another sorority lost their charter on campus, the quota for Kappa's new pledge class increased, allowing us to welcome 46 new members.
The chapter struggled with standards issues. A few of our events lacked necessary organization to keep things under control. However, the incoming officers really turned things around. Officers came to Chapter Committee meetings with more preparation and ideas for further improvement. Leading by example was the most valuable lesson the girls learned. Both of our fall socials were exceptionally successful. The chapter continues to try to improve our academic standing on campus.
Highlights of 2012
The past year went very well for the Zeta Omicron chapter. We gained 47 new members after recruitment in the spring. We kicked off the semester with our hershey kiss delivery fundraiser for our philanthropies: Kappa Kisses. Several new members and returning members volunteered at the Faison School for Autism in the spring. In the fall we hosted our second Kappa Kourtside philanthropy event, which improved after the first year. More participants signed up this year to play co-ed tennis and we raised a ton of money. This outcome is promising for the event to occur in future years; Kappa Kourside is becoming one of our most successful fundraisers. In November of 2012, our cottage opened; a project that was five years in the making! Now we have a new space for chapter, sis-events, and sisterly bonding.
This past November, University of Richmond's "Cottage Court" opened, consisting of seven new cottages for all the of sororities on the UR campus. We have our very own Kappa Kappa Gamma cottage where we have chapter. Though we've only had the space for a couple of months, it has already brought our members closer together by giving us a space to spend time together throughout the week. The cottage was also an amazing addition to recruitment because it allowed the Potential New Members to see our chapter's new "home" and how we use it to supplement the success of our chapter.
Highlights of 2013
The past year went very well for the Zeta Omicron chapter. We gained 46 new members after recruitment in the spring. We kicked off the semester with our Hershey kiss delivery fundraiser for our philanthropies: Kappa Kisses. Several new members and returning members volunteered for the Boys and Girls Club in the spring. In the fall we hosted our second Kappa Kourtside philanthropy event, which improved after the first year. More participants signed up this year to play co-ed tennis and we raised a ton of money. This outcome is promising for the event to occur in future years; Kappa Kourtside is becoming one of our most successful fundraisers. In November of 2011, our cottage opened; a project that was five years in the making! Now we have a new space to have chapter, sis-events, and for our sisters to bond.
In November 2011, University of Richmond's 'Cottage Court" opened, consisting of seven new cottages for all of the sororities on the UR campus. We have our very own Kappa Kappa Gamma cottage where we have chapter. Though we've only had the space for a year or so, it has already brought our members closer together by giving us a space to spend time together throughout the week. The cottage was also an amazing addition to recruitment because it allowed the Potential New Members to see our chapter's new "home" and how we use it to supplement the success of our chapter. In the next year the University of Richmond is adding another chapter to Greek life. We are not sure which chapter will be the addition, but we are very excited to expand the Greek life at UR.
Highlights of 2014
After a very successful recruitment in January of 2014, Kappa Kappa Gamma added 38 new members to our sisterhood. We celebrated their initiation with a brunch hosted by some of our older sisters. This event provided the new initiates with the opportunity to get to know their new sisters as well as all the sister with the chance to relax and enjoy each others company. Our next activity was one of our campus philanthropies, Kappa Kisses, which we participated in around Valentine's Day. The chapter got together and created Hersey kiss goody bags and delivered them to students across campus. In April of 2014 we brought back Kappa Kickball. This Kickball Tournament was a success, creating a fun day of competition amongst the students on campus. We were also able to raise more proceeds for RIF than expected considering it was the first time we have held this event in four years.
In the fall in addition to our traditional Kappa Kourtside Doubles Tennis Tournament, we held our first Kappacino event. The goal of this event was to provide students with coffee while studying for finals, and it was a huge success. By selling cups of coffee for $0.25 we were able raise over $200 for RIF. Kourtside continues to be our most successful event. It provides both sisters and university students with a day of fun activities to take a break from the high standards of academics at the University of Richmond. We had some very successful bonding events in this fall in our cottage as well. One of these was directly related to our philanthropy, RIF, as we all got together and made book marks to hand out with the books at the RIF events we attend. Our youngest pledge class also spent an evening making shoes to wear for 2015 Recruitment. The girls wore these for one of our events and it was a perfect representation of the great bond between our sisters
The major change on our campus in the previous year is the decision from our Panhellenic Council to add Kappa Delta to the University of Richmond Greek Community. Multiple Kappa Sisters were members of the Extension Committee and helped to determine which sorority would fit best into the culture of Richmond's Greek Community. In addition to our direct involvement within the committee, Kappa sisters attended the presentations throughout the year from the other potential new sororities, offering their input on the different applicants for colonization.
Richmond also introduced a new Standards of Excellence program which encourages Greek students to attend informational programs. They have covered a multitude of topics, and included a range of activities from hazing lectures to a self defense class. The goal of this program is to better prepare our sisters for both the time they spend at the University of Richmond and life following graduation. Our Corresponding Secretary and Education Chairman worked closely with the school to inform the chapter of these events. We also had some of our own members organize some of the Standard of Excellence events for the entire campus community.
Over the past year our chapter has continued to grow as a sisterhood. The individual pledge classes have been closer each year as we make that a goal of the chapter. The Kappa Cottage provides us with a "home" to meet up and bond as well as a central location to base our outreach philanthropies. It also provides us with a place to hold our sis-events and chapter seminars. We are always participating in other Philanthropic events, enjoying friendly competition between sororities and other groups on campus.
Chapter meetings are held either in our cottage or in a nearby multipurpose room based on the number of members who will be attending the meeting. Both are University owned but Kappa Kappa Gamma rents the cottage and has control of its maintenance.
Kappa Kappa Gamma has never had a house on the University of Richmond's campus. We maintain our cottage as a central location for the chapter. We designed the cottage upon its construction two years ago and have been updating it since then. Though we do not have any formal housing, most of our members choose to live together either in housing off campus or in the University housing provided on campus.
Currently our President is the only member in our chapter to wear a historic badge. The pin is passed down from the outgoing President to the incoming President at the time of each transition so the badge is always being worn. Attached are picture of the pin and the inscription on the back reads "Pres. Badge Richmond Alums" and "ZO 5-2-87".
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:
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!