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The Greek community has a higher GPA than the UVa-wide average, and Epsilon Sigma consistently ranks among the top of this community in academics. What has made this chapter stand out, however, is the passion each member has for something outside of the Greek community. It in not unusual for a Kappa to not only be highly involved in another organization on Grounds, but to also promote that organization within the chapter. This encouraged participation in and passion for other clubs and philanthropies increases Kappa’s presence on Grounds and the Charlottesville community, and it helps to build well-rounded and highly motivated individuals that make both alums and present members of Epsilon Sigma proud.
==Highlights of 2014==
Epsilon Sigma had a busy, fruitful, yet challenging 2014! The chapter began the year with one of the most successful and exciting recruitments yet! We really attempted to make every Potential New Member feel loved and for one of the first times, we had 100% return rates after themes round! We happily welcomed 45 wonderful New Members into the Epsilon Sigma chapter. The rest of January consisted of chapter bonding activities throughout the snowstorm led by the wonderful president Margaret Hjort, as we still responded to being put on a Focus Letter the previous year. Margaret and the Chapter Council made responses to the Focus Letter a top priority throughout the entire year of 2014.
By February, even though it had only been a month, all of Kappa was so close and we were extremely excited for bigs and littles to be assigned. We celebrated when we heard that Kappa still proudly maintained the sixth highest GPA out of all UVa sororities (and we did even better in the fall!). Also, one of our fourth years, Meg Gould, got selected to live on the lawn, which is one of the highest honors achievable at UVa!
Initiation was definitely the highlight of March since girls were in such high spirits and moms and grandmothers came to surprise their daughters. Chapter Council and all of Kappa embodied the same excitement as rush and made initiation a very special time for the New Members. Epsilon Sigma raised money for Dance Marathon, which is one of the largest philanthropies at UVa and supports the UVa Children’s Hospital. Many members of Kappa are involved in putting on Dance Marathon, including Emily Ann Self, who served as the marketing co-chair!
In April, Kappa was beyond proud of Meg Gould, who was selected to be the only student representative on the University's Board of Visitors, which is the absolute highest honor bestowed upon a student at UVa! Also, one of our main philanthropies that we put on with Beta Theta Pi, Tug for the Town, was a huge success for a cause close to many of our hearts. Kappa voted to donate the proceeds to a scholarship in honor of a Member’s brother and mother that passed away early that year. In many other ways besides this, the Kappa girls came together to support our sisters through these hard times.
As May approached we were all sad to say goodbye to our phenomenal fourth year pledge class, who have gone on to do incredible things in consulting, medical school, investment banking, education reform, and more.
Over the summer, our president Margaret Hjort represented the Chapter at the Kappa Convention in Houston, TX in July. She said it was informative and gave her great ideas for boosting morale and sisterhood! Over the summer while most members were traveling, studying abroad, and interning, the Kappa house underwent some small but effective renovations, like making an office out of an old storage closet, reorganizing the mailroom, and reupholstering the chapter room furniture.
As the new school year came in August, we were all excited to warmly welcome our new house mom Toni LeBrun-Denton and new incredible chefs Judy, Sam, and Arthur! However, in September, UVa faced tragedy when second year student Hannah Graham was abducted and murdered from the Charlottesville area one Friday night. This tragedy sent a hopeless, cold feeling across the UVa campus, which Kappa responded to by coming together as a sisterhood. We encouraged every member to reach out at night if she ever needed a buddy to walk home with, and many members would text their pledge classes offering rides to those who needed them whenever they were able. The chapter started really looking out for each other, as well as the rest of the University community, to keep everyone as safe as possible.
September also brought the exciting news that Kappa had moved from the sixth highest GPA to the third highest (3.478) out of all of the UVa sororities! October was a busy and great month for Kappa and we started it off with our favorite philanthropy, Kappa Kickoff, which we put on with Kappa Sigma. We raised a lot of money for Reading is Fundamental, but we also have been planning to go to the new UVa children’s hospital and read books! Pancakes for Parkinson's raises the most money for Parkinson's Disease and Kappa was proud to have Julia Johnson, Kaley Ricciardeli, and Catherine Ken (Chairman) representing us on the executive board! But that is not all- many other members of Kappa volunteer their time to help on the day of this event! To keep the fun going, we welcomed back all alumni members during Homecomings weekend with food and water at Meg's Lawn room! Elizabeth Kirby, our VPAE, started recognizing members who got great grades on assignments by handing out bags of popcorn (grades in KKG are poppin'!). Later in the month, Kappa hosted two leadership consultants! One consultant gave an inspiring presentation on RIF, from which we all learned fascinating facts about our philanthropy. The other gave a presentation on "the big picture of the organization" which made everyone motivated to get more involved in Kappa as more than just a social organization. Both presentations helped to further foster unity and commitment throughout the chapter. Kappa member, Ellie Sohm, was the second year representative at the KKG Leadership Academy in Ohio. She was excited to tell the chapter about her experience learning more about the core values of Kappa and for this unique group of Kappa girls to encourage each other to seek excellence in all areas and become leaders across campus.
We ended the fun and active month of October with a Kappa Halloween movie night where we watched our favorite childhood movies and ate candy! One of the highlights of the year was definitely Parent's Formal, planned by our member, Margaret Page! It was held at Boar’s head, a beautiful country club and hotel in Charlottesville and we had a delicious dinner and danced the night away with our parents!
Things took a turn when UVa was the subject of an expose in Rolling Stone magazine regarding sexual assault on college campuses. Kappa responded by encouraging members to engage in dialogue about the sensitive issue - in fact, we even dedicated one chapter meeting to a conversation about what we can do within Kappa to be active bystanders and intervene in suspicious situations, as well as what conversations we can have with male fraternity friends (and other people in general) regarding disrespectful treatment of women, both in action and in colloquial dialogue. The chapter meeting regarding sexual assault was the first meeting our wonderful new president Annie Clark led - she responded promptly, sensitively, and openly in making Kappa a safe space for the issue of sexual assault. We are excited to see Annie lead our chapter during this time of action at the University, particularly in the Greek community, and implement the ideas the chapter came up with in regard to this serious issue.
Since we were sad to part for Thanksgiving break, we had our own Kappa Thanksgiving, where each family brought a Thanksgiving dish and as a chapter we sat around the table and ate a delicious potluck feast! December was a time of giving for Kappa, first off, by Holiday Sharing with Sigma Chi, where we bought Christmas presents and more for a Charlottesville family. We also raised money to help Marlena, our beloved housekeeper, out during a difficult financial time and raised money to give Sam, Judy, and Arthur (our cooks) wonderful Christmas gifts to show our appreciation for their incredible service this semester! We were sad to leave UVa and Kappa for the Christmas break but we had a phenomenal year and look forward to seeing Kappa’s continued excellence in the one to come!
The aforementioned tragedies for the UVa community, the disappearance of Hannah Graham and the Rolling Stone article, resulted in a chilling and uneasy atmosphere across the UVa campus. First off, every person was heartbroken over the abduction and murder of Hannah Graham and it left people feeling helpless and scared. Boys across campus were disgusted and shocked by the disappearance, while girls were scared and felt like targets. All of this resulted in a wake up call for the Greek community and UVa campus as a whole. Our president of Kappa, Margaret Hjort, sent out emails about safety and available resources here at UVa if a member of Kappa wanted to talk. She also spoke in chapter many times stressing the need for safety and girls to watch out for each other, which was definitely well received in our chapter. Kappa responded by encouraging every member to reach out at night if she ever needed a buddy to walk home with, and many members would text their pledge classes offering rides to those who needed them whenever they were able. Many fraternities reached out to girls in Kappa offering to walk them home at any time and stressing safety. Although it was a horrific incident, it fostered a unified and secure community.
Shortly after the community recovered from this overwhelming sadness, the Rolling Stone magazine featured UVa in an article regarding sexual assault on college campuses. The UVa community was in uproar, some people because they felt that UVa, particularly the Greek community, was largely misrepresented, and others because they wanted to abolish the Greek system. Kappa responded by encouraging members to engage in dialogue about the sensitive issue - in fact, we even dedicated one chapter meeting to a conversation about what we can do within Kappa to be active bystanders and intervene in suspicious situations, as well as what conversations we can have with male fraternity friends (and other people in general) regarding disrespectful treatment of women, both in action and in colloquial dialogue. As a chapter, we worked hard to raise awareness and combat sexual assault, which, based on statistics, effects 1/4th of our chapter. Although UVa had to deal with these two difficult tragedies, it made the community stronger, more unified, and meet needs that we didn’t even know that we had.
On a lighter note, the Epsilon Sigma chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma is proud to rank among the top of the Greek community and UVa campus’s GPA. However, Kappa girls not only succeed academically. What makes Kappa so special is that every single girl is extremely involved in whatever she is passionate about, whether that is sports, student government, community service, honor council, sustainability, art, TedX, music and more. These individual passions encourage participation from all members of Kappa in different, eclectic organizations impacting the UVa campus and the Charlottesville community. This atmosphere of passion and excellence that Kappa fosters helps to build well-rounded and highly motivated individuals that make both alums and present members of Epsilon Sigma proud.
Our chapter holds chapter meetings in the chapter owned facility. Unlike all other UVa sororities, Epsilon Sigma owns the house that we live in! The Epsilon Sigma chapter was founded here in 1975 and the house was built in 1979 so it is the only house that we have ever owned or lived in. All members have the chance to live in the house their 3rd year and although only about 20-22 girls can live in it at one time, the numbers work out with people going abroad.
One of our Kappa sisters, Meg Gould, proudly wears a badge that has been passed down to her throughout her family. Mentioned above, Meg Gould has received two of the biggest honors that UVa has to bestow upon someone; she is the only student member on the Board of Visitors and lives on the lawn. She has received both of these honors because of her excellence in academics, and passion for her involvements around the UVa campus. From the best internships in Washington DC, to serving on UVa’s honor committee and more, Meg has been an incredible influence within Kappa and representative of Kappa and the values we hold dear to the Charlottesville community.
==Highlights of 2020s:==