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|Image= [[File:Rho.jpg|200px]]
|Founded= {{start date and years ago|1880|11|25}}
|College= [httphttps://www.owu.edu/ Ohio Wesleyan University]
|Location= Delaware, OH
|Homepage= [httphttps://greek.owu.edu/chapters/kappaKappaGammakappa.html org Rho Deuteron Homepage]|Media= [httphttps://wiki.kappakappagammakkg.org/index.php?title=Category:Rho_Deuteron Media related to Rho Deuteron Chapter]
}}
'''Ohio Wesleyan University established in 1842, Delaware, Ohio'''
'''1,907 929 members as of (June 20162018)'''
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It is not possible to accurately recount all the facts of the beginning of Rho Chapter. The accepted date of the actual establishment has long been November 25, 1880. Yet there is evidence that the chapter considered itself organized earlier than that. In the minutes of Epsilon, then Grand Chapter, it is noted that on April 23, 1880, the chapter voted to give permission "to the establishing of chapters at Oakland, California, and the Ohio Wesleyan." Also, the acceptance of an invitation to honorary membership in Rho Chapter from Lucy Webb Hayes, wife of United States President Rutherford B. Hayes, is dated December 1, 1880. Mary Lawrence Haviland's account of the story states: "When I went to Delaware they had a local chapter at Monnett Hall. Not being invited to join Delta Chi Alpha, I with the assistance of some others wrote to a chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma for information and we finally received a charter. We did not have anyone come to install the chapter, but received papers and charter - I have forgotten what chapter we wrote to. At that time my father was Comptroller of the Treasury at Washington, and I conceived the idea of asking Mrs. Hayes to become an honorary member. So we wrote, and her secretary sent us her acceptance. Anything to get ahead of the other fraternity, and we certainly created some excitement."
A page from The History of Kappa Alpha Thea Theta also dates the advent of Kappa Kappa Gamma on the Ohio Wesleyan campus to at least fall of 1880. It reads, "All went well until the fall of 1880, when the opening of college brought an unusual number of exceptional girls. Delta Chi Alpha, having no rival, calmly deliberated before bids were given, so it was a rude awakening when one winter day the exciting news was announced that Kappa Kappa Gamma had established a chapter at Ohio Wesleyan. Forthwith the Kappa key appeared on the stylish basques of 15 of the most promising girls."
Delta Chi Alpha petitioned and became a chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta, but the two nationals were short-lived on campus for they monopolized the social life. This caused other students to threaten not to return to Wesleyan if the women's fraternities continued to exist. So the school faculty decided that no woman could belong to a secret society and both Kappa and Theta were forced to surrender their charters.
Our chapter holds weekly meetings in the beautiful KKG house just off campus, where sisters can go to study, cook food, or just spend time with each other. We are continuing to make upgrades to the house through our campaign Renovate Rho, and our house is looking better and better!
==Highlights of 2017== For the sisters of Rho deuteron chapter, 2017 was a year of friendship, sisterhood, and growth! We participated in both spring and fall recruitment, welcoming 14 new sisters throughout the year. Our sisters continue to represent and support a diverse range of academic studies, ranging from Politics & Government, Classics, Psychology, Economics, and STEM. We are also heavily involved in on-campus clubs and activities, including groups like Active Minds, President's Club, Women in STEM, PRIDE, and SLUs (Small Living Units) like Tree House, the Peace and Justice House, and the Citizens of the World house (COW). Our sister Sarah Foster was also incredibly involved in and dedicated to the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign.
The chapter started the year off with a successful formal recruitment, followed up by both a Galentine's Day and Luau themed open house. Our spring retreat was spent at Bare Bowl, a local pottery shop, and as the sisters painted and personalized pottery, we took a break from our studies and just relaxed. This past spring was definitely an oddity, as the chapter had two initiation ceremonies to welcome all of our sisters to their new greek home. In late April, we hosted our annual event Facultea, where sisters are able to invite professors and staff to the Kappa house for tea, snacks, and good conversation. After coming back for the fall semester, the chapter shifted energy to supporting the philanthropy events of other greek organizations on campus. This included (but wasn't limited to) Delta Delta Delta's Kicks for Kids, Delta Zeta's Turtle Trot and Fall Festival, Delta Gamma's Anchor Bowl, and Delta Tau Delta's Beach Bash. We participated in Ohio Wesleyan University's Greek Day of Service as well, serving organizations all around the Delaware community. In terms of awards, Rho deuteron chapter received the gold award at the Greek Standards of Excellence ceremony that is held annually on campus. Members of the chapter received individual awards at the ceremony as well, including Jill Scribner's acceptance of the greek award for academic excellence. Sisters also received scholarship from Kappa as well as a number of outside sources. Ohio Wesleyan University celebrated its 175th anniversary and homecoming this year, and at the celebration, the trustee board and president Rock Jones announced that the university's Connect Today, Create Tomorrow campaign raised over $140 million in donations. Rock also announced plans to renovate the House of Black Culture and the Branch Rickey Arena in the coming years. Ohio Wesleyan also elected its very first black female student body president this past year! Other exciting additions to the university were that of a marching band and a new student-run laundry service, participation in both the March on Washington and the March for Science, and involvement in the Ohio 5 Climate Change Coalition.
Rho deuteron chapter has been making a name for itself in 2017 on Ohio Wesleyan's campus. The chapter really focused its attention on the creation of an incredible public relations campaign, not just including social media posts, but becoming more visibly involved on campus and showing the community who a Kappa woman can really be. Not only did this boost of energy bolster Kappa's positive image, but it allowed the Rho sisterhood to grow even closer and highlighted our positive relationships. Our chapter has historically supported and continues to support Reading is Fundamental, the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation, and Kappa Kidney Camp. In April of this year, Rho deuteron put on our annual philanthropy event, Kappa Karaoke. The karaoke competition was open to members of all Greek organizations on campus and all proceeds were donated to RiF. We also hosted our annual event Reading is Key, where sisters visited a local elementary school and read to the children. Our chapter partners with Big Brothers Big Sisters for this event, allowing us to volunteer as a part of the Ohio Wesleyan campus community as well. Kappa was also able to provide books for the children we read to, putting RiF's message into action in the community. Finally, the sisters put on our third annual event, Kappa Kakes, this fall in the Hamilton-Williams Campus Center. Not only did this include a pancake breakfast for all attendees, we were able to write cards for the children attending Kappa Kidney Camp this upcoming summer. Sisters also raised money for the camp by creating a fun event called Cake a Kappa, where members of the community put money in jars corresponding to different sisters that they would like to see receive a cake to the face. Rho deuteron chapter supports these organizations not only because they are our national philanthropies, but because we feel that giving back to the community (whether it be Ohio Wesleyan, Delaware, or the area at large) is one of the most important reasons why our chapter exists! It makes the sisters feel good and helps those in need in our community. Rho deuteron chapter continues to meet in the Kappa house just off campus, where some very noticable changes have been taking place. Through the combined efforts of the house board, house chairman Cheyenne Hanson, and membership chairman Holley Hickman, the house has gained new couches, fresh paint, a professional carpet cleaning session, and a few plants along the way. The Renovate Rho project is still underway, and improvements are being made constantly! [[File:Rho Deuteron Chapter house.jpg|thumb|Rho Deuteron Chapter house]] ==Highlights of 2018== Rho Deuteron is an outgoing, activity-minded, culturally and socially aware group of sisters that fearlessly pursue their passions. OWU’s liberal arts culture helps sisters create research projects and presentations about topics from geology to museum aesthetics to accounting practices on the West Coast. We encourage strong, loyal, kindhearted friendships among our sisters, and we try to always keep our eyes on friendship, love and loyalty. Our New Member classes always immediately feel welcome and loved by the active sisters within our chapter. [[File:Rho Deuteron 2018 with Gail Simpson Owen & Beth Black.jpeg|thumb|Rho Deuteron 2018 with Gail Simpson Owen & Beth Black]] What a great year for Rho Deuteron! This year we learned the importance of heritage and sisterhood both on our campus and beyond. We started the year with a lovely visit from former fraternity president Beth Black and new president Gail Owen in January. Then several of our sisters participated in the reinstatement of Beta Nu chapter at The Ohio State University, attending both their Formal Pledging and Initiation service. Seeing the persistence of Kappas coming together to preserve a beautiful organization left our chapter feeling inspired and proud of our Beta Nu sisters. For Founders Day, our chapter had a presentation from our Marshal about the history of Rho Deuteron itself. We loved decorating cookies together and learning about our chapter roots as Rho Sigma literary society, and as a secret local sorority when the university banned Greek Life in the early 1910s. We also had sister Justine Clark ’20 serve a term on the Panhellenic Council doing Public Relations. Since our sister Aimen Shah ’20 was the RA of OWU’s Panhellenic House residential community, we had several Panhellenic-themed events in the Fall: a cookout at the Panhellenic House with the four other houses on campus, and a holiday party with Delta Zeta. We welcomed a NM class in both the Spring and Fall: 11 new sisters in the Spring with an “Out of this World”-themed Bid Day, and six new sisters in the Fall with a “Glow Kappa”-themed Bid Day. The chapter swept the Greek Awards this year, winning the Chapter Program of the Year Award for 2017’s Reading is Key event, the Outstanding Alumni Relations Award, Sorority Member of the Year Award (alumnae sister Cat Boyle ’18), Outstanding Sorority Scholar Award (sister Holley Hickman ’19), the Robert K. Marshall Award (alumnae and advisor Julia Hatfield ’06), the Emerging Leader Award (sister Juliana Freisen ’20), and the Tom Courtice New Member Award (alumnae sister Cheyenne Hanson ’18). Five sisters were also chosen for the prestigious Order of Omega. At Convention, we received an Honorable Mention for the Heritage Award, and we also had a sister attend Leadership Academy this fall. The house G.P.A is on a steady increase thanks to study hours and the introduction of Gamma Goals, a program where sisters make academic goals for the week and are rewarded when they accomplish so many. Three of our sisters are graduating a semester early, and several will be studying abroad in Costa Rica, Italy, and Spain next year. Our sisters spent their summers traveling, interning, and conducting research at a variety of places, from heart disease research at The Ohio State University, to planning Orientation for the OWU Class of 2022, to traveling to England to study Shakespeare or to Germany to study astronomy. Popular majors in the chapter continue to be health and science-related fields, politics and government, business fields, modern foreign languages, and psychology, though we have sisters involved in the social sciences, performing arts, humanities, and natural sciences. Ohio Wesleyan is currently in the middle of an exciting campaign called Connect Today, Create Tomorrow. The campaign is intended to strengthen every aspect of campus life--academics, financial aid and academic scholarships, career connections and assistance, infrastructure and residence hall life, the unique OWU Connection program, and alumni relations. Fundraising is ahead of schedule, which is not just good for the university, but for our sisters. Our sisters are no stranger to utilizing the OWU Connection, and every school break we have sisters traveling as part of Travel-Learning Courses (unique out-of-classroom, on-site learning programs) and Theory-to-Practice Grants (special research grants students can use to travel almost anywhere). Our sisters also travel abroad frequently, and are recipients of academic scholarships. '''Philanthropy''' Reading is Fundamental; Kappa Kidney Camp; the Kappa Foundation We support Reading is Fundamental because it is Kappa’s main philanthropy, and our sisters have a long history of involvement in academic research and enthusiasm on OWU’s campus. As for the Foundation, many of our sisters do receive or have received scholarships over the years, and honoring our history is something hugely important to Rho Deuteron. We support Kappa Kidney Camp because it is a local philanthropy run by Kappas in Columbus, Ohio for children on dialysis. We believe in both supporting the local humanitarian efforts in our surrounding community, and in giving children undergoing treatment the equal chance to “be a kid” and have a summer camp experience. Since many of our sisters want to work in the medical field, and some specifically with children, this philanthropy is particularly meaningful. Philanthropically, Rho Deuteron also had a stellar year. Thanks to the efforts of sister Molly Geffken ’19, Philanthropy Chair during 2018, we recreated our Spring Philanthropy from Kappa Karaoke to Kappa Kapture the Flag. We raised over $6,000 for RIF with this event alone, and are so thankful to Molly’s creativity for helping us accomplish this! Our chapter also participated in events like Delta Delta Delta’s Kicks for Kids, Delta Gamma’s Anchor Splash and Anchor Bowl, Delta Zeta’s DZ Dodgeball, and Delta Tau Delta’s Beach Bash. Finally, several sisters volunteered their time to welcome the OWU Class of 2022 to campus by being Camp Oh-Wooo leaders and leading the 488 new students in team building and bonding activities before they started classes.We are blessed to be such an active chapter on such a diverse, involved, and beautiful liberal arts campus! ==Highlights of 2019== It has been a fantastic year for Rho Deuteron! This year, we truly learned the meaning of sisterhood both within Kappa and within the Panhellenic community. The year started out with a visit from a Kappa alum who gifted us a framed photo of her pledge class along with the wedding knife used at her wedding! It was great for the whole chapter to see the life-long effects Kappa continues to supply to alumni. For Founders Day, our chapter did not have much of a chance to celebrate in person, as our University was on fall break, but we were able to come together as a chapter via social medias and state the importance that Kappa has had onour lives. However, during a triplet meeting with my successor, I plan to discuss sesquicentennial plans and how she can begin to plan this, and what some ideas for our celebration may be! Throughout the spring semester, our VPS, Aimen Shah ’20, held many amazing sisterhood events, such as our KKGalentines Day sisterhood event held near Valentine’s Day. Sisters were able to celebrate our love for one another through yoga, cookies, and discussions of what Kappa means to us. We also were able to hold a “Mocktails and a Movie” event with Delta Zeta. Kappa sisters visited the Delta Zeta house and drank mocktails while watching a romantic comedy movie together. It was an amazing opportunity to form more Panhellenic bonds! We welcomed two new member classes into our chapter in 2019, one in the spring and one in the fall. In the spring, we welcomed 15 new sisters with a “Kappa Land”-themed Bid Day, and 3 new sisters in the Fall with a “Bleed Blue”-themed Bid Day. Both of these were a huge success! At the Greek Awards this year, Sorority Member of the Year Award went to our very own Aimen Shah ’20, Anna Davies ’19 won the Sorority Scholar Award, Dr. Melanie Henderson, our faculty advisor, won the Robert K. Marshall Award, and Amy Collins-Warfield, our amazing ritual advisor won the Chapter Advisor of the Year Award. Our chapter overall also won theChapter Philanthropy Award and the Gold Category Chapter Excellence Award. Three sisters, Justine Clark ’20, Makayla Trebella ’21, and Julia Hartlage ’21 were chosen for the prestigious Order of Omega Greek Honor Society, and myself, Gabbi Roszman ’21 attended Leadership Academy this fall. Our chapter GPA currently stands at 3.3, which is above the all-women average here at Ohio Wesleyan, thanks to increased study hours held at the house and the continuation of Gamma Goals. This year, we had sisters study and volunteer in locations such as Costa Rica, Australia, London, Salamanca, Bucerías, Madrid, Moscow, and many more. Over the summer, our sisters spent their days traveling, working, interning, and researching many different topics from How the Anti-Vaccination Movement is Influencing World Health tostudying Stem Cells and Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. Many of our sisters also assisted in Camp Oh-Woo, part of the orientation program at Ohio Wesleyan which allows integrative, hands-on experience for first year students. We have had sisters involved in rugby, rowing, tennis, field hockey, volleyball, and swimming. Popular majors throughout the chapter continue to be diverse, from health-related field, to politics and government, foreign languages, business and economics, philosophy, psychology, and more. Rho Deuteron also had a great year in terms of our philanthropy! We were able to raise around $1500 for Reading is Fundamental through Kappa Kapture the Flag in the spring, along with donating over 40 books to a local elementary school! In the fall, through efforts by Natalie Huebschman ’21, Philanthropy Chair for 2019, and Lily Callander ’22, we were able to change our Fall Philanthropy from Kappa Kakes to Kappa Kraze, a 3-day philanthropy, culminating in a Family Feud style event! Our chapter was also happily able to participate in Kappa Alpha Theta’s Theta Bee, Anchor Splash and Anchor Bowl, Delta Zeta’s DZ Dodgeball, Delta Tau Delta’s Beach Bash, Sigma Phi Epsilon Water Wars, and Delta Delta Delta’s Delta Jam. We are also currently planning to send money over to the sisters in California suffering the effects of all ofthe wildfires in the area. Finally, as mentioned earlier, many sisters participated in Camp OhWoo as camp leaders to welcome the OWU Class of 2023 to college! Around 1200 hours were donated to community service projects this year by sisters! ==Highlights of 2020:== Rho Deuteron, along with the rest of the world, has had a year that no one could have predicted. The outbreak of COVID-19 this past spring forced a campus-shutdown, resulting in the rise of new, digital ways to stay connected as a sisterhood, continuing into the fall semester. Keeping the feeling of sisterhood alive this year meant that Rho had to be creative; with virtual book clubs, movie nights, and sisterhood events, we refused to let a digital world stop us from being together. Rho Deuteron persevered this year in ways our chapter had never done before, under circumstances never seen before. While many normal events were cancelled or post-poned due to the limitations imposed by COVID-19, our sisterhood had a shared priority of keeping ourselves and our community safe. All of our events were held virtually this semester, including chapter meetings and our Sesquicentennial celebration. We couldn’t be more proud of how our chapter has overcome the challenges presented this past year. Prior to the campus-shutdown, in our spring semester we welcomed 14 new sisters with a “Krushin’ on Kappa” themed Bid Day! Our standards chair Maria Lagrotteria ’20 held a fun and relaxing sisterhood event with the whole chapter where sisters were able to connect and get to know the new members. This pledge class was the first in Rho Deuteron history to be initiated virtually! In our fall recruitment, we welcomed home 2 new sisters! We held a virtual Bid Day where we used Zoom to form small groups to connect with each other and get to know our new members! Throughout the semester, we held two virtual sisterhood events where we played games and hung out over Zoom. Even though they were virtual, these sisterhood events were a lot of fun! For this fall new member class, we had our first Rho Deuteron run virtual initiation and pledging ceremony. Both ceremonies were very successful despite the circumstances, thanks to help from ritual specialists and advisors. Many of our sisters were also rewarded for their academics this year! Sisters were accepted into many honor societies such as: Politics & Government, Philosophy, Theater, Mortar Board, and more, as well as Dean’s List honors. Several sisters received merit and need-based scholarships from Kappa and another sister won the Gilman International scholarship. Showing how truly KKGenius our house is, a sister was published in a scientific paper and many sisters won awards within their academic fields. Philanthropy this year was more essential than ever due to the economic hardships imposed by COVID-19. As a chapter, we used our social media platforms to raise money for both Kappa Kidney Camp and Reading is Fundamental. We also virtually held a Reading is Key event and recorded ourselves reading children’s books to be sent to a local elementary school for the students to watch. Separate from our usual philanthropic efforts, we were also able to make a donation to the Black Trans Advocacy Coalition (BTAC) in Columbus this summer. Our chapter was thankfully able to participate in other Greek organizations’ events such as Kappa Alpha Theta’s Theta Bee, Delta Delta Delta’s Movie Night, Chi Phi’s Pumpkin Carving, as well as donate to the other Greek organizations on campus. In our house, we were fortunate enough to have replaced our downstairs carpeting and plan to replace the rest of the carpeting next year. The house looks brand new and we are so thankful for our House Board’s efforts! Rho Deuteron demonstrated this year that we are able to thrive under any circumstances and we cannot wait to see what we are able to accomplish next year! Our chapter supports Kappa Kidney camp as our chapter philanthropy as well as Reading is Fundamental and the Kappa Foundation. We chose to support Kappa Kidney camp specifically because it is local to our chapter and we appreciated the efforts of the organization. The camp provides a normal summer camp experience for children on dialysis in the Columbus area. We also support Reading is Fundamental because we recognize the importance of education and providing books to children who are without is a great way to promote education. Lastly, we support the Kappa Foundation because of its ability to provide support to sisters in need so that they are able to successfully continue on their academic journey. In response to the changing political and social climate, Rho Deuteron this year created many diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals and initiatives. This summer, we publicly made a statement highlighting our stance against racism and the actions we planned to take as a chapter. We were also able to make a donation to the Black Trans Advocacy Coalition (BTAC) in Columbus, OH this summer. In the spring, we had the chair of the OWU Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion council come in and speak during a programming chapter on the importance of diversity. This semester we established a DEI chair position to help promote events involving DEI as well as maintaining chapter discussion around diversity. We are hoping to make more donations to cultural organizations and bring in more speakers to continue this important conversation. For our chapter celebration of Kappa’s 150 anniversary, we held a virtual meeting where myself and the Academic Excellence chair Megha Malik ’20 shared both Kappa and Rho Deuteron’s history and then played a Kahoot game afterwards with a prize for the best score. The day of our celebration was also the day that the virtual Minnie Stewart van was visiting our chapter, so that made it even more special! In the months leading up to the Sesquicentennial, Minerva history moments were shared at chapter to increase awareness of the importance of Kappa’s longstanding history. [[File:Wear your Letters Wednesday.png|thumb|Wear your Letters Wednesday]][[File:Virtual Bid Day.jpg|thumb|Virtual Bid Day]][[File:Day after virtual Bid day with new members!.jpg|thumb|Day after virtual Bid day with new members!]] ==Highlights of 2021:== Rachel Leslie was awarded the Mary Metzger Fouse Memorial Scholarship, and was also responsible for many education events for the chapter including mental health awareness, signs of a healthy relationship, and other DEI focused lectures. Isabel Solowiej, our VPS, held many sisterhood events throughout the year including making blankets and pillowcases, a spa day, and painting. Our event chair, Lauren Reich, in partnership with the VPS was able to host our first in person formal since 2019. We held a Founder’s Day celebration hosted by our Education chair, Rachel, and initiated 11 new members. Our chapter also had a chapter GPA of 3.53. Our chapter supports Kappa Kidney Camp as a local organization in order to help kids on dialysis to have a normal summer camp experience. Our chapter supported Kappa’s philanthropy with two philanthropy events one being Kappa bingo and the other being jeopardy. The Kappa bingo was hosted on zoom while jeopardy was able to be in person and both were very successful. Our chapter took steps towards more DEI initiatives by adding a DEI officer to represent our chapter on the DEI board at Panhel. We also included more DEI focused education events specifically an LBGT friendly education event and invited Ohio Wesleyan’s Office of Multicultural Affair to speak to chapter and guide us through a DEI event.Multiple DEI focused trilogy events were also hosted by Panhel. For the first half of the year our chapters had to hold events and activities virtually. We held recruitment, bid day, and initiation all over zoom. Big little reveal was able to be held in person, but was held outside with masks. However, for the later half of this year we were able to host events in person and have initiation at the house once again. ------------------------
'''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, Content Specialist or District your Province Director of Chapters for assistance.
Your efforts will ensure a complete and accurate history of your chapter for future generations to enjoy!