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→Highlights of 2016
==Highlights of 2016==
Over the course of the 2016 school year, Gamma Iota members were involved in a wonderful variety of philanthropic, academic, athletic, Greek and club activities on campus and off campus. Our primary philanthropy event, Kappa Karaoke, consists of a week packed full of activities to raise awareness and funds for literacy. We instigate friendly competition between fraternities and sororities, each who have their own team, which incentivizes participation and fundraising from both Greek affiliated students and non-Greek affiliated students. Along with tickets to the event, we sell spirit wear, host penny wars, share literacy facts with the Wash U community and host a school supply drive. The week culminates in a competition where each team performs a choreographed dance routine - which is one of the most widely attended philanthropy events on campus! Proceeds from the week go to Reading is Fundamental.
This year, we continued to divide our chapter into 4 "kore" groups to attend and participate in other sorority and fraternity philanthropy events. Some of these events were AOPi’s Strike Out Arthritis, Pi Phi’s Up and Clean, Alpha Phi's Heart Health Week and Sigma Chi's Derby Days.
Throughout the year we created a variety of intramural teams to compete against other Greek affliated and non-Greek affiliated students. We stayed fit, had fun, and met new members of our WashU community.
This past spring, Gamma Iota partnered with the gentlemen of the Kappa Sigma fraternity, and participated in the famous Thurtene Carnival, another great achievement this year. The theme of our façade was a Game Cube, and our sisters along with the brothers of Kappa Sigma worked tirelessly on both the façade and the production. With multiple members of our chapter on Thurtene Honorary running the carnival this year, we hope to have another strong presence! !
Sisterhood events continued to provide great "glue" for our chapter this past year. From pledge-class movie nights and pasta dinners to float trips and pumpkin picking and of course the traditional Kappa Thanksgiving Dinner, where each pledge family cooks an original dish to share with the chapter, Gamma Iota bonded over food and fun this year. This fall we also walked 8 miles from Art Hill in Forest Park to the St. Louis Arch downtown, decked head-to-toe in blue on blue, to raise awareness for literacy.
This year we raised more money than ever before using an app called Charity Miles to donate for every step we took to Girl Up. Girl Up supports programs promoting health, education, and leadership of girls in developing countries. We also raised money for Reading is Fundamental through selling spirit wear, collecting donations, and working with local restaurants for Reading is Fundamental. We finished this event by celebrating our walk with lunch together with proceeds going towards our cause.
We successfully concluded our year being thankful for our true and loyal sisters and preparing to welcome a new, glittering pledge class after recruitment 2016!
Our Panhellenic community at Washington University yet again thrived in 2016! Following the most recent addition of the sorority, Kappa Delta, in 2013, Gamma Phi Beta was added in 2016 to make a total of nine active, engaged groups of women. Each chapter is run by a group of dynamic and spirited individuals who donate substantial amounts of time to improving the Greek community's image and contributions to campus life. Wash U also hosted another Greek Week this fall which boosted the morale of each chapter as we all came together to serve the St. Louis community.
Throughout 2016, our Gamma Iota chapter worked hard to improve our academic support system and increase our presence on campus. Our major mentor program that was implemented in 2013 has shown great success, helping many underclassmen pick classes and professors to pursue in their college career. Our major mentor program also allows uncertain sisters to discuss good potential majors with those who have already declared theirs. This year we've also continued to ask our mentors to help younger sisters connect with professionals in the working world for both summer internships and work after college.
Kappa is known across campus at Wash U for how genuine our sisterhood is, and of that we are very proud. We bring this true and sisterly bond wherever we go, whether it is a Kappa row in a large lecture class or a philanthropy event for another sorority. What we are most proud of, however, I believe is our unwavering spirit. Kappa sisters at Wash U are participating in or leading almost every group on campus, including theater, religious groups, Dance Marathon, Relay for Life, student government, community service clubs, comedy groups, chess teams, varsity and club athletics, academic honors societies and so much more! The diversity of Gamma Iota gives us a special presence on campus and allows us to expose our sisters to so many different stories, traditions, and cultures. Our chapter continues to be exceptionally well respected on campus, as evidenced by our strong retention rates during recruitment. We are looking forward to gaining another class of exceptional individuals who will continue to promote the spirit of Kappa at Wash U!
Traditionally, our chapter’s proceeds from Kappa Karaoke are distributed to Reading is Fundamental, which inspires children to read and helps them improve their reading skills. This year, our chapter really focused on participation in other fraternity and sorority sponsored philanthropy events, as well as campus-wide and local St. Louis philanthropy events. This year, we had great participate in Washington University’s Dance Marathon. Two of our sisters were on the executive board for Dance Marathon and they got the rest of the chapter excited to participate, resulting in a great turn out! We fundraised and danced for 12 hours straight to raise funds and awareness for the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals of Greater St. Louis. The sisters of Gamma Iota have truly shined in participating and donating time and money to these, but also many other philanthropic organizations tied to our Wash U, Kappa, and St. Louis communities.
Gamma Iota handpicks the organizations that we choose to support based on the varied and unique interests of our sisters. We feel extremely passionate about supproting Reading is Fundamental because we are thankful for our opportunity to puruse our educations and want the same for all children. Additionally, Dance Marathon is currently a growing organization on campus that has a special place in the Wash U community. As well as supporting our sisters, Gamma Iota’s participation in Dance Marathon was a good way to connect with the rest of the Wash U community as well as children who really need our support. Kappa empowers us all to be the brightest, kindest, truest versions of ourselves, so we chose to support Girl Up this year to help girls around the world become empowered as well.
==Highlights of 2020s:==