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→Highlights of 2019
==Highlights of 2019==
Twenty-nineteen is coming to a rapid close, and what a fun year it was for the ladies of Kappa Kappa Gamma. This year has been notably special, as Founders Day 2019
marked the 365 day countdown to celebrating Kappa turning 150! What an amazing celebration for us to be a part of as active and involved Kappas. As the women of 512 East Rollins are starting to take down pictures and pack their bags, we’re reminded of the great year that’s been had and try to soak up the last few precious moments with our friends before we’re all home and spread out for our five week break. Let’s review the year...
As we eagerly returned to 512, the last few weeks of January involved girls finding any and every way to stay warm on walks to and from class. The house stayed busier than normal as Kappas huddled inside to avoid the bitter cold outside.
February began with tons of
excitement as we welcomed three new members after participating in spring informal recruitment for the first time. Our new member educator, Annie, threw an incredible bid day with the theme “There’s snow place like home,” and our Marshal, Nichi, put on a special Initiation for them. We also had our 20s themed Gatsby social and participated in RAMS. At the end of the month, we had two of our members, Nissi Kunjummen, and Megan Stober, recognized with the great honor of being chosen for Mizzou ‘39.
March was no less busy, starting with Chapter Council taking a day trip to KC that involved axe throwing and exceptional pizza and ice cream for a mini CC retreat. The moms came from far and wide to Como for a weekend to spend time with their daughters with a floral design class and a gathering a Sorenson estates. We were itching for the end of the month to come as many Kappas went on spring break trips together and took a much needed week of exploring and relaxation.
April was perhaps our proudest moment of 2019, as we took on Greek Week with the lovely men of Phi Delta Theta. We quickly proved to be quite the power pairing, dominating in sports, skit/dance, blood and service, all leading us to a first place victory and many new friendships within the pairing. During that time, we had 7 Kappas (Hadley, Maddie, Nichi, Ruth, Hannah, Clare, and Courtney) chosen to be Panhellenic counselors, to be led by our very own fearless Izzy Moiso, for the upcoming recruitment. We closed out April with our formal, which was a hit as usual at the venue of choice- Fieldhouse.
The last few weeks of the semester in May consisted of lots of cramming, finals snacks from Mom, and for many of us many stress relieving Andy’s runs. We watched many of our seniors graduate and we’re so proud of them and always so appreciative of the love and dedication they’ve shown Kappa over their years. As finals wrapped up, we said goodbye to 512 for the year as girls returned home, went abroad, and started internships for the summer.
August came quick, but we were all ready to come back to see each other again for work week and recruitment. Megan and her team ran an incredibly fun and smooth recruitment, and we took on a pledge class of 70 amazing new members. Annie threw yet another incredible bid day with the theme “Go Kappa it’s your Bid Day” and we all celebrated our favorite day of the year as we welcomed our pi chis and the best new pledge class to the sweetest home.
September brought nothing less than the usual busyness as we jumped right back into classes and social activities while trying to figure out where sleep fits into that. Our weekends were full of game days which meant creating fun black and gold outfits to go cheer on our tigers. We had our new members stay at the house for their new member retreat, followed by a fun picnic breakfast at the columns the following morning, organized by our newly created Kappa Wellness Committee. We sent a member from PC ‘19, Meghan Kane, to Kappa Leadership Academy where she made friends and learned some different traditions of Kappa chapters across the US. PC ‘18 took PC ‘19 on owl pal dates leading up to big little reveal- always exciting! Our philanthropy chair Mary Kate put on an incredibly successful two weekends of the Kappa Klassic, closing out September with the dad’s Klassic weekend and the following for the fraternity Klassic. She also had a great idea this year to bring a food truck to Kappa to do a profit share and it was a hit!
In October, we quickly prepared for homecoming with the exciting theme of Harry Potter. We were excited to be paired with the men of TKE, but ran into a few road bumps as their house board wouldn’t let us paint and pomp in their basement. Our incredibly hard working liaisons saved homecoming as they figured out an alternative and kept spirits high while there was so much chaos, and we pulled off third!!
Our members Annie, Shuwen, and Hadley were also on the 2019 Homecoming Steering committee and represented Kappa proudly with their hard work. Talk about a quick turn-around, I-week commenced the day after Homecoming announcements. A fun week of sisterhood events and bonding ended with a very special Initiation weekend put on by Nichi and all of CC. We were so happy to officially welcome our new members! A beautiful founders day was organized by Shuwen, and we all enjoyed coming together to celebrate the wonderful organization we’re all so proud to be a part of. The month ended with our Owloween social with Chi Omega, a perfect way to unwind from a hectic month.
November was tons of fun, with two socials- Monmouth (with Pi Phi) and Semi-formal- two weekends in a row. We also had a visit from the Minnie Stewart van as it made its rounds to Kappa chapters across the country leading up to Kappa’s 150th birthday coming up in 2020. As the semester wrapped up, we elected the next Chapter Council for the upcoming year.
The 2020 officers:
President: Morgan Knuckey
VP of Standards: Maddie Kraus
VP of Organization: Mary Kate Ingram
VP of Academic Excellence: Hannah Riekof
Recording Secretary: Megan Zellmer
Treasurer: Maddie Lamb
Marshal: Meghan Kane
Education: Hannah Venneman
Events: Addie Logsdon
House: Bri Evans
Membership: Melanie Green
New Member: Juilann Leak
PHA Delegate: Lyndsey Gerbec
Philanthropy: Bri Szczebak
Public Relations: Morgan Mulford
Risk Management: Sophia Davisson
December came and went quickly, as we got back from Thanksgiving break to only have one week of classes left followed by a week of finals. We studied,
enjoyed Mom’s usual finals snacks, and celebrated when our exams were done. Everyone packed their bags and said goodbye to 512 once again to go home for the month break.
Philanthropy
The local beneficiary that Theta chapter supports with the money we raise from the Kappa Klassic is Cedar Creek Therapeutic Riding Center. We have around 20 girls go to Cedar Creek every week to volunteer there which makes it so near and dear to our hearts.
Founder’s Day
Our Founder’s Day was a beautiful brunch celebration full of stories from past Kappas, insight from current members, and an inspiring speech from our beautiful and good president, Margaret.
Sesquicentennial Celebration
In honor of Kappa turning 150, our chapter Marshal, Nichi, started a scrapbook that will be added to the archives. All girls in the chapter are being encouraged to get a page
made for their group of friends and give their little part to Kappa! We also enjoyed a visit from the Minnie Stewart van in November where we were able to learn more about our founders and the Minnie Steward house with the memorabilia in the van and the virtual reality.
==Highlights of 2020==
==Highlights of 2020s:==