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'''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!"Summarize the previous calendar year, scholarships, group honors/awards, Convention awards, traditions, special events, philanthropic involvement, chapter goals, challenges and how they were overcome, and world/local events the chapter participated in or helped with (e.g., presidential campaigns, natural disasters, etc.). 2020 was a unique year that created challenges to normal chapter functions. However, the members of Kappa Kappa Gamma Alpha chapter adapted through innovative sisterhoods, a virtual recruitment, and a virtual initiation shared with Iota and Theta Alpha chapters. The first chapter of the year was held on January 19th. A Tik-Tok sisterhood was held on January 29th, where sisters made fun videos together at the Kappa house. On Super-bowl Sunday, house girls invited sisters over and made lots of different tailgating foods to celebrate. On February 7th, there was a sisterhood with the Eta chapter at the Stewart house where members made DIY scrunchies. A Galentine’s Day Sisterhood was held on Thursday, February 13th. Sisters made cute Valentine’s Day cards, decorated and painted picture frames, ate snacks, and took cute and goofy pictures in a photo area. Composites were taken on Wednesday, February 19th. The New Member Retreat was February 21st.The chapter had an exchange with Phi Delta on February 23rd, where members sang Karaoke. Inspiration week started Sunday, February 23rd and initiation was held on the 29th where one new member was initiated. Members left for Spring Break on March 6th and were not allowed to return due to Covid-19. A mother/daughter tea party event was scheduled for March 21st and was canceled. A Reading is Key philanthropy event “Grilled Cheese with KKGs” on Sunday, March 22nd was also canceled. Alpha chapter had been paired with ZBT for Greek Week activities but was unable to participate due to Covid. Formal theme was the Roaring 20s and was scheduled for April 18th but was canceled due to Covid. Keynoted chapter minuets were sent to members during the lockdown the first Sundays of April and May to keep members engaged and aware of chapter activities. There were three optional Zoom meetings for members to attend if they needed to reach out. There was a virtual sisterhood, where members played an online card game. Due to the fast change of plans Covid created, many things had to be altered in order to make seniors feel as though they were not forgotten. Our VP of Member Development tried to do as much as possibly for them given that we were unable to hold the Senior Banquet or most of the Senior Week Activities. To make up for what they lost, people in the chapter wrote notes or letters to a senior or seniors of their choice and then those were emailed to them during Senior Week. Our chapter was able to order them all bouquets of flowers and had them sent to their home address for them to receive during Senior Week. The seniors all received their gifts from the chapter at their homes. Our chapter still did a Senior Slideshow, and we were able to watch it together on a Zoom call. There was a Zoom study session hosted for finals. Some sisters returned to campus on August 13th, while some sisters remained virtual for the semester. Work week occurred virtually and included a DEI presentation by the college’s Intercultural Life Director. The theme for recruitment was Falling in Love with Kappa. Recruitment was moved online the night before it began. However, our incredible exec board was able to make the arrangements necessary to move to virtual recruitment, marking our chapter’s first ever online recruitment process. We met a lot of great PNMs and ended up with 11 perfect new members who are great additions to the chapter! We look forward to seeing where their Kappa journey takes them. Bid day was on August 22nd and pledging occurred on August 23rd, on the tennis court outside. The chapter has conducted most business virtually and any in-person activities were socially distanced and in compliance with state and federal guidelines. The chapter has worked extremely hard this year to improve our diversity, equity, and inclusion. This semester, we decided to push the idea of DEI more into our chapter in hopes to expand our knowledge on the topics and learn from each other. We held a few programs that involved the topic of DEI and we also started a new chapter segment called "All the Hoot." We placed this segment in the VP of Member Development section of our chapter. This segment was started to allow sisters to talk about popular issues in the news, issues that are important to them, hard to talk about issues, etc. We wanted to provide a safe place for discussion of these important topics so we could evolve as a chapter. Our goal was to be respectful of everyone's opinions, be willing to learn, be open and honest, and to make our bond stronger. This segment has been very interesting and beneficial to our chapter thus far and we hope to continue it. We know that we still have a lot of work to do as individuals and as a chapter to continue to learn and grow in the field of DEI. We have elected a DEI Director to our exec board to continue to promote our chapter’s growth. In an effort to promote mental health awareness and inclusivity, our chapter hosted Behind Happy Faces on November 21st. The slate was released November 12th, and elections were held on November 15th. Officer installations were November 22nd.Campus overall has a very politically polarized and charged atmosphere. Between COVID-19 restrictions, rising cases, the recent presidential election, and overall division amongst Americans have left Monmouth a very polarized place. Our chapter is not excluded from this division, and we have recently faced division amongst members and issues with being called out for being racist by non-members on campus. These issues have left us a very divided chapter. " We chose Western Illinois Animal Rescue as our philanthropy, because it requires a lot of volunteer work and donations to keep it going. We really like helping out at WIAR because we enjoying working with the staff and supporting all the animals there. We did not have a specific Founders Day ceremony or 150th Anniversary celebration due to COVID restrictions. "
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