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This has been an extremely wonderful year for the Zeta Lambda chapter and we are looking forward to the upcoming year and all of the fun-filled events and experiences it will bring to our chapter!
==Highlights of 2014==
The past year has been a period of growth to achieve chapter goals and to strengthen the bonds of lifelong friendship. The spring semester began with formal recruitment, February 6-8, when we welcomed 19 new members to our fraternity. The sisters bonded with the new members through chapter gatherings and sister only social events during our annual Inspiration Week, March 31-April 5, which led up to Initiation. All members, both new and old, wore various colors each day of the week to symbolize qualities of Kappa such as loyalty, sincerity, friendship, and beauty. The first event was the “Blue & Blue Dinner” which was held in the house as a time to bond with all sisters while enjoying a lovely dinner. Tuesday was “Kappa Hearts and Poems,” where older sisters made their new key sister a heart that had a picture of them together on the front and a sisterly quote of their choice on the back. Wednesday, key sisters bonded over delicious Rita’s Italian Ice. Thursday, the Return of the Pledge Pin ceremony was held in the chapter room followed by a special surprise for the new members. Friday was Fireside, which was held at alumni Steph Kubric’s house. After Fireside, the sisters stayed at the house and older sisters prepared for Initiation. The next morning, Initiation was held at our house and 19 new members were finally welcomed as actual sisters to our fantastic fraternity.
Shortly after bid day, the new members continued to bond with each other and the older members by attending monthly sister only events. A few months after bid day, in April, our annual spring formal took place. The theme of our formal was “Under the Sea”; the hall was decorated with cute painted fish and tropical colors. This social is very important to all members because it was the last formal with the current seniors before they graduated in May. Everyone treasured this social because it was the last time this particular chapter would all be together. The third date social was held in November in the fall semester, called Kappa Krush. It was an amazing event to bring everyone together to celebrate a wonderful start to a new and successful school year.
Also, throughout the year, the sisters were encouraged to strengthen the bonds that bind us together by attending other important events. For example, after bid day in the spring semester, an annual sister only is held to teach the new members how to make their first letter shirts followed by the whole chapter attending brunch in the cafeteria; a tradition each year. All sisters and new members proudly wear their letters for all of the campus to see. Also in the spring is our Mother’s Day Brunch, which we have changed to be called the “Special Person’s Brunch.” It was changed so that the sisters who would like to share this special day with another person other than their mothers can do so. A slide show was made to demonstrate to our special people what Kappa is all about, memories shared throughout the years, and how proud our chapter is to call ourselves Kappas. In October during homecoming weekend, we had a special alumni cookout. We invited alumni back to cook out with the current chapter, catch up with a good conversation, and to show off our house. The cookout included hamburgers, hotdogs, soda, and various other treats while showing off our brand new furniture and painted walls, various awards, and scrapbooks to all of the alumni that came back. This was a great opportunity to bond with our sisters who had come before us. In December, the annual sister only was held to decorate the house for “Light Up Night.” Though our house did not take first place, we were still proud of the brightly strung lights, the frosty windows, and the beautifully decorated Christmas trees around the house. All the sisters worked together to make the house look merry and festive for the holiday season.
Throughout the semester, the sisters participated in numerous philanthropic activities within our own chapter as well as with the other fraternities and sororities on campus. Our largest philanthropic event was our 7th annual “Catch the Cure” baseball tournament, which helped raise money and awareness for breast cancer. Some of the proceeds went towards the Susan G. Komen Foundation. The rest of the money we were able to donate to a sister’s aunt who is currently fighting breast cancer. Overall, this was an amazing event that brought not only the Greek organizations together, but the Washington and Jefferson and local community as a whole. A total of 22 teams filled Cameron Stadium to participate in our event. Guests enjoyed music, endless amounts of food, and competitive fun for a great cause. Once again all of the sisters of Zeta Lambda were very excited and proud of how well our annual philanthropy event turned out. We raised over $6,000. We pride ourselves on this event and look forward to its arrival every year. In the fall semester we participated in Pi Beta Phi’s lip-synching and dancing contest, “Arrowbands,” where we proudly took 2nd place. We also participated in Kappa Alpha Theta’s color run. Near the end of the fall semester we participated in various other events, such as the “B+ Dance Marathon,” where we stayed up until 3 AM painting faces and dancing to raise money for a local boy diagnosed with cancer.
In addition to social and philanthropic events, Zeta Lambda has held recruitment events to meet potential and new members. This year our recruitment chairman, Abigail Kunkel, thought of new and creative events to meet potential new members. The first event, “Kappa Kookout,” was held at our house, where the sisters could talk to potential new members over hamburgers and hotdogs. With the beautiful weather for this event, there was a great turnout of potential new members. The next event, “Kappa Kupcakes” was held in October. All potential new members came to our house and decorated cupcakes that were previously made with pink icing and sprinkles for our breast cancer awareness month bake sale. The following day, we held a bake sale with the cupcakes that were decorated at our event. All of the proceeds were donated to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. The event and bake sale were very successful for our chapter. Our last two recruitment events include “Kappa Karaoke,” which was a fun event held at Monticello’s with karaoke and milkshakes, and “Holidays with the Kappas,” which included Christmas music and cookies, punch, and Christmas decorations. Each event held by our chapter was very successful and helped us get to know potential new members and allowed them to see how fabulous it is to be a part of our fantastic chapter. All of the new events turned out wonderful.
This year we had one of our members, Anna Shaffner, bring Christmas cards for all of the sisters to fill out to send to the troops for the holidays. All of our sisters were able to fill out several and they were sent to the U.S. troops to make their holidays a little brighter. This small event brought us together as a chapter and we were thrilled to spread our joy with others.
CAMPUS: Washington and Jefferson College is a small, private liberal arts school with a main focus of academic excellence. The students of W&J are well-prepared for careers in business, medicine, law and a variety of other professions. The Greek community is an integral part of W&J with over 40% of the student body actively participating in the Greek life on campus. The Greek community enables the students to be actively involved on campus and plays a central role in the philanthropic and social events of the campus.
CHAPTER: Over the past year, Kappa Kappa Gamma has proved to be an essential part of the Greek community as well as the W&J community. Our members pride themselves on being actively involved in a widespread assortment of sports, clubs, and activities. Our members are involved in the activities on campus, but we also pride ourselves on our academic success and achievement. The Zeta Lambda chapter sets a positive example to all potential new members and the student body in general with numerous sisters whom achieve Dean’s List (semester GPA of 3.5+) and Alpha/Beta scholars (who represent the top students at the college in terms of overall grade point average). By showing academic excellence to the college, a strong commitment to each other, and having well-established ties to the community, Kappa Kappa Gamma is an ideal example of Greek Life in our small community at Washington and Jefferson College.
This year the Zeta Lambda chapter truly strived to make Kappa Kappa Gamma the leader of the Greek community at Washington and Jefferson College. Although we pride ourselves on being outstanding Greek women, we also understand that there is always some room for improvement. Our main goal was to become more involved within the W&J community, as well as with other fraternities on campus. We accomplished this by discussing the issue among our fellow sisters and expressing how important it is to present to the Greek community a strong and united chapter. We made sure that a percentage of the chapter participated in every activity that was held by the college and the other fraternities on campus.
Another goal we focused on was maintaining a high GPA in the Greek community. This is an extremely important goal to each and every sister. We wanted to make sure that we showed other students and faculty that the members of Kappa Kappa Gamma are amazing students. As a way to show our appreciation to our professors and staff members, the sisters of Zeta Lambda elect one professor and one staff member every month to give the title “Professor of the Month” and “Staff Member of the Month,” respectively. We pride ourselves on being the campus leaders and always strive to maintain and even surpass our academic goals. We strive to be leaders in not only the Greek community, but also in the athletic teams and clubs that we belong to. We feel that it is very important to set an example for others to respect and hopefully follow.
This has been an extremely wonderful year for the Zeta Lambda chapter and we are looking forward to the upcoming year and all of the fun-filled events and experiences it will bring to our chapter!
Unfortunately, none of our chapter’s officers wear historical badges. All of the chapter’s officers wear one badge, which is the golden key that every one of the women in our fraternity wears. All of our 64 current members proudly wear the golden key, with their initials and the date they were initiated on on the back of the key. We take immense pride in wearing the golden key.
==Highlights of 2020s:==