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Changes
→Highlights of 2013
This past year brought changes that mainly affected our recruitment. Since our school decided to admit more students, there were more women that went through recruitment that the sororities were not prepared for. Although we thought it would be overwhelming and near impossible to have such a large pledge class, we pulled through together and were blessed to have received 45 new members instead of our anticipated 30.
==Highlights of 2014==
This past year has been one of glee, many accomplishments, and ongoing improvement for Epsilon Pi Chapter. We commenced the year after a refreshing winter break with the privilege of participating in a leadership conference, Lead Today. Lead Today took place on January 22 on our campus with our entire chapter and alumnae. Coordinators were trained to help us grow and prosper as a chapter with novel leadership skills and progression in areas needing improvement. We participated in various hands on activities, games and discussions concerning the vitality of management, organization, and the overall aspect of a chapter working and developing in unison. Epsilon Pi Chapter was so thankful and gained an immense appreciation and understanding for leadership and how to use it, not only in Kappa, but in our everyday lives. This conference could not have come at a better time, due to the fact that elections were right around the corner.
Our Kappa sisters did a wonderful job selecting our new Chapter Council and we knew Epsilon Pi Chapter was in good hands. Shortly after, we had our annual scholarship dinner to honor all of our hard working members who did exceptional in their academics. This year, we dressed in key attire and ventured out to The Old Spaghetti Factory located in Downtown Riverside. We loaded up on carbs and applauded our accomplished sisters when they received awards for most study hours, improved G.P.A., highest G.P.A., and many more. This night allowed our sisters to feel honored and made others strive to improve.
After a few weeks of being back in school, it was time for Semi-Formal. Semi was held at Aroma Grill in Upland, CA. We all got dolled up in cute cocktail dresses and invited dates to escort us. Kappas danced the night away on the dance floor, took a plethora of photos in the photo booth and in front of the backdrop with a professional photographer, and ate a delicious variety of food. To end the month of February, our sisters headed to K1 Speed Zone for a fun packed sisterhood. Our sisters headed to the race tracks and raced in full geared helmets and mask and hopped in go-carts for some competitive fun.
A few weeks later, we had our first social of the quarter with the men of Phi Kappa Psi. Together, we had so much fun playing laser tag dressed up as Disney characters. Originally, we were supposed to go roller blading, however, the outdoor rink got rained out. Yet, Kappas always know how to make the best of things and we ended the night having a jovial time. To end our quarter, Epsilon Pi Chapter hosted our Reading is Key Philanthropy at our adopted school, Madison Elementary. This year's theme was "Under the Sea" and the book we gave every student who attended was "The Magic School Bus Live on the Ocean Floor". We loved seeing the students' faces light up as they read to us, crafted with us, and enjoyed some delicious snacks. The whole cafeteria was neatly decorated with fish, kelp, and other underwater creatures to create a fun, aquatic atmosphere. We donated books to their library and hoped to encourage them and show them how important, and intriguing, reading can be. This experience was so rewarding due to the fact that many of these students are from underprivileged households and the books we give them are usually their first books.
At the start of Spring Quarter, we attended an annual philanthropy conducted by the fraternity Delta Tau Delta. They hosted a pageant that every sorority participated in by nominating one representative to compete in the event. This event raised money for The City of Hope through fundraisers and donations. This year, we selected Justine Sterling, who perfectly embodies Kappa as a whole. Justine worked extremely hard raising funds via bake sales on campus (Kappa Kappacino), and Karaoke singing night (Kappa Karaoke), as well as various dining and recreational events. Justine rasied over $4,000 for The City of Hope and took home the crown as Miss Delta Queen 2014. Her hard work and dedication paid off making all of us proud. Not to mention, we loved watching her in the pageant, especially her talent portion of rapping. In the month of April, we hosted our joint philanthropy event, Words With Friends, with the ladies of Pi Beta Phi. Since we both share a philanthropy centered on literacy, our competitions were focused on spelling and reading. We had representatives from each sorority and fraternity competing in speed reads and spelling bees while their organizations cheered them on from the stands. For this event, admission was bringing in a new book that we could donate or a fee of $5. In the end, we raised over $2,000 and over a hundred books. We donated the books we received and part of the proceeds to Madison Elementary and the rest of the proceeds to RIF.
Every year, UCR hosts a sports week where each sorority comes up with teams to play dodge ball, volleyball, and football with different fraternities coaching and arranging practices. This whole week is filled with friendly competition and unity between our sorority and the whole Greek community. This year, we worked hard at many practices and came up in second place. Who knew we were so athletic? After sports week, we decided to have a social with the men of Phi Gamma Delta, who were our coaches for sports week. Bowling for strikes and spares was the event of the night while dressed in our Hawaiian skirts, shirts, and leis.
Another event UCR hosts every year is Pillars Week. Pillars Week is a whole week dedicated to different traits necessary for a successful organization. All Greek organizations were placed in teams that competed in competitions focused on a different trait each day starting with leadership, friendship, service, and scholarship. This whole week is dedicated to uniting the community of Greeks at our school. With Epsilon Pi Chapter being so dedicated to these traits and Greek unity, we worked so hard and ended up placing first along with our team.
During this same week we had one of our favorite philanthropies, A Day In The Life. For this event, we bring sixth grade students from Madison Elementary to UCR to visit, take a tour, have lunch, and play fun activities with us all in the hopes of inspiring these students to go to college and strive for higher education. This year we divided into different tour guiding groups and played interactive games such as red rover. It was a perfect day to have the students on campus because they were all able to see a busy campus full of students due to the fact that it was Pillars Week. These students had such a great time that even some boys flashed the Kappa sign in pictures as the proclaimed "I can't wait to go here!"
With school coming to an end in a few months, it was the perfect time for our Beta Beta New Member retreat. Our New Member chair planned a daring evening of rock climbing at a local rock climbing gym, Hangar 18. Girls harnessed in and chalked their hands as they used their upper body strength and raced to the top of the rock walls. It was a perfect night for Beta Beta to be reconnected and have a little fun work out. For one of the last meetings of the year, our whole chapter went to Farrell's Ice Cream Parlor to feast on all different flavors of ice cream, while discussing business, of course. This event is one of our most delicious sisterhood events since we get to eat all the ice cream we want, be sung to by Farrell's employees, and get to be with our sisters.
For the last event of the year, Epsilon Pi Chapter boarded buses with our dates for a special night at Green Rivers Country Club. This year's Formal was eventful and filled with memories. Girls piled into the photo booth to take adorable pictures while some danced the night away and others ate their gourmet meal. During the celebrations, seniors were recognized, given crowns, and watched a video slide show of pictures that brought back many memories and even happy tears to many eyes. Formal was the perfect way to end the 2013-2014 school year.
Although college may have been over for some, many girls who had just decided to come to UCR were making their way on campus for summer orientation in the months of July and August. During every orientation, Epsilon Pi Chapter hosted a table where we answered questions about our organizations, sorority life, UCR and college in general. We hoped to get incoming freshmen and transfer students excited for college and hopefully interested in becoming a Kappa. Not only that, but almost as a summer reunion, all of our girls got together to film our, almost famous, recruitment video. We went to the beach, our campus, and the park to film a short video embodying Kappa and our strong sisterhood. It turned out to be a hit on our campus and with other chapters from other campuses as well.
After a nice, long break of heading to the beach, relaxing, and a lot of studying abroad, Kappa sisters united for a week of practices for upcoming recruitment. Our sisters sang their hearts out and danced their best as we learned songs and polished ourselves so we could be the best Kappas we could be for recruitment. During the week our bonds of sisterhood grew exponentially stronger and our love for Kappa radiated in preparation of finding our newest members. On the weekend of October 3, we spent 3 days socializing and spreading our love and excitement to every potential new member who entered our room. We fell in love with so many girls and worked so hard that this turned out to be one of our most successful recruitments ever, bringing in our biggest New Member class of 53 girls.
The Monday following recruitment, Bid Day, we welcomed all of our bright and spectacular New Members with "Key to Paradise" tank tops and a BBQ fit for beach queens. Our chapter transitioned so quickly to this shocking number of new ladies, and chapter council immediately understood that with a larger chapter, we would all have to grow together, and that is exactly what we did. New Members went to meetings every week to get acquainted with Kappa policies and jumped right into Kappa activities with our first sisterhood of the 2014-2015 school year. Our VPS planned a morning yoga session in a peaceful park for all of our members. It was relaxing and just what everyone needed as a de-stressor. Our New Members were also able to attend our Date Party at a roller skating rink sponsored by the Anaheim Ducks hockey team. Every member received a glitter Kappa snap back and Beyonce themed tank tops, while their dates received a Jay-Z themed crew neck. Everyone was so exited for their new Kappa clothes. Soon after, our New Members received their Big Sisters in such a cute and creative reveal. New Members were given a key to a specific car in the school's parking lot and had to find the right car to which the key belonged. Inside the car trunk, driver seat, or back seat was their Big. The excitement of the whole chapter was present as girls embraced in hugs and even tears of excitement and joy. That same night, New Members were ushered to their New Member sleepover where they bonded over games, learned about our Founders, and laughed over stories.
A couple weeks later, Bigs drove their Littles to our fall social with the men of Sigma Psi Epsilon. Since it was the Halloween season, girls paired up with a Sig-Ep and carved pumpkins. This was one of our most attended and loved socials. As initiation approached, our Marshal hosted Big and Little Night at a local ice skating rink. Bigs and Littles dressed in matching outfits and skated together, fell together, and drew closer as sisters. Our last and most important event of the year was the initiation of our New Members of the Beta Gamma class. It was a beautiful ceremony welcoming our deserving members into Kappa Kappa Gamma. They discovered the true meaning of all our beliefs and values and finally understood what makes Kappa so strong. It was the perfect way to end such a successful year for Epsilon Pi Chapter.
One of the biggest changes to our campus occurred just this Fall quarter. In the past year, recruitment has grown as more and more girls become interested in sorority life at UCR. One of the biggest changes to our chapter was the welcoming of the biggest new member class we have ever welcomed. Our chapter almost doubled, but our chapter handled the change smoothly without a falter.
Also due to the immense interest in panhellenic, the whole panhellenic community got together to listen to presentations from three possible new sororities hoping to colonize on the UCR campus. In the end, our chapter was more than happy to hear about a new sorority expanding our panhellenic community. Epsilon Pi Chapter is so strong in our bonds of sisterhood that we are more than willing to help the new chapter get accommodated to UCR.
Chapter meetings are held in various on campus lecture halls and classrooms. This makes it easier for members to go to meeting since most new members live on campus and other members live near by. Our chapter does not have a house and has not had a house in the past. We have a storage unit near campus where we keep and organize our supplies. For living situations, some girls live on campus, but most members rent houses where some members live together and sometimes end up living with other panhellenic women. Our living situations are perfect for building sisterhood and provide various places for members to hangout, study, and host various gatherings.
==Highlights of 2020s:==