Changes
→Highlights of 2014
Our chapter holds meetings in our Chapter room located in the Panhellenic House. The Chapter room is rented and has a comfy classroom setup. We do not have housing at the Gamma Upsilon Chapter in UBC.
==Highlights of 2015==
2015 has been a very exciting year, very focused on making changes to better our chapter as well as forming stronger bonds within our sisterhood. In March we welcomed six new and amazing girls through our COB recruitment. To start off March we had the annual Parent Tea in the chapter room, which was a great way to meet some parents and in turn let them have a glimpse into what Kappa means to each member. At our Panhellenic awards ceremony at the end of March we had five girls receive academic accreditation, our chapter was accredited for sports, philanthropy, and leadership and activities, our very own Katie Sherlock was accredited for a top athlete, two of our members were accredited with leadership and top philanthropists, and finally another two of our members were accredited with the all greek women of the year award.
We also had a beautiful formal at the Arbutus Club at the end of March, which was a fun way to close up the year for our sisterhood. Kappa Kourtside in the second week of April brought out a huge crowd right before exams. And we were able to raise $4891. We also were able to raise $1089 through our Kappa Kandy Grams, and $1745 at our annual Desserts for a Cure. By the end of the term we also had eleven girls with an over 80 average. We are so proud of them and their accomplishments, and hope to inspire the rest of the chapter to keep up this push towards academics!
At the start of September we attended our retreat at our very own Kristin Short’s house in Shuswap Lake, where we had the opportunity to bond with our sisters at a beautiful location for three days. At retreat we rehearsed all things recruitment, which was very helpful for our newest pledge class. As well, we decorated our new floral letters, and had multiple photo shoots to share on social media as well as for our recruitment video. It was the highlight of the year, and everyone had so much fun.
Coming into the school year our chapter was extremely busy with planning and preparing for recruitment. We also revamped our website, adding photos from retreat and stepped up our presence and activity on social media. Our house chairman took to decorating our chapter room with some homey pieces, such as polaroid pictures, lights, flowers, pillows and a couple ottomans. Recruitment was a busy time for public relations and our activity on social media. It really paid off however as our new members were able to follow posts during that time and so it was quite effective.
Recruitment was the most successful its been in years, we were all so pumped and welcome in 34 new and amazing members. We have carried this excitement throughout the term. We raised $427.70 during our philanthropy weeks cocoa for a cure in the UBC Nest, and $6380 from our participating team in the annual CIBC Run for a Cure. In the first week of November our chapter submitted a video for Gamma Phi Betas philanthropy event, The Gammies. We didn’t win, but our own sister Rebcca Moug took home best actress!
I-week and initiation took place in the second week of November, and it ran smoothly as well as fun. We even got to have a sisterhood event at Spin Society, where a Kappa alumni generously offered her time to hold. At the end of November we will be hosting what should be an amazing semi formal at the Traditional Chinese Gardens, which our new members are very excited for.
Following this on November 22nd we are having someone from headquarters hold a ritual workshop for our chapter. Throughout the year our chapter has taken part in a number of philanthropy events within the Greek community. To list a few, the chapter took part in Sigma Chi’s Derby Days in support of the Shinerama UBC campaign raising money for Cystic Fibrosis research, and AOPi’s Score Out Arthritis which is a indoor soccer tournament. This coming year we are planning on fully using the GIN system for a more concise and official way to keep track with events for the month and year.
This fall our campus finally opened its long anticipated new student union building, the Nest. This has been a seven year process, but has been well worth the wait. It is a beautiful LEED platinum certified building (highest green building rating in North America), and has room for the huge growth in students at UBC. It is located right next to the old SUB, and maintains its hub of activity offering a place for students to shop, study, eat and socialize. The building itself is five stories and 250,000 square feet (50% larger than the old SUB), and cost $107 million. The NEST contains eight AMS run food and drink eateries, nine AMS services, as well as a three-storey rock climbing wall. Not only is the building itself sustainable – solar powered cooling, radian hearing/cooling of floors, solar water heaters, cerified wood products, in vessel compositing, storm water management/retention, roof top garden, water efficient landscaping using grey water, but their food is as well – 100% ocean wise certified, local produce, dry food purchased from local companies, and all coffees are certified organic, shade grown, and fair trade.
This year our overall chapters nature has been focused on sisterhood. We started out the year as one of the smallest sororities on campus, but through teamwork we have grown to almost the same size as everyone else. This year as been extremely busy, and we have faced times of difficulty, but we have all really stuck together and helped each other. We have held multiple sisterhood events this year, and chapter council members took to using their committees for help a lot more. As well our chapter has shown a lot of initiative to help each other, and spend time with each other. On top of fun sisterhood events we have also had many study nights, with amazing turn outs. Its so special to see our sisters encouraging and helping each other push for better academics, which has been a struggle for us in the past. Within the first two months of school our chapter had hosted three study nights, one was also with Delta Gamma. Not only have our members pushed to attend all of our own meetings and events but our participation within the Greek community has also increased substantially.
What organization(s) has your chapter historically/traditionally raised money for, or donated hours to, in your community?
Reading is fundamental, Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, First Baptist Church soup kitchen
Why did your chapter choose this organization(s) to support?
Reading is fundamental is the national Kappa Kappa Gamma philanthropy.
Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation is our local chapter philanthropy which was started due to an alumni. We hold this philanthropy very close to all our hearts, and one of our alumni, Yael Cohen, actually started the philanthropy Fuck Cancer.
First Baptist Church – weekly volunteering at soup kitchen
==Highlights of 2020s:==