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==Highlights of the 1990's==
The Zeta Rho chapter goal in '''1990 ''' was unity, including 75% participation or more at all Kappa functions. Another challenge facing the chapter this year was the report from the Colgate Board of Trustees’ Special Committee on Residential Life, which forced the Greek-letter system to review their attitudes towards Greek Life and value to Colgate. Among other things, the Committee proposed that going forward, rush would take place only during a rushee’s sophomore year, and that the pledging period would be eliminated completely.
Despite confusion about future rush and pledge period rules, the chapter still went forward with planning for formal rush in March 1991. During 1990, 38 sisters were initiated in the spring, and another 3 sisters were initiated in November 1990 (athlete hold overs from spring 1990 initiation).
Rush was successfully held in the spring and (for the first time) the fall semesters in 1994. The fall rush was the first sophomore rush at Colgate, a result of the Special Committee on Residential Life report from earlier in the decade.
The chapter continued to support Big Brother/Big sister in '''1994 ''' with a Thanksgiving Day Party for children from the local community. Other philanthropy events this year included painting a Welcome Center in Hamilton, participating in a Rock-a-thon for charity, and helping Special Olympics.
Zeta Rho hosted the Alpha Province meeting in Schenectady, NY, in spring '''1995''', where they won an award for Overall Achievement. Also, that spring, the chapter was recognized by Colgate for having the highest campus GPA for 5 consecutive semesters and having the highest sorority GPA.
The chapter was still working to improve unity in 1995, which they felt was a challenge in part because they were unhoused. To address this, dinners and other activities were organized to initiate friendships between new members and sisters who were overseas during rush. Also, sisters participated in intramural sports together.
Other challenges facing the chapter included the university initiative that, within 1-2 years, only 250 Colgate students would live off campus. As the majority of Zeta Rho sisters lived off campus, and because the chapter was unhoused, the hunt was on for a campus home for the chapter. Additionally, as many as half of the sisters in the chapter were studying abroad each semester, making chapter unity, recruitment and slating difficult.
The chapter initiated 38 members in '''1996''', making quota. As in previous years, Zeta Rho continued to be involved in campus athletics year round. Kappa was represented on the 1996 Colgate Crew, Soccer, Tennis, Field Hockey, Swimming and Cross Country teams.
In the spring of 1996, the chapter organized a “Shut-Up-A-Thon” to benefit the Make a Wish Foundation. For one day Kappas “shut up” to make the wishes of terminally ill children come true. In the fall, the chapter held its first Spaghetti Dinner for Charity, and continued its tradition of participating in Sidekicks Thanksgiving Day, the Turkey Drive, and Christmas gift boxes for families in the local community of Hamilton. Year round, the chapter donates to the Hamilton Food Cupboard.
==Highlights of the 2000's==
This is the sixteenth year that the Zeta Rho chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma has been at Colgate('''2004'''). In the tradition of fraternity, Kappa sisters at Colgate have contributed to the intellectual excellence of the university, while also continuing to hold a strong positive presence in all areas of the college and the surrounding community of Hamilton, NY.
This year, philanthropy was the Chapter Goal on which all sisters voted to concentrate. Our new members played a pivotal role in putting together a charity banquet that supported the Roswell Park Cancer Research Center in Buffalo, NY, and learned the Kappa values of helping others and working together. Each sister in the entire chapter was assigned to a Kore Group to serve different philanthropies in order to increase overall participation as well as frequency of activities. We also adopted reading at the bookstore to support our national philanthropy of Reading is Fundamental. Last spring, the Zeta Rho chapter co-sponsored a spaghetti dinner with Kappa Alpha Theta in which we raised money for the Susan G. Komen Foundation for Breast Cancer Research. Every Friday afternoon, a group of Kappas meet with elderly women at Madison Lane Nursing Community. In the warm fall months, we held a charity car wash with Beta Theta Pi to raise money for Reading is Fundamental. One of members helped to organize a holiday house lighting contest that we ultimately won in partnership again with the fraternity Beta Theta Pi, and were able to pledge five-hundred dollars to donate to a charity of our choice. We participated in the Cabin Fever Festival with children in the community by sponsoring a snow sculpture contest. We were part of the American Heart Association Run/Walk, raising over $1000 for the cause. In conjunction with the Run/Walk, we did the Pennies for Patients fundraiser and collected spare change from campus residence halls. We were a component of the Saturday Morning Bookstore Program in which we read stories and interact with children in the community. At the Colgate Konosioni auction, Kappa offered babysitting services to help raise funds for the event. We sold Mothers' Day cards to support Community Action, which helps impoverished people in Upstate New York to financially and emotionally reorganize their lives. Kappa participated and showed support of a united Greek system and the Panhellenic spirit at the Panhellenic Megamixer in both the spring and fall.
A final notable challenge was that NPC regulations forced us to cut more girls during the beginning rounds of recruitment, which was quite new for us. All members, however, stayed extra-long hours in order to meticulously decide which young women we asked to come back.
'''2005 ''' is the seventeenth year that Zeta Rho chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma has been at Coglate. In the tradition of the fraternity, one of our chapter goals was to improve our sisters' commitment to academics. We sought to improve our overall GPA as a fraternity. We were extremely succesful, and jumped from lowest cumulative GPA out of the four campus sororities to the highest this past semester.
We also voted on philanthropy as another area to concentrate on as a chapter. Our sisters participated in a plethora of different community service activities over the past year. This year we have dedicated our efforts to a new philanthropy project called Kappa Birthday Klub, brought to our sorority by a sister who participated in a similar project at her high school. We used the fall semester of 2005 to fundraise, and then in each month of the 2006 calender year, Kappa will sponser a birthday party for local foster children of Madison County. In order to fundraise we set-up collection cans in downtown Hamilton, we held a clothing re-sale, and bake sales. We raised a total of $1,700 and look forward to being able to help foster children celebrate their birthdays. This project is very exciting, as it provides an immediate way for our sorority to connect with the surrounding community in a meaningful way.
The two main goals we set for our chapter were to improve academics and strengthen ritual. One way we worked to improve academics was to start a list of majors and minors to use as a tool for peer mentoring within the chapter. For example, a sophomore art history major could easily find an older sister to help with her coursework if this type of list was available. The VP-of Academic Excellence will also be organizing frequent study breaks with food to encourage sisters to complete their work at the library. As a chapter, we greatly improved our academics and jumped from the lowest cumulative GPA of the four campus sororities to the highest this past semester. Members of Zeta Rho also cited ritual as an area that could use improvement. Though we still need to continue work in this area, the Marshall plans to hold more formal chapters as a way to practice songs, responses etc., as well as practice sessions at the end of weekly chapter to get everyone as whole more familiar with Kappa songs and traditions.
Zeta Rho chapter accomplished many things in '''2006'''. Philanthropy events were especially important to us this year, as we tried many new activities as well as already established events. Many of our events and fund raising are to benefit one of our fairly new ventures, the Kappa Birthday Klub. We raised money for a semester, and then in the spring threw a birthday party every month for the local foster children of Madison County. This is a favorite event among the sisters of Zeta Rho as it is enjoyed by everyone. We feel that we get more out of the experience as well as give back more to our community when we are personally involved with using the money we raised as opposed to sending off a check, which we also do through various other fundraising ventures. To raise the money for Kappa Birthday Klub, we arranged several events. One of those is a clothing re-sale, where the sisters bring in slightly used clothes and then sell them to the Colgate community. Those left over are donated to the Salvation Army. We also had several bake sales, as well as a sale of Kappa Kisses (Valentine's Day candy grams). We raised almost $2000 for Kappa Birthday Klub, and the birthday parties were a huge success.
Every Friday several Kappas go to a nursing home nearby called Madison Lane and spend time with the residents. Activities include sharing family pictures, arts and crafts, watching movies, and bingo. In April of 2006, Zeta Rho sponsored a dinner with Kappa Alpha Theta sorority to raise money for the Susan G. Komen foundation, and we donated over $1,000 from the dinner. That spring we also held a car wash with Beta Theta Pi fraternity to benefit Reading is Fundamental, which was extremely successful.
This past fall was a very exciting time for our chapter. The new member class brought our Kappa Kappa Gamma chapter 56 new sisters. This large number required much planning during our new member period to ensure the transition into our chapter was both a positive and smooth one for all. Extra time was spent organizing activities that would allow the upperclassmen to bond with the new members. The new members showed a large amount of enthusiasm and were eager to get involved. Extra effort was made to make sure that each sister who wanted to could have a position, be part of a committee, or lead an event.
In '''2009''', Colgate University continues to be a small campus of 2800 students in the quaint town of Hamilton of upstate New York. It has a fairly homogenous student body which has been voted to be one of the fittest in the nation. Princeton Review has voted this small campus on a hill the prettiest in the United States. Greek life makes up a significant portion of the Colgate community, with 33% of the total student body participating in it; and 45% of sophomores, juniors, and seniors taking part.
Our chapter is filled with a plethora of different girls who are very involved on campus. Some are members of Division 1 Varsity Sports, others are part of acapella groups on campus, while still others are part of the COVE, the Center for Outreach, Volunteerism, and Education. Kappa's at Colgate excel in academics while still finding time for volunteer work and social opportunities.