Changes
→Highlights of 2014
We hold our chapter meetings in a classroom in a university owned building. Our chapter does not have a history of housing, as we have never had a designated house. Many of our members live together in university run housing, but that is self-selected. We have a Kappa Kappa Gamma suite in the university owned Women's Building at Wash U where we hold Standards meetings and Chapter Council meetings. The suite is studio apartment sized and not big enough for any sisters to live there.
==Highlights of 2015==
Over the course of the 2015 school year, Gamma Iota members were involved in a wonderful variety of philanthropic, academic, athletic, Greek and club activities on campus and off campus. Our primary philanthropy event, Kappa Karaoke, consists of a week packed full of activities to raise awareness and funds for literacy. We instigate friendly competition between fraternities and sororities, each who have their own team, which incentivizes participation and fundraising from both Greek affiliated students and non-Greek affiliated students. We sell spirit wear, host penny wars, share literacy facts with the Wash U community and host a school supply drive. The week culminates in a competition where each team performs a choreographed dance routine - which is the most widely attended philanthropy event on campus! Proceeds from the week go to Reading is Fundamental and Books & Basketball. Books and Basketball is a Wash U run outreach program for kids in St. Louis public schools, that aims to both promote the importance of reading and the importance of exercise.
This year, we continued to divide our chapter into 4 "kore" groups to attend and participate in other sorority and fraternity philanthropy events. Some of these events were AOPi’s Strike Out Arthritis, Pi Phi’s Up and Clean, Alpha Phi's Heart Health Week and Sigma Chi's Derby Days. This past spring, Gamma Iota partnered with the gentlemen of the Kappa Sigma fraternity, and participated in the famous Thurtene Carnival, another great achievement this year. The theme of our façade was a dream factory, and our sisters along with the brothers of Kappa Sigma worked tirelessly on both the façade and the production. With two members of our chapter on Thurtene Honorary running the carnival this year, we hope to have another strong presence!
Sisterhood events continued to provide great "glue" for our chapter this past year. From pledge-class hikes to float trips and apple picking and of course the traditional Kappa Thanksgiving Dinner, where each pledge family cooks an original dish to share with the chapter, Gamma Iota bonded over food and fun this year. We also walked the almost 8 miles from Brookings Quadrangle on campus to the St. Louis Arch downtown to raise awareness for literacy - it's kind-of hard to miss 150 girls decked out in blue on blue screaming and singing down the streets of St. Louis so I would say we were successful! We finished this event by celebrating our walk with lunch at the arch. We successfully concluded our year being thankful for our true and loyal sisters and preparing to welcome a new, glittering pledge class after recruitment 2016!
Our Panhellenic community at Washington University yet again thrived in 2015! Following the most recent addition of the sorority, Kappa Delta, in 2013, Gamma Phi Beta will be added in 2016 to make a total of nine active, engaged groups of women. Each chapter is run by a group of dynamic and spirited individuals who donate substantial amounts of time to improving the Greek community's image and contributions to campus life. Wash U also hosted another Greek Week this fall which boosted the morale of each chapter as we all came together to serve the St. Louis community.
Throughout 2015, our Gamma Iota chapter worked hard to improve our academic support system and increase our presence on campus. Our major mentor program that was implemented in 2013 has shown great success, helping many underclassmen pick classes and professors to pursue in their college career. Our major mentor program also allows uncertain sisters to discuss good potential majors with those who have already declared theirs. This year we've also continued to ask our mentors to help younger sisters connect with professionals in the working world for both summer internships and work after college.
Kappa is known across campus at Wash U for how genuine our sisterhood is, and of that we are very proud. We bring this true and sisterly bond wherever we go, whether it is a Kappa row in a large lecture class or a philanthropy event for another sorority. What we are most proud of, however, I believe is our unwavering spirit. Kappa sisters at Wash U are participating in or leading almost every group on campus, including theater, religious groups, Dance Marathon, Relay for Life, student government, community service clubs, varsity and club athletics, academic honors societies and so much more! The diversity of Gamma Iota gives us a special presence on campus and allows us to expose our sisters to so many different stories, traditions, and cultures. Our chapter continues to be exceptionally well respected on campus, as evidenced by our strong retention rates during recruitment. We are looking forward to gaining another class of exceptional individuals who will continue to promote the spirit of Kappa at Wash U!
Chapter Philanthropy
What organization(s) has your chapter historically/traditionally raised money for, or donated hours to, in your community?
Traditionally, our chapter’s proceeds from Kappa Karaoke are distributed to Reading is Fundamental and Books & Basketball, which is a local program that is run by Wash U students. This year, our chapter really focused on participation in other fraternity and sorority sponsored philanthropy events, as well as campus-wide and local St. Louis philanthropy events. This year, we had great participate in Washington University’s Dance Marathon. Two of our sisters were on the executive board for Dance Marathon and they got the rest of the chapter excited to participate, resulting in a great turn out! The sisters of Gamma Iota have truly shined in participating and donating time and money to these, but also many other philanthropic organizations tied to our Wash U, Kappa, and St. Louis communities.
Why did your chapter choose this organization(s) to support?
Gamma Iota handpicks the organizations that we choose to support based on the varied and unique interests of our sisters. This year and in the past, many of our sisters have served in leadership roles with Books and Basketball, so donated part of our proceeds from Kappa Karaoke to this organization was a way to show support for both the program, but also our sisters! Additionally, Dance Marathon is currently a growing organization on campus that has a special place in the Wash U community. As well as supporting our sisters, Gamma Iota’s participation in Dance Marathon was a good way to connect with the rest of the Wash U community as well as children who really need our support!
==Highlights of 2020s:==