Changes

Beta Eta Deuteron

6,159 bytes added, 20:14, 16 December 2015
Highlights of 2014
members of the 2017 pledge class live together in a Stanford Dormitory residence entitled Florence
Moore Hall.
 
 
==Highlights of 2015==
This year, we have focused on enhancing our sisterhood and improving our philanthropic impact. As
an un-housed chapter, we have to be creative in finding ways to strengthen our bonds of sisterhood and
loyalty. To do so, we have implemented consistent member class meals, which are opportunities for an
entire grade class to get together for a fun meal, paid for by Kappa. Furthermore, we have also created a
tradition of small group get togethers, where we randomly assign girls to groups, composed of members of
various grade levels and interests, and ask them to get together for a meal, activity, etc. We have also
organized group outings to spin classes, group yoga, and other activities that encourage our members to
bond with each other through healthy and mindful movement.
 
In terms of Philanthropy, our chapter has traditionally always hosted an annual benefit concert that
raises money for a charity of our choice, as well as done weekly homeless feeds and middle-school readings.
That being said, one of our goals this past year was to significantly improve our philanthropy efforts, and to
host multiple fundraisers each year and to support a broader range of philanthropies. Last Spring, we got
involved with the Movement Foundation, which is an organization that brings health and wellness
education to low-income areas, as well as conducting positive body-image campaigns. Our group raised over
$7000 for the organization and participated in their annual Dare to Bare spin class ride, which celebrates
body image positivity and body diversity.
 
Building on our work with an organization that is focused on health and wellness, this Fall, we chose
to focus on sexual health and sexual assault prevention. We decided to partner with the Joyful Heart
Foundation, an organization focused on healing, empowering, and advocating for survivors of sexual
violence, to launch an awareness campaign this Fall and raise money for the organization through our
benefit concert next January. The awareness campaign was modeled after the foundation’s “No More”
Campaign, which asks individuals to pinpoint specific stereotypes, negative sayings, or misconceptions
about sexual assault and to say ‘No More’ to them. We brought this to Stanford’s campus, which entailed
taking photos of students holding up signs that help to dispel rape myths, both generic and specific to our campus. We took over 300 photos and plan to post the signs all over campus leading up to our benefit
concert to raise awareness and money for the organization.
 
Academically, our chapter continues to excel. Last Spring marked a new record for our chapter in
terms of the number of girls who received a 4.0 GPA- 21 individuals! Our chapter continues to celebrate
this strength and to encourage all of our members to be committed to their academic work.
Describe the recent changes on your campus and describe the overall nature of your chapter.
This past year at Stanford, we have seen a more heated campus climate surrounding Greek Life.
While the community as a whole has faced increased scrutiny, our chapter has maintained good standing
with the Office of Fraternity & Sorority Life and worked hard to develop our relationship with
administrators. The FSL Office introduced a new administrative requirement for all Greek chapters this
year, entitled Standards of Excellence, which required our chapter to undertake a broad review of our
strengths and weaknesses on a variety of dimensions. This new requirement was communicated to our
advisors at Kappa nationals, and our results from the FSL office were largely very positive.
More broadly, the problem of sexual assault on campuses nationwide has led to a significant amount
of activism on our campus, surrounding the ways in which we can address and improve this issue. Beta Eta
Deuteron has taken a special interest in being a part of the conversation about how we as individuals and as
a group can help to eradicate sexual assault from our campus. We recently had a training from Carly Flanery,
the acting director for Stanford’s Sexual Assault and Relationship Abuse Education and Response Office,
come and give an overview of Stanford’s policy on sexual assault, as well as facilitate a conversation around
learning to become upstanders, rather than bystanders, when we witness sexual assault and/or relationship
violence. Many of the individuals within our Chapter are also leaders within other campus organizations,
and the strength of our campus involvement is often pointed out as a strength by members of the Stanford
Community. Overall, the nature of our chapter is involved, active, and purposeful about addressing critical
issues. We are committed to learning more and constantly trying to improve our understanding and
response to critical issues on our campus.
 
Chapter Philanthropy:
 
What organization(s) has your chapter historically/traditionally raised money for, or donated hours to, in
your community?
 
In the past, our fundraising efforts have been focused on Support for International Change, an
organization that helps provide health care in Tanzania. That being said, as we decided to focus more on
women’s health and wellness and female empowerment in our chapter programming and efforts, we
thought it would be a good idea to match that commitment with our philanthropy. Therefore, last Spring,
we shifted to a large fundraising effort for the Movement Foundation, which helps bring physical and
health education into low-income schools and supports positive body image campaigns. This fall, we have
chosen to direct our fundraising efforts to the Joyful Heart Foundation. Joyful Heart is a non-profit
dedicated to supporting, guiding, and aiding victims of sexual assault.
 
Why did your chapter choose this organization(s) to support?
 
As a whole, our chapter is committed to working on issues of female empowerment, health, and well being, and we felt it was important that our philanthropic efforts were connected to this. The organizations we have chosen to support reflect these ideals and do an excellent job of promoting healthy women in our society.
==Highlights of 2020s:==
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