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→Highlights of 2014
Our chapter prides itself on having the reputation of being "Kappa Klassy." We are a service-oriented sorority, and we have maintained great relationships with all of Greek life on campus. We have a strong sisterhood that is only increasing. Many chapters, including ours, are on a warning of probation. We are working together to change our chapter for the better, and other chapters on campus are as well. In mid-November, all Greek organizations on campus were placed on a moratorium. This was spurred by the death of a fraternity new member in a fraternity related event. This fraternity had already lost its charter previous to the death of the student, but the University saw this as an opportunity to rebuild Greek life on campus. During this time, sororities and fraternities were not allowed to engage in social events. The only events allowed required approval by Student Activities at least 48 hours in advance. These were mostly weekly chapter meetings and philanthropic events. Although the circumstances were unfortunate, this provided time for our chapter to increase sisterhood become more involved in philanthropic projects. We took this as an opportunity to improve the chapter as a whole. We fulfilled the 2/3 requirement for a sisterhood event and a philanthropic event to be lifted from moratorium on Feb. 4.
==Highlights of 2015==
One member from Beta Upsilon received an undergraduate scholarship from the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation, and many of our members have scholarships through various other sources. If you would like a full list of each scholarship awarded to all chapter women, please let me know.
We had numerous special events throughout the past year. In the spring we had our annual spring formal, and we also hosted the annual Senior Send Off, honoring our graduating members. In October we hosted Founder’s Day. We also hosted a Parent Date Party, where the proceeds benefited the Norma Mae Huggins Cancer Research Endowment Fund.
We are very involved in philanthropic work on campus. We are involved with Greek Life on campus, and we participate in every fraternity philanthropy. We have even had the opportunity to participate in other sorority philanthropies as well. We also host our own philanthropies, such as Bowling for Books (spring philanthropy) and Hoops for Huggins (fall philanthropy). In the spring we volunteered quite a bit at the Bartlett House, which is a homeless shelter in our community. We have also continued to donate food the shelter this semester.
Our registrar made a scrapbook for the 2014-2015 school year, and she presented it to the chapter in August. Our PR chair is continuing to make the monthly newsletter, which members are enjoying. In August, we were told that our Warning of Probation would be extended. We have already seen so much progress in the chapter. We have placed emphasis on improving risk management procedures, chapter management, and increasing sisterhood. We recently won several awards at the Panhellenic Banquet. These awards included Maintenance of Fine Standards, Excellence in Risk Management, Order of Omega Award for Academic Excellence, Excellence in New Member Education and Retention, Greek Woman of the Year (President Ellen Walburn), and Outstanding Alumna of the Year (Whitney Hatcher). We also just had initiation this month, and we welcomed 45 new sisters into Kappa.
Due to the moratorium last year, WVU’s Greek Life is continuing to see changes this year. Greek Life on our campus is striving to become more service-oriented and academically focused. The University decided to change recruitment to deferred recruitment. Although details are uncertain, we believe this will be put in place next year.
Chapter Philanthropy:
What organization(s) has your chapter historically/traditionally raised money for, or donated hours to, in your community?
We have always raised money for our national philanthropy, Reading is Fundamental. Last spring we hosted Bowling for Books, where fraternities on campus brought books to donate and their entry fee was donated to Reading is Fundamental. In October we hosted our first annual Hoops for Huggins. The money was donated to the Norma Mae Huggins Research Endowment Fun, which funds cancer research in West Virginia.
Why did your chapter choose this organization(s) to support?
We chose to support the Norma Mae Huggins Research Endowment Fund because we wanted to have a local philanthropy as well as our national philanthropy. Nearly everyone will be affected by cancer (either themselves, family, or friends) at some point in their lives. Because of this, most people will be able to relate to the Norma Mae Huggins Research Endowment Fund’s purpose.
==Highlights of the 2020s:==