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→Highlights of 2015
==Highlights of 2015==
The year of 2015 was yet another successful year for the Eta Pi Chapter at NYU. We are a tight knit
sisterhood made up of women who strive to be positive role models for one another while being
loyal friends and sisters. We have 164 initiated sisters from diverse backgrounds, cultures, states
to be women and talk about things that need to be discussed. Femisphere has done a fantastic job
in fostering our sisterhood in 2015, and we hope to continue it into the future.
Scholarship remains of great importance to the women of Eta Pi. We had 32 Kappa Kappa
Chapter Philanthropy:
and raise money for the B+ Foundation’s Dance Marathon at NYU. Headed by Elana Rubin, our
team raised over $27,000 for the cause.
Relay for Life. In 2015, our team captain Kristina Rathjen (2015) worked with sisters all across the
chapter to put on fundraisers and raise a significant amount of money for the cause! We have already
committee.
for both tutoring hours in the Spring and our Reading is Key event in the Fall. At Reading is Key,
we provide every child with a new book, as well as a full afternoon of literacy crafts and games that
encourage the children to read.
NYU does a great job encouraging Greek organizations to participate in student-body wide
philanthropic events of the other Greek organizations.
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==Highlights of 2016==
Re-reading this page has shown me that every year seems to be a successful year for the Eta Pi Chapter of KKG at NYU, however 2016 turned out to be an incredibly special year for many reasons. We have once more proven to be a very close group of strong women who work hard to support each other in every endeavor. We have 178 initiated sisters from a wide variety of backgrounds, cultures, states and countries. At the 71st Biennial Kappa Kappa Gamma Chapter Convention held in June 2016, our chapter was named the Most Outstanding Chapter of the biennium; a huge honor that brought pride to both current chapter members and alumnae. At the FSL awards this past spring, our was named the “Most Improved Chapter at NYU”. Our fifth year on campus was full of wonderful achievements on a local level as well.
Our Vice President of Standards, Sam Granger, has done a wonderful job hosting sisterhood events that are enjoyable, creative and flexible with our sisters increasingly busy schedules! Our events range from a shopping excursion at a Kate Spade store at the new Oculus World Trade Center mall to a sister speed dating event to a day sleepover at our penthouse. Every event serves to bring our sisters even closer and provide some relaxation amidst the stressful school year. As an organization, our new risk chair–Amelia Salsgiver, along with her (biological) sister Katherine–has continued the programming created by our past Risk Chair Jen Tonti, which our chapter has come to know as ‘Femisphere’. We spend allotted time during chapter discussing issues that women of today deal with. In the current political climate, Femisphere allows a space for conversation between a large group of amazing, successful, diverse women; which is truly invaluable. Under the amazing leadership of our indispensible Event’s Chair, Lauren Enes, we have had two beautiful semi-formals, a date party and an unforgettable formal at Hudson Terrace. She also continued our traditional Parent’s Weekend, which featured brunch and a New York Met’s Game for our sisters and their families.
After a very successful housing presentation by our 2015 House Chair, Annais Lopez Sanchez, and receiving first housing pick of the Greek life penthouses, Eta Pi now lives in the most sought after penthouse on NYU’s campus. We have plenty of space for events and the girls who have the privilege of living in the house are very close. Our current House Chair–Jenny DeCandia–plans Kappotlucks semi-regularly to allow girls the chance to visit our penthouse, which also happens to have an incredible view of the city.
The Eta Pi Kappas have always been known around campus for their fastidious behavior towards their academics–this year was no exception. We had 46 Kappa Kappa Geniuses (girls with a GPA above 3.7) and 7 girls with 4.0 GPA’s in the spring. This fall we had 44 Kappa Kappa Geniuses and 8 girls with 4.0 GPA’s. We even had four new initiates into NYU’s Order of Omega.
Eta Pi had the true honor to host a Girls Academy in 2016. We as a chapter feel that it’s very important to positively influence a younger generation of women and were thus were very thrilled to have the opportunity to work with 50 middle school girls from Columbia Secondary School as well as the accomplished women of the New York Alumnae Association. Small group facilitators were selected from the chapter by application to participate in this amazing opportunity, and many other women both from Eta Pi and the NYAA were instrumental in volunteering to make the event a success--from helping with food to photographing and so much more, it was an amazing example of Kappas of all ages coming together. Eta Pi and the NYAA are excited to keep their relationship with the school and the participants going strong into the next year, showing our commitment to the girls and their families. We would like to extend a particular thank you to Jean Schmidt for providing outstanding support to the GIRLS Academy program.
We found our lovely new theta class during a Kate Spade fall formal recruitment this year led by Maria Guadagno. Our theme appeared to be an overall hit amongst the PNM’s as we recruited and initiated forty-five new sisters at a beautiful and well run initiation ceremony headed by Beatrice Masih. We plan to initiate another three thetas this spring.
Greek Life at NYU continues to build as a stronger and larger presence on campus. To assist in our own chapter’s involvement, our panhel chair, Zoe Rucker put a requirement into our bi-laws requiring each sister to attend at least one panhel meeting or event, which has proven to be a very positive change for our chapter! At the annual panhel election night this year we had over forty members in attendance!
In 2016, Eta Pi had around 33 dancers sign up and raise money for the B+ Foundation Dance Marathon at NYU known as NYDM. Our team raised over $30,000 for the cause which broke our own personal fundraising goal and our record from last year. We also won the spirit points competition after doing an excellent job with our canning events and having great attendance at other organization’s events. All in all, we were very proud of our team’s efforts.
Every year, Eta Pi has a team participate at NYU’s Relay for Life an event that benefits the American Cancer Society. In 2016, our team was comprised of around thirty chapter members and we raised 1000 dollars! We have already begun fundraising for Relay 2017 with events such as the sale of Kappa Kandy Grams. An event that both supports Relay and spreads holiday cheer!
We held our annual Reading Is Key event this year at the Cornerstone Community Center and had the pleasure of working with 19 first graders and 17 kindergartners at an after school program. They had a great time and each child went home with a new book!
The Presidential badge was given by the New York Alunmae Association at the chapter's installment. The badge was passed down to Jen Morrisette, then Rebecca Calvo, then Madeline Jerge and it currently resides with the 2016 Eta Pi President, Annalise Bissa. The badge is inscribed with “ΗΠ”, “NYU” and “11/8/11.”
Approved by the chapter: December 11, 2016
'''Note to Chapter Registrar:'''