Two Thousand Fifteen was an outstanding year for the Epsilon Upsilon chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma. Last January, we had another successful recruitment and were blessed with an incredible new member class. Our Sing chairs worked really hard to create a great Sing Act called “Weird Science”, which was shown in Pigskin Review in the Fall of 2015. The social chairs planned date dashes, the annual Sapphire Ball, pledge dance, and a take-a-date. There was our Spring Swing-a-thon where we raised and donated money to the Waco Humane Society Last Spring was also full of many afternoons spent at Parkdale Elementary School serving as mentors to second graders. In the Spring of 2015, our chapter won an award for partner of the year (2014-2015) for Waco ISD. The chapter participated in established traditions, such as organizing the Annual All-University Baylor Beauty Style Show and arranging an Easter egg hunt for children of faculty. Spring finals arrived too quickly, but summer did not bring the end to Epsilon Upsilon’s involvement. Together, members studied abroad, interned across the country, and took summer classes. Regardless if we are meeting each week, it is never hard to find a Kappa! Before we knew it, August arrived, and summer came to an end. We started the year with Greek Week events, intramurals, and a dodgeball crush event on campus. Even amidst the chaos that Fall semester brings, it is truly wonderful to see our chapter come together to celebrate both Kappa and Baylor traditions. The seniors have enjoyed “seniors only” social events, while our new members have continued to learn pledge songs for recruitment. We honored Founders Day at McLane Stadium with our Waco Alumnae Association. Our chapter was so excited to celebrate the 145th year. Partaking in our ritual together was a great reminder that Kappa truly is for a lifetime. Epsilon Upsilon has continued to volunteer weekly at Parkdale, held the Fall Swing-a-thon benefitting the Waco Humane Society, volunteered at the Parkdale Halloween carnival and kicked off our annual book drive. Nights approaching Homecoming weekend were spent with the men of Phi Kappa Chi at our float site. We also performed “Weird Science” in Pigskin Review Homecoming weekend. We hosted our third Kappa Karnival this year, it was very successful. Throughout the Fall we spent time gearing up for another exciting recruitment, getting to know many potential new members and legacies. We ended the semester with the Kappa Pickers performing at multiple functions.
Describe ==Highlights of 2016== nuary: 9- Bid Day: 96 girls pledged Kappa 29- Social Event: Sapphire Ball Formal 30- New Member Luncheon with Waco AlumniFebruary 6-Participated in KOT Fishery: A philanthropy event 9- Academic Excellence Dinner in the Kappa Room 13- Initiated 96 members into Kappa; Initiation luncheon at The Baylor Club 27- Competed in All-University Sing: Our act "Come Dance with Me" was performed with Kappa Sigma and advanced to PigskinMarch 23- Kappa put on our Annual Easter Egg Hunt for Faculty and Staff's kidsApril 3- Legacy Tea 9- Baylor's Steppin Out: University Philanthropy Event 10- Mom's Day with Practically Picasso in the Kappa Room 16-Crawfish Boil Fundraiser with Kappa Sigma 19- Kappa hosted our annual Event- Baylor Beauty 21- Social Event: Take-A-Date Game night in Waco 27- Kappa and Chi Omega hosted a faculty appreciation event: Cupcakes with Chi OMay 2- Luncheon at Parkdale Elementary: Our Philanthropic Partner 15-24: Mission trip to Antigua, GuatemalaAugust 26- Recruitment Event: Late Night at the SLCOctober 1- Social Event: Take-A-Date to the Texas State Fair 13-15: Homecoming Weekend: Kappa had 5 members nominated for Homecoming Court, Created and Showcased a float built with Phi Kappa Chi, and performed "Come Dance with Me" at PigskinNovember 4-Philanthropy Event: Reading is Key at Parkdale 5- Social Event: Tailgate with Sigma Chi 16- Philanthropy Event: Monmouth with Pi Phi 17- Kappa and ADPi Worship Night 18- Social Event: Dad's Day 30- Kappa Social Event: Kappa ChristmasThis semster we have also implemented "Key Girl of the Week" which is a way to recognize members of our chapter who have gone out of their way to support other members. A member is nominated each week and then our VPS picks the winner who gets to wear a KKG necklace for the week.Taylor Adams, our president during 2015, won the Greek Leader of the Year award.We received the silver award for our HHR BinderAt convention, we received awards for PR and Risk Management.Our chapter hosted a Trunk Show this year that featured work from our members. There were jewelry items, art, flower arrangments and more that all benefited RIF. We also partnered with Pi Phi again this semester to celebrate Monmouth with a pancake dinner. Last spring, we hosted a crawfish boil with Kappa Sigma and the recent proceeds went to RIF. Baylor has undertaken some beneficial changes during the last year. The biggest one is Title IX awareness across campus and especially for Panhellenic women. Baylor has provided multiple speakers and an online course to bring awareness to this issue. Although Title IX coordinators have changed, Baylor is still promoting awareness and safety for the issue. Another big issue in Panhellenic is that are need of a new chapter on your campus to accommodate all the girls who go through recruitment. This year we started a Panhellenic philanthropy in order to show our support for other chapters and describe Baylor Panhellenic. Circle of Sisterhood, the philanthropy, has had several events throughout the overall nature semester that our chapter has attended. Our chapter raises money for Reading is Fundamental. However each week we work directly with Parkdale Elementary, a local elementary school. Each week members go into second grade classrooms and read with the students. This year we continued our partnership with Parkdale Elementary because our existing relationship has proved very effective. Our members love going each week and it's really fun to continue working with the same teachers and occasionally seeing some of your the kids you've worked with before. We wanted to make sure we continue to establish a relationship with the Waco community. Our chapterholds meetings in the Stacy Riddle Panhellenic Forum in our own Kappa room . We recommend Tommye Lou Davis for the Oral History Project
Baylor built a new Business School, which opened Fall 2015, it is very nice. There are also many other changes going on in the growing Baylor community. The nature of our chapter is very positive, growing, graceful, friendly, loyal, and loving. There is a strong focus on RIF, supporting other chapters, including all Kappa chapter members, and University related events (SING, Homecoming Float, Steppin Out, Pigskin etc.).
Chapter Philanthropy:
What organization(s) has your chapter historically/traditionally raised money for, or donated hours to, in your community?
Our chapter supports RIF, Kappa Foundation, Parkdale Elementary, Compassion Ministries, Waco Humane Society, and Hannah’s House.
Why did your chapter choose this organization(s) to support?
We have supported and worked with Parkdale Elementary and Compassion ministries in years past and want to continue that relationship with both of them. We started supporting Waco Humane Society and Hannah’s House more recently. There is a huge stray animal problem in Waco and our local humane society helps curb that issue. Our chapter thinks it’s really important to help the community of Waco in that aspect. Hannah’s House is a nonprofit organization created to raise funds to build a children’s village with 8 homes in Zambia through Family Legacy in honor of Hannah Butler, a member of our chapter who recently passed. She was such a joy and so loving, and the village will be built in her honor once the funds are received.