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→Highlights of 2015
Our chapter chose to support the AstraZeneca Hope Lodge in 2013 because many of the women in the organization felt personal connections to the Lodge. We are all affected by cancer in one way or another and thought this would be the best place to devote our time. We are also able to do hands on work at the Lodge and we interact with the guests, instead of solely donating money and that was important to our chapter.
==Highlight of 2016==
Eta Omicron chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma had an exemplary 2016 school year. In January, we crafted five main goals that we hoped to accomplish within the year: to raise chapter GPA by 0.02 (to 3.4) by December 2016; to decrease unexcused absences by 50%, to have attendance of at least 12 women at Fraternity Sorority Life events and Panhel meetings, and further to have an appropriate number of teams at Panhel philanthropic events per the Panhel Chairwoman’s discretion; to increase understanding and appreciation of ritual; and to form a strong relationship with our new philanthropy.
In the spring we volunteered at our new local philanthropy, Christopher’s Haven, for the first time on January 28th. We go to Christopher’s Haven bi-monthly and help out wherever we’re needed. Christopher’s Haven is a home away from home where children can stay with their families while undergoing cancer treatments at Massachusetts General Hospital. Most of the time we hang out with the kids and families playing games, watching shows, and making crafts, but other times we help parents with chores they don’t have time to complete. We have volunteered with Christopher’s Haven eleven times thus far and we cannot wait to strengthen our relationship even further.
Northeastern welcomed Chi Omega as its ninth sorority on campus in the spring of 2016. For the first time in our chapter’s history we held an informal spring recruitment. It was extremely successful and we welcomed nineteen lively Thetas to our chapter on February 4th. During their new member period, they attended events with older pledge classes to get to know our chapter. They attended the annual new member retreat, which was held at Emily Horn’s house in Franklin, Massachusetts. The new members also attended other annual events such as Owl Prowl and our Pillow/Key Exchange with their new big/little pairings. We were proud to initiate all nineteen women on April 9th.
In Northeastern’s annual Greek Week this spring, we were paired with the gentlemen of Kappa Sigma fraternity. We participated in Greek Olympics and our annual dance competition, Greek Sing, finishing first in both of these events. Also, our sister, Dina Hagigeorges, won Greek Goddess. The entire chapter’s participation and involvement in Greek Week played an active role in our overall first place finish. At the end of Greek Week, we won the Silver Achievement Award as well as Achievements in Scholarship and Philanthropy. Over the summer, two of our sisters attended Kappa Kappa Gamma’s national convention where we won the Academic Excellence Award and received honorable mentions in greatest improvement and panhel.
We ended the spring semester with senior week - an exciting time to celebrate the hard work and dedication our sisters have put in during their college careers. Our chapter participated in events such as Senior Legacy Night and Senior Wills and Goodbyes. Our annual Tea Party was held at the end of the week, where we honored Adriana Levy with the Loyalty Award. The week concluded with us graduating 25 of our wonderful sisters. We also attended Formal on April 22nd on the Spirit of Boston. Our final spring GPA was 3.471, ranking first out of all sororities on campus.
Upon returning to campus in the fall, our sisters attended our annual sisterhood retreat. We held this event in campus classrooms, where we spent time bonding through games, activities, and recruitment workshops. Formal recruitment was held during the following two weekends. Eta Omicron successfully welcomed a new Iota class of 30 spirited women on September 26th. The new member period was filled with activities to integrate the newest pledge class into our chapter. We held our traditional events, such as our new member retreat, but also adopted new items to our new member curriculum, such as Every Member Education. I-week was successful in increasing sisters’ understanding and appreciation of our ritual. All thirty women were in good standing both financially and academically, which led to them being initiated at the end of their new member period on November 19th.
This year Babson’s Zeta Alpha chapter hosted Founders Day on October 15th. Active members of Eta Omicron and Eta Theta of Harvard were in attendance, as well as alumnae from various chapters. We celebrated our founding with brunch, presentations, awards, and engaging conversations.
Eta Omicron held numerous sisterhood events this year to strengthen the bonds in our chapter. Some events included crocheting, pumpkin carving, and a TITLE Boxing event. We had amazing chapter meetings, as well, including a speaker presentation about the It’s On Us campaign. We also participated in Northeastern’s Homecoming Week Events, which included our annual dance competition, Take it to the Floor, where we placed second with the brothers of Beta Theta Pi. Our sister, Savannah Knisely, ran for Mayor of Huntington Avenue.
The fall semester concluded with our Semi Formal and Senior Week. Semi Formal was held at Guilt Night Club in Downtown Boston on December 10th. Senior week celebrated our one December graduate. Unfortunately, the fall semester GPA was not available at the time of this report.
Our philanthropic endeavors were very strong in the 2016 school year. In the spring, we hosted our annual Lip Sync for Life Event with the brothers of Kappa Sigma and the sisters of Alpha Epsilon Phi where we raised $600 for Christopher’s Haven. Additionally, we attended Northeastern’s annual Relay for Life event on March 18th. As a whole, Northeastern raised over $260,000 and as women of Kappa Kappa Gamma, we contributed over $21,000 to this total. We were proud to be the top fundraising organization at Northeastern and we also surpassed our fundraising goal of $20,000. Furthermore, we made two trips to the Greater Boston Food Bank this year. During each trip, we made 6,000 meals possible and sorted through 9,000 pounds of food. We also held a Cards for Troops event with Delta Phi Epsilon. To support our national philanthropy, we held a RIF event on April 12th at the Samuel Adams Elementary School. We read The Giving Tree to three first grade classrooms and donated books to over 60 students. We held another RIF event at the same school in our fall semester, where we read Corduroy and did activities centered on the theme of the book. We gave each student a book and we donated the remainder of the books to the school. Also to benefit RIF, we had an ice cream truck come to campus and half of the profits went to RIF. Lastly, we held our annual Kappa Kickoff philanthropy event on October 23rd and raised $855 for Christopher’s Haven.
Our chapter meetings are held in rooms owned by Northeastern. Chapter meetings were held in 97 Cargill Hall and 200 Richards Hall in the spring and fall semesters, respectively. Our chapter does not have a house, lodge, apartment or suite and we have never had one in our history.
Achieving our goals was an essential part of our 2016 school year. We successfully raised our chapter’s overall GPA by booking study rooms and enforcing academic excellence goals. We decreased absences by enforcing rules with recording secretary and VPS check-ins, utilizing surveys to plan events, and taking attendance at all planned events. We increased our Panhel attendance by utilizing committees for panhel meetings. Also, our sisters gained a better understanding and appreciation of ritual through our two Inspiration weeks. Lastly, we have positively promoted our new philanthropy and logged attendance hours to ensure we are forming a strong relationship with Christopher’s Haven. Overall, the 2016 school year has been a year full of sisterhood and high achievements for the amazing women of Eta Omicron.