Changes
→Highlights of 2016
Winter quarter came to a close as we studied for finals and squeezed in time to spend with our sisters before our long, four week winter break. Overall, 2016 was an amazing year for Eta Nu, and we look forward to what 2017 will bring!
== Highlights of 2017 ==
In January 2017, Eta Nu started off strong with an academic and event-filled quarter. “I-week,” or Inspiration Period, was held the first week back to campus where the older girls prepared for the upcoming rituals of initiation and the new member class bonded together and spent time with their families. The sisterhood activity during I-week was a workout class that was held at the American Legion. At Santa Clara, we are in a unique position where most of our juniors go abroad during fall quarter—we had 28 members of our Theta class studying outside the U.S. in the fall of 2016, and they returned to campus in January. The Eta Nu chapter traveled to the Kappa Kappa Gamma house at UC Berkeley on a Friday late afternoon to host Fireside the night before initiation. Everyone traveled on busses all together for the first time. The new pledge class had a night filled with bonding, and the next morning they got initiated alongside their other Eta Nu sisters and Kappa family members who made the trip to Berkeley to celebrate with their loved ones. On January 14, 2017, 49 new members were welcomed into the Eta Nu chapter. The chapter elected a new council with only two returning council members, so there were lots of fresh faces and new ideas, which made for an enthusiastic group.
In February, pledge classes participated in Alpha Phi’s Star Search philanthropy. Moving on and making a change from the previous winter philanthropy, Kappa Kakes, we were pleased to introduce a new philanthropy Cooking with Kappa, a Valentine’s Day themed spaghetti supper that was held on February 15th. The fundraiser raised $1,000 for both the Rose McGill Kappa Foundation and Reading is Fundamental though a Go Fund Me. At the end of the month, Santa Clara University hosted Family weekend. Kappa conducted the new member presents for all of the family members and held an open house on February 25th. The big sisters read letters to their littles at the New Member Presents ceremony in front of the parents and the rest of the chapter. They were touching and thoughtful. At the open house, Eta Nu hosted a Kendra Scott pop up boutique with 20% of sales benefitting RIF. February was Academic Excellence month and the VPAE gave a presentation every Monday at chapter. The presentations ranged from cover letters, resumes, interview tips to a career panel with Eta Nu alumna and other Kappas at the end of the month.
In March, Sapphire Ball took place on the 9th at the Biltmore Hotel close to campus. Committee competitions were implemented in March to motivate our members to get more involved. The committee earned points for various activities and the committee obtaining the most amount of points received a prize. Eta Nu also added song practice at the end of each chapter meeting to help improve ritual. As the quarter ended, our academic committee continued to support our studies with frequent library study rooms and snacks to get everyone through the finals grind. The chapter finished up winter quarter and embarked on spring break adventures.
In April, spring quarter started off with a visit from our first Leadership Consultant of the year, Katie, from April 2-7. Council members, Kappa Kastle live-ins, and other Eta Nu members welcomed her to our campus with frequent lunch and dinner dates and an occasional workout class. At the conclusion of her visit, council worked together to evaluate her helpfulness and advice to the chapter and council, as well as her values of inspiration and friendliness. We were pleased and flattered with the compliments she gave Eta Nu regarding to our organization, professionalism, and overall chapter unity- qualities upon which we pride ourselves. Wedding week took place the week of the 24th and Kappa “married the Sigma Pi fraternity at Santa Clara. The boys “proposed” to the chapter on Monday night and then a Barbeque and wedding ceremony followed on Wednesday and Friday.
In May, the Santa Clara Panhellenic community hosted Greek Awards in downtown Campbell and Eta Nu won the Sisterhood Award and the New Member Award. The night was a great way to see the other sorority houses and recognize achievements from all of the Panhellenic chapters. Kappa Karnival was held on May 6th. It was a sunny day with all of our actives participating and coaching teams of other Greek organizations or groups of friends. Some of the games at the carnival included a sack race, a water balloon toss, tug-of war, and a bouncy house relay race. Karnival is the philanthropy event that allows Eta Nu to choose where to donate the money raised and the chapter decided to continue to support LymeLight for their graduated Eta Nu sister, Sarah Bedford, who had Lyme disease and whose family co-founded The LymeLight Foundation. Teams from all around campus, such as orientation leaders, dorm groups, and other Panhellenic chapters, came out to support our chapter and philanthropy and made it a truly wonderful day. A total of $6,000 was raised, which is a tremendous accomplishment. Spring Fling was held on May 10th at California’s Great America, which was a fun change of venue from the prior year.
At the last chapter of the school year in June, members stuffed backpacks for children from low-income families for back to school with the remaining philanthropy budget.
During the summer, some important risk management rules changed which were helpful to Eta Nu as the chapter struggles to find chaperones with the 25+ age requirement. The house was repainted and redecorated on the inside. Finance got majority of the chapter to pay by Echeck and Eta Nu’s credit card fees decreased by $2,000.
The chapter reunited on September 11th for work week before the start of school on the 18th. For the sisterhood that week, girls carpooled to Half Moon Bay where they played Jenga, roasted s’mores, and ate pizza. During work week, the girls prepared for recruitment by crafting and learning songs. The house was completely full with 18 girls moving into the Kappa Kastle. This year was unique as 17 out of the 18 girls were in the same 2016 pledge class. Additionally, 30 out of 49 Kappas from the Iota class went abroad for fall quarter.
October started out with recruitment from September 30-October 3. The first day was Sisterhood with a Kate Spade theme, the second day was Philanthropy with a Kappa Karnival theme, and the third day was Pref night with the classic blue and gold theme. This was the first year that the Philanthropy day was Karnival themed. The chapter decided to change the theme from Dr. Seuss to Karnival to spotlight Eta Nu’s largest philanthropy event of the year. Recruitment was very successful due to great conversations that allowed girls to connect on a more personal level than in previous years. The theme of Bid day was KKG Under the Sea with mermaid and ocean decorations. Eta Nu welcomed 52 new members to the Lambda class. The entire chapter celebrated at a trampoline place called Sky High that night after having dinner at the house. Eta Nu was looking to grow as a chapter this year, so the chapter had the opportunity to host an informal continuous open bidding event in the back yard following recruitment. This was the first time Eta Nu participated in this process and it was a great success, welcoming another 4 members into the Lambda class. Lots of wild fires started in the hills near Santa Clara, so the chapter helped by donating items for families affected by the fires through the Kappa Sigma fraternity. The GPAs were reported by Panhellenic, and Eta Nu had the highest GPA out of all the sororities at Santa Clara with an average of 3.52. The chapter enjoyed going to the San Jose Sharks hockey game on October 12th for the fall sisterhood. The busy month of October continued with Founder’s Day on the 22nd. The event was held in the backyard on a sunny day with 5 alumnae in attendance. Kappa Chi, our powder-puff football philanthropy event, was held on October 27th and Eta Nu raised $1,373 for Comedor Milagro de Jesus in El Salvador.
In November, Big-Little week began during week 8 and the bigs decorated their littles’ doors, treated them to desserts and flowers and delivered two nights of baskets- the first was a “girls night in” theme and the second was a classic “all out Kappa” basket! Reveal night was held on November 10th. We broke out for dinner in our families so the Lambda class could get to know their bigs as well as grand-bigs and great-grand-bigs. This year Big-Little was funded by the chapter. The second Leadership Consultant visited Eta Nu the week of November 13th and gave the chapter and council advise on how to end the year strong. Our annual Fall Ball was held on November 15th. It was held the week before Thanksgiving break, giving the chapter the chance to relieve some academic stress and spend time with their friends. The theme of our semi-formal was “Masquerade” and girls donned fun, mysterious masks. Winter quarter came to a close as we studied for finals and squeezed in some time to spend with our sisters before our long, four-week winter break. Overall, 2017 was an amazing year for Eta Nu, and we look forward to what 2018 will bring!
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