2,350
edits
Changes
→Highlights of 2016
'''CCK Weekend''' -November 18-20, 2016
A group of Kappa women from our chapter visited our local philanthropy, the Center for Courageous Kids in Scottsville, KY. These women served as den counselors for the weekend and were assigned to a family attending the camp. This experience was an excellent way to learn more about our local philanthropy and to give time to these children.
==Highlights of 2017==
Because of a focus letter read to us at the beginning of the school semester, the Zeta Gamma chapter has faced a lot of incoming deadlines. As a result, many events have been made obligatory, and standards council was notified that many sisters felt they were attending events not because they wanted to, but because they had to. Our chapter council jumped to fix this issue as we became fearful that Kappa would soom become a chore for many instead of a passion or enjoyment. The VP of Standards has created new sisterhood events, from Planner Parties with free succulents to an Ugly Mug exchange to Warm and Fuzzy games to help with these concerns. Through several chapter surveys conducted, moral has seemed to increase due to these activities.
The Zeta Gamma chapter has struggled over the last few years trying to find an efficient philanthropy event, and for the first time in spring of 2017, Zeta Gamma put on their first Kapparoni and Cheese event. This event was continued in the fall of 2017, raising a successful $1,757.60 with the selling of more than 250 tickets on campus. In addition, Zeta Gamma continued their philanthropy collaboration with the Episilon chapter of Beta Theta Pi at Centre College, raising an additional $4,435. This puts the total for the semester at $6,192.60. All proceeds were donated to Center for Courageous Kids (our local charity) in Scottsville, Kentucky. The philantropy chair also held the chapter service event at the local library in Danville, Kentucky where sisters cleaned the yard, shelved books, and cleaned shelves as well as many events with the After School Program, a campus organization where students tutored or mentored elementary kids. On March 8th, sisters and people invited from other organizations including other sororities, STAND, and Alpha Phi Omega (the latter two being service-oriented organizations on campus) participated in a Center for Courageous Kids weekend where students hung out and helped families with special needs children as they enjoyed their weekends at the center. Philanthropy chair also instituted a new pen pals program between sisters and elementary kids from Tolliver Elementary.
In addition, another chapter goal was to improve sisters' relations with their professors. VP of Academic Excellence decided to revive our annual FaculTea party that had failed a few years back. Sisters were encouraged to each personally invite their favorite professors, and all professors invited were presented with a certificate for their wonderful teaching and mentorship. Sisters hosted and conversated with teachers at the party, and professors made comments about the high impression Kappas were making in inviting professors into their home and taking the time to get to know them.
The Zeta Gamma chapter also brought many social events into the Kappa atmosphere where sisters and non-sisters were able to enjoy each other's company. Event chair successfully put on events such as Mocktails, a Kappa Krush, a cookout mixer with the Delta chapter of Phi Tau Kappa, and a semi-formal held at the local art center.
On Founders Day, the Registrar, Marshall, and Education chair collaborated to create a fun Founders Day celebration. Before ritual, the chapter participated in a fun chapter history Jeopardy game where the winning team was raffled for a prize. The Founders Day celebration ended with cake, ice cream, and cookies.
On Homecoming day, an alumnae notified us that a fellow sister of hers had recently passed away, and she passed on her Kappa artifacts to us. We set up a small memorial table to her where alumni came to pay their respects. In addition, an email was sent out to alumni asking for old pictures to share with our chapter on Founders Day, and many were still being sent after Founders Day. These pictures sent after were used to decorate some of the house and celebrate our alumni and history.
As a closing point to all these accomplishments, the Zeta Gamma chapter received many awards in the past year at the annual Greek Awards ceremony on campus, including best dedication to risk management, community service collaboration, and best female athlete.
Due to a lack of diversity on campus, Centre College has established new diversity initiatives that have included Greek life, a major foundational point in Centre's lack of diversity. The Zeta Gamma chapter has responded by creating a new officer position, Diversity chair, who acts as a liason between the campus' Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Diversity Initiatives, our sisters, and other Greek chapters and informs the chapter of diversity events and issues as necessary. Also, Greek life has recently been informed of a new policy change that may introduce fines for dress code in public Greek events. Zeta Gamma's PHC delegates have rallied with other chapters in petitioning against this policy, resulting in a delay of voting of this policy until the spring of 2018. Overall, the Zeta Gamma chapter has experienced days of extreme togetherness in fighting these issues as well as new philanthropic, academic, and social events that have pushed our traditional boundaries to increase effectiveness and campus involvement. The chapter is strong in our passion to improve but recognizes its problems in sisterhood and time management.
The Zeta Gamma chapter traditionally raises money and sends sisters to weekend retreats for Center for Courageous Kids (CCK). In addition to the money and hours donated to CCK, Zeta Gamma also works with the After School Program on campus, reads to Tolliver Elementary school for RIF on National Reading Day, and conducts several programs with Tolliver Elementary including a monthly pen pals writing.
The Center for Courageous Kids has an amazing goal of providing a fun weekend away for special needs kids and their families where the staff are trained to handle special needs. They have always been gracious to the Zeta Gamma chapter for our help, and there has always been an overwhelming chapter support of this organization. The After School Program is a program that the Zeta Gamma chapter has had sisters involved in, and sisters have also always interacted with Tolliver Elementary in various other campus organizations. It only made sense that since we already had those connections and bonds, we should bring the whole chapter into involvement too.
We meet in the basement of the Zeta Gamma chapter house, perfectly able to seat about 80 people.