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→Highlights of 2019
==Highlights of 2019==
In the year 2019, the Zeta Sigma chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma shined at the University of North Texasunder Erin Gossett’s Presidency. We received The Chapter of the Year Award, Most Improved Scholarship, Program of the Year (Kappa Kolor Run), Cross Council Unity, Fall Academic Excellence, New Member Academic Excellence, Greek Woman of the Year (Paige Sennet), and New Member of the Year (Rachel May), with Kappa receiving the New Member of the Year award for the third year in a row! These are all awards given to us by the University of North Texas Greek Life, an extremely high honor! Seniors Paige Sennet and Charlotte Loewes also each received the Golden Eagle Award,the highest honor a student can receive by the University of North Texas! In the Fall, Charlotte Loewes was also given the honor of representing the Student Alumni Ambassadors on the UNT homecoming court! We are so proud of our amazing, and high achieving Kappa Kappa Gamma members. By the community, we were awarded the “Adopt A School” award from Denton ISD for our philanthropic relationship with the local elementary school, Ginnings. With the Spring of 2019, we gained 13 Zeta Sigma Alumnae! We are so proud of Kelly Burke, Abigail Batterton, Kennedy Garinger, Megan Brackeen, Rachel Duban, Paige Sennet, Samantha Lawson, Kendall York, Allie Pope, Katy Baca, Rachel Dean, Kristian Cardenas, and Rachel White. Many of these amazing women have started careers in their respective fields or have continued their higher education in graduate school! In August of 2019 we recruited 29 amazing new members and then initiated all 29 sapphires into our chapter that October. Our Membership Chairman, Haley Arnold put on an amazing 2019 recruitment that ensured multiple legacies coming home, and women of value finding their place in Kappa Kappa Gamma. Our Marshal, Ivalis Guajardo put on the ultimate inspiration week, filled with a Big and Little Dinner honoring our new members, inspiration week shirts, and general education about what being a Kappa woman means. In the Fall, we also gained 6 beautiful alumnae members, Lisbeth Giron, Lindsey Whitt, Charlotte Loewes, Baylee Dehoyos, Noor Geoffery, and Nabha Tariq.
In regards to our philanthropic efforts, Kappa volunteered over 1400 hours. Many of these hours were spent at Ginnings Elementary in Denton, Texas. This is a local title 1 school close to our campus, at the elementary school, bi-weekly Kappas will go and read to the second grade classrooms. Weekly, Kappas will also go and volunteer at their GEMS program, where we mentor the 5th grade girls about morals, growing up, being kind, confidence, and the value of education. We also volunteer at the school dances acting as chaperones/dance partners/ decorating committee/food servers. Being active and contributing members of our community is extremely important to us and we are so grateful to be able to have the opportunity to be hands on while making our difference. Kappa has made tremendous connections with the children at this school, with both our lives and the children’s lives changing for the better. In April we held our first ever Grilled Cheese and KKGs event! This event was hosted at the Kappa house and helped us raise over $1878 for the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation and Reading is Fundamental. In the fall, Kappa hosted Kappa Kolor Run for the second year in a row, with an amazing turn out! The 5K was hosted on campus with many people in attendance, raising over $4100 for both RIF and the KKG foundation. We were so proud of our philanthropy chairman, Kaylie Davila, and the efforts of our entire chapter to raise a huge amount for the philanthropies we care so much about! Prior to the Kappa Kolor Run event, we also had a Reading is Key event at Ginnings Elementary. The entire 2nd grade was able to come to their library and have Kappas reading to them while they enjoyed snacks provided by our chapter. We sent every child home with a book, with over 120 children in attendance. Everyone had so much fun and it was a great way to start the week! Socially, we enjoyed many great times together as a chapter! We had our first ever KKJean date party, hosted by our amazing event chairman Michelle Olvera. Everyone wore all jean attire and went to the LSA rooftop to enjoy a meal and dancing! This April date party was a final hurrah for many of our graduating seniors, and a great way to connect before summer came. In the Fall, we had our beautiful November formal at the Reunion Tower hosted by our event chairman Megan Taylor. This was so much fun and the food was a hit with all of our Kappa sisters and their company! Many funny superlatives were given out and it was a great night for all of us to have time together. In December, we joined Sigma Chi in a holiday themed mixer! This included a bonfire to roast marshmallows, snacks, and the movie Elf on a projector. Our Vice President Academic Excellence, Lisbeth Giron, hosted an amazing end of semester event for us at the Alamo Drafthouse movie theater in December as well! We got to enjoy a meal together and watch the Grinch in our pajamas after a long semester of hard work! Within the Kappa Kappa Gamma walls, our connections with each other grew stronger than ever. This is something we have at times struggled with, but have gained so much peace and understanding among each other. Our above and beyond education chairman Cassandra Leissler put on multiple amazing programs for us this year. We participated in the EME program, Aspiring to a Higher Ideal of Sisterhood. This presentation really made a difference in our chapter, and many girls felt comfortable speaking their mind in this safe space. We also had our own University’s office of diversity and inclusion come and speak to our chapter as well. These programs expanded our chapters minds, hearts, and ears to what kind of support our sisters need. It is not always to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, but in order to gain perspective, we must sit and listen to those around us, something the Zeta Sigma chapter has gained and benefited from so much over this last year to ensure we are a chapter everyone is proud to say they are a part of. Cassandra consistently went the extra mile for our chapter, so that the women in our chapter and the women we strive to recruit display the values of Kappa Kappa Gamma in such a way that every sister feels needed, necessary, and loved in that space. We have surely cultivated a sense of empathy, kindness, and compassion towards one another in this 2019 year that will last beyond it.