1
edit
Changes
no edit summary
Recent changes on campus included the tearing down of a confederate monument on campus and a strike involving teaching assistants. Protests went on all semester and many sisters engaged in healthy dialogues about both issues. The chapter overall has had wonderful growth. We have bonded around our sisterhood even more especially with the tragedy inflicted on some of our members by the hurricanes. In troubling times, we have truly cnetered around what makes Kappa special and strong. We also have made a commitment to our academics with group study sessions and booking study rooms in order to make sure Kappa is making a mark in the classroom.
==Highlights of 2019:==
From the first day of classes to the last final exam, 2019 was a year of new friendships, community service and involvement, support, and, above and through all, sisterhood.
January brought Epsilon Gamma into 2019 with a burst of fresh energy. Hoping to expand our sisterhood across campus, membership and recruitment committees worked tirelessly to promote the values and interests of Kappa Kappa Gamma across campus. These women hosted a lively ice cream social to acquaint current sisters with potential new members. PNMs later returned to the house for meals throughout the week until we proudly welcomed five incredible women to the chapter.
Throughout the winter months, active and new chapter members bonded during new member retreat at the roller skating rink, hot chocolate movie nights, Academic Excellence study nights, big and little meet and greets, and numerous social events.
The first social event of the semester was a Wig Out where members sported new hairstyles from neon pink to jet black. Succeeding event themes included Grease vs Greece, Country vs Country Club, Margaritaville, and Rhyme without Reason. Our famous Heartbreakers social witnessed Kappa sisters dressed in rock n roll grunge dancing the night away. A few months later we hosted our Sapphire Ball at the Carolina Inn. Dressed to the nines, members flocked to the Old Well to take photos to commemorate this night for the years to come.
Members also had the privilege to attend sisterhood events such as ice skating and fitness classes at Purvelo and Barre. In addition to these activities, the sisters of Epsilon Gamma participated in numerous intramural sports leagues, including basketball, volleyball, and waterpolo. The street hockey team finished their season undefeated and were crowned intramural champions.
As the lawn in front of the elegant gray-blue house of Kappa Kappa Gamma traded frost for the springtime morning dew, new members were formally welcomed into the sisterhood. In March, our philanthropy committee coordinated with Pi Beta Phi to host our annual Read Across America Day. With the strength of the panhellenic community, sisters promoted childhood literacy in the student union by creating bookmarks, collecting children’s books, and sharing literacy facts with the community in hopes to spark a collective movement towards realizing the goals of Reading is Fundamental. To further promote RIF, the chapter hosted a benefit night at Buns. This event raised close to $400 for the foundation thanks to the efforts of sisters in sharing the event across Panhel, campus, and the wider Chapel Hill community. For the final philanthropy event of the spring semester Epsilon Gamma partnered with Sigma Phi Epsilon to host It’s On Us. It’s On Us is a national organization that works to educate university students on consent and urge students to pledge themselves to be active agents of changing the culture surrounding sexual behavior on campus. The proceeds of It’s On Us benefitted the Orange County Rape and Crisis center as well as the Compass Center for Women.
The Spring semester came to an end with a host of workshops and festivities. The risk committee hosted Cookies and CAPS where sisters had the chance to frost and decorate cookies while receiving information on how to best manage stress and personal wellbeing with final exams just around the corner. The Delta Advocates sponsored a healthy relationships workshop that instructed sisters on how to create healthy, meaningful relationships while equipping them to identify and confront toxic habits. The education semester concluded the year after our final chapter in May with Senior Spotlight. Littles, grandlittles, and friends created a presentation for each graduating sister to highlight their time shared together as active members. With a tear in every eye and a smile in every heart, we bid farewell to these sisters and anxiously awaited to see the journeys they would begin after UNC.
Summer came and whisked sisters across the globe. While some stayed local, working or taking classes, others travelled across Europe, Africa, Asia and beyond- for studies, internships, curiosity, or leisure. During these months, the leadership team prepared for work week and recruitment.
In August sisters returned to campus excited to be reunited with each other and energized to bring new women into our chapter. Work week consisted of 5 days of themes, laughter, long hours, house facts, and defining to ourselves and to each other what it means to be a Kappa. Themes included Camp Kappa, rock n roll, throwdown for your hometown, holiday, and, the best of all, Kappa day. Classes followed the last day of work week and a week and a half later, rush began.
New members ran home to Kappa Kappa Gamma on bid day. This year’s theme, Pocketful of Sunshine, attested to the secret while obvious gift of happiness and love that Kappa grants each sister. Sisters flocked to the house wearing orange and yellow where they later danced, bounced, ate, and socialized until the clouds of the setting sun matched their attire.
The following Friday, the event committee planned a New Member Social to welcome the new member class of 2019. The Kappa Gam Pajama Jam provided returning and new members with the chance to form new relationships and show off their favorite pair of PJs. Additional socials from this event included You Are What You Netflix, Sundress Lazy, and a parent’s weekend dinner.
As the leaves began to change, the sisters of Epsilon Gamma bonded over philanthropy events. This October we hosted Kappachinos for a Kure with Zeta Alpha Tau to benefit Earlier.org. Earlier.org was founded by an Epsilon Gamma alumna to promote the earlier detection of breast cancer. Kappachinos for a Kure raised $400 dollars by selling coffee and baked goods in the Pit. The cookies and pastries were baked the previous evening during the Great Kappa Bake Off. Sisters signed up to either provide a kitchen or cooking supplies in the efforts to create the bestselling treat. The following month we hosted our annual Q for the Cause benefitting the Orange County Rape and Crisis Center. With warm string lights and checkered tablecloths, the sisters of Epsilon Gamma raised over $700. Partnering with A Moment of Magic- a cause dear to many sisters of the chapter- Kappa sponsored their Performance for Pediatrics event. Through A Moment of Magic, sisters visit local hospitals dressed as characters from popular children’s films to bring magic and happiness to children suffering from illness. The last philanthropy event of the semester was the Kappa Kollection: Read and Feed. The first portion of the month long event asked for book donations to bring to the elementary school in Durham that the Kappas began volunteering this semester. The second half of the drive collected canned food to be donated to TABLE, an on-campus organization that provides food for children during school breaks. Causes like these- big and small, local and national- united the sisters to make a difference.
Additional bonding activities included the sisterhood retreat, the Academic Excellence Brunch, big little reveal, and risk prevention programs. The sisters went to Camp Don Lee for the sisterhood retreat where they went sailing, practiced archery, and stargazed. The Academic Excellence Brunch was hosted at Top of the Hill shortly after the retreat, celebrating the women who made the Dean’s List the previous year. This year’s big and little reveal took a new, exciting approach. Instead of using wrapping paper, the new member committee created a walk up playlist- each song corresponded to a different family. While the families waited in the dining room dressed according to their themes, the littles anxiously hoped to hear their song and find out the members of their Kappa family. The risk committee hosted a flu shot drive and a self defense class led by the Chapel Hill police. The sisters also attended an on-campus program, Southern Smash, geared to give a voice to those individuals suffering from disordered eating. At this event Kappa won the scale smashing contest with a scale artfully decorated with cacti promoting body positivity.
The sisters welcomed the brisk end of Fall and the nearing end to the year with semi-formal, holiday social, and chapter elections. The semi-formal was hosted at the modern Franklin Hotel and sisters arrived with their dates for an evening of photos, delicious desserts, and dancing. The first week of December was the annual holiday social. Kappas and brothers of Kappa Alpha sported their best holiday attire, ranging from Santa’s reindeer to a peppermint stick sweater. At chapter the week prior to the holiday social the new chapter council members were formally sworn into office.
As 2019 ends, Epsilon Gamma is excited to commemorate the 150th year of the fraternity. The education committee hosted a Founder’s Day brunch for current members and alumnae. At the brunch, sisters added notes to an inspiration board, stating what Kappa means to them, where they see themselves in ten years, or their favorite Kappa memory. The Sesquicentenial of Kappa is a milestone that the sisters of Epsilon Gamma are grateful and thrilled to celebrate.
Outside of Kappa, the UNC community experienced both change and excitement. Chancellor Carol Folt stepped down from her position after initiating the removal of the base of the Silent Sam statue that fell in the Fall of 2018. This December Interim Chancellor Keven Guzkiewicz officially accepted the position of Chancellor to the University of North Carolina. The women’s field hockey team won reclaimed their title as national champions and the women’s soccer team placed second in the NCAA tournament. The UNC football team welcomed back Mack Brown to the program. The football team qualified for their first bowl game in three years. Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders visited UNC, uniting sisters in political conversation.
Overall, 2019 filled sisters with the joy of being a Tarheel and a Kappa.