All Epsilon Lambda meetings are held in the Chapter Room of our beautiful house.
==Highlights of 2020s:2020==
From Chapter’s History Report: ScholarshipThis year has been nothing short of bizarre and unprecedented, while Kappas everywhere struggled, here are a few things we did to try and stay relevant and a strong sisterhood. This spring we held a Valentine's Day party with UT Future and Best Buddies, a sisterhood bowling event with BYX, group honors/awardsand a sisterhood craft night where made scrapbook pages to put together. After we got sent home in March because of COVID-19, traditionswe begin Kappa pen pals, special and we continued Lady Minerva through our Facebook page. We had a few Zoom calls where we just caught up and talked about things that were going on. Some friend groups had Zoom formals where they dressed up and got on a Zoom call. During the summer months we had a scrapbook that got sent around to different sisters where they added pages of things they had been up to. This fall had sisterhood eventssuch as picnic in circle park, changes at main event (an adult arcade), and movie night outside. All of these were conducted following guidelines such as wearing masks and keeping our distance. All in person events were held outside and planned so that there would be shifts or limits on campus or within chapterwho all could attend. We also incorporated a fun way to attend virtual meetings, overall nature with some fun themes. Before the outbreak of COVID-19 we had a fun themed meeting at the beginning of each month such as a pajama meeting and jersey meeting. It was a way to boost chapter, chapter goals, challenges morale both before and after things went virtual. Things such as recruitment and the new member process were conducted differently with recruitment being entirely virtual. We started Zoom lunches this semester as well where we had girls get on Zoom during the middle of the day and just eat and chat about random things. In January we initiated a holdover initiate from the 2019 pledge class and this fall Initiation was held virtually over Zoom where we initiated 92 girls in two separate calls on October 31st. Big/little reveal was done differently with everyone spread out over campus and how they those who were overcome, etcvirtual over Zoom.:
'''Philanthropy'''
'''Housing:''' We were able to assist our philanthropy, "Thrive," with things such as a book drive and painting rooms in their building. Thrive is a nonprofit after school program where kids in lower income areas come and do their work. Not only are they helped with school work but they are also introduced to other fun activities that are school related and some that have to do with the Christian faith. We believe that this organization helps highlight our values in the Knoxville community, as these kids don’t have many opportunities for help at home so at Thrive they are helped with homework and some kids have learned to read because of Thrive. This fall we held a small philanthropy event where we sold Chick-fil-A breakfast to pick up at a drive through outside of our house and partnered with a jewelry company to have some of the proceeds go to our three organizations. Each chapter and chapter council meeting was held over Zoom, and officer transitions were done virtually November 16, 2020. During Spirit Week with the university we were paired with BYX and placed third overall.
'''Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion'''
This year we have added a DEI chair where the Chapter Council selects someone who would make sure that Diversity and Inclusion is kept a relevant subject in all chapter discussions. During recruitment work, our DEI chair spoke on some ways that we can prevent biases when talking to women of color. She also posted several items in our Facebook page that helped prevent biases on campus and raised awareness for different events that different councils were having. Towards the end of the semester we also had a DEI training session where every member was required to attended, and it was a great conversation starter in the chapter.
'''Philanthropy:Sesquicentennial''' '''Chapter Convention Awards''':
We had the Minnie Stewart Van virtually present their van and tell us about the founding Kappa chapter. We also held a virtual celebration on Zoom the week after Founders Day.
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