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→Highlights of 2020
==Highlights of 2020==
The year of 2020 marked a time of hardship, change and growth for Sigma Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). At the beginning of the year, 16 new officers were installed at Formal Meeting – 2 less officers than prior years since of Historian and Recording/Corresponding Secretary were absorbed into other positions. The new and old council members and chapter advisors had the pleasure of attending Leadership Day, hosted by prior Vice President of Organization (VPO) and current Vice President of Standards (VPS) Katie Krzemien, to ensure smooth transitions. The goal was to build a support network which was utilized greatly in 2020 to counter unprecedented challenges faced by Sigma Chapter. The new counsel faced the loss of the Sigma
Chapter House Director of 8 years, Diane Stark, in January followed by unexpected difficulties with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln shutting down due to COVID-19, affecting many events planned by
Chapter Council.
Newly installed Chapter President Lauren Kubat, fondly called “Kubat”, set a goal at the beginning of her term to update Sigma’s Standing Rules. She hosted the first ever Council Retreat with Vice President of Organization Riley Cossen to help the council revise the Standing Rules and bond as a group. Due to the sudden strike of COVID-19, the chapter was unable to vote to pass updates on the
Standing Rules. The live-in members of the Kappa House were required to move out due to this. In spite of the abrupt change to Kappa life, Kubat hosted weekly council meetings and monthly house board
meetings via Zoom, even helping interview and hire Sigma’s new House Director Stacia Anderson. Throughout the second semester of her term Kubat updated the bylaws and standing rules to adjust to
the new COVID-19 reality. Traditional Monday night meetings were moved to a zoom format, where all members would join on their own device via zoom. This offered a safe, socially distanced alternative to
our normal meeting structure. Announcements continued as normal, as council members would read from the power point that was shared to everyone’s screen.
Katie Krzemien began her term as VPS with a mission to rebrand Standards at Sigma Chapter as a safe space for members to grow. Katie held a mock Standards meeting during her program night to
show transparency among her committee as well as assigning more responsibilities to the elected members on her committee. She created a monthly “Sunshine Sister” program to show support to
individual Kappas where members nominate each other anonymously to receive personalized care- packages and letters from the Standards committee (continuing via mail during COVID-19). Katie hosted
a “Galentine’s Day” Sisterhood event with Panhellenic Delegate Ericka Knapp to bring Delta Gamma and Kappa together over a spa night, cookie decorating, and more in February. One of the most important
Katie had to do this year was enforce all of the COVID-19 protocols in the fall semester of 2020. This included making sure all live-in members were socially distanced at all times, and wearing their mask
throughout the house. Some of the socially distanced protocols included only allowing 4 people at each dinner table, socially discanced markings in “BC” and “pink”, and allowing no visitors into the house. Katie did a great job of making sure everyone followed these new rules.
Riley Cossen is the Vice President of Organization (VPO) at Kappa, one of three women by the same name on council this year. She started her term out strong by helping host the first ever Council
Retreat, bringing food and games to help everyone bond. She began laying out the Kappa calendar in regard to events and meetings months in advance and stepped up in light of changed due to COVID-19.
Riley welcomed our Leadership Consultant (LC) Jenna Patton virtually. It was Jenna’s first virtual visit as an LC since she was scheduled to come to Sigma Chapter the week universities shut down across the
country in response to the pandemic. Riley continued to meet with her committee via Zoom and plans to make themes for Committee Chapter Meetings at Kappa. After elections Riley was in charge of
organizing the transitions for the new council. Riley had to help ensure the new council members had two, one-on-one sessions with their old council counterpart to help the transition go smoothly.
The Vice President of Academic Excellence (VPAE) Mia Soulierre set the goal of raising Sigma Chapter’s grade point average (GPA) from a 3.49 to a 3.5 for the spring semester. Alongside this, she
transitioned the Academic Excellence program at Kappa for members who struggle academically from “Period of Concern” (POC) to “Academic Progress Plan” (APP). This new program enables a more
empowering approach to academics. Since COVID-19 forcing UNL to move to digital learning, Mia’s committee has been doing Zoom check-ins with APP members to aid them in this time of transition and
help them in response to changing university policies. One of the most successful parts of Mia’s VPAE position was during the fall 2020 finals week. The girls in the house logged their study hours for dead
week on the Omega One app. The three girls with the most hours got gift cards, and all the other girls were entered into a drawing for other study prizes. This was a great way to encourage the girls in the
house to study for finals, and was very successful in the end.
The first Sigma Secretary since removal of Corresponding/Recording Secretary is Bethany Meyers. At the beginning of her term, she organized and transferred chapter rosters into the Recognized
Student Organization (RSO) Portal in response to changing UNL policies regarding how sorority life functioned on campus. She worked with her committee to promote attendance at meetings and events,
researching ways to make taking attendance more efficient. She created a concise version of meeting minutes called This Week in Kappa (TWIK) to keep the chapter up to date on council plans and actions
since Sigma could no longer meet in person with COVID-19 and in place of any kind of digital Zoom meeting. During COVID-19 the composite planning presented challenges for Bethany, however, in the
end she was able to successfully
Ellie Hellman is the Treasurer at Kappa after serving as the elected Treasurer Assistant in the year prior. She managed member balances, updated the budget, and helped to ensure timely payments
of chapter dues. Ellie had the difficult job of calculating and organizing refunds to chapter members in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She worked with House Board to refund dues and live-in expenses
with the shut down of UNL housing and the Kappa house. She is working on creating educational programming for the future regarding Kappa and personal finances. Ellie had to work on finding a
solution for the refunds to members due to COVID. She worked hard to organize a system to ensure members got back the money that wasn’t used in the last part of the Spring 2020 semester. The next
semester she organized monthly payments just incase the members had to be refunded again, so it was a simpler system.
The first Marshal since Historian was absorbed into the position was Elise Gamble. She ensured that all meetings, voting, attire and meeting decorum adhered to Kappa guidelines. Elise made formal
meeting more efficient by implementing suggestions from her District Specialist and emphasized the importance of Kappa ritual and history at meetings. She updated Key Reports, completed this annual
chapter history report, and purchased a speaker and mics for the chapter room. Due to COVID-19, she was unable to perform graduating senior ceremonies. One of the most important things was using zoom
for Monday night meetings. She was able to find a way to get all the members on meetings so we could have our weekly discussions, and google forms for voting. We celebrated Founders Day/the 150th with
the alumni. They were in-person, the chapter joined via Zoom. The chapter was treated to a cinnamon roll breakfast and the Marshal had a banner made to commemorate the event. Elise had to do virtual
pledging for the new members, and pinning ceremonies. The in person initiation shifts were at the student union using the All-in-One service, and alumni and advisers were able to attend with no linked
COVID-19 cases. Kappa families were able to eat dinner together the week of, provided by the Marshal, New Member, and Event Chairmen.
Education Chairman Dalia Nabulsi held many programs such as Harm Prevention in the beginning of her term. She oversaw new monthly program nights for chapter meetings and coordinated
speakers such as a police officer from the Omaha Police Department and a UNL employee who spoke on resume building. Dalia was unable to have Celebrate Sigma due to COVID-19 but found a way to honor
graduating seniors despite this. She sent them care packages including a special cookbook from Sigma Chapter’s beloved cooks and highlighted them individually through social media spotlights. Founders
Day was a success on zoom, where alumni and all members attended. the Education chairman had a program night with a Kappa Alumni from Arbon, where she educated members about healthy eating.
Kristen Louden, House Chairman, took on many responsibilities with the Kappa House this semester. She served as a liaison between House Board and the chapter while everyone mourned the
loss of our House Director Diane. While searching for a new House Director, Sigma’s active alumni network took turns staying the night at the house, revisiting their college days while getting to know the
active members. Kristen was part of the committee that helped to hire our new House Director Stacia and worked to ensure general upkeep of the house. When the house shut down due to COVID-19, she
helped live-ins move out quickly and efficiently. Kristen was able to assign move in times to all the live ns so we could have a safe, socially distance move in. This was spread out over two days. There were
subsequent bathroom assignments where girls were assigned a toilet, shower, and sink to reduce touch points.
Membership Chairman Emily Evans worked during the Spring Semester to plan Formal Recruitment in the Fall. She held “Rookie Recruitment” in March before UNL shutdown for COVID-19
where the younger pledge classes trained and prepared for Rush. Emily planned to innovate the Recruitment process by having Kappa’s test their compatibility with Potential New Members (PNMs) via
the Enneagram personality test. As well, she planned to revamp Philanthropy Day by active members wearing T-shirts naming their favorite philanthropy Sigma has supported these past years. This year was
the first virtual recruitment in Kappa history. Emily coordinated recruitment over zoom, and it went extremely smoothly and Kappa received a Pledge Class of 51 new members. We then participated in
open recruitment where we got 10 more members. A standing committee was added to help with recruitment.
Brooklyn “Brook” Housh is Sigma’s New Member Chairman. She kicked off the 2020 spring semester by hosting the first ever New Member overnight retreat at Nebraska’s Mahoney State Park.
Many Kappa executive officers past and present held a night of fun festivities, one of which the Freshman Pledge Class wrote a letter to their senior selves which they will open in a few years. It was a
great, safe night for the New Members to bond with each other and older Kappa sisters. Following this, Brook planned “Sneak”, a day for Littles to surprise their Bigs with shirts and more to say thank you. Due
to COVID-19, this event was moved to the Fall. Virtual bid day theme was Kappa Disco this year. Bid day boxes were delivered to each girl of the new pledge class that was disco themed. There were Owl Pal
dates via zoom, and big/little reveal was in waves so it could be in person. The new members participated in a virtual pass the key, and all of the new members were given Valas tickets for a bonding
experience.
Sigma’s Philanthropy Chair is Andrea Atkinson, a member whose philanthropy submission was selected by chapter vote in 2019. Her passion for philanthropy was unchanged by COVID-19 even
though the philanthropy she planned, Mac n Keys, had to be cancelled. Sigma Chapter still raised and donated money despite this to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation in order to honor House Mother
Diane Stark. Andrea brainstormed on ways to give back during the pandemic and even began planning the Fall philanthropic events. Andrea did a virtual fundraiser for Lolo’s Angels, one of our philanthropies
this year, where she sold t-shirts to make money. There was also a toy drive to help with less fortunate kids.
Reilly Kortus, Public Relations Chairman, worked hard to represent Kappa Kappa Gamma well on campus and on social media. She did introductory posts on Sigma’s Instagram @kkg_unl for each new
member of council, “takeovers” for members studying abroad, and encouragement posts during COVID- 19. Reilly planned to have a booth on UNL’s campus called “Kiss Me I’m a Kappa'' for Saint Patrick’s Day where Kappa’s would hand out stickers to passersby. Reilly was also in charge of the council photos thatwere taken at the end of the fall 2020 semester. These photos had to be coordinated during thepandemic, and showcased masks and social distancing.
Event Chair Claire Andry and Risk Chair Rylee Reggio worked together to plan fun, safe formals where all Kappa protocols and paperwork was followed. They hosted a Crush formal with Alpha Xi Delta, Sigma Phi Epsilon, and Pike. Due to COVID-19, they were forced to cancel their “80’s in Aspen” semi- formal and events through the remainder of the spring semester. Claire and Rylee innovated the formal
transportation system according to Kappa requirements to ensure ease and safety traveling to and from the venue. Rylee also collected driver forms alongside House Chair Kristen to encourage members to
submit them. One creative way to keep the members engaged during the fall semester of 2020 withoutformals was to create “Kappa Pods”. These pods were composed of 8-10 members of the chapter who
had the same available times. The kappa pods were given money to do fun things around Lincoln, suchas going out for lunch, dinner, or ice cream.
Ericka Knapp served as the Panhellenic Delegate, working like no delegate before to make sure all Sigma members had a say in Panhellenic matters and furthering Kappa’s relationships with other
Greek houses at UNL. She held a sisterhood event with Delta Gamma and celebrated International Women’s Day with Kappa Alpha Theta where everyone handed out stickers and succulents together.
Ericka’s main event of the Spring, Greek Weekend, was cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.However, she continued to meet with the Panhellenic Council via Zoom to discuss Recruitment rule
changes for the Fall. Through the entire year of 2020, Sigma’s Chapter Council worked tirelessly to ensure everyone in Kappa had an amazing time despite all the hardships faced. Even throughout the COVID-19 pandemic,Kappa bonded together via endless Zoom calls, text messages, and some hand-written letters. Sigma
Chapter is a proud representation of the values of Kappa Kappa Gamma, ready to face 2021 even stronger than before.
In Memory of Diane Stark
Sigma Chapter’s House Director, Diane Stark, has been a huge and influential part of Kappa for the past 8 years. Diane was a smart, multi-tasking, strong woman who could do ANYTHING! She loved her
flowers and transformed the Kappa house to have the most beautiful yard on campus. She took so much pride in the house itself and the ladies living in it each semester. She prided herself in saving Kappa
money by fixing a multitude of things in the house and streamlining Kappa’s budget. Diane had two sons, Todd and Travis, and their families that lived close by. Her biggest pride and joy were her 4
grandchildren, loved by the Kappa girls, that would often visit her at the house. The grandkids would beg to have sleepovers at the Kappa house. After a courageous 3 ½ year battle with breast cancer, she
passed away on January 29th, 2020. Diane never wanted to worry the girls in the house and was very private about her illness. She wanted life to be normal for everyone around her, and she did an amazing
job of that. Kappa was so lucky to have her for 8 incredible years and will be forever grateful for how much she taught us about how to live life to the fullest. Diane Stark will be greatly missed by so many.
==Highlights of 2021==
==Highlights of 2020s:==