Changes

Beta Theta

13,665 bytes added, 21:31, 15 June 2013
Highlights of 2011-2019:
(From chapter’s History Report: Scholarship, group honors/awards, traditions, special events, changes on campus or within chapter, overall nature of the chapter, chapter goals, challenges and how they were overcome, etc.):
==2012==
'''Housing:'''ScholarshipSpring 2012 GPA - 3.372 - Rank - 4th Place Fall 2012 Member GPA - 3.4 - Rank - 1st Place Fall 2012 New Member GPA - 3.313 - Rank - 3rd Place
'''Kappa Tutors'''
The Beta Theta chapter provides members with a Kappa-to-Kappa tutoring system in which members who tutor other members are paid per hour by Kappa. This tutoring system has shown to be a successful way for Kappa’s to grow academically and build relationships with fellow Kappas within their academic field.
'''Philanthropy:Adopt-a-Prof'''In spring of 2012, Kappa was happy to be matched with Juanita Vargas, prominent leader and professor from the Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education. Many of our members have enjoyed meeting with her and welcoming her and her family into our home.
In the fall of 2012, we spent time with our Adopt-A-Prof, Amy Davenport. Amy oversees and directs our campus wide workout facility. Our chapter has enjoyed getting to know her and her family. As a chapter, we send care packages, flowers, have dinners with her to form a special bond.
'''Convention Awards:Smart Cookie'''Every week at chapter, our Vice President of Academic Excellence announces a “Smart Cookie” award to be given out to a Kappa who has received an “A” on a test or paper that week. Members can enter the drawing by placing their name or work in a folder. The member who is drawn receives a homemade baked treat. This unique way of positive reinforcement encourages members to succeed academically.
'''Period of Support'''
This is a new program that Kappa established to support members after the member has earned a semester of concerning grades. These members are paired with a academically strong member on the academic excellence committee. This mentor encourages the member to use campus and Kappa learning resources. These members on Period of Support also meet regularly with the Vice President of Academic Excellence for encouragement and advice.
'''Owl Groups'''
Our Vice President of Academic Excellence took up a chapter wide survey, identifying everyone’s major and minors. She then compiled them in a master list and passed them out to the chapter members. This gave the younger women in the house the opportunity to ask older members questions about their majors and use them as mentors and for study assistance.
'''Group Honors/Awards - University of Oklahoma'''
Homecoming Queen 2012 - Maggie Cannon
Campus Activities Council Sooner Scandals - 1st Place
Campus Activities Council University Sing - 2nd Place
Best Supporting Actress
Campus Activities Council Homecoming - 3rd Place Overall
Banner Competition - 1st Place
Float Competition - 2nd Place
Panhellenic Standards of Excellence Awards
Academic Achievement
Commitment to Founding Values
• Leadership and Membership Development
• Risk Management and Social Responsibilities
• Recruitment and Education of New Member
• Develop & Foster Relationships with Stakeholders
• PanHellenic Outstanding Alumni Award - Jane Barrett
• PanHellenic House of the Year for International Greek Exchange 2012
 
'''2012 Kappa Convention Awards'''
New Member Program Award Winner
Honorable Mentions:Advisory Board Award; House Board Award; Chapter/Advisory Board Relations Award; Technology Award; Philanthropy Award; Philanthropy Signature Event Award; PanHellenic Award; Recruitment Award; Public Relations Award; Excellence in Chapter Management Award
Traditions
'''Senior Red Room'''
The seniors have the opportunity to go through Red Room ritual as a second time in their last semester as an active Kappa.
 
Senior Bump Line
The last chapter meeting of the year, all active members, except seniors, recreate the recruitment ‘Bump Line’ in Kappa Hall. The seniors then enter and we ‘bump’ them in for their last chapter.
 
Special Events
• Soonerthon Miracle Child - Lucy
Each year, Kappa gets paired with a Miracle Child from OU Children’s Hospital. This year we were gladly paired with an eight year old girl, Lucy. We threw her a birthday party with presents, cakes and ended the night with a sleepover.
 
Owl-O-Ween
For Halloween this year, we invited alumnae and their children to join us in trick-or-treating throughout the house. We also provided crafts, food and drinks.
 
Dad’s Day
For Dad’s Day, Kappa held a lunch the afternoon before a home football game complete with pictures and a raffle.
 
Mom’s Day
For Mom’s Day, Kappa hosted a brunch at our Kappa Hall and put on an incredible fashion show.
 
Relay for Life
One of the members of Beta Theta’s mom passed away from cancer in early 2012. In honor of her mom, Kappa put a team together honoring her name and participated in Relay for Life at The University of Oklahoma.
 
Soonerthon
Soonerthon is OU’s Dance Marathon which raises money for OU Children’s Hospital. Kappa put together a very large team and participated in the 12 hour event.
 
Big Event
Big Event is a campus wide community day of service where groups are designated to areas of service around the Norman/OKC metro. Kappa formed two teams that went to two different locations.
 
University Sing
Beta Theta was paired with Sigma Phi Epsilon to the theme “Picture Perfect” for U-Sing 2012. The chapter had to choose a picture from an old year book and build a performance around it.
 
Sooner Scandals
To the theme, “Be Careful What You Wish For,” Kappa put together an incredible show alongside Delta Tau Delta about a boy who wished to be apart of the circus and later finds out, it was not what he expected. Kappa took first place in Scandals 2012!
 
Homecoming
“Let the Games Begin” was the Homecoming theme for 2012. Each group chose a board game of their choice to build and create homecoming around. Beta Theta was paired with Sigma Alpha Epsilon to the theme ‘Jumanji’.
 
Kite and Key
Paired with Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa had a formal evening with a live band at the Farmers Market in downtown Oklahoma City.
 
Glo Kappa
Kappa’s dance the night away in all neon gear at Norman’s Red Room
 
Monmonth
Kappa’s and Pi Phi’s enjoyed a formal evening at Oklahoma City’s Remington Park.
 
KKG Where Will You Be
Kappa’s dressed as who they wanted to be in ten years. Everyone made their costumes unique and all their own.
 
Philanthropic Involvement
RIF Book Drop
Beta Theta hosts an annual book drive in the fall semester. Our members generously donate books for every grade level and both genders to give to several Title I schools in the Norman Public School District. In years past, we were able to give to a book to every child. This year in particular,we collected over 2,500 from both chapter members and other organizations on campus to give to several different elementary schools. One elementary school was a low income rural school just outside of the Norman. This school had been hit by a tornado so our books help rebuild their school library.
 
Kappa Kupcakes
"Kappa Kupcakes," a public philanthropy event that takes place every spring semester in April. At this event, local businesses collectively donate thousands of cupcakes for attendees, a local DJ plays music on the front lawn, the chapter house is decorated, chapter members dress up (some actually dress up as cupcakes) or wear our Kappa Kupcakes t-shirt, and PanHellenic chapters participate in a cupcake cook off. Funds raised go to Center for Children and Families Inc.
 
Goodwill
At the end of each semester, we take up donations to give to Goodwill. It is something so simple that our house loves to participate in.
 
Local Fire Department
When Beta Theta has excess unopened food from a catered special event, we donate it to our local fire department for the men on duty.
 
'''Chapter Goals''' For the year 2012, our chapter goals were to:
Increase academic accountability
To achieve this goal, we put a huge emphasis on academics on a weekly basis. At the beginning of the fall semester, we had each member and new member write down their GPA goal. We combined them all and came up with a chapter goal. Throughout the semester, we had encouragement to help us reach our goals.
 
Increase campus involvement and leadership
Beta Theta successfully had continuous involvement in over 70 different student organizations on campus. Campus Actives Council (CAC) hosts the campuses main events throughout the year such as Homecoming, Dance Marathon and ten other campus wide activates. Kappa has representation in all twelve executive committees.
 
Educate members of general etiquette
To better inform our members on general etiquette, we invited Kate Stanton, Executive Director of Student Affairs, to speak about the importance of maintaining social etiquette. She was engaging, funny and members learned a lot from her presentation.
 
Invite honored Beta Theta alumnae to speak at chapter
Chapters advisors came to introduce themselves at weekly chapter meetings. We hope to expand beyond advisers this year to alumnae that are prominent leaders in the state.
 
Increase attendance on campus events
As a chapter, we provided more incentives to get involved. The New Member Educator also invited organization liaisons to the new member meetings to better inform them on organizations on campus. We also added calendars on the back of chapter announcements.
 
Improve visibility on PanHellenic leadership
This past year, Beta Theta strived to have at least two people apply for every open PanHellenic position. We also had several members as Rho Gamma’s during formal recruitment.
 
Host a multicultural event
Beta Theta hosted three different multicultural events including a pumpkin carving night with a multicultural group on campus.
 
Publicize philanthropic causes
Beta Theta has gone to great lengths to insure quality PR. We updated our website, set up a twitter and instagram account and utilized social media. We also continue to make t-shirts for events as well as banners to hang outside our house. This past year we have also personally gone to other chapters on campus to share events.
 
Increase Chapter knowledge and understanding of ritual
After convention, we knew we needed to come back and improve our rituals. We held ritual reviews weekly for members to make sure everything was in place for initiation. When the time rolled around, Beta Theta was fully prepared to do everything by the book. Our chapter is extremely proud of the accomplishments and changes we have made this past year with our rituals.
 
Give a detailed budget presentation each semester
Nicole Upshaw, our chapter treasurer for 2012, put together a PowerPoint slideshow both semesters to better explain where each dollar of our dues was going and why.
 
Increase chapter unity through fun activities
As a chapter, we attended a Oklahoma City Thunder NBA basketball game. We also had a movie night on the front lawn of the Kappa house where we rented a giant TV screen and laid out lounged on blankets and had popcorn.
 
Foster an environment of accountability and increase morale in Standards Standards Committee did a great job of making sure all situations were dealt with equally and fair to all members. The Vice President of Standards made presentations throughout both semesters to make sure all members understood the standards guidelines.To increase morale, the Standards committee has several fun activities for the chapter including ‘mocktinis’ the chapter before spring break along with a standards presentation.
'''Challenges and How They Were Overcome'''
 
PanHellenic ‘No Frills’ policy
The University of Oklahoma’s PanHellenic system has recently decided to adopt a ‘No Frills’ policy in accordance with National PanHellenic guidelines. In the Spring of 2012 this policy was put up to a vote of the chapters on campus. Kappa fully supported PanHellenic throughout this process but the policy did not pass by one vote. Although the policy did not pass, Beta Theta still decided to change recruitment by having a day focused on community service. Out of the PanHellenic system, Kappa was the only chapter to start moving in this direction. The policy was passed in the fall 2012 after recruitment.
 
PanHellenic Community Service Hours
PanHellenic has recently changed the minimum community service hours per member to 10 hours a semester. Kappa has adapted and encouraged our members to abide by the changes.
 
Emergency Plan
Over the summer of 2012, a member of another sorority on campus died tragically while attending summer classes. Campus policies were strengthened and alcohol consumption was taken more seriously. The sorority involved was not aware of the rules and policies following an emergency situation. In reflection of this incident, Kappa informed its members of what to do should a crisis affect our chapter.
 
'''World/Local Events'''
OKies for Africa
A member of Kappa, planned and organized a concert in Kappa Hall,where we raised money and sold shirts to assist an orphanage in Africa.
 
Opportunity Boxes
Beta Theta paired with Delta Tau Delta to organize and put together opportunity boxes for children in Haiti. Kappa ending up sending over 100 boxes full of children’s toys.
 
Presidential Campaigns
Several members of our chapter were campaign callers during the presidential election. They were prepared to answer questions about the campaign as well as take donations.
 
Watch Party
The University of Oklahoma Student Government Association hosted watch parties for each presidential debate, at which Kappa’s were in attendance.
 
Natural Disasters
Fires swept through areas of Oklahoma, taking homes, businesses and caused countless other damages. Beta Theta took supplies such as food and water to rescue workers.
==Highlights of 2020s:==