4,269
edits
Changes
→2012
Highlights (scholarship, group honors/awards, special events, philanthropy and service projects, etc.):
==Highlights of 2011== The Eta Zeta chapter has celebrated multiple landmarks this past year. We celebrated its tenth anniversary of our charter at John Carroll University. Our chapter also had something to celebrate in our successful academics. Our chapter had the most improved GPA from Spring to Fall Semesters 2011. Eta Zeta has achieved a higher GPA average than the all-campus GPA average and female all-campus GPA average. Kappa also has the more members in the Order of Omega Society than any other organization along with having the newly elected Order of Omega President as one of our members. Two of our sisters also served on the board of the organization. When our LC visited in the fall semester she recognized the great strides that this chapter has made along with providing many suggestions that have been very helpful in the leadership of our chapter. Several suggestions helped us in updating our Standing Rules and Bylaws, which have been written by our new Chapter Council and will soon be voted on. All of our members were able to meet with her and enjoyed hearing about the various chapters across the nation and learning from both her experiences and her knowledge of the general Fraternity. Because of Eta Zeta's great success in formal recruitment in the Fall of 2010, our chapter met the campus member quota and thus did not do informal recruitment in the Spring semester. Formal Recruitment this past Fall 2011 semester was another historic landmark for Eta Zeta, as we "Welcomed to our Masterpiece" 17 new members which was the most Eta Zeta has ever welcomed from Formal Recruitment and the highest amount initiated out of the four other sororities on campus. Current members were very successful in demonstrating Kappas' balance among members, sisterhood, and overall pride in the chapter and Fraternity. Our New Member Chair organized events for the chapter for the actives and new members to socialize and bond, including crafting embellished cork boards, painting pumpkins, and decorating T-Shirts. New Members were also able to bond with each other at meals, a New Member retreat, and sleep-overs on the floor. Current members took new members on "dates" to get to know one another better and strengthen the bond between actives and New Members. At our third annual Fall philanthropy event, Kappasta, the chapter raised $1,300 by serving fellow students, faculty, staff, family, and community members an all you can eat pasta dinner and a raffle with wonderful donated prizes such as a Kindle. One of our senior members played the piano throughout the event and a campus acapella group performed. The chapter decided to donate 80% of this money to Reading is Fundamental and the remaining 20% to the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation. It was a great success. Greek Week is always a heavily anticipated event for the Greeks at John Carroll. Our chapter won Second Place overall, First Place in Talent Show, Fourth Place in Lip Sync, and succeeded in many other activities throughout the week. Greek Week was a great opportunity for our sisterhood to bond in a very strong and unique way and work together as a whole in support of each other as well as the other organizations. At the conclusion of Greek Week, the John Carroll University campus hosted Relay for Life, which our chapter was heavily involved in. In our fundraising at the event we raised over $1,000 for the Relay Community. Throughout the long hours into the night we continued to support the other Greek and non-Greek organizations present at the event. Our chapter was also pleased to be able to mix with all three fraternities on campus, as well as a date party in the Spring and Sapphire Ball, our annual Spring Formal. '''Campus:''' John Carroll University's campus is 60 acres large and is located in the suburban community of University Heights, outside of Clevaland Ohio. John Carroll is a Jesuit University that celebrated its 125 Anniversary this fall. John Carroll has 3,000 full-time Undergraduate Students and 700 Graduate Students, this small atmosphere creates a very distinct community feeling, that our chapter is honored to be a part of. Greek Life only represents about 13% of the student body, but is steadily growing and gaining notoriety in the community. Members of Greek Life share a common and special bond, of which enriches the lives of all Eta Zeta members. The majority of students study Business and Science or Technology but also has programs available in the Social Sciences, Humanities and Education. Our chapter is among the 100-plus recognized organizations on campus and many of our members are involved in at least one of these organizations. Immersion trips and opportunities to study abroad are plentiful at John Carroll which our members take full advantage of, although we miss them dearly while they are away. A very important aspect of John Carroll is our Jesuit heritage, the Jesuit ideal of "men and women for others" is definitely noticeable in all students, particularly within our sisterhood. Because of our Jesuit identity there are many service opportunities. For example, every week John Carroll has an event called Labre where students go out into the Cleveland neighborhood and serve food to the homeless. Kappas often go together on the service trip and help to better the community that we live in, better our chapter, and more importantly better ourselves. '''Chapter:''' Currently the Eta Zeta Chapter has 51 active members, seventeen of which were initiated this fall. This is also our second year of having a floor completely devoted to Kappa members to live on. This floor has two lounges that serve as places for members to hang out together or study, these lounges are often used for sisterhood events. The majority of sisters live on this floor, but sisters who do not, including new members, have access to the floor so it is a place for all of the sisters to enjoy. Our chapter has been led by seven amazing seniors, who will be missed but all sisters are looking forward to them starting the next stage of their lives. Chapter Council was pleased to have a Kappa Trainer lead our Officer Transitions. The trainer was very valuable in helping us understand and how to live by the Kappa values and helped us establish and plan goals to be accomplished in the future. The entire chapter is constantly developing closer bonds with our advisors and feel comfortable going to our advisors for assistance and resources on how to improve. The members of Eta Zeta proudly represent Kappa in Student Organizations and jobs across the John Carroll community including academic societies, sports (intramural, club, and varsity), Student Union, Residence Life, Student Union Programming Board, and Campus Ministry. We are especially proud to have a member of Kappa currently serve as Panhellenic President. Our chapter is constantly looking ways to strengthen our sisterhood from eating together in the Cafeteria to off-campus events such as ice skating, to visiting the near by Akron chapter. Kappas are involved in a lot of activities but at the end of the day we all do our best to make time for one another and enjoy all the time we can spend together. Our Chapter is proud to have accomplished our goals from the previous year, but are constantly looking to improve ourselves in every way possible. This year we have focused greatly at perfecting our ritual ceremonies. In addition to our monthly ritual rehearsal, we also practice songs and XXXXX throughout the month. We were very fortunate to have two ladies from Head Quarters attend our initiation, which motivated all the members to represent Eta Zeta as well as possible. Kappa members are constantly looking for more ways to strengthen our sisterhood. Before formal recruitment, active members went on a sisterhood retreat and through tears brought members together even more than possible. Through philanthropy events, meals, Super Bowl parties, and many more activities are sisters are given opportunities to get to know one another more and create lasting memories. One issue brought to the attention of our chapter was improving our Risk Management skills and emphasizing the current values of our chapter and the fraternity at large. Our Chapter Council has recently revised our By-Laws and Standing Rules to be more understandable to members and prevent future problems. ==Highlights of 2012==
The Eta Zeta Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma continues to be involved in campus and community events while always maintaining the ideals that define our fraternity. The year of 2012 has kept us very busy. Achieving the highest sorority GPA on John Carroll campus, our sisters have shown great dedication and importance to education. Collectively, we achieved a GPA of 3.26 during the spring of 2012. We keep a Kappademics binder in our campus library to log study hours as a way to encourage each other to strive for academic excellence.
John Carroll has had one of its main quads closed off for a few years. This past summer, the quad was finished and is now open to student use. A memorial fountain from the class of 1956 was just completed this past fall and built by our business school. The fountain is gorgeous and the tiling around it was also re-done. Our chapter donated a brick to the construction of this project. The lacrosse team went Varsity and looks forward to their first season this upcoming spring. One of the dorms was renovated on campus and is open for upper classmen housing. JCU has also decided to renovate one of the dorms this summer. It is the largest freshman dorm on campus and it will be closed for the next school year. With housing being limited, the Kappa floor is required to make some changes and accept non-Kappas on to the floor. We are currently unsure what this will look like, but as a chapter, we will be supportive of each other and embrace these changes with a continuous positive and encouraging attitude.
==Highlights of 2013==
During 2013 the Eta Zeta chapter at John Carroll University has worked hard to meet our goals set in place by our chapter council members at the beginning of the year. We hoped to have a better understanding of ritual and chapter heritage, improve involvement or inclusion of non-chapter council members, to better our New Member Program, and to continue to maintain strong academic standards.
We improved our understanding of ritual in the spring by having monthly reviews, going over elements of ritual that needed improvement, appropriate dress for formal chapter, and Robert’s Rules of Order.
To improve involvement of all members, we held many sisterhood and social events. In the spring, we held a Super Bowl mixer with fraternity Beta Theta Pi, a cookout mixer with fraternity Sigma Phi Epsilon, a formal date dance called the Sapphire Ball, and mixed with many different chapters on campus during Greek Week to get spirited for events. In the fall we held a mixer with fraternity Lambda Chi Alpha, a Disney themed date party, and a semi-formal Great Gatsby themed date party.
To build sisterhood, we had a Kappa Emmaus Retreat, where we spent a weekend at an off campus house doing bonding activities, allowing us to become even closer as a chapter. Along with that, we took a trip to Patterson’s Fruit Farm for apple picking, had a Christmas Party, many mani/pedi and movie nights on the floor, and a picnic at the end of the spring semester. Also, every week in chapter we passed along a journal with a letter in it from one sister to another, and passed along a blue bra to any sister in need of support. We raised $1550 for Reading is Fundamental by hosting Kappasta, a spaghetti dinner on campus. We also sent 40 Christmas cards to deployed soldiers, made blankets for Labre through the Linus Project, made Christmas cards with buddies at Through the Eyes of a Child, participated in Relay for Life and Danie’s Day at JCU, and mandated a five hour service requirement for each sister.
This year we improved our New Member Program by making it more involved and giving the New Members more opportunities to get to know the sisters. Fall formal recruitment was September 20-22, and we met our quota of 20 New Members, also holding a 100% retention rate from Friday to Saturday. Shortly after formal recruitment our cap was raised to 64 women, and we picked up two more New Members through informal recruitment, making it the largest pledge class in Eta Zeta history. After recruitment, we had many events such as a Kappa and Co. themed bid day celebration, Owl Pal, where we painted pumpkins, Kappa Kousin, where we made key chains, a speed-dating night with the sisters on the floor, a New Member retreat, a bonding activity with each academic class, weekly New Member dinners, a big/little reveal, eight New Member presentations, and a Meet the Advisers night. On November 17, 2013 we initiated 22 New Members, including three legacies.
Our chapter has also been able to maintain our strong academic standards, by earning an average 3.26 GPA for the Spring 2013 semester and a 3.22 GPA for the Fall 2013 semester. We began weekly drawings for small prizes for any sister who has earned an A or B on an assignment, and offering a gift card to the sister with the most hours spent in the library at the end of each semester.
Another aspect of our chapter we worked on improving was Panhellenic involvement. This year, three of our members were Pi Chi’s during formal recruitment, one of them being Pi Chi Director. Also, one of our members was Vice President of Programming for Panhel.
As a chapter, we received two Province awards, the Standards and Advisory Program awards, as well as an honorable mention for Public Relations. We were also the John Carroll Greek Week champions for the second year in a row.
This past year, one of the largest freshmen dorms has been under construction for renovation, which has limited on campus housing, requiring us to allow non-Kappas on the floor. We were all accepting of this change, and friendly and supportive of each other and the new girls on the floor. Next year, all of the Greek organizations will live in the same building. It is the building in which we already live, so we will not have to move our floor. We are looking forward to sharing a building with the other chapters at John Carroll and hopeful that this will allow us to grow closer with them.
==Highlights of 2020s:==