Zeta Nu

 

Zeta Nu
ZN
Founded	November 23, 1985 (1985-11-23)
College	University of California San Diego
Location	La Jolla, CA
Homepage	Zeta Nu Homepage
Media related to Zeta Nu Chapter

University of California, San Diego established in 1960, San Diego California

Zeta Nu founded on November 23, 1985

1,129 initiates (as of June 2018)

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Some of Chapter’s Outstanding Alumnae: (If you have chapter alumnae who have received recognition in any of these three categories, please list them with the date(s) of recognition.)

Former Council Members:

Julie Love (Stonehouse), Traveling Consultant 1988-89; Nancy Frey, Traveling Consultant 1990-1991; Lisa Willet (Becker), Traveling Consultant 1992-1993; Anne Kieselbach (Hedekin), Traveling Consultant 1993-1994; Maureen Eagle (Gelberg), Traveling Consultant 1998-1999 and Province Director of Chapters-Pi 2000-2001; Lauren Nogy, Province Director of Chapters-Kappa North 2009-2013

Fraternity Loyalty Award Recipients:

Fraternity Alumnae Achievement Award Recipients:

Additional Outstanding Zeta Nu Alumnae

Kelly Smith (Bone), Chapter Consultant 1988-1990; Karen Olson, Chapter Consultant 1991-1993; Anne Kieselbach (Hedekin), Chapter Consultant 1997-1998; Melissa Perez, Chapter Consultant 2009-2010

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Founded in the mid-1960s, the University of California, San Diego, known for its high academic standards, offers undergraduate and graduate programs in the arts and sciences. UCSD's programs in marine biology, oceanography, and the health sciences are especially well regarded. In 1985, there were approximately 13,000 undergraduate and graduate students at UCSD, which is located on 1,200 acres of beautiful coastal woodland near the northern limits of the city of San Diego. The university's undergraduate colleges sit high on the bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The world-renowned Scripps Institution of Oceanography extends the campus to the water's edge and beyond.

Colonization and Installation

After colonization in April 1985, the pledges quickly set about the task of learning what it is to be a Kappa and of forming a cohesive group. When they returned to school in the fall, the charter members took part in UCSD's formal rush and pledged 29 more young women.

Zeta Nus were not the only Kappas who had a busy fall. Members of the five alumnae groups in San Diego were handling the myriad of details and initiation. Mary Barkis Johnson, Kansas State. who served as Installation Chairman, left no stone unturned. Vera Lewis Marine, Colorado College, coordinator for chapter development, an experienced hand with installation and formerly Province Director of Alumnae for Kappa Province, provided Mary with very able assistance. It is hard for those of us who worked with Mary and Vera on installation to imagine anyone else in charge. Both had a steady hand in assuring those of us with less experience in such matters that we could do it. And we did thanks to the Kappa leadership provided by Mary and Vera.

Mary’s committee chairmen were Jan Bullen Wright, New Mexico, and a colonizer of USC, Finance; Cynthia Doughty Davis, USC, Banquet; Mary Jeanne Bahr Schram, Maryland, and Susan Vigil Belger, New Mexico, Installation/Initiation Service; Jane Burbank Wallaston, Nebraska, Fireside; Marilyn Cross Minton, Ohio State, Saturday lunch; Susan Cameron Hoffman, Arizona, Saturday breakfast; Nancy Sauer Miller, USC, Flowers; Sally Jones Glynn, Iowa, Gifts; Karen Byers Mays, Oregon State, Lodging; and Sally Moore, Oregon State, Thursday potluck. Other alumnae helped in countless ways, doing everything from making box lunches to working on the many preparations for initiation and the banquet.

Friday, November 22, dawned bright and cheery, and there was a special excitement among the 46 pledges, soon to be actives, and the alumnae. Tonight initiation would begin with fireside in La Jolla at the beautiful home of Priscilla Lichty Moxley, Colorado. Actives from University of California, Los Angeles; University of California, Irvine; University of California, Santa Barbara; University of California, Riverside; California State University at Northridge; University of Arizona; and Arizona State University were there to participate and make their soon-to-be sisters feel closer within the bonds of Kappa. Punch and cookies were served while Zeta Nus opened many wonderful gifts from active chapters and alumnae groups.

It is hard to say whether the prospective initiates or San Diego area alumnae were more excited Saturday, November 23, 1985, when 46 undergraduates were initiated as charter members of Zeta Nu, Kappa's 114th active chapter, at University of California, San Diego (UCSD). The five active alumnae groups in San Diego County had waited a long time for this day, and no one was disappointed. It was particularly special for those "Chum Alums" who had been "big sisters" to the charter pledges and who had the distinct honor of pinning on their keys.

Zeta Nus installation weekend was the culmination of several months of activity which began in February 1985 when Kappa accepted UCSD's invitation to colonize. Kappa joined three other sororities (Sigma Kappa, Delta Gamma, and Alpha Omicron Pi) and six fraternities on campus. There has been a rapid growth in rush numbers the last few years, which led to UCSD's decision to expand. It is expected that another sorority may follow in 1986 or 1987. With interest in the Greeks currently on the rise, we may see as many as eight sororities at UCSD in the not too distant future.

Saturday arrived cool and overcast, but nothing could dampen the spirits of the 46 Zeta Nus and San Diego alumnae who gathered at the First Methodist Church in San Diego where initiation was to take place. Installing officers Marian Klingbeil Williams, Missouri, Fraternity President, and Kay Smith Larson, Washinton, Fraternity Vice President, were assisted by Marjorie Matson Converse, Purdue, Extension Chairman; Carole Cathcart Siegler, Drake, Kappa province director of alumnae; Molly McKinney Schulze, Colorado, Kappa south province director of chapters; Thelma Muesing Dahlen, Minnesota, Kappa north province director of chapters; Katherine McDonald, Colorado College; Kim Braun Padulo, Riverside, chapter council adviser; and traveling consultants, Mary Sterner, Missouri, and Kimberly Schlundt, Miami (Ohio), as well as the presidents of Kappa south province chapters. Zeta Nu chapter president, Heather Bridgeman, proudly accepted the charter on behalf of her newly initiated sisters.

After enjoying a box lunch on the patio, the new Kappas and fraternity officers conducted a model chapter meeting. Following this Zeta Nu actives proudly conducted a formal pledging of the 29 young women they had pledged during formal rush this fall. Kappa smiles were everywhere as Zeta Nu actives, fraternity officers, alumnae, and Zeta Nu pledges experienced the spirit of Kappa.

Saturday evening more than 300 Kappas (actives and alumnae), families of Zeta Nu initiates, and friends gathered at the Town and Country Hotel for a lovely banquet arranged by Cynthia Davis. Toastmistress Mary Johnson welcomed everyone. Kim Gelman, president of Arizona, offered a toast to the new chapter. Heather Bridgeman UC San Diego, president graciously responded. Ms. Betty Beckett, Panhellenic Adviser from UCSD, read greetings from Mr. Randy Woodard, UCSD's Director Student Affairs, who was unable to attend. In his letter Randy officially welcomed Kappa as the fourth sorority on campus and said he knew Kappa well having had three Kappa sisters. Marian Williams welcomed the new chapter to the Fraternity and its rich heritage of sisterhood and excellence.

There were many highlights during the evening including all 75 Zeta Nus entertaining with some of their favorite Kappa songs and the presentation to Heather Bridgeman of the president's badge, gift of the San Diego Alumnae Association; presentation to Frances DeCharme of the scholarship key, gift of Betty Schellschmidt Hill, Butler, a member of the La Jolla Alumnae Association; presentation to Kathy Criste (Zeta Nu treasurer) of a special key from USC as the most outstanding senior; Kay Smith Larson and Vera Lewis Marine Spirit Award to Stacie Rowe; and presentation of a 50-year pin to Dorotha Marie Wharton, Utah.

After the traditional singing of the Banquet Song and Passing of the Light Ceremony, the evening came to a close. For Zeta Nus this was the beginning of what will be one of their richest experiences in life. Alumnae leaving the banquet were especially moved because the installation and initiation had climaxed the many years of hoping and dreaming for an active Kappa chapter in San Diego. At long last those dreams had come true with young women who definitely have that special Kappa quality.

Highlights of the 1980s:

Even before they were formally initiated and installed, Zeta Nu chapter had already begun efforts as a whole to join in the Kappa philanthropic spirit. By selling Easter Seal coupon books they were able to donate more than $1,000 to Easter Seals, a division of Children’s Hospital and Health Center in San Diego, and the sponsor of this “Safe Halloween” fundraiser. The coupon books, which had a $10 value for free food and discount savings, solf for $1 each and were a smashing success among students. These charter members, under the direction of the philanthropy chairman continued their service to Easter Seals by helping at the Easter Seals Telethon in the spring.

The Zeta Nu chapter was installed on November 23, 1985, after diligent efforts of the local alumnae groups who were eager to have a Kappa chapter in San Diego .

The Zeta Nus benefited from a Chapter Consultant, Susan Ruckman, from 1986-1988. Zeta Nu members were active in many organizations on UCSD's campus including student government, athletics, on-campus employment opportunities, and student exchange programs.

Some activities that filled the Zeta Nu calendar included theme parties, Sapphire Ball, Panhellenic Scholarship Banquet, spring fling, Greek Week, formal dances, and Parents Weekend. Sisterhood events included officer training, hold-over initiation, spring rush retreat, alumnae picnic, fall rush retreat, senior banquet, and big/little sis events, and Founders Day.

Spring quarter of 1987 the Zeta Nu chapter had the highest GPS of all Greek organizations on UCSD's campus. Scholarship activities included “study buddies.” Many members were selected for honor societies, honor roll, and and scholarship clubs.

In 1987 the Zeta Nu chapter participated in the Inter-Sorority Volleyball Tournament in Zuma Beach near Malibu, California.

Linda Schink, Washington State, a Kappa Traveling Consultant, visited the chapter in 1987. In 1988 the Order of Omega was established on UCSD's campus. This organization honored Greek women with an exceptional GPA, and many Zeta Nus became members.

Rush in 1989 welcomed 45 new pledges. The chapter was now 125 active members, the largest sorority on UCSD's campus.

In 1989 the chapter's goal was "Let Kappa Be Known." Their objectives were to develop, improve and maintain great public relations with the campus, community, and the entire chapter. In 1989 the new student center, the Price Center, opened on the UCSD campus. The facility included Associated Students offices, bookstore, meeting space, and restaurants.

Housing: The Zeta Nus became a housed chapter in 1988, when they leased an off-campus apartment that housed the officers as well as the chapter archives. Chapter gatherings were often hosted here.

Philanthropy:

Some causes that were supported by the Zeta Nus included Easter Seals telethon, Kappa alumna in need, teaching disabled children to swim, Child Abuse Prevention Foundation, volunteer hours at local businesses, San Diego Children's Hospital, and the Rose McGill Fund.

Awards:

1988 – First place for philanthropy award and honorable mention for Chapter/Adviser relations at Convention; 1989 Province Meeting – Honorable Mention awards for Chapter/Advisory Board Relations, Outstanding Achievement in GPA, and Chapter Excellence.

Highlights of the 1990s

The chapter continued their participation in campus activities and organizations. Panhellenic honored the Zeta Nus in 1991 with the Outstanding Chapter of the Year Award.

The chapter continued to host sisterhood events for actives and pledges, and these events often included alumnae and parents as well.

In 1990 the Zeta Nus mourned the loss of one of their members, Miriam Haque, who was killed in a car crash.

UCSD's Panhellenic Association approved of the expansion of sororities on the campus. Chi Omega was invited to join the system in 1991, Alpha Chi Omega was approved for 1992, and Kappa Alpha Theta was colonized on campus in 1994.

Founders Day in 1990 honored 120 years of Kappa Kappa Gamma history. Alumne and actives joined together for a brunch and celebration of our sisterhood. The Zeta Nus incorporated in new scholarship program in 1998, the Smart Apples weekly award for outstanding academic achievement.

Gina de Pallo, Kappa South Province Director of Chapters, visited the Zeta Nu chapter in 1998.

Housing: The Kappa Kondo was remodeled in 1990. Improvements were made to the kitchen, hallway, bathroom, laundry room, and dining room. By 1998, the Zeta Nu Kappas moved from the Kappa Kondo into a house located off-campus.

Philanthropy: Philanthropy continued to be a stong area of focus for the chapter. Efforts included events at Children's Museum of San Diego and supporting the United Cererbral Palsy Association.

Awards 1990 – Standards Award at Convention in Dallas, TX

Highlights of 2000-2010

Morale was high for the Zeta Nu chapter, and the members continued to strengthen their ties of sisterhood. Their focus was on organization, communication with their advisers, maintain strong archives, involvement in campus activities, and good relations among the Panhellenic members. The chapter observed three minutes of silence alongside more than 500 others on the UCSD campus to honor the victims of the September 11, 2001. There was also a candlelight vigil held on campus.

In 2004 there were approximately 20,000 undergraduates and 5,000 graduate students on the campus of UCSD. Biology, economics, political science, and engineering were some of the strongest majors on campus, and the university was structured on a quarter system.

The chapter continued to showcase its efforts on UCSD's campus through scholarship, philanthropy, and participation in athletics and other school organizations.

The chapter displayed Zeta Nu's archives at the alumnae holiday party, new member recruitment, as well as Founders Day. The chapter is committed to improving the storage of items for archival purposes, a challenge that the chapter faced when they lost their house in 2004.

The Zeta Nus hosted the 2005 Province Meeting in San Diego, and the chapter hosted a Leadership Consultant that same year.

In 2005, the Zeta Nu members participated for the first time in Kappa's Leadership Academy. In 2008, UCSD was ranked the 7th best public school institution in the nation. In 2008, there were a total of nine sororities on campus. Zeta Nu had 110 active members which made the chapter one of the largest sororities at UCSD.

In 2009, the chapter mourned the loss of one of one of their active members, Gisele Holvik. An ongoing challenge for the chapter was strengthening sisterhood. Some events that helped bring the chapter members together included a beach day, potluck dinner, movie marathons, Sapphire Sister events, group yoga class, Padres game outing, and teamwork development games. Also successful was the start of "Fleur-de-lis Friends" that matched members with similar interests to encourage getting to know members better.

Housing:

The chapter lost its house in June of 2004 due to changes in the city's ordinance of student housing. This created an opportunity for the chapter to find some different and creative ways of functioning as a chapter. They began hosting recruitment, meetings, and events on campus.

Philanthropy:

The chapter members shared their time and fundraising with book drives, prom dress drives, Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, American Cancer Society, Reading is Fundamental, and Erikson Elementary School. The most successful fundraiser for the chapter was the Kappa Kup soccer tournament. Money raised from this event went to the San Diego Center for Children. Over time, the Kappa Kup made way for the Kappa Klassic 5k run/walk, still supporting the San Diego Center for Children.

Awards: 2008 Convention –Honorable mention for Best Chapter Management and New Member Program’ first place Best Finance award; 2010 Convention – Second place for Chapter Management and Risk Management.

Highlights of 2011-2019

The chapter continued its focus on strengthening sisterhood.

Highlights of 2011

One of the highlights of 2011 for many of the members of the Zeta Nu chapter was the success of our first annual Kappa Karnival a philanthropy to raise money for the San Diego Children's Center. We were able to raise over six thousand dollars with the help of other Greek organizations on campus and the UCSD student body. But the most influential part of the Karnival for many of the girls was getting to watch the kids from the center enjoy themselves playing carnival games and eating fair foods to not only make this a great day for our chapter, but for the kids who we were raising the money for as well.

Before the Karnival we went to the SDCC to help the kids to decorate shirts that they wore when they attended the Karnival so that they stood out and could feel special. After working diligently on our sisterhood the Zeta Nu chapter won the Most Improved Chapter award of our province at the Provence meeting in April of 2011. We won the Lambda Chi Alpha philanthropy the Watermelon Bust and our girls worked really hard to compete in Sigma Kappa's Philanthropy Dancing with the Greeks. Kappa Kappa Gamma continued to raise the most money for the San Diego Breast Cancer walk out of all the other Greek Organizations for the fifth year in a row. The new members also got a chance to meet the kids from SDCC when we participated in a 5K to raise money and awareness of the center. Our new Alpha Theta pledge class has been a source of pride for the Zeta Nu chapter with girls who represent Kappa with grace and class, they are a wonderful addition to the chapter. It is our hopes that Alpha Theta continue in 2012 to explore every opportunity Kappa has to offer them. Zeta Nu was also awarded second place in Risk Management and Chapter Management at the annual Greek Awards at UCSD.

Campus: Located in scenic La Jolla just minutes from the beach, the University of California, San Diego is known as one of the top public research institutions in the nation since it's founding in 1960. There are over 23,000 undergraduates and 5,000 graduate students. UCSD is ranked the 7th best public school in the nation and 35th among the nation's top 50 universities.

Chapter: The Zeta Nu Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma is one of the nine Panhellinic sororities at UCSD. With over 100 active members, we are also one of the largest sororities on campus. The members of the Zeta Nu chapter pride themselves in maintaining good relationships with not only other chapters in the Panhellinic council, but with other school affiliated organizations as well. 2011 Province Meeting – Most Improved Chapter Award.

In 2011 the Zeta Nu Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma worked on strengthening the bonds of sisterhood by giving our girls a chance to get to know every sister through increased sisterhoods and creating programs where you got to get to know a different sister on a new level. Our sisterhood was one of the biggest things that our chapter needed to work on, with over 100 active members it can seem overwhelming to get to know every girl on a personal level. But everyone in our chapter took a more active role to be a good sister to everyone in the chapter. There were more sisterhoods, but to make every girl feel included the members were given the chance to suggest ideas to the Standards committee on what activities they would like to do for sisterhoods so that they were more enjoyable and something the chapter could look forward to. Girls would get together to have dinner together before meeting each week so that they had the chance to catch up weekly and enjoy each others company. One of the most enjoyed sisterhoods of the year was when we rented out the top floor of The Living Room, a local coffee shop, where the girls could get a coffee and snack and just hang out together, the intimate setting of the helped promote meaningful conversations between a sisters that had not gotten to spend as much time with on an individual basis before.

We also chose to continue a tradition of taking our new members to a bounce house so they could experience the fun, carefree side of Kappa, which helped everyone in the chapter see a different sides of our sisters without the stresses of being a college student. We also started the Kappa Kisses program, every two weeks you drew a name and you would do something special for that sister, from grabbing dinner before meeting , to bringing baked goods or coffee to them in the library, this gave girls another opportunity to talk to one of their sisters they hadn't gotten to know as well as before. Because every girl has been given the chance to take more of an initiative in her own sisterhood we have seen success in our attempts of strengthening our bonds of friendship through increased attendance to meeting and campus events, and in the overall morale of our chapter as a whole.

Highlights of 2012

n 2012, some of the girls of the Zeta Nu chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma were granted scholarships and given awards. Anika Yasmin was granted the Ruth Hein Scholarship. Meriah DeJoseph was given the Spirit Award and was a finalist for Outstanding Chapter Leader.

Also in 2012, The Zeta Nu chapter upheld our tradition of having monthly Sisterhood events. We had our Brandy Melville sisterhood event where we got to shop together at Brandy Melville, a local store that all the girls in our chapter enjoy. We shopped together, as a chapter, and enjoyed refreshments as well. Shopping was successful because getting a second opinion from a sister is always helpful. Many girls suggested that we make the Brandy Melville sisterhood event a yearly tradition.

Another sisterhood event we had was the Zumba/yoga sisterhood where we had an instructor come and teach us a private class. Watching everyone shake their booties was a great way to start the morning, not to mention healthy. Our third sisterhood was about social justice. We had an instructor come and teach us about diversity and discrimination. The girls thought that this was a unique sisterhood. We enjoyed that it wasn't like our usual sisterhoods which bonds us through fun and games, but that this sisterhood bonded us through something more serious.

An obvious highlight for the year of 2012 was receiving our new member class. The active members ran a very successful recruitment that not only resulted in an even more bonded active class, but also an extraordinary new member class. Some of the highlights of our new member program was the New Member Sleepover and the Big Little Reveal. In the New Member Sleepover, the new members got a chance to bond with one another and get to know one another more better. Secrets were shared, new friendships were made, and no sleep was had. In the days leading up to the Big Little Reveal, the new members were given hints about who their bigs were. Some of the hints were given just to throw the new members off, and some of the hints were actually accurate. The Bigs also sent presents to their Littles along with the hints. Some of the presents included gift baskets with Kappa Kappa Gamma tanktops from the past, and even serenades from fraternities.

Another highlight of the year 2012 was our second annual Kappa Karnival which raised about $4,500. The kids from our chapter philanthropy, San Diego Children's Center, came to enjoy carnival games and activities, such as the pie toss, tye-dye, tug-o-war, and the bounce house. The weather was beautiful and every memeber of our chapter came together to help. On one of the days leading up to Kappa Karnival, we went and tye-dyed the shirts of the kids at SDCC, we brought all the supplies to help them make shirts. After we were finished, we got to play with them on the playground for a few hours. We were definitely more tired than they were.

We also participated in another chapter's philanthropy event, called the Delta Idol, which is like American Idol. Kappas got to show off their true talents, and in the end the Zeta Nu chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma actually ended up winning the philanthropy event. Almost our whole chapter came out to see a few of our ladies who decided to display their wonderful singing talent.

We also participated in the Breast Cancer Walk with our new member class. Not only did this walk serve as a philanthropy event, but it also was a good way for the older members and the newer members to bond. Along with the Breast Cancer Walk, there was an SDCC walk that raised money for the kids at the organization. These walks were local events that the Zeta Nu chapter participated in.

Some of our chapter goals this year is improving how frequently we have our sisterhoods. Some of the girls feel that we can increase the amount of sisterhoods we have yearly. Another goal that we as a chapter have is improving our relations with other chapters on campus by making a stronger appearance to their philanthropies and other campus events. Finally, we would like to work harder on donating more funds to the national Kappa foundation. In 2012, one of Zeta Nu's challenges was working on strengthening the bonds of sisterhood. We overcame this challenge by giving our girls a chance to get to know every sister through increased sisterhoods and bonding activities. and creating programs where you got to get to know a different sister on a new level.

With over 100 active members it can seem overwhelming to get to know every girl on a personal level, which is why strenghtenining our sisterhood bonds was one of the biggest things we needed to work on. So, everyone in our chapter took a more active role to be a good sister. To ensure that every girl would feel included, the members were given the chance to suggest ideas to the Standards committee on what activites they would like to do for sisterhoods so that they were more enjoyable and something the chapter could look forward to. Because every girl has been given the chance to take more of an initiative in her own sisterhood we have seen success in our attempts of strengthening our bonds of friendship through increased attendance to meeting and campus events, and in the overall morale of our chapter as a whole.

Highlights of 2013

In 2013, during our spring quarter, we, as a chapter, moved from 6th place to 3rd place out of the nine (now ten) sororities for our overall academic GPA. One of our members, Colleen Bole, received the Ruth Wortmann Hein Scholarship at our Founder’s day Brunch this year. In terms of Panhellenic representation, we extend our gratitude for Gurleen Virk, a member of Panhellenic executive board from Fall Quarter of 2012 to Spring Quarter of 2013 and Shi Eckerman, a member of Junior Panhellenic serving for the same term and our support and congratulations to Sydney Johnson, a member of Panhellenic’s executive board currently and Jessica Chang and Claire Genesy, members on Junior Panhellenic currently as well.

The Zeta Nu chapter upheld our tradition of hosting monthly sisterhoods. We had such sisterhoods as beach sisterhoods as well as pumpkin carving. Our Vice President of Standards has set goals concerning an increase in the quantity and quality of sisterhoods. She wants to host sisterhoods that will help our chapter work well together and so we are looking forward to our next sisterhood where the theme is team building. A highlight of the year was receiving our new pledge class and initiating them. We had a pledge class of about 60 girls and we are proud to have added 58 new members to our chapter this year. In October and November, we transitioned the girls through our sapphire program where girls were able to meet and interact with actives and look for potential Bigs. Once the big/little selection process was done, we had our big/little reveal week. Throughout the week, the new Bigs gave hints to their Littles until reveal day came where the Bigs presented their Littles with presents and welcomed them into their families.

Apart from facilitating loving relationships between actives and new members, we strengthened the bonds between members of the newest pledge class. We had a new member sleepover that allowed for the girls to get to understand and appreciate one another on a deeper level. The main focus of these months was to strengthen the bond between sisters and emphasize the values that Kappa Kappa Gamma holds dear. The women of Kappa Kappa Gamma also dedicated themselves not only to our philanthropy but to others as well. We put on our “Kappa Karnival” which raises funds for the Kappa foundation and for the San Diego Children’s Center. “Kappa Karnival” raised $4500. We also participated in the San Diego Children’s Center Walk and the local Breast Cancer walk.

The women of Kappa Kappa Gamma teamed up with the men of Sigma Nu to make sandwiches for the local homeless shelter; this is an event we repeat throughout the year. We supported other chapters in Panhellenic by participating in Tri Delta’s philanthropy “Delta Idol”, Kappa Alpha Theta’s philanthropy “Haunted Casa” and Alpha Epsilon Phi’s philanthropy “A Phine Affair”. We also supported our fraternities in IFC on campus by participating in Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s powderpuff, Sigma Nu’s can drive, and Lambda Chi’s can drive.

Our chapter goals for this year are to have empowering themes for our sisterhoods and higher participation for panhellenic events (such as excel- a leadership conference on campus). We’ve worked towards solving these goals by scheduling our next sisterhood with the theme “teambuilding.” We also improved our attendance at excel and hopefully future events by emphasizing the important of such events and creating a new organization system devised of three separate groups that are scheduled for certain events. Because every girl has been given the chance to take more of an initiative in her own sisterhood and in Panhellenic as a whole, we’ve seen success in our attempts of strengthening our bonds of friendship through increased attendance to events and in the overall moral of our chapter as a whole.

Located in scenic La Jolla just minutes away from the beach, the University of California, San Diego is known as one of the top public research institutions in the nation since its founding in 1960. There are over 23,000 undergraduates and 5,000 graduate students. UCSD is ranked the 7th best public school in the nation and 35th among the nation’s top 50 universities. The Zeta Nu Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma is one of the ten Panhellenic sororities at UCSD. With over 100 active members, we are also one of the largest sororities on campus. The members of the Zeta Nu chapter pride themselves in maintaining good relationships with not only the other chapters in the Panhellenic council but with other school affiliated organizations as well. We always strive to support and represent within our chapter and within Panhellenic as a whole. We welcomed a new sorority on our campus recently, Alpha Omicron Pi. They were voted onto campus during Spring Quarter of 2013 and officially started recruitment in December 2013. We are looking forward to working with Alpha Omicron Pi and continuing to work with the rest of Panhellenic.

Highlights of 2014

2014 has proven to be quite an eventful and successful year for the Zeta Nu chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma at UC San Diego. Our chapter was represented on the Panhellenic council through Claire Genesey, Jessica Chang, and Tanya Khawaja. Furthermore, we extend our support and congratulations to Emma Tillfors and Claire Genesy for gaining positions as VP New Member Outreach and VP Service, respectively, on the Panhellenic executive board for 2015.

For scholarship, our chapter ranked 6th out of 10 sororities for our overall academic GPA in Spring 2014, but made it to the 1st ranked in Fall 2014. Our current Vice President of Academics, Andie Romero, has set goals and multiple plans to continue our academic excellence. Such goals include Kappa study hours, Kappa Cocoa Kram, GPA wars with the gentlemen of Sigma Nu, and providing different studying strategies, such as the "Quarter at a Glance" planner, to our chapter.

In terms of traditions, the Zeta Nu chapter upheld the tradition of hosting monthly sisterhoods. For instance, in February 2014, we had an ice skating sisterhood and in March, our Vice President of Standards hosted an Ice Cream Sundae Study Break in the midst of finals as a wonderful stress relief to grab a treat with other sisters. Our VPS also set up a kick-boxing sisterhood as well during the Spring quarter. The new VPS, Emily Schmidt, has set new goals for this upcoming year to strengthen our sisterhood even more and we eagerly look forward to the events, such as a yoga sisterhood and t-shirt tye-dying sisterhood that she has planned. Other traditions we had last year were “Polished Kappa,” “Presence Presents,” and “Officer of the Week.” For Polished Kappa, the VPS would give nail polish to girls that did something noteworthy, for Presence Presents the Recording Secretary would raffle off gift cards to girls who showed up to meeting, for Officer of the Week the President would reward an officer with a small gift for doing an outstanding job with her position. The list of traditions continues with “Smart Apples” which is a gift card presented by the VPAE to a member who got a good grade on her midterm.

The Zeta Nu philanthropic involvement thrived in 2014 with multiple events and activities. We started the year volunteering at an All American Girl Talent Show where we helped young girls prepare for their catwalk on the runway put on by American Girl, which is a company that makes life-like dolls. The women of our chapter also teamed up with a fraternity on campus to make sandwiches for the San Diego Homeless Charter in May. We also participated in the Breast Cancer Walk in November with the gentlemen of Tau Kappa Epsilon in downtown San Diego where the entire chapter, including the new members, showed up strong and supportive. Other philanthropies that the ladies of the Zeta Nu chapter participated in included Tri Delta's "Delta Idol", Alpha Epsilon Phi's "A Phine Affair," and Sigma Kappa's "Sigma Kappa Best Dance Crew." Among various external philanthropic involvements, we held our biggest philanthropic event known as Kappa Karnival in April. This event is hosted to raise money and awareness for the San Diego Youth Center (a center for homeless and at-risk children and families). For Kappa Karnival, fraternities and sororities set up unique booths and games free of charge for the kids of the youth center and their families, which we funded to shuttle out to our event. The great aspect of Kappa Karnival was that it was not just open to Greek Life, but also to students on campus leading to over 500 guests in attendance. We also utilized Money Wars and asked for donations and sponsors leading up to the event to donate a portion to the Youth Center and the rest to the Kappa Foundation. This turned out to be our most successful event thus far raising over $15,000. Our philanthropy also won UCSD Greek Life's award of Philanthropy of the Year and gained notable recognition at Convention.

Along with the many events throughout the year, some special events were held that further strengthened and empowered the bonds between our women. A Kappa trainer visited the chapter in April and spoke to us about unity, leadership, and teamwork. The Founder's Day Brunch was also a memorable experience hosted on the UCSD campus where Zeta Nu members were able to meet with alumni and other Kappa members from the University of San Diego. Leading up to recruitment, Kappa showed their enthusiasm and sisterhood pride by attending Triton Day and Meet the Beach, events hosted by UCSD, to pass out Go Greek flyers and answer any questions that any potential new members had about the Greek system or specifically, Kappa Kappa Gamma.

In Fall 2014, we were proud to receive our new Alpha Lambda pledge class with 43 new members. In October and November, we transitioned the ladies through our Sapphire program where girls were able to meet and interact with actives while looking for potential Bigs. Then we had our Big/Little reveal at the end of a week-long process in which Bigs gave their Littles presents and other treats to welcome them into their families. Soon after Big/Little reveal, each new member was presented with a flower by their Big in front of the chapter and guests at our first formal, "Presents," in mid November. New members first began to strengthen their bond through a new member sleepover that allowed the girls to get to know one another on a deeper, more personal level. Other events that brought new members closer to the actives and other new members in Kappa included Blue Light where Bigs presented a gift to their little as the little gave back her new member pin to the chapter. There was also another sleepover, Fireside, which allowed the new members to bond once more before they were officially initiated.

Before initiation, the new members also experienced Inspiration Week where they, for example, interacted with the Seniors at the Senior Sunset and learned about their experiences and love for the chapter throughout their years being in it. Through this process, the new Alpha Lambda pledge class was welcomed with much enthusiasm and excitement.

In the past year, our chapter had created a list of goals that included accountability, consistency with following bylaws, and transparency between chapter council and the rest of the chapter. We strived to achieve all goals in 2014 by being proactive members, showing up promptly to events, and showing up strong them as well to show our sense of accountability. Consistency was met with the constant help and supervision of advisers along with presentations in the beginning of the year from the Vice President of Standards, Vice President of Academics, Risk, and Publicity chairs where the chapter was reminded and notified of bylaws, rules, and other standards to which they are required to uphold as members of the chapter. Transparency was also managed through surveys to allow every individual's voice to be heard by chapter council and feedback to see what needed to be strengthened or improved. This year, we are striving even more to uphold these goals as well as additional goals that we had set up and agreed upon as a whole chapter. We look forward to improving and strengthening the Zeta Nu chapter at UC San Diego.

Finally, the 2014 year ended with a tremendous pinnacle as Kappa Kappa Gamma received the Chapter of the Year award from Greek Life UCSD at the annual Greek Awards Convention on campus. Through the strength of the sisterhood, campus involvement, philanthropy, leadership, scholarship, and other attributes the Zeta Nu chapter proudly received this award in front of the entire Greek community. Furthermore, our advisor Kristen Fogle received the award for Advisor of the Year, and our successful philanthropy was rewarded Philanthropy of the Year. Also, our own sister and former Philanthropy Chair, Priscilla Phan, received an incredible award as the Outstanding Chapter Leader because of her contributions to Kappa Karnival and the Zeta Nu chapter. We are so proud and honored to have received so many prestigious awards for the efforts, commitment, and dedication from the ladies during 2014. We hope to be just as successful, if not more, this upcoming year and look forward to what 2015 has in store.

Located in scenic La Jolla just minutes away from the beach, the University of California, San Diego is known as one of the top public research institutions in the nation since its founding in 1960. With over 25,000 undergraduates and 5,000 graduate students, UCSD is ranked the 8th best public university in the country and 37th best overall among the nation's top 50 universities. The Zeta Nu chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma is one of the ten Panhellenic sororities at UCSD. With over 100 active members, we are also one of the largest sororities on campus. The members of the Zeta Nu chapter pride themselves in maintaining good relationships with not only the other chapters in the Panhellenic council but with other campus-wide organizations as well. We always strive to exemplify and represent the motto of Kappa within our chapter, Panhellenic community, and around campus.

UCSD does not allow any housing for Greek life. We use University owned facilities.

Highlights of 2015

2015 has been an eventful and exciting year for the Zeta Nu chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma at UC San Diego. Our chapter was represented on the Panhellenic council through Claire Genesy, Vice President of Service, and Emma Tillfors, Vice President of New Member Outreach. Furthermore, we are thrilled to announce that Claire Genesy has been elected for Panhellenic President and Tori Estrada-Odama for Vice President of Athletics. Our chapter could not be more proud for these women and all they will accomplish as leaders and representatives of the greater Panhellenic community.

For scholarship, our chapter ranked first (1 out of 11) amongst sororities for our overall academic GPA in Fall of 2015. Our current Vice President of Academics, Andriana Romero, has reached many goals and plans that were set in 2014 to raise our ranking and promote academic excellence. Such achieved goals include extra Kappa study hours, GPA wars with the gentlemen of Sigma Nu, and providing different studying strategies such as the "Quarter at a Glance" planner to our chapter. She has also hosted “Kappa Kocoa and Kram" where we hold study hours by reserving rooms on campus during finals weeks and, as an extra treat, she brings donuts and coffee!

When it comes to traditions, the Zeta Nu chapter prides herself upon hosting sisterhoods. For instance, in late January 2015 we had a Brandy Melville sisterhood where all our members shopped with a great discount at the clothing store. Following, we had a yoga sisterhood at Core Power Yoga in La Jolla. In spring, our President Niaz bought the chapter dinner and conducted a sisterhood during meeting which included decorating cookies and a “walk the line” activity which asked members to step forward if, for example, they “had a shoulder to cry on during a rough patch” or “laughed so hard with a sister that she could barely breathe.” This Fall, we kick started recruitment training and workshops with a mini-golfing sisterhood and ended recruitment with our new members at Belmont Park, a small amusement park in San Diego. It was a great day to see everyone come together and welcome the new members before joining the Alumnae Association in a pasta bar and potluck all set up by our lovely Chapter Council Advisor, Kelley Purkey-Vacheron. Within the past few week, we had a Kappa Trainer visit us thanks to the generous contribution of the Kappa Foundation where we learned valuable lessons about sisterhood, time-management, and team work. Through the many sisterhoods, we feel that our chapter has grown closer and closer, and we look forward to all the sisterhoods to come planned by our newly elected VPS, Oriane Ezedine.

The Zeta Nu philanthropic involvement thrived in 2015 with multiple events and activities. We started the year by hosting our annual book drive, Reading is Key, in support of Reading is Fundamental. Our chapter raised over 2000 books and we were lucky enough to distribute them to a local elementary school. Not only were we able to read the books to the kids at the elementary school, but we also played games and made bookmarks too! Following our successful book drive came our annual philanthropy, Kappa Karnival. This event strives to raise money and awareness for the San Diego Youth Services, a center for homeless, at-risk, and abused children, by holding a carnival event where fraternities and sororities set up booths and games for the kids of the youth center as well as students on campus to enjoy. We also utilized Money Wars and asked for donations and sponsorships leading up to the event to be donated to the Youth Center. This ended up being our most successful event and we surpassed our goals by raising over $19,000 compared to $15,000 raised last year, breaking records for philanthropic endeavors at UCSD. The women of our chapter also continued to team up with a fraternity on campus to make pb&j sandwiches for the San Diego Homeless Charter once every quarter as well as participate in the greek wide event of making pj&j sandwhiches for the organization Urban Angels in spring quarter. In Fall, our chapter teamed up with an IFC and MGC fraternity to raise awareness for the “B+ Foundation.” This foundation is all about kids helping kids fight cancer and we could not be more proud to have participated in the fight. Other philanthropies our chapter participated in include Lambda Chi Alpha’s watermelon bust, Sigma Chi’s Derby Days, and Kappa Alpha Theta’s Kat at Bat. We can proudly say that we participated in over 23 philanthropies hosted by other chapters. The Zeta Nu chapter continually loves to participate and support all philanthropic events equally by showing up strong and spreading awareness for the respective philanthropic endeavors.

Along with the many events throughout the year, some special events were held that further strengthened and empowered Kappa Kappa Gamma at UC San Diego. As mentioned, a Kappa trainer visited the chapter in mid-November and spoke to us about unity, leadership, and teamwork that proved to be beneficial and helpful to the entire chapter. The Founder's Day Brunch was a memorable experience where Zeta Nu members were able to meet with alumnae and other current members in a Kappa-filled celebration. Our sister Emily Schmidt was even awarded the Ruth Hein Memorial Scholarship and Sydney Gillen was awarded the Spirit bowl. Leading up to recruitment, we showed our enthusiasm, sisterhood, and school pride as we attended Triton Day, Transfer Triton Day and Meet the Beach, events hosted by UCSD to pass out Go Greek flyers and answer any questions that potential new members have about going Greek. We really focused relaying to the potential new members not just what joining Kappa meant for us, but also what joining the greater Panhellenic community meant. This past fall, we were proud to receive our new Alpha Mu pledge class with 44 new members. In October and November, we transitioned the ladies through our sapphire program and New Member Programming. The Sapphire Program focused on allowing girls to meet and interact with actives while looking for potential Bigs. The New Member Programming focused on integrating the new members into the chapter and panhellenic community with Sexual Assault presentations, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion presentations, a “walk the line” activity in addition to all of the presentations guided by headquarters. In our endeavors of being an inclusive chapter, we really emphasized to the new members that they did not just join Kappa, but also a greater community. We later had our big little reveal in which Bigs gave their Littles presents and other treats to welcome them into their families. Each member in the new pledge class was presented with a flower by their Big in front of the chapter and guests at our first formal, "Presents", in mid November. New members strengthened their bonds through a new member sleepover that allowed the girls to get to know one another on a deeper, more personal level. The new members are to be initiated early January right after Winter break with a week long process. The week starts with our first event and tradition, Blue Light. This night, Bigs present to their Littles a small gift and a nice poem or small speech about how excited they are for their little to be initiated. Then, throughout the week, actives in the chapter will be meeting up and presenting an inspirational letter to at least two new members in order to show the deeper significance of being in Kappa as well as excited them in becoming initiated members. Then the ending of I-week and beginning of initiation is sparked with the Fireside ceremony leading into another sleepover and then the initiation ceremony. Through this process, the new Alpha Mu pledge class will be officially welcomed with much enthusiasm and excitement.

In the past year, our chapter had decided to keep the list of goals from the previous year that included accountability, consistency with following bylaws and transparency between chapter council and the rest of the chapter. We strived to achieve all goals in 2015 by being proactive members, showing up promptly and strong to most events which proved successful at Kappa Karnival and through campus involvement. Bylaws were up kept through presentations in the beginning of the year from the Vice President of Standards, Vice President of Academics, Risk, and Publicity where the chapter was reminded and notified of bylaws, rules, and other standards to which we keep our chapter accountable to. Transparency was also managed through different surveys to allow every individual's voice to be heard by chapter council and feedback to see what needed to be strengthened or improved. Transparency was also promoted through open forums where women were able to openly speak about their feelings or ask questions, as well as silent forums where women were asked to write opinions on a note card. We recently held an open forum about recruitment to get valuable feedback and suggestions from the chapter. This year, we are striving even more to uphold these goals as well as additional goals that we had set up and agreed upon as a whole chapter.

Finally, the 2015 year ended as Kappa won the ISS football championship amongst all the sororities. This is the first time in our history and we are thrilled for more sports opportunities in the future. This seems to point Kappa towards more awards this year such as Sports Banner. A tremendous pinnacle in 2014 was when Kappa Kappa Gamma received the Chapter of the Year award at the annual Greek Awards Convention on campus. Our successful philanthropy also resulted in the Philanthropy of the Year award. Our former CCA, Kristen Fogle, also received the Community Advisor of the Year award. Lastly, our Philanthropy Chairperson, Priscilla Phan, won the Outstanding Chapter Leader Award. We strive to achieve the same goals this year as seen in our great success through the football championship, our record breaking Kappa Karnival, and our amazing educational programming. Thus, we hope to be just as successful, if not more, this upcoming year and look forward to what 2016 has in store for the Zeta Nu chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma.

Located in scenic La Jolla just minutes away from the beach, the University of California, San Diego is known as one of the top public research institutions in the nation since its founding in 1960. With over 25,000 undergraduates and 5,000 graduate students, UCSD is ranked the 8th best public university in the country and 37th best overall among the nation's top 50 universities. The Zeta Nu chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma is one of the eleven Panhellenic sororities at UCSD. With over 120 active members, we are also one of the largest sororities on campus. The members of the Zeta Nu chapter pride themselves in maintaining good relationships with not only the other chapter in the Panhellenic council but with other school affiliated organizations as well. We always strive to support and represent within our chapter, Panhellenic, and within the campus as a whole. Recent changes include the addition of Alpha Phi, a sorority that will be joining the UCSD Greek community in the winter. We look forward to welcoming this sorority and the many attributes they will bring to this campus.

Chapter Philanthropy:

What organization(s) has your chapter historically/traditionally raised money for, or donated hours to, in your community?

Our chapter continually supports and donates to the San Diego Youth Services and Kappa Foundation. We host Kappa Karnival in order to donate to this center that helps homeless and at risk youths in the San Diego area. We also pair up with a local elementary school for our Reading is Key event in which we donate books and interact with the children by reading, playing, and crafting with them. We also participate in the Homeless Charter with other fraternities and sororities to make sandwiches for the homeless in our community. This upcoming Spring, we are proud to announce that we will be hosting GIRLS Academy.

Why did your chapter choose this organization(s) to support?

We chose these organizations because they are directly related to the community that we are a part of in San Diego. Most importantly, it gives our chapter the opportunity to interact with the children of the center and make a bigger impact than just writing a check. It allows us to create lasting relationships with the centers and foundations as well as with the victims that are a part of it. By having and fostering this relationship, it motivates our chapter to work harder to get the best possible outcome. It is such a privilege and an incredible opportunity to meet those we help. Also, there is an added bonus of being able to spread youth literacy amongst the San Diego Youth Services children as well. We also give them a book in their goody bags when they attend Kappa Karnival and we are planning to set up a tutoring program where women in the chapter visit the SDYS once a month to read to the children. We will continue to work with these organizations and look forward to what 2016 will bring.

Highlights of 2016

This past year at UCSD's Greek awards, we won Panhellenic President of the Year, and Outstanding Panhellenic Chapter of the Year. Also, we won Philanthropy of the Year for all our hard work put into Kappa Karnival! We are very proud of our members and our chapter, and honored to be recognized by our Greek community. At Kappa Convention, we also won the Panhellenic Award for having such positive panhellenic contact in our Greek community, and we got honorable mention for our academic excellence and our recruitment. This past year, some of our chapter goals were to have a better understanding of our chapter's rituals and traditions, as well as utilize our committees for different officer's positions. We accomplished those goals this year by starting "Marshal-mellow of the Week," where our Marshal would have a fun quiz or fact about our chapter's history. It was a great way to engage the members of our chapter and get them excited about all of Kappa's history. We also engaged in several ritual reviews throughout the year to better familiarize ourselves with Kappas traditions. Our chapter council officers reached out to their committees and delegated tasks to the members of each group, which made event planning and organizing much smoother. Each committee would meet one a week or once a month to discuss the issues, deadlines, and tasks they needed to complete. Additionally, one of our members, Andrea, had the opportunity to work on Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign over the summer in Ohio. She applied her knowledge and experience in Political Science to pursue something she is very passionate about. We are very proud of her for following her dreams and aspirations at a national level!

Overall, it was a very successful year for our chapter and we are looking forward to another year of memories and achievements!

University of California, San Diego is an incredibly diverse school, with students from all over the world involved in different campus wide organizations. Recently, our campus has been over admitting students and the freshman classes are starting to get much bigger. We have women in our chapter involved in residential life, serving as resident assistants that help those new students get acclimated to college life. We also have women serving as orientation leaders, who guide freshman through a seminar, teaching new students everything they need to know about our ever growing university. Since our school is one of the lead public research universities in the country, and is making more and more discoveries through research and experimentation, we have numerous Kappas involved involved in research labs on campus, working side by side with professors who are conducting studies in all areas of math, science, social science, and the arts and humanities. For the past two years, Kappa has also participated in the Martin Luther King Jr. Parade held in downtown San Diego. Our chapter is proud to march with other members of our university and our community to show our support and appreciation.

Our chapter has been historically known for supporting San Diego Youth Services, which is a center in San Diego that helps at risk youth by providing them with food, shelter, and educational services. Our chapter pairs with SDYS for Reading is Key, as well as our philanthropy Kappa Karnival. For Reading is Key, the women of our chapter took a day trip to SDYS, and donated books to the children. We spent the day reading and writing with the kids at the center, helping to get them excited about their future and education. For Kappa Karnival, we invited the families from SDYS to our campus to participate in a stress-free day of fun for the kids, including carnival games, face painting, and free food provided by Kappa Kappa Gamma and the Greek community as a whole at UCSD. A large portion of the money we raised from Kappa Karnival went to benefit the children of SDYS. This year, we also held our first annual GIRLS Academy, and we partnered with the Preuss School at UCSD. The Preuss school is a middle school for children of low-income families, who are planning to be the first members of their family to go to college. We spent an amazing weekend with the girls of Preuss, and did hands on work with the young girls covering an array of different topics, such as beauty, self confidence, and education. The women of our chapter were moved by the growth they witnessed in those girls that weekend, and we are looking forward to our next successful GIRLS Academy experience.

Our chapter chose to support SDYS in order to help promote youth literacy for kids who don’t always have the opportunities or resources to better their education. Youth literacy is a cause that is very important to our chapter and our organization as a whole. We were honored to partner with Preuss Acadamy as well, since their school is right on our university's campus. We value education and strive to inspire others to achieve any goals they may have, especially the young ladies of Preuss.

Our chapter meets on campus, either in classrooms or the main recreational center on our campus. We usually meet in a large conference style room in UCSD's Rec Center, called Rimac. The Green Room is very accommodating, providing eighty plus chairs for our chapter's use, as well as a projector and screen to show the powerpoint slides our chapter council uses to present important information to the rest of our chapter.

Highlights of 2017

Zeta Nu Chapter, UCSD

2016-2017 have been eventful and successful years for the Zeta Nu chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma at UC San Diego. Our chapter was represented on the Panhellenic council through our very own Sydney Gillen as PHC President, and both Dylan Hutson and Karsyn Stewart on Junior Panhellenic Council. Dylan and our sister Erin Caldwell also served the PHC community as being Rho Gammas during the recruitment process. We are so thrilled that Kappa Kappa Gamma has women who are able to inspire not only those in our chapter, but also those in the greater UCSD community. We have extended our chapter values and have bettered not only our sisters, but our fellow members of Panhellenic as a whole.

For scholarship, our chapter ranked 8th amongst sororities for our overall academic GPA of a 3.278 in the Spring of 2017. Our current Vice President of Academics, Dylan Hutson, has reached many goals and plans that were set in 2016 to raise our academic improvement and promote academic excellence. Such achieved goals include extra Kappa study hours administered with both men and women in other chapters at UCSD. She provided different studying strategies such as the "Quarter at a Glance" planner to our chapter. Dylan also planned fun activities such as Smart Apples in which each chapter member wrote down an academic accomplishment on a piece of paper, she put the papers in a box, a paper was randomly selected, and the winner won a Starbucks gift card. This gave incentive to the whole chapter to achieve academic accomplishments with the hopes of getting a generous prize. Dylan also rented out study rooms and provided snacks and coffee for the chapter during finals week which was extremely helpful and served as a silver lining during a very difficult week.

In terms of traditions, the Zeta Nu chapter prides herself upon hosting sisterhoods which strengthen the bonds between the lovely ladies of our chapter. For instance, in June of 2017 we had a Drive-In Movie sisterhood where all our members went to a local Drive-In to watch the movie Wonderwoman. Not only did we get to bond with our sisters, but we also watched a movie meant to empower women to be the strongest and best they can be. We laughed, cried, and ate popcorn together which made for a simply perfect night. During the Fall of 2017 we had a very fun bid day during which we held a picnic in the park which overlooked the always beautiful city of San Diego. Here we were able to get to know the new pledge class and welcome them into our chapter with open arms. We also had a pumpkin patch sisterhood in older to get into the Autumn spirit. We picked pumpkins, took photos, and had such a fun welcome back activity that allowed us all to catch up and get to know the new pledge class. We also spent countless hours together during Recruitment Workshops and throughout the two weeks we prepared for recruitment and we became closer than ever, which really emphasized our extremely strong sisterhood. Through the many sisterhoods, we feel that our chapter has grown closer and closer, and we look forward to all the sisterhoods to come planned by our newly elected House Chairman, Athena Doshi.

The Zeta Nu philanthropic involvement thrived in 2017 with multiple events and activities due to our Philanthropy Chair, Shreya Sunkara. We started the year by making literacy bags that contained reading materials, toiletry items, and other various objects for local homeless mothers within the San Diego community. This was the first year we made the Reading Bags and it was a huge success. Following our successful Reading Bag campaign came our first annual Grabba Grabba Donut fundraiser. Kappas set up a booth on our campus and sold Krispy Kreme donuts to our fellow UCSD students. With this money we made goody bags with school supplies and books which we gave to local homeless youth during our Reading is Key event. For the biggest event of the year we had our annual Kappa Karnival philanthropy. This event strives to raise money and awareness for the Boys and Girls Club of San Diego, a center for homeless, at-risk, and abused children, by holding a carnival event where fraternities and sororities set up booths and games for the kids of the youth center as well as students on campus to enjoy. We also utilized Money Wars and asked for donations and sponsorships leading up to the event to be donated to the Youth Center. This ended up being one of our most successful events and we raised a substantial amount of money while giving the children a day full of fun and play. The women of our chapter also continued to team up with a fraternity on campus to make pb&j sandwiches for the San Diego Homeless Charter. Other philanthropies our chapter participated in include Lamda Chi Alpha’s watermelon bust, Sigma Chi’s Derby Days, and Kappa Alpha Theta’s Kat at Bat. We can proudly say that we participated in over 20 philanthropies hosted by other chapters. The Zeta Nu chapter continually loves to participate and support all philanthropic events equally by showing up strong and spreading awareness for the respective philanthropic endeavors. We cannot wait for all of the exciting philanthropic achievements to come spearheaded by our new Philanthropy Chair, Caroline Habib. Lastly, we held another GIRLS Academy ran by Erin Caldwell. We are one of the only chapters nationwide to continuously hold a GIRLS Academy and we could not be more proud. It was a fantastic weekend filled with inspirational panel speakers, workshops filled with empowering these young girls, and very many fun activities. We cannot wait to hold yet another GIRLS Academy this upcoming year.

Zeta Nu (UCSD) GIRLS Academy 2017

Along with the many events throughout the year, some special events were held that further strengthened and empowered Kappa Kappa Gamma at UC San Diego. Throughout the year we had Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion presentations given by our very own Hannah Cho and Sarah Phillips. These gave us insight on how to be competent and inclusive women in our own community as well as in the outer world. The Founder's Day Brunch was a memorable experience where Zeta Nu members were able to meet with alumnae and other current members at the University of San Diego in a Kappa-filled celebration. Our sister Camille Casilang was awarded the Spirit Bowl which is a great honor. Nobody deserved it more than she did this year as she embodies every ideal that a Kappa should have. Leading up to recruitment, we showed our enthusiasm, sisterhood, and school pride as we attended Triton Day, Transfer Triton Day and Meet the Beach, events hosted by UCSD to pass out Go Greek flyers and answer any questions that potential new members have about going Greek. Other events that we had a strong presence at were Summerfest and Fall Ya’ll which are beginning of the year festivities that the entire campus gets to participate in as well. At these events we were able to portray how close of a bond Kappas have and how much we enjoy spending time with one another. We really focused relaying to the potential new members not just what joining Kappa meant for us, but also what joining the greater Panhellenic community meant.

This past fall, we were proud to receive our new Alpha Xi pledge class with very impressive number of 43 new members. In October and November, we transitioned the ladies through our sapphire program and New Member Programming. The Sapphire Program focused on allowing girls to meet and interact with actives while looking for potential Bigs. The New Member Programmings focused on integrating the new members into the chapter and Panhellenic community with Sexual Assault presentations, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion presentations, a “walk the line” activity in addition to all of the presentations guided by headquarters. These were led by our New Member Chairman Francesca Vecere and her assistant, Stefi Guillen. In our endeavors of being an inclusive chapter, we really emphasized to the new members that they did not just join Kappa, but also a greater community. We later had our big little reveal. This included a week leading up to the big event in which Bigs secretly surprised their Littles with gifts, room decorations, and nice letters. When the big night finally came Bigs gave their Littles presents and other treats to welcome them into their families. Each member in the new pledge class was presented with a flower by their Big in front of the chapter and guests at our first formal, "Presents", in mid November. New members strengthened their bonds through a new member sleepover that allowed the girls to get to know one another on a deeper, more personal level which was a pivotal moment in their transition into Kappa Kappa Gamma. The new members are to be initiated in mid January right after Winter break with a week long process. The week starts with our first event and tradition, Blue Light. This night, Bigs present to their Littles a small gift and a nice poem or small speech about how excited they are for their little to be initiated. Then, throughout the week, actives in the chapter will be meeting up and presenting an inspirational letter to at least two new members in order to show the deeper significance of being in Kappa as well as excited them in becoming initiated members. Then the ending of I-week and beginning of initiation is sparked with the Fireside ceremony leading into another sleepover and then the initiation ceremony. Through this process, the new Alpha Mu pledge class will be officially welcomed with much enthusiasm and excitement.

UC San Diego, Zeta Nu Chapter

In the past year, our chapter had decided to keep the list of goals from the previous year and we strived to achieve all goals in 2017 by being proactive members, showing up promptly and strong to most events which proved successful at Kappa Karnival and through campus involvement. Our Standards Chairman, Jasmine Leja conducted a program in which she presented a Standing Rule and Bylaw of the Week. This allowed the chapter to really see the sometimes obscure rules that our sorority enforces and it subdued any confusion there may be regarding what is expected of the members of this chapter. Transparency was also promoted through open forums where women were able to openly speak about their feelings or ask questions. This year, we are striving even more to uphold chapter-wide goals through the inclusion of the new pledge class so that there is a smooth and seamless transition into creating a very cohesive and team-oriented chapter. We cannot wait to achieve so much more in the upcoming year and we know that new goals will be met in order to better the chapter.

Finally, the year 2017 proved that Kappa can compete with the best as we dominated in ISS sports with many victories as well as amazing fan participation. We are thrilled for more sports opportunities in the future and we know that winning the Sports Banner is in the near future. A tremendous pinnacle in 2017 was when Kappa Kappa Gamma received the Outstanding Chapter of the Year award at the annual Greek Awards Convention on campus. We strive to achieve the same goals this year as seen in our great success through athletic excellence, our incredibly successful Kappa Karnival, and our amazing educational programming. Thus, we hope to be just as successful, if not more, this upcoming year and look forward to what 2018-2019 has in store for the Zeta Nu chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma.

Located in scenic La Jolla just minutes away from the beach, the University of California, San Diego is known as one of the top public research institutions in the nation since its founding in 1960. With over 25,000 undergraduates and 5,000 graduate students, UCSD is ranked the 9th best public university in the country and 37th best overall among the nation's top 50 universities. The Zeta Nu chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma is one of the eleven Panhellenic sororities at UCSD. With over 120 active members, we are also one of the largest sororities on campus. The members of the Zeta Nu chapter pride themselves in maintaining good relationships with not only the other chapter in the Panhellenic council but with other school affiliated organizations as well. We always strive to support and represent within our chapter, Panhellenic, and within the campus as a whole.

Zeta Nu Chapter 2017

Our chapter continually supports and donates to the Boys and Girls Club of San Diego and Kappa Foundation. We host Kappa Karnival in order to donate to this center that helps homeless and at risk youths in the San Diego area. We also pair up with a local elementary school for our Reading is Key event in which we donate books and interact with the children by reading, playing, and crafting with them. We also participate in the Homeless Charter with other fraternities and sororities to make sandwiches for the homeless in our community. Lastly, we are proud to say that we continuously host GIRLS Academy at UCSD’s Preuss School.

We chose these organizations because they are directly related to the community that we are a part of in San Diego. Most importantly, it gives our chapter the opportunity to interact with the children of the center and make a bigger impact than just writing a check. It allows us to create lasting relationships with the centers and foundations as well as with the victims that are a part of it. By having and fostering this relationship, it motivates our chapter to work harder to get the best possible outcome. It is such a privilege and an incredible opportunity to meet those we help. Also, there is an added bonus of being able to spread youth literacy amongst the Boys and Girls Club and those who attend Preuss School as well. We will continue to work with these organizations and look forward to what 2018 will bring.

Highlights of 2018

This has been a very eventful and developing year for the Zeta Nu chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma. After a short hiatus of not being represented on the Panhellenic Council, we will now have Hanna Sahagon serving as Panhellenic President for the 2018-2019 year, alongside Adrianna Abele as Vice President of Service, and Jessyca Beksa as Vice President of Athletics. We also served the PHC community during the recruitment process, as Hui-Sing Leow, Hanna Sahagon, Jasmine Leja, and Sierra Stump took on the role of being Rho Gammas. Each year we have wonderful women from our chapter to step up and help others find their place in the Greek community, and at the end of the process we are more than proud to welcome them back.

At the Panhellenic Scholarship Awards this year, a total of 8 rewards were received by a number of our members, including the Overall Panhellenic Scholar which is only given to one member of the entire PHC Community. At Founder’s Day this year, Anna Corey was awarded the Spirit Bowl and it was well deserved because not only was she serving as our Marshal this term, she truly embodies the spirit of Kappa Kappa Gamma; Dylan Hutson was also awarded the Ruth Heinz Memorial Scholarship. Dylan and our president Hannah Cho attended this years Leadership Convention and our chapter was given the philanthropy award for Reading is Fundamental as well as Honorable Mention for Standards.

In terms of scholarship, our chapter was ranked 1st amongst all the sororities at UC San Diego with an overall academic GPA of 3.425 in the Spring of 2018. Dylan Hutson served another term as our Vice President of Academic Excellence and helped our girls create and achieve academic goals that they had for themselves, as well as goals for the chapter as a whole. We would have regularly scheduled Kappa study hours throughout the quarter, and ended with Kappa Kokoa and Kram to get ready for finals. At the beginning of each quarter, Dylan would pass out a “Quarter at a Glance” for anyone who needed it and highly encouraged it. During our weekly meetings she would also do “Smart Apples” where each member would write a recent academic achievement onto a piece of paper and put it into a box in hopes that she would pick their name, read their achievement to the chapter, and be rewarded with a small prize. In the Fall, she also gave out gifts to the girls who improved their GPA’s from the previous quarter. These are only a few of the ways that Dylan excelled in her position as VPAE and encouraged our chapter to reach the number one academic standing that we are at now.

We continue to carry on several of our traditions to bring our chapter closer. Our House Chair, Adrianna Abele, organized a number of sisterhoods to allow our members to strengthen the bonds we hold with each other. These events included mini golfing, Zumba and Barre classes, and an ice cream social with Tri Delta. We also reunited at the end of summer break for a beautiful beach photoshoot in light of recruitment season coming around the corner, and we were able to display these photos during Sisterhood Night. We also continue to honor the supportive sister of the week where nominations for a supportive sister are sent in and whoever is chosen is presented to the chapter and gets to choose the supportive sister to come after them. The Inspiration Book is another long lasting tradition where an inspirational woman is chosen to receive this book along with the loving message the person who received it before them has written. We hold a lot of passion for each other in this chapter and constantly remind one another how grateful we are for this sisterhood.

The Zeta Nu philanthropic involvement thrived in 2018 with multiple events and activities. Our first events of the year included Grabba Grabba Donut and Reading is Key which were organized by Caroline Habib. We would set up booths on campus and sell donuts to fellow students; and we use this fundraiser to purchase hundreds of books and supplies for Reading is Key to take to the Monarch School of San Diego where we spend the day with local homeless youth. For the biggest event of the year, Dina Blazer conducted our annual Kappa Karnival philanthropy. This event strives to raise money and awareness for our national philanthropy which is Reading is Fundamental, as well as the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation. Each year we invite the Boys and Girls Club of San Diego and hold this carnival event where fraternities and sororities set up booths and games for the children of the club as well as students on campus to enjoy. We also utilized Money Wars and asked for donations and sponsorships leading up to the event to be donated to said organizations. As always, this ended up being one of our most successful events and we raised a substantial amount of money while giving the children a day full of fun and play. Another event our chapter takes great pride in is Girls’ Academy, which was led by Michaela Juels. This program is near and dear to our heart because we work closely with young girls at the Preuss School and empower them to be the best that they can be and that they have the potential to succeed and never let anything get in their way. We have been approved to host Girls’ Academy again for the third consecutive year in a row and are very much looking forward to it. The women of our chapter also continued to team up with a fraternity on campus to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the San Diego Homeless Charter. Other philanthropies our chapter participated in include Sigma Chi’s Derby Days, Sigma Kappa’s SK Best Dance Crew, and Delta Gamma’s Anchor Splash. We can proudly say that we participated in over 20 philanthropies hosted by other chapters. The Zeta Nu chapter continually loves to participate and support all philanthropic events equally by showing up strong and spreading awareness for the respective philanthropic endeavors. We cannot wait for all of the exciting philanthropic achievements to come spearheaded by our new Philanthropy Chair, Juli Harris.

Along with the many events we hold and participate in on campus, there are a few special events that further strengthened and empowered Kappa Kappa Gamma. Each quarter we have Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion presentations which were given by our very own Lauryn Robbins. These gave us insight on how to be competent and inclusive women in our own community as well as in the outside world. Leading up to recruitment, showed our sisterhood and enthusiasm at school events such as Triton Day and Transfer Triton Day which gave us an opportunity to be a resource for potential new members who may have questions about going Greek. We also had a strong presence at Summerfest and Fall Y’all which kick off the school year as a way to bring everyone together. These events gave us a chance to bond more with each other as well as portray how close we were. We really focused relaying to the potential new members not just what joining Kappa meant for us, but also what joining the greater Panhellenic community meant.

This past fall, we welcomed our new Alpha Omicron pledge class which held 37 new members and 7 of which were legacies. In October and November, we transitioned the ladies through our sapphire program and New Member Programming. The sapphiring process allowed them to meet and get to know active members while looking for a potential Big. The weekly New Member Meetings alongside that focused on integrating the new members into the chapter and the Panhellenic Community with Sexual Assault presentations, DEI presentations, and more. This programming was led by our New Member Chairman Shreya Sunkara, and her assistant Lauryn Robbins. The new members were able to strengthen their bonds with each other as well with a sleepover that allowed them to get to know each other on a more personal level which was a pivotal moment in their transition into Kappa Kappa Gamma. The new members are set to be initiated in mid January with a week long process starting with Bluelight, where each Big is able to present a loving letter for their Little, a mid-week sisterhood, and then Fireside leading into the initiation ceremony the following morning. Through this process, the Alpha Omicron pledge class will officially be welcomed with open arms and much excitement.

Highlights of 2020s:

2020 was definitely a year of change and growth for the Zeta Nu chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma. Representing our chapter on Panhellenic Council for the remainder of the 2019-2020 year was Natalia Lodl who served as New Member Organization. In addition to serving on the council, our women also participated in the PHC community as Rho Gammas for this past recruitment in fall. These women included Ashley Cadena and Chloe Hillman. We are so proud of their decision to guide the new members to their now sisters. Our chapter is continuously inspired by our women's dedication to serving now just our chapter but the panhellenic community as a whole. We look forward to seeing all that the new women on PHC will achieve.

Due to COVID-19, this year’s Panhellenic Awards were conducted via Instagram stories. The Zeta Nu chapter was awarded Chapter of the Year for 2020 and our president, Shreya Sunkara, was awarded President of the Year. In addition, our Founder’s Day events were also not held in person due to the pandemic. While this is very unfortunate due to this year being Kappa's 150th anniversary, we are grateful for Kappa’s focus on our women's health and safety. Despite the event's cancellation, two of our members received awards. Like last year, Amarra Olado was awarded the Spirit Bowl because she has continuously shown the spirit of Kappa and flourishes in every task delegated to her. She works hard in her new role as New Member Chairman, a difficult task in person, so even more strenuous online. Despite the changes, Amarra showed grace and managed to keep the new members excited for this chapter even in an online setting. We love Amarra and can't wait to see what she accomplishes as VP Standards this coming year. Alongside Amarra, Dina Blazer was awarded the Ruth Heinz Memorial scholarship. This past year Dina served as our chapter President and worked endlessly to keep this chapter afloat during these changes of the pandemic. Additionally, each year Panhellenic provides New Member Scholarships at the end of formal recruitment. This past fall 2020, we had 3 lovely new members, Maria Ayala, Sandiela Dimatulac, and Nguyen Huynh, who were able to win this award.

For scholarship, our chapter held a cumulative GPA of 3.743 for this past spring term. We are very proud of our women's achievements this year academically. Katy Chambers served as our VP Academic Excellence and worked towards creating new ways to keep us on track with school. With the transition to virtual learning, there was concern for our chapter's mental and physical health which could have impacted some of our women's scholarship. However, Katy worked diligently to ensure each woman felt supported this school year in every aspect of their life. She arranged study hours within the chapter and with other sororities and fraternities as well as providing academic planning for our women who needed some assistance.

This year, our House Chair, Izzy Vismara, worked to strengthen our relationships within our chapter by upholding various chapter traditions and organizing several sisterhoods throughout the year. Due to the transition online, these vents were held strictly over zoom. We had various movie nights as well as cooking workshops led by our president. Because the transition was somewhat rough, we hope to increase our chapters' sisterhoods this upcoming year as we have become more accustomed to the virtual setting.

The Zeta Nu Chapter participated in many philanthropy events in 2020 from the beginning to the end of the year. Our first events of the year, Grabba Grabba Donut and Reading is Key, were organized by our Philanthropy Chair, Jasmine Shafie. Booths were set up on our campus’s main walkway, where our women fundraised and educated fellow UCSD students on the philanthropies we have come to know and love. The profits made from the donuts sold (graciously donated to us from Sidecar Donuts) were used to purchase books and supplies for the Monarch School of San Diego in our annual Reading is Key event, in which we spend the day reading and spending time with the homeless youth of San Diego. However, once Grabba Grabba Donut was over, there was a quick transition to distanced learning and our chapter was unfortunately unable to attend the Reading is Key event. Despite this, the money raised will be donated directly to the Monarch School of San Diego. In the Fall, our biggest philanthropic event of the year, Kappa Karnival, was held virtually. Even with the drastic changes, Jasmine was able to put on a great event that raised money for our three philanthropies. She has put in lots of extra hours to turn the money raised into gift boxes for the children of the Boys and Girls Club of San Diego. We are so grateful for her hard work and look forward to seeing her prosper as Membership chairman. Because of the pandemic, we were unable to hold our beloved Girls’ Academy event this year. We are hopeful for next year's possibilities. This past fall, we welcomed our Alpha Rho new member class which held 27? new members. Following bid day, which happened to land on the 150th anniversary, our chapter began the process of integrating the new members into our chapter with the guidance of our New Member Chairman, Amarra Olado, and her assistant, Daryl Hutchins. Being virtual, these women had to work extra hard to help form the bonds between the new member class and with the chapter as a whole. They hosted weekly New member meetings and organized our sapphire program in which a new member is paired with an active at an attempt to foster new relationships and create a support system for the new members. Events between the sapphires included frequent facetimes and any other virtual communication. These new members were then initiated on Nov 23rd, following the virtual initiation which combined key events from initiation and fireside.

As a chapter, we support various local organizations through the money we raise from Kappa Karnival and Grabba Grabba Donut. Money raised at Kappa Karnival is used to support Kappas National philanthropy, the Kappa Foundation, as well as our local organizations, the Boys and Girls Club of San Diego and Girls’ Academy. Money raised at Grabba Grabba Donut is used to support the Monarch School. In addition, the Zeta Nu chapter supports Horton Elementary school with our philanthropy, reading is fundamental.

The Zeta Nu chapter chose these organizations because each one holds a special place in our hearts. Our founders emphasized literacy so it is important to us to continue this value within our philanthropy. We are so thankful for having the privilege of being able to interact with each and every one of these organizations on an intimate level. Our chapter looks forward to seeing the bright faces of the children whose lives we can help impact. However, because of COVID we were only able to see the children at our Kappa Karnival event. Despite this, our chapter's Philanthropy chair made gift boxes to be delivered to the children of The Boys and Girls Club of San Diego with the money raised from Kappa Karnival. In addition, the money raised from this year's Grabba Grabba Donut will be donated to the students at Horton Elementary.

This year, our chapter added the Social Justice Chair position to our chapter council. This position was fulfilled by the wonderful Janelle Eley who made it a priority to educate our chapter on current social issues through various presentations throughout the year and during prep for this fall recruitment. Training though these presentations covered topics such as racism, classism, heteronormativity as well as gender identity. In addition to the current social issues, education on UCSDs participation in past racist events like the Compton cookout and the events that followed in Black Winter were stressed.

This year for Kappa’s 150th anniversary, Minnie Stuart Van visited a house where a few Kappas live. Many of our members stopped by to see the Van and learn about the history of this sorority. We were so grateful for this special opportunity and the chance to fill closer with our sisters. In addition, ritual presentations were given to the chapter and the newest members that emphasized Kappa's anniversary and its importance. It was very fortunate that our newest pledge class’s bid day happened to land on the 150th anniversary.

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