Changes
→Highlights of 2014
Unfortunately, none of our chapter’s officers wear historical badges. All of the chapter’s officers wear one badge, which is the golden key that every one of the women in our fraternity wears. All of our 64 current members proudly wear the golden key, with their initials and the date they were initiated on on the back of the key. We take immense pride in wearing the golden key.
==Highlights of 2015==
The past year has been a period of growth to achieve chapter goals and to strengthen the bonds of lifelong friendship. The spring semester began with formal recruitment, February 4-8, when we welcomed 16 new members to our fraternity. The sisters bonded with the new members through chapter gatherings and sister only social events during our annual Inspiration Week, April 20-25, which led up to Initiation. All members, both new and old, wore various colors each day of the week to symbolize qualities of Kappa such as loyalty, sincerity, friendship, and beauty. The first night of the week sisters bonded over delicious Sarris ice cream. Tuesday was “Kappa Hearts and Poems,” where older sisters made their new key sister a heart that had a picture of them together on the front and a sisterly quote of their choice on the back. Wednesday was the “Blue&Blue Dinner” which was held in the house as a time to bond with all sisters while enjoying a lovely dinner. Thursday, the Return of the Pledge Pin ceremony was held in the chapter room followed by a special surprise for the new members. Friday was Fireside, which was held at alumni Steph Kubric’s house. After Fireside, the sisters stayed at the house and older sisters prepared for Initiation. The next morning, Initiation was held at our house and 16 new members were finally welcomed as actual sisters to our fantastic fraternity.
Shortly after bid day, the new members continued to bond with each other and the older members by attending monthly sister only events. A few months after bid day, in April, our annual spring formal took place. The theme of our formal was “Masquerade”; the hall was decorated with masks and streamers. This social is very important to all members because it was the last formal with the current seniors before they graduated in May. Everyone treasured this social because it was the last time this particular chapter would all be together. The third date social was held in November in the fall semester, called Kappa Krush. It was an amazing event to bring everyone together to celebrate a wonderful start to a new and successful school year.
Also, throughout the year, the sisters were encouraged to strengthen the bonds that bind us together by attending other important events. For example, after bid day in the spring semester, an annual sister only is held to teach the new members how to make their first letter shirts followed by the whole chapter attending brunch in the cafeteria; a tradition each year. All sisters and new members proudly wear their letters for all of the campus to see. Also in the spring is our Mother’s Day Brunch, which we have changed to be called the “Special Person’s Brunch.” It was changed so that the sisters who would like to share this special day with another person other than their mothers can do so. A slide show was made to demonstrate to our special people what Kappa is all about, memories shared throughout the years, and how proud our chapter is to call ourselves Kappas. In October during homecoming weekend, we had a special alumni event. We invited alumni back to hang out with the current chapter, catch up with a good conversation, and to show off our house. The event included small snacks like fruit and pastries while showing off our various awards and scrapbooks to all the alumni who came back. This was a great opportunity to bond with our sisters who had come before us. In December the annual sister only was held to decorate the house for “Light Up Night.” All the sisters worked together to make the house look merry and festive for the holiday season. We also participated in the campus wide Holiday event where everyone on campus was invited to participate in a gingerbread house making contest, ugly sweater contest, ice skating, and many other activities.
Throughout the semester, the sisters participated in numerous philanthropic activities within our own chapter as well as with the other fraternities and sororities on campus. Our largest philanthropic event was our 8th annual “Catch the Cure” baseball tournament, which helped raise money and awareness for breast cancer. Overall, this was an amazing event that brought not only the Greek organizations together, but the Washington and Jefferson and local community as a whole. Guests enjoyed music, endless amounts of food, and competitive fun for a great cause. Once again all of the sisters of Zeta Lambda were very excited and proud of how well our annual philanthropy event turned out and we raised over $3,500! We pride ourselves on this event and look forward to its arrival every year. In the fall semester we participated in Pi Beta Phi’s lip-synching and dancing contest, “Arrowbands,” where we proudly took first place! We also participated in Kappa Alpha Theta’s color run. Near the end of the fall semester we participated in various other events, such as the “B+ Dance Marathon,” where we painted faces and danced to raise money and awareness for cancer.
In addition to the social and philanthropic events, Zeta Lambda has participated in several Panhellenic recruitment events on campus. Near the beginning of the semester, we participated in a bonfire where independent women could get more information about Greek life. We also participated in a pizza party, ice cream party, and hot chocolate party, all sponsored by Panhel. These events helped girls to meet potential members.
In the fall semester we began training at the local animal shelter in order to become more involved with the community. All of the girls received training in order to begin walking dogs and playing with cats at the shelter in the spring semester. All of the girls were very enthusiastic to work with the shelter and provide any help we could.
CAMPUS: Washington and Jefferson College is a small, private liberal arts school with a main focus of academic excellence. The students of W&J are well-prepared for careers in business, medicine, law and a variety of other professions. The Greek community is an integral part of W&J with over 40% of the student body actively participating in the Greek life on campus. The Greek community enables the students to be actively involved on campus and plays a central role in the philanthropic and social events of the campus.
CHAPTER: Over the past year, Kappa Kappa Gamma has proved to be an essential part of the Greek community as well as the W&J community. Our members pride themselves on being actively involved in a widespread assortment of sports, clubs, and activities. Our members are involved in the activities on campus, but we also pride ourselves on our academic success and achievement. The Zeta Lambda chapter sets a positive example to all potential new members and the student body in general with numerous sisters whom achieve Dean’s List (semester GPA of 3.5+) and Alpha/Beta scholars (who represent the top students at the college in terms of overall grade point average). By showing academic excellence to the college, a strong commitment to each other, and having well-established ties to the community, Kappa Kappa Gamma is an ideal example of Greek Life in our small community at Washington and Jefferson College.
CHAPTER CHALLENGES: This year the Zeta Lambda chapter truly strived to make Kappa Kappa Gamma the leader of the Greek community at Washington and Jefferson College. Although we pride ourselves on being outstanding Greek women, we also understand that there is always some room for improvement. Our main goal was to become more involved within the W&J community, as well as with other fraternities on campus. We accomplished this by discussing the issue among our fellow sisters and expressing how important it is to present to the greek community a strong and united chapter. We made sure that a percentage of the chapter participated in every activity that was held by the college and the other fraternities on campus.
Another goal we focused on was maintaining a high GPA in the Greek community. This is an extremely important goal to each and every sister. We wanted to make sure that we showed other students and faculty that the members of Kappa Kappa Gamma are amazing students. As a ways to show our appreciation to our professors and staff member, the sisters of Zeta Lambda elect one professor and one staff member every month to give the title “Professor of the Month” and “Staff Member of the Month,” respectively. We pride ourselves on being the campus leader and always strive to maintain and even surpass our academic goals. We strive to be leader in not only the Greek community, but also in the athletic teams and clubs that we belong to. We feel that it is very important to set and example for others to respect and hopefully follow.
This has been an extremely wonderful year for the Zeta Lambda chapter and we are looking forward to the upcoming year and all of the fun-filled events and experiences it will bring to our chapter!
==Highlights of 2020s:==
