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→Highlights of 2015
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 2016==
The past year for our chapter has consisted of new opportunities for the Zeta Lambda Chapter, and proved that we are a tight knit sisterhood, who continues to gain strength from every new challenge presented and we are motivated to move forward into the new year together stronger than ever. Washington and Jefferson College started the spring semester with Formal Recruitment, which was incredibly successful. The Zeta Lambda Chapter welcomed home 21 new members from the recruitment process that spanned from February 18th to the 20th. Initiation for the new members was held on Saturday, April 23rd and the week leading up to it was Inspiration Week, in which sister only social events were held to strengthen our bond of sisterhood. All members of the chapter wore various colors each day of the week to symbolize qualities of Kappa such as loyalty, sincerity, friendship, and beauty. Initiation was held at our house and our 21 new members were finally welcomed as actual sisters to our fantastic fraternity.
Our annual spring formal took place on Saturday, April 2nd. The theme for our formal was “Lights, Camera, Action,” and was so perfectly decorated that we felt like we were at the movies. There was even a photo booth with various props, which was a hit and all the sisters embraced the opportunity to take silly pictures with their adoring sisters and dates. The second social was held on Saturday, November 5th during the fall semester, and is 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 event is held to teach the new members how to make their first letter shirts followed by the whole chapter attending brunch in the cafeteria; which is a tradition every year. All sisters and new members proudly wear their letters for all of the campus to see. Also in the spring is our Special Person’s Brunch, which is a tradition every year. 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 visit with the current chapter, catch up with old and new friends, and to show off our incredible house while sharing our various awards and scrapbooks to all the alumni who came back. In December the annual sister only event 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.
In the last month, three sisters have been awarded international study aboard scholarships. Danielle Shellgren and Alex Scalise were awarded the Vira I. Heinz scholarship to pursue their dreams of studying in different countries over the summer. Danielle Shellgren will use this opportunity to study in New Zealand and pursue her Communications major by interning with various companies to increase her knowledge of the field. Alex Scalise plans on travelling to Germany over the summer for her Language major requirement and will use this opportunity to embrace the culture and expand her understanding of world interactions. Elizabeth Holmes and Lila Thompson were both awarded the International Programs Fund Award, which will allow Elizabeth Holmes to study in Athens, Greece during the spring semester, and Lila Thompson will be able to study in France for the semester. Their sisters here at home wish them all the best in their worldly endeavors!
This summer, Kappa Kappa Gamma hosted the Kappa Convention in San Diego, California. We were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to send our sister, Jazmyn Meredith, and our chapter president, Alana Lomis. This experience allowed them to connect with sisters from all over the country and learn more about our fraternity, which they shared with our chapter when we reconvened in the fall. Claire Maxwell, who served as our New Member chairman, received honorable mention for chapters under 100 for her dedication to supporting and educating the new members through her new member program she developed. Danielle Shellgren served as our Philanthropy chair this last year, and also received honorable mention at this year’s Kappa Convention, due to her passion for serving the community and making our chapter as successful as can be.
Throughout this past year, 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 just under $3,000! We pride ourselves on this event and look forward to its arrival every year. Also in the spring, we participated in Delta Gamma’s annual Anchor Splash, where we placed first for the syncretized swimming and dance section. In the fall semester we participated in Pi Beta Phi’s Arrowbands, which is a lip-synching and dance competition, known as “Arrowbands,” where we placed second. 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.
This year, our chapter started off the academic school year by holding a Chapter Council retreat, in order to strengthen our Council so that our dedication and hard work could be reflected in the rest of the chapter for the coming school year. Our Vice President Organization, Morgan Leckie, organized the entire event, and invited Maria Brown to teach us about different leadership styles so that we could understand that everyone is different and is important to realize that and find a way to cooperate amongst ourselves in the most effective and efficient way possible. This was an extremely effective workshop retreat and was clearly reflected in our Chapter Council and chapter.
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, who are dedicated to their academics. Through the extremely well planned out program by our Vice President of Academic Excellence, Kayla Grey, we were able to go from last place ranking out of the four sororities on campus, to second this year. We are extremely proud of this accomplishment. We pride ourselves on being 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 an example for others to respect and hopefully follow.
This year, we were sad to see four sisters leave our sisterhood for various reasons. These were great losses to our chapter, but we saw them as an opportunity to look within our chapter and build upon our strengths, and understand our weaknesses and work through each and every one. Despite these recent events, we have continued to grow as a chapter and support each other. We have accepted the outcome and what has happened and hope to only learn from this experience in the coming year and become stronger from it.
"Campus and Chapter Overview"
Washington and Jefferson College is a small, private liberal arts school with a main focus on 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 a majority 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. This year we welcomed a new Coordinator of Fraternity and Sorority Life, Kaitlyn Bamrick, who has proven to be an instrumental part of our Greek life thus far. Also this year, our campus has started the construction of a new auxiliary gymnasium to our existing Henry Memorial Gymnasium. Students are very excited for the complementation of this addition to our beautiful campus.
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. Three out of the five members of the Student Government Association Executive Board are Kappas, and we are extremely proud of their involvement and their leadership roles. Our members are involved in the various 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 Philanthropy"
Previously mentioned was our major annual philanthropy event, Catch for the Cure, which is held during the spring semester. We generally raise a couple thousand dollars for the Susan G. Komen Foundation, which raises money for breast cancer awareness. Several sisters’ family members, including mother, grandmothers, and aunts, have been affected and we make sure that we recognize survivors and those who have lost their battle with the terrible illness. In the past year, we began training at the local animal shelter in order to become more involved with the community. All of our sisters received training in order to begin walking dogs and playing with cats at the shelter in the spring semester. All of our sister are very enthusiastic to work with the shelter and provide any help we can. In early January, we teamed up with the brothers of Alpha Tau Omega to collect gently used coats to donate them to the Washington City Mission to ensure those who are less fortunate than us have the necessary outerwear to bare the cold weather. Before Easter, our sister packed over 100 Easter eggs with candy and sent them to troops overseas. October is Domestic Violence Awareness, and we paired up with the brothers of Phi Delta Theta to sell donuts for the Domestic Violence Center in Washington, and called this event “Donut Let Love Hurt.” This past month we also teamed up with the brothers of Beta Theta Pi to decorate Christmas cards for soldiers overseas, who can’t be home for the holidays. We understand their sacrifice and wanted to thank them for their support and share some holiday spirit. Also this month, we held an event with the sisters of Delta Gamma to respond to notes children from the LeMoyne Community Center in Washington wrote to Santa Clause. We saw the importance of imagination and encouraging hopes and dreams, and again wanted to share the holiday spirit with the community.
In combination with local community philanthropy, we also support our national Kappa Kappa Gamma philanthropy, Reading is Fundamental. In April, our sisters had the opportunity to compete against other sororities and fraternities on campus during the College X Games, which were held at the Meadows Casino in Washington. We had three Kappa teams that competed in events varying from bowling to basketball to even an obstacle course! Every sister that participated had a great deal of fun and we were even able to win $400 for Reading is Fundamental in the process. Our Zeta Lambda chapter is dedicated to helping our community and supporting our national philanthropy in any way possible, and we strive to out due ourselves in the following year.
"Chapter Facility"
Kappa Kappa Gamma Zeta Lambda Chapter is fortunate enough to have beautiful house on campus. Twenty-four lucky members are able to live in the house each year. Living in the house can be a blessing because you’re surrounded by your best friends and sisters and always have someone to lean on for support or closets to raid when you have nothing to wear! We have a Chapter Room downstairs where we hold chapter every Sunday at 8:00 pm. Across from the Chapter Room is the Party Room, which is the ideal place to hold Standard Meetings, meetings of other varieties, or just a place to study or watch a movie because comfortable sitting is provided. Also downstairs is a small kitchen and the presidents suite for the outgoing president to live in during their final year at W&J. 301 Chestnut Street will always be home to our Zeta Lambda chapter.
==Highlights of 2020s:==
