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''' 171 181 initiates (as of June 20172018)''' <br>
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'''Convention Awards:'''<br>
'''Additional Outstanding Eta Kappa Alumnae''' <br>
Jordan Nichole Newsom Leadership Consultant 2013-2014 , Standards Content Director 2018-2020 <br>
Molly Anne Stein Chapter Council Adviser and Advisory Board Chairman of Eta Phi Chapter, Elmhurst College 2013-current <br>
Kathleen Mary Podlipni President of Chicago Loop Alumnae Association 2014-2015, Province Director of Chapters Epsilon Central 2015-16 <br>
Eta Kappa meets in our non-residential house for chapter at 320 W. Brooks Street, Galesburg, IL 61401. Pictured below is where we hold chapter, though it does double as a living room where members study and socialize.
==Highlights of 2018==
For the year 2018, Eta Kappa has evolved and grown--continuing a tradition of leadership and starting a new tradition of inclusivity. In January, we held Primary Panhellenic Recruitment. Thanks to the hard work of our Membership Chair and her committee, we met quota. We welcomed 10 new members to Eta Kappa as our Winter Formal class, with the addition of two from the fall term COBs. Our overall theme for recruitment was “Key to Paradise” and recruitment was held over three nights rather than the usual four nights. The new members were welcomed into the house for Bid Night under the theme “How Sweet it is to be a Kappa.” In total, the four sororities saw an increase in potential new members which is exciting for the growth of our chapter. The new class officially pledged on January 28th with our chapter specialist and one alumna present.
February was busy, starting with Academic Excellence. Eta Kappa joined the fraternity to hold Academic Excellence Month and every member in Eta Kappa competed to earn points by sending pictures of themselves studying to their academic liaisons. A lot of members became very involved with AE and it was great PR for Kappa on campus. The hashtags #kkggenius and #kkgscholar could be seen all over Knox via Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. On February 5th, our Big-Little Reveal was held. To match bigs and littles, we put a curtain between pairs of socks and when the curtain dropped, each member found her match. Also during February, we raised funds for the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation through our annual event, Kappa Krush. Students and faculty sent cans of Crush Soda to friends during the week leading up to Valentine’s Day. We raised over $100 for the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation. Semi-Formal dance was also held in February at Galesburg Civic Arts Center with the theme “A Night at the Musuem.”
March came and we initiated our Winter and Fall term pledge classes on the 3rd. We then held elections for Chapter Council before the end of winter term. The weekend after spring break, Eta Kappa was fortunate enough to host “Behind Happy Faces,” a program that brings awareness to mental health issues.
In early April, Eta Kappa held a leadership weekend with the help of our district specialist. The weekend consisted of old and new CC sharing ideas on how to improve our leadership within our Chapter. It was made a priority at this leadership weekend to communicate as often as possible with each other and our respective specialists.
Reading is Fundamental was held on May 3rd at Steele Elementary School. This year, our philanthropy chairman coordinated with the school to have us read with the students during their usual library time. The event was a success! Kids were delighted when they found out they would be able to take a book--donated by Kappa--and a bookmark home. Formal took place on May 17th at the Prairie Players Civic Theatre with the
theme "A Night in Old Hollywood." May 26th we said goodbye to our lovely 10 seniors with our Senior Send-off Brunch.
Over the summer, our President and Event Chairman represented us at the Convention in Denver, CO. They brought back many ideas that other chapters have used to improve efficiency and accountability within the chapter.
Fall term is always a hectic time for Eta Kappa as our sisters are involved in many different organizations on campus. We had sisters on the women’s soccer team and volleyball team, student teaching and participating in Rep Term. We unfortunately were unable to get new members during fall term and instead focused on strengthening our sisterhood and fostering an appreciation for ritual.
On November 3rd our major philanthropic event Kappa Kolor Run was held. This was our most successful philanthropic event to this date as we raised over a thousand dollars. Our philanthropy chairman worked tirelessly to put on this event and incorporated a silent auction, which was made possible by local businesses in Galesburg. She also changed the route of the color run to make it more of a community event than a Knox event. All proceeds were donated to the multiple sclerosis foundation. Each year Eta Kappa donates to a cause that hits close to home--this year we picked this foundation because our philanthropy chairman’s best friend was recently diagnosed with MS.
We wrapped up our fall term by hosting an LC and attending a sexual assault workshop. Elections were again held for the new Exec Board, as Eta Kappa is moving towards the new pilot structure. Transitions will not happen until mid February.
Our chapter has also been very active within the Greek community. Currently, we are represented in Order of Omega, a National Greek Honor Society in which one of our sisters, Megan Koluch, is the President. Eta Kappa prides itself on being very well represented on Panhellenic Council as well. Sophomore Danny Cerna Nunez served as Vice President of Diversity for the Panhellenic Council during the Spring and Fall terms, and senior Danielle Ellis is taking over the position for the Winter Term of 2019. Six of our sisters were a part of the Women’s Soccer team that went to the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive year.
As a chapter that prides ourselves on academics, we were happy to see our term GPA at its best in the fall with an average GPA of 3.34. Seven sisters made Dean’s List and three of those sisters had 4.0s. Our average term GPA was 0.16 points better than the all-Greek average.
Due to our growing chapter, Eta Kappa is looking for a new place to hold chapters to accommodate our needs. At the moment, chapter is held at our non-residential house (pictured below) at 320 W. Brooks Street, Galesburg, IL 61401 at 5:00 P.M. on Sundays.
==Highlights of 2018==
For the year 2018, Eta Kappa has evolved and grown--continuing a tradition of leadership and starting a new tradition of inclusivity. In January, we held Primary Panhellenic Recruitment. Thanks to the hard work of our Membership Chair and her committee, we met quota. We welcomed 10 new members to Eta Kappa as our Winter Formal class, with the addition of two from the fall term COBs. Our overall theme for recruitment was “Key to Paradise” and recruitment was held over three nights rather than the usual four nights. The new members were welcomed into the house for Bid Night under the theme “How Sweet it is to be a Kappa.” In total, the four sororities saw an increase in potential new members which is exciting for the growth of our chapter. The new class officially pledged on January 28th with our chapter specialist and one alumna present.
February was busy, starting with Academic Excellence. Eta Kappa joined the fraternity to hold Academic Excellence Month and every member in Eta Kappa competed to earn points by sending pictures of themselves studying to their academic liaisons. A lot of members became very involved with AE and it was great PR for Kappa on campus. The hashtags #kkggenius and #kkgscholar could be seen all over Knox via Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. On February 5th, our Big-Little Reveal was held. To match bigs and littles, we put a curtain between pairs of socks and when the curtain dropped, each member found her match. Also during February, we raised funds for the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation through our annual event, Kappa Krush. Students and faculty sent cans of Crush Soda to friends during the week leading up to Valentine’s Day. We raised over $100 for the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation. Semi-Formal dance was also held in February at Galesburg Civic Arts Center with the theme “A Night at the Musuem.”
March came and we initiated our Winter and Fall term pledge classes on the 3rd. We then held elections for Chapter Council before the end of winter term. The weekend after spring break, Eta Kappa was fortunate enough to host “Behind Happy Faces,” a program that brings awareness to mental health issues.
In early April, Eta Kappa held a leadership weekend with the help of our district specialist. The weekend consisted of old and new CC sharing ideas on how to improve our leadership within our Chapter. It was made a priority at this leadership weekend to communicate as often as possible with each other and our respective specialists.
Reading is Fundamental was held on May 3rd at Steele Elementary School. This year, our philanthropy chairman coordinated with the school to have us read with the students during their usual library time. The event was a success! Kids were delighted when they found out they would be able to take a book--donated by Kappa--and a bookmark home. Formal took place on May 17th at the Prairie Players Civic Theatre with the theme "A Night in Old Hollywood." May 26th we said goodbye to our lovely 10 seniors with our Senior Send-off Brunch.
[[File:[[File:Example.jpg]]]]==Highlights of 2019==
In January we held Formal Recruitment with the theme based on the Disney Pixar movie “Up” and were very excited to gain 10 new members. The theme of Bid Night was “Beyoncé” and was full of laughter and chatting and getting to know our soon-to-be-sisters.
February kicked off our Academic Excellence month during which members are encouraged to promote our value of academics by getting together with sisters to study and share photos while doing so with the hashtags “#kkgenius” and “#kkgscholar.” Our new members found out who their Big sisters would be at our Big-Little Reveal on February 2nd. We held our Semi-Formal dance on February 9th at the Visions Venue in Galesburg. Also in February, we diverged from the old Kappa Krush fundraiser and started selling Kappa Kards to raise money for the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation. We handmade the Kards with witty Valentine’s Day sayings and even some with “Galentine’s Day” and other nontraditional Valentine’s Day cards for Knox students to give to their friends and loved ones.
In March we held our first Diversity Dialogue which is very important to our chapter in order to ensure that Kappa is a safe place where everyone should feel welcome and included no matter who they are. We discussed difficult questions about race and socioeconomic status as well as ways for sisters with significant privilege to use that privilege to advocate for others who weren’t born with that same advantage.
Greek Week, a week promoting collaboration and support across all fraternities and sororities on Knox’s campus, took place April 28th-May 4th. At the Greek Week Banquet, Eta Kappa was presented with the awards for Best Philanthropy, Best New Member, and Sorority Member of the Year.
On May 11th we had our Formal dance which had the theme of “Light Up the Night.” On May 17th, we had the Reading is Fundamental event at Steele Elementary in which the students made bookmarks, received books and other school supplies, and read aloud their own short stories that they had written for class. On May 18th, we said goodbye to our lovely seniors through our Senior Send-off Brunch. On May 19th, we conducted a Hygiene Drive in which we had a table outside of Hy-Vee and collected cash and product donations. We raised over $200 in cash and filled two laundry baskets full of hygiene products such as soap, hair products, shaving products, deodorant, menstrual products, and dental products.
On September 12-15th, one of our sisters attended the Leadership Conference in Ohio and brought back lots of insight from what other chapters do and how we can make Eta Kappa more efficient in some ways.
Starting in August we had many athletes arrive on campus early to begin their seasons. We are very proud of all of our sisters who are involved in extracurriculars such as the dance group TERP, Honor Board, Study Abroad (we have one sister who was in Germany for fall term), and research projects.
We kicked off the month of October with Informal Recruitment on the 3rd through the 5th during which we gained 1 new member. We then, through COB, gained another new member and are very happy to have 2 new members who are already contributing so much to Eta Kappa. Also in October, we hosted an incredible Leadership Consultant, Emma Schlenker, who, among other things, helped us get ready to select a new executive board through our newly assembled Nominating Committee. Also in October, at a Chapter meeting near Dia de los Muertos, one sister prepared a highly interesting and informative presentation about the holiday and the history of its celebration to share with all of our members.
On November 2nd, we hosted a Homecoming open house for our Alumnae who returned to campus for Homecoming Weekend. We mingled and listened to their stories of their time in Kappa while at Knox. On November 9th, we held the Kappa Kolor Run through which we raised over $600 for the Hirshberg Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research. Two of our sisters have been deeply impacted by pancreatic cancer in their loved ones so this cause was very close to home for our Chapter. Later this month, we had a Diversity event in which sisters took turns sharing about themselves, at whatever level they were comfortable with, using a cord that they rolled up as they spoke in order to give everyone the same amount of time to talk. Lastly, we installed our new officers at the last Formal Chapter meeting of the term and we are all very excited to take our positions and run with them going into 2020.
Throughout 2019, we did “Learn About a Sister” during selected Chapter meetings in which one sister would share for about 5 minutes about herself and her background. We value sisterhood and love learning about each and every member of Eta Kappa."
Over the summer, our President and Event Chairman represented us at the Convention in Denver, CO. They brought back many ideas that other chapters have used to improve efficiency and accountability within the chapter.
Fall term is always a hectic time for Eta Kappa as our sisters are involved in many different organizations on campus. We had sisters on the women’s soccer team and volleyball team, student teaching and participating in Rep Term. We unfortunately were unable to get new members during fall term and instead focused on strengthening our sisterhood and fostering an appreciation for ritual.
On November 3rd our major philanthropic event Kappa Kolor Run was held. This was our most successful philanthropic event to this date as we raised over a thousand dollars. Our philanthropy chairman worked tirelessly to put on this event and incorporated a silent auction, which was made possible by local businesses in Galesburg. She also changed the route of the color run to make it more of a community event than a Knox event. All proceeds were donated to the multiple sclerosis foundation. Each year Eta Kappa donates to a cause that hits close to home--this year we picked this foundation because our philanthropy chairman’s best friend was recently diagnosed with MS.
We wrapped up our fall term by hosting an LC and attending a sexual assault workshop. Elections were again held for the new Exec Board, as Eta Kappa is moving towards the new pilot structure. Transitions will not happen until mid February.
Our chapter has also been very active within the Greek community. Currently, we are represented in Order of Omega, a National Greek Honor Society in which one of our sisters, Megan Koluch, is the President. Eta Kappa prides itself on being very well represented on Panhellenic Council as well. Senior Dani Ellis is the Vice President of Panhellenic Council Diversity. Six of our sisters were a part of the Women’s Soccer team that went to the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive year.
As a chapter that prides ourselves on academics, we were happy to see our term GPA at its best in the fall with an average GPA of 3.34. Seven sisters made Dean’s List and three of those sisters had 4.0s. Our average term GPA was 0.16 points better than the all-Greek average.
Two of our sisters have immediate family members who have been affected by pancreatic cancer. One sister actually had to leave campus for over a week during this term in order to go be with her mother as she was going through treatment, therefore we support the Hirshberg Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research.
.
We were not able to celebrate Founders Day this year. We had plans to join with the Alpha Deuteron chapter at Monmouth College to celebrate, however our schedule became too busy and we decided it was in our best interest as a chapter to simply recognize Founders Day but abstain from any celebratory events until next term when we plan to celebrate both Founders Day & Kappa’s 150th anniversary."
Due to our growing chapter, Eta Kappa is looking for a new place to hold chapters to accommodate our needs. At the moment, chapter is held at our non-residential house at 320 W. Brooks Street, Galesburg, IL 61401 at 5:00 P.M. on Sundays. On October 14th, we were lucky enough to be the second stop for the Minnie Stewart Van after starting in Monmouth the day before. We got to enjoy the VR activities and learned so much from going through the van and speaking with the “Vanbassadors.” In 2020, we plan to take a field trip to Monmouth College to take a tour of the Stewart House, see the stained glass window in the chapel, and visit the founders’ graves in the cemetery.
Eta Kappa’s overall nature is an energetic and optimistic one. We are small in numbers but excited for Formal Recruitment in January 2020 to bring in new members who can help us reach our goals and surpass expectations of what a small chapter can accomplish.

