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→Highlights of 2021
To celebrate the traditions of Founder’s Day while maintaining COVID safety guidelines, we held our sesquicentennial celebration virtually through zoom this year. All active members, alumnae, advisory board members, and district team members were sent an invitation.We opened the ceremony with the virtual version of the Founder’s Day ritual provided by our district specialist. We also had two guest speakers that are Zeta Chi Chapter Alumnae, one of whom is a founding member of our chapter, and the other a former advisory board member.Following this, members who submitted their own “What Kappa Means to Me” shared how Kappa has affected their life and were able to ask questions to the Alumni who spoke to their own experiences. We wrapped up the event with an interactive trivia game that focused on the chapter’s members and the accomplishments we’ve achieved as a whole.
==Highlights of 2021==
The Zeta Chi chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma has had a fantastic year! We have begun to make our way out of the virtual environment and back to socially distanced, in person meetings and events. Although the transition has been slow, we are so glad to see everyone’s beautiful faces and truly experience the bonds of our sisterhood to the greatest extent. Through the ups and downs of the pandemic and Marist going on lockdowns, we now, more than ever, appreciate the gifts of friendship and love that Kappa has brought to all of us. As we welcomed 34 new, amazing, members, we also said goodbye to our senior class who has guided the chapter through their time at Marist.
[[File:Zeta Chi 2021.jpg|thumb|Zeta Chi hosts an online chapter event 2021.]]
Although we have struggled through these many changes in the ways that we are allowed to meet and gather, we, as a chapter, have pushed on and made the best of it! Our sisters have excelled in every aspect as young women and bring great empowerment to the chapter. We were able to not only empower our chapter, but many organizations around us. As a chapter, we hosted many Instagram bingo board fundraisers for organizations such as the KKG foundation and National Brain Tumor Society. We also held a book drive for REAL Skills Poughkeepsie and sent videos of sisters reading children’s books to the Poughkeepsie Children’s Home and REAL Skills.
It is our mission this year to continually bring a loving and caring environment to not only the sisters of our chapter, but to all we interact with. This is something that we pride ourselves on and hope to continue to do as a sorority, getting better and better each year. In order for us to do this in the virtual environment, before being back in person, we created many opportunities for the chapter to stay in contact and have fun. Some of the ways we did this was by hosting Netflix parties, meditation workshops, themed Kahoot parties, and virtual hangouts. As we slowly began to meet in person, our sisterhood events followed, such as pumpkin picking at our local farm, socially distanced big-little reveal, our annual picnic at the Vanderbilt Mansion and Sapphire Ball. We also made sure to offer both in-person and virtual events as the transition started, making sure that none of our members felt pressured to go outside of their comfort zone in terms of Covid-19, although all guidelines were properly met. We hope, as we move forward into the new year, that we are able to continue to strengthen the bonds between us and cherish the time that we have together as a chapter.
This year we supported the KKG Foundation and St. Judes. We also raised awareness about the new philanthropy, focusing on mental health and well-being. For St.Judes, we, as a chapter, made multiple teams to compete to raise money for the foundation. These teams have not only helped to raise money, but also promote awareness about St.Judes’ cause and how people outside of the Marist community can show their support and make contributions. Additionally, we, as a chapter, sent cards to patients at St. Judes and connected with other organizations at the school to do the same. In regards to our philanthropy on mental health and well-being, we publicly made a statement addressing our support to those struggling with mental health issues and abuse, giving out resources to local and national helplines, as well as Marist resources, including the Title IX office. We have also promoted the use of Talkspace to our sisters and brought back mental health groups. These groups bring together the members of our chapter and give them a comfortable place for them to share what they might be going through and get the support they need. We also had a private session with Christi Lukasiak, who spoke on the importance of mental health, confidence, and the strength in being a young woman. Lastly, every week at our in-person chapter meetings, we passed around spare change jars, which raised money for both the KKG Foundation and Mental Health and Well-Being through NAMI.
This year, we have been able to fully implement the DEI committee and chair as a permanent role! This has been a great experience for the chapter and has allowed us to connect more with other organizations as the school. Through this new role, we have worked hand-in-hand with the African Student Association of Marist, Marist Multicultural Affairs, as well as Marist Asian Alliance, among other groups that have hosted DEI events. As the committee grows, we plan to bring as much awareness to our sisters as possible, highlighting the areas for improvement and education among us.
As a part of making our sisters more aware, the DEI committee consistently brought social issues to light during meetings and gave out many resources to get involved. The chapter also celebrated many important holidays and cultural events, such as Black History Month. Aside from social justice awareness, the committee also made the chapter away of absentee ballot eligibility and voter registration for their specific states and how important it is not vote in smaller elections, not just the presidential election. In order to not only help the members of our chapter become more involved and aware, but the entire Marist community, the committee submitted ample resources to be posted to our Instagram page, which reaches over 1,300 followers. In addition, our Instagram was used to promote various causes and important events and spread our message of acceptance of all people, regardless of their race, gender, or sexual orientation. We also promoted DEI education for our Zeta Chi Chapter through Minerva and through Marist’s Professors.
As this committee has grown immensely from last year, we are proud to be leaders in Greek life at Marist in this role. We hope to continue to grow in this area and become more aware as a chapter in the coming years. Overall, the DEI position has greatly benefited our chapter and the Marist community as a whole, bring the school together in a positive way to focus on what is important.
To celebrate the traditions of Founder’s Day while maintaining COVID safety guidelines, we held our celebration socially distanced, with masks this year. All active members, alumni, advisory board members, and district team members were sent an invitation and invited to also join virtually. We opened the ceremony with a brief history of the founding sisters of Kappa Kappa Gamma, highlighting their amazing achievements and life stories. We also showed a video from Kappa Kappa Gamma headquarters, explaining the importance of our rich history as a sisterhood. Additionally, we had the senior class share their personal “What Kappa Means to Me.” We also served light refreshments and closed the ceremony with story sharing and fun facts about the fraternity, celebrating its inspiring history.
