Changes

The evening of Thursday May 8, the Gizmo on the campus of Knox College was packed with excited sorority and fraternity members clad in neon green shirts which read, “Greekalodion“Greekalodion,” ” the Greek Week theme. Members had gathered to watch the popular Greek talent show and find out the winners of Greek Week events. The show was filled with a variety of acts including Kappa Kappa Gamma’s Gamma’s singers and dancers playfully mocking Knox Greek organizations to much applause. As it would turn out, the chapter skit would win the award for funniest performance.

Greek Week began with Sunday’s Sunday’s Greek Olympics with stations set up throughout campus. Monday was trivia night, which had a large turnout. Tuesday was devoted to philanthropy with a blood drive. The Boys and Girls Club donations went on all week, and each Greek organization earned points for the supplies donated. The Greeks were able to raise $125 for The Boys and Girls club as well as boxes of school supplies. Wednesday was the awards banquet. Many of the Greeks present were happy for such a relaxing, fun week, especially concerning the difficulties Greek life has taken the past year concerning local colony admittance to becoming Greek organizations. Overall, Kappa Kappa Gamma came in third place with 122 points.

For the last three weekends in October in 2008, women of Pi Beta Phi and Kappa Kappa Gamma got together for a twenty minute drive north of campus to scare the pants off people. The two sororities tried something new for both of them - a joint philanthropic venture. Being sister sororities, the women realizing both of their organizations were founded “up “up the road in Monmouth” Monmouth” with both of their nationals’ nationals’ philanthropy geared toward literacy, it made for a great pairing. Both chapters liked the idea of using the philanthropy as a sisterhood bonding event. The women joined together at the Country Corner Farm Market and Pumpkin Patch to work in the corn maze, running the stand or scaring people inside, and afterwards the proceeds from the ticket sales are split up among the organizations based on how many hours each works. The Kappas put their money toward Reading Is Fundamental.

On the evening of October 24th, 2008 the ladies of the Eta Kappa chapter brought students, parents, and other members of the Greek community together for their second annual “Win“Win-A-Date” Date” event. $1,856.15 was raised to support Girl Effect through BRAC programs for Safe Spaces and Small Loans for Teenage Girls in Tanzania. The evening was the culmination of a week of fundraising through change wars between Greek organizations on campus. The two members from each of the social Greek organizations Kappa Kappa Gamma, Delta Delta Delta, Pi Beta Phi, Phi Gamma Delta, Tau Kappa Epsilon, Beta Theta Pi, Sigma Chi, Sigma Nu, and colony, ATP, as well as from the Alpha Phi Omega Service Fraternity and Sigma Alpha Iota Music Sorority volunteered to be hosts and hostesses for the dates. Local businesses donated dinner, movie, and bowling certificates, which were given as prizes to the winning bidders and their dates. Among the many generous donations made that evening was one exceptional date that sold for over $230. Eta Kappa members felt a special connection to this particular cause not only as women, but also from the personal experiences of its members. One active’s active’s travels to Uganda inspired the first Uganda Initiative event in 2007. Another member, studied abroad in Tanzania in 2007. With this in mind, Eta Kappa chapter was inspired by Girl Effect and was proud to support the education and empowerment of women internationally.

Individual honors and awards by the chapter members included: AAINA (co-president); Alpha Phi Omega (VP Membership, Pledge Marshall, Co-chair of Book Co-op); Asian Student Association; Business Club; Campus Progress (PR chair); Carl Sandburg Literacy Coalition Tutor; Circle K; Class Officer – – Secretary; Co-ed Water Polo (captain, treasurer); College Art Association; Costume Shop (T.A.); Cottage Hospital Volunteer; Cross Country; Dance Squad; Film Production Club (treasurer); Galesburg Civic Art Center Intern; Golf team; Habitat for Humanity (Event Coordinator); Harambee; Hillel Club; Intervarsity Christian Fellowship; Invisible Children (Secretary); Jazz Combo; Junior Great Books; Knox Ambassadors; Knox Bloggers; Knox College Sign Language (Treasurer); Knox County Jail Literacy Project (lead tutor); Knox County Regional G.S.; Knox Galesburg Symphony; Knox Sandburg Community Concert Band (Percussion section leader); Knox String Ensemble; Making Things Craft Club; Mortar Board (Membership chair); Odyssey Mentoring; Office of Admissions; Orchestra; Order of Omega (Vice-President); Prairie Players; Pre-Vet Club; Reading Buddies; Rep Term XV; Residential Adviser; Residential Quality Committee; Rotaract; Rugby (co-captains); SASS (PR chair); SHAG (secretary); Soccer team (captain); Spanish Club; Student Athletic Advisory Council; Student Athletic Trainer; Student Senate; Student Senate Finance Committee; Studio Theatre (Director); Swimming team; Tennis team (captain); Terpsichore (PR chair); Track and Field ; Union Board; Women’s Women’s Chorale; Women’s Women’s Water Polo (captain, treasurer); Writer’s Writer’s Forum; WVKC and Yoga Club

Eta Kappa chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma brought 14 Greek organizations and students together along with 35 businesses from Galesburg on Friday, October 16, 2009 in the campus Gizmo for the purpose of raising money for Valhalla Experimental Station in Guatemala. The total amount of money raised for Valhalla exceeded $1,000 dollars. The behind-the-scenes work was described as “really “really hard to orchestrate.” ” Previous to the event, the chapter did fundraising through “change wars” “change wars” with a jar for the president of each Greek group at their table during meals. The president’s president’s jar with the most money earned the title of “ultimate date” “ultimate date” and received the biggest gift certificate. Gift certificates for places such as Q’s CaféQ’s Café, Kaldi’sKaldi’s, pizza restaurants, and bowling alleys went with each date. All of the certificates were donated by businesses in Galesburg.

Thursday, October 28, 2010 the Business Club’s Club’s Halloween Crafts Day provided an opportunity for Knox students and children from the local Boys and Girls Club to bond over Halloween-themed crafts and games. The multidimensional club along with members from Alpha Phi Omega and Kappa Kappa Gamma hosted 30 children, ranging from six to nine years old. The afternoon began with a game of freeze tag, followed by Duck, Duck, Goose and Red Light, Green Light. Refreshments were served.

On Friday, November 5, 2010 the women of Eta Kappa hosted its fourth annual ‘Win‘Win-a-Date’ Date’ event to fundraise for the BeLikeBrit foundation. The women were interested in fundraising for BeLikeBrit because a member had a family connection with the organization. According to the organization’s organization’s mission statement, BeLikeBrit works “to “to serve the children of Haiti by establishing a safe, nurturing and sustainable orphanage in an environment where they can grow, learn and thrive.” ” The money the sorority raised went towards building a new orphanage. Before the event began, the Greek men and women that went with each date package were asked to describe their ideal date, including the place and atmosphere. Each also chose a runway song that played while they were onstage, several using the opportunity to show off their dance moves. Various date packages, such as gift cards to Jimmy Johns or Cherry Street Restaurant and Bar, were auctioned off to the highest bidder. Members of 10 different Greek organizations volunteered their time to accompany the winner on each date. The successful auction raised approximately $1,850 dollars and the event had a large turnout.