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|Image= [[File:Beta_Chi.jpg|200px]]
|Founded= {{start date and years ago|1910|02|12}}
|College= [httphttps://www.uky.edu/ University of Kentucky]
|Location= Lexington, KY
|Homepage= [httphttps://chaptersuky.kappakappagammakappa.org/betachi/ Beta Chi Homepage]|Media= [httphttps://wiki.kappakappagammakkg.org/index.php?title=Category:Beta_Chi Media related to Beta Chi Chapter]}}
'''University of Kentucky established in 1865, Lexington, Kentucky'''
'''3,325 431 initiates (as of June 20162018)'''
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The chapter supported their own philanthropy events as well as other Greek groups’ events contributing to the welfare of the campus and community.
==Highlights of 2000-20102011==
2010: Excellence in Chapter Management Award, Honorable Mention in Standards, Risk Management, Signature event, Rose McGill and Chapter/Advisory Board relations
==Highlights of 2012==
The chapter house, located at 238 E. Maxwell, began renovations and expansion in May 2017. Due to construction, the house was left vacant for the 2017-2018 school year. Over 40 sisters elected to live together in a local apartment complex off campus to keep the feeling of the house. For weekly meetings we utilized campus classrooms and lecture halls. Sisterhood events were held on campus, and off campus in homes, apartments and at local parks.
==Highlights of 2018==
The Beta Chi chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma at the University of Kentucky has seen
tremendous growth in the past year. Our chapter house was under construction for renovations
during the 2017-2018 school year causing us to be without a central location for girls to come to,
having to hold chapter meetings in classroom lecture halls, and a recruitment done in another
chapter’s house. In August 2018, the house re-opened and we did the new “delayed recruitment”
style in our new house. Recruitment is the first two weekends of school, rather than the whole
week before. This was a big change for the Panhellenic community as we have done early
recruitment for many, many years at UK. It went well, and we will be doing recruitment this way
for years to come. Recruitment went very well this year, we love our new fall ’18 pledge class!
Sisterhood is a top priority to our chapter. Maintaining friendships is very important to
the members of Kappa and we encourage it in many ways. Ways that we encourage
strengthening friendships in our chapter are by holding sisterhood events. A few we had this year
are a roller-skating event at Champs Roller dome, movie night in the new house, and a trip to
Boyd’s Orchard. Another aspect that is very important to the members in Kappa is academics.
We promote studying by holding study hours and having academic events, such as study nights
with other chapters. Now that we have the house again, sisterhood will be promoted in a whole
new way with having sisterhood events.
Chapter Philanthropy
Kappa is very involved in the Panhellenic and UK community. We love getting to know
our fellow Greek organizations and helping raise money for other causes. DanceBlue is a 24-hr
dance marathon that raises money for UK DanceBlue Kentucky Children’s Hospital
Hematology/Oncology Clinic. Kappa typically has a team of about 30 girls dancing. Each year,
UK students raise over $1.5 million. Greek Sing is a philanthropy event held by Chi Omega at
UK. It is a big dance competition. It is a lot of fun to watch all the chapters perform their routines because so much work goes into it. This past Greek Sing, our theme was “Apps,” so our dances
included Twitter, Weather, Find My Friends, Uber, and Snapchat.
Kappa supports Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), GIRLS Academy, and the Kappa Kappa
Gamma Foundation. We work the closest with RIF. Each semester, we are paired with an
elementary school where we work closely with the teachers and students. Our spring 2018 events
were Kappa Bowl, Kappa Kindness, and Reading is Key events. Kappa Bowl is our biggest
event – all organizations on campus are invited to make teams to participate. The participants are
dressed in orb suits and play soccer. It is a tournament style game and the winning team receives
money that will be donated to a philanthropy of their choice. Kappa Kindness typically takes
place during midterms in the spring semester. Typically, we set up a table somewhere around
campus and give out free coffee donuts and other motivational things to add a little brightness to
people’s difficult exam week. Reading is Key events are events we hold where we go into the
elementary school we are paired with for that semester and have a carnival for the students.
There are different reading stations, such as speed reading, storytelling, puppets, bookmarks,
snacks, and other fun carnival games. The children really enjoy the events and we have gotten a
lot of positive feedback with previous events from the teachers and parents. Spring semester
2018, our theme of the Reading is Key event was Dr. Seuss Oh the Places You’ll Go and all the
active members of Kappa wore crazy, mismatch socks, which the students thought was silly and
fun. This past semester, fall 2018, our theme for the Reading is Key event was superheroes. All
the active members of Kappa wore superhero masks during the event, again which allowed a
light, funny, silly atmosphere with the kids. Each time we hold Reading is Key events, each
student gets to go home with a new book, and we are able to donate over 2,000 books to the
school library.
Our fall philanthropy events this semester were: the Reading is Key event, a Bake Sale,
and The Amazing Race. As previously mentioned, the Reading is Key events are themed events
that are held at the elementary school were paired with and is a carnival-like event. There are
reading stations, games, and snacks. The Bake Sale was new this semester, it was a success!
Active members made baked goods and each item was sold for $1. The bake sale had two
locations, one station was set up at our chapter house and another was outside of a classroom
building on campus. We had girls tell their friends and post on their social media to get the word
out. The Amazing Race is our fall philanthropy event based off the TV show “The Amazing
Race.” Teams of four must finish a certain number of challenges the fastest to win a monetary
prize of about $100 and they get to choose a philanthropy to donate money to, as well.
Chapter Facility
Chapter meetings are held in our chapter room in our newly renovated chapter house. In
the old house, the chapter room was way too small to hold every member, so we had meeting in
the dining room. But now, our chapter room seats 300 people, comfortably, which is more than
enough room for the entire chapter.
Beta Chi Chapter Room – White fold up chairs are set up for meetings.
The History/Ritual and Treasury Advisor helped us out a lot this past year with the financial
aspect of the new house. She also planned our Founders Day celebration at the new house with
other members of our House Board. They did an amazing job of showcasing the new house to
the alumnae and set up a nice program to thank everyone for their help with the house. She helped
our chapter tremendously over the past year. She attended chapter council meetings and
always let the CC members know that she would be there if they needed anything.
==Highlights of 2019==
We celebrated Founders Day by having an event at the house on October 13th. We had set out old scrapbooks and items from years past and had an official Founders Day ceremony with speaking parts representing the founders. We also had a 50-year pin presentation for the women celebrating their 50-year anniversary. We had a small reception with provided brunch foods and an opportunity for active members to mingle with alumnae.
[[File:Beta Chi Founders Day.jpg|thumb|Beta Chi Founders Day]]
Recently, we welcomed a new chapter to campus and have had representatives from the new chapter visit with us and discuss their plans for fortifying the Panhellenic community. We have welcomed our largest pledge class yet from the largest freshman class that UK has seen. Overall, the chapter is excited to welcome our new members and has enjoyed all of our events this year and the chance to become closer as a sisterhood. This year, we focused on making our sisterhood grow stronger through sisterhood events and exemplifying the values of our chapter across campus.
[[File:Beta Chi Large Group Photo.jpg|thumb|Beta Chi Large Group Photo]]
'''Philanthropy'''
Reading is Fundamental, Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation
We chose to partner with Millcreek Elementary School and we picked this school because they have an underserved population of students that do not have access to the books that they need to stay on track with their reading abilities. Partnering with a school in Lexington allows us to see the immediate effect of our fundraising efforts on children so close to our school. This year we hosted Reading is Key events at the elementary school where we had themed events with students. In the spring, the theme was Dr. Seuss and this fall, it was Disney-themed. This consisted of having different stations, each with a different theme and activity for the students to participate in.
This year, Beta Chi has held many philanthropy events to raise money to support Reading is Fundamental and the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation. In the spring, we held our Kappa Bowl event where participants from other chapters on campus play tournament style soccer within large plastic blow up suits. We also held a Reading is Key event at Millcreek Elementary with a Dr. Seuss theme where we were able to donate 650 books. We held the Amazing Race in the fall where chapters signed up as teams and competing in a scavenger hunt across campus with tasks to complete at each stop before they can move onto the next station. We raised $1000 from the Amazing Race and $1335 from Kappa Bowl that we were able to use to support our philanthropies. In the fall, we held our second Reading is Key event with a Disney theme and were able to donate around 900 books to the elementary school. This year, we were also able to raise $750 to donate to a scholarship fund for a Beta Chi alum who recently passed away from cancer. This was a wonderful way for us to show support for an alum who meant so much to this chapter and her family shared with us how important our chapter was to her. This year, our goal was to work on fortifying our sisterhood through various events geared towards strengthening our bond. We had different events throughout the year such as roller skating, laser tag, and a visit to a local apple orchard. This year, as a chapter we were still adjusting to being back in our new house after being renovated and it was exciting year to expand our sisterhood and get settled in to our new house. Kappa also participated in other chapter's philanthropy events such as Greek Sing, an event hosted by Chi Omega and Beta Theta Pi, where teams perform and themed dance. Beta Chi also had a team participate in DanceBlue, an on campus organization that raises almost 2 million dollars a year in support of pediatric cancer research and clinic funding.
==Highlights of 2020==
This has been a crazy year but we have made the most out of it all! When we got sent home because of COVID-19 in the spring, Beta Chi still managed to have many virtual sisterhood events like Zoom work out classes and Netflix watch parties. We were finally able to come back to 238 E. Maxwell on August 8th. We hosted virtual spirit week with different types of recruitment workshops. Beta Chi also hosted virtual recruitment which was a huge success. We were able to welcome home 78 new members. Bid day was Kappa Girls tour themed, and everyone had a great time dressing up and welcoming our new member class home! We hosted it in shifts so everyone could join! We have had numerous sisterhood events this semester including pumpkin painting on the porch, coffee tabs at local coffee houses, tailgates in Kappa’s parking lot, and Bachelorette night in the student center movie theater. Big little was held in person and virtually, and it was a huge success! All 78 new members got initiated on October 24th virtually through Zoom! We have had a fun filled year at Beta Chi and we cannot wait for the next adventures.
[[File:Beta Chi 2020.jpg|thumb|Beta Chi 2020]]
'''Philanthropy'''
Beta Chi supports Reading is Fundamental and the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation.
This year has been a little different. Due to COVID-19 we have not been able to volunteer at Millcreek Elementary School here in Lexington, KY. However, Beta Chi has done other things to help this school. We chose this school because they have an underserved population of students that do not have access to the books that they need to stay on track with their reading abilities. Being in this schools allows us to see the immediate effect of our fundraising efforts on children so close to our hearts. This year we hosted Kappa Kickball. This event helped Beta Chi raise money to support our local elementary school while staying socially distanced with our sisters. We were able to raise over $5000 to RIF during the fall semester.
'''Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion'''
We have encouraged our sisters to go to other Panhellenic events in our community. Chapter Council has received the letter from Kappa Headquarters about adding a DEI position. We have begun planning on adding this position to our Chapter Council.
'''Sesquicentennial Celebration'''
This year we filmed a video to celebrate Founders Day and posted it on Beta Chi’s facebook page for all alumnae and members to watch. In this video, chapter members shared why Beta Chi is special to them.
==Highlights of 2021==
This year in Beta Chi looked a bit different from the usual, but our sisterhood was stronger than ever! We started our year with a snowy beginning of the new semester! Our sisters celebrated being back on campus with socially distanced snowman building, virtual movie nights, and lots of cheering on UK basketball! We also celebrated our Spring COB new members with a Bid Day at a roller rink! We were all so excited to watch our chapter grow. One of our favorite sisterhood events this semester was an outdoor tailgate for the UK vs. Florida basketball game, complete with a banner and Chick-fil-A. As we came up on Midterms, our sisters spent lots of time studying together. Our VP of Academics organized an open tab at a local coffee shop, so everyone could get a pick-me-up before their exams. Soon after, we celebrated I-Week with an outdoor Drive-In movie set up behind our house! It was such a great way to focus on what makes Beta Chi so special. Our other favorite sisterhood was a Malibu Jacks (indoor amusement park) night! We loved playing laser tag and mini golf, driving go karts, and riding all the rides. Our final event for the 2020-2021 school year was our Sapphire Ball! Everyone looked so beautiful in their dresses and our Chapter Council made sure the event was not only fun, but safe.
After a long summer break, we were all so excited to be back from an in-person recruitment! We spent Spirit Week preparing to welcome every PNM, while also strengthening our sisterhood. We had fun theme days such as “We’re So Golden” (wear all gold) and “KKzzzzz” (PJ day). When the time came to recruit our new member class, our chapter was nothing but smiles. After Preference round, we were “bubbling to meet our bids” as we welcomed them home with a bubble themed Bid Day! Shortly after, we had our first date function. “Kappa Kasino Night” was a success, complete with card tables and all the glitz of Las Vegas! That same weekend, we welcomed our sisters' families into our house for a Family Weekend tailgate before our Cats scored another victory against UT Chattanooga The most exciting event this semester, by far, was a visit from Beta Chi alumna Ashley Judd! Her words inspired our members and showed us what it means to be a strong and powerful female leader. To bring in fall, we picked apples and painted pumpkins together! Complete with a cold brew coffee bar, this event was the perfect way to celebrate yet another Cats win! After weeks of meeting Key Sisters, our new members were beyond thrilled to meet their Bigs! Our “It’s Your Heart of Gold I Love the Best” Big Little Reveal was an evening of smiles. Our next date function, “Sweet Home Kappa Gamma” was just as fun as the first. Our sisters pulled their hats and boots, and square danced the night away! Finally, we are so close to initiating the current new members. Our Marshal and her committee have worked so hard for the upcoming Initiation. Just like last semester, we will be starting off I-Week with a Drive-In Movie!
'''Philanthropy'''
In the spirit of Kappa’s Mental Health and Wellness philanthropy initiative, the Beta Chi chapter supports and JED Foundation and the Kentucky Center for Grieving Children and Families. As a chapter, we value hands on service and with our local organization, we are able to lift the spirits of families who are grieving the loss of a loved one. Many of our members are taking the time to be trained with this organization in order to better serve them and our community. We are currently planning “Kappa Cruise or Sink”, a cardboard boat race, in order to raise money. At this event, all the sororities and fraternities on our campus will be able to build a boat out of cardboard and race them in order to win money for their philanthropy. We are so excited to raise money for the Kentucky Center for Grieving Children and Families and donating to the philanthropy of the winner!
'''Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion'''
This year, we added a DEI coordinator to our chapter’s leadership. They were able to give presentations before recruitment to stress the importance of inclusivity as well as presentations before things like Halloween to make sure everyone was aware of our standards as Kappa women. We also had a programming meeting by our DEI chair and another by a mental health advocate on our campus that taught our chapter more about inclusivity in mental health aspects and in our actions. Our recruitment presentation also acted as a sort of workshop to ensure everyone understood what was being shared and could use those skills in recruitment. This election cycle, we decided to add the DEI position onto our Chapter Council as an official officer so that they can be more involved and have a bigger voice in our leadership. Our DEI chair this past year has helped us to host our sisterhood and social events in ways and with themes that are both fun and inclusive. By adding DEI as an officer this election cycle, we are hoping to move forward and continue our progress to becoming an even more welcoming, open minded and loving chapter in the future.
'''Operating in a Pandemic'''
This year we started with a group of COB girls who were recruited and initiated online, similar to the members who joined in the fall of 2020. Our primary recruitment this fall was luckily held in person for all rounds with proper precautions like masks and hand sanitizer. We also were able to initiate our new members in person this fall. Our chapter meetings in the spring were all online and moved back to in-person this fall as well. In the spring most events were held virtually or in a shift system so all attendees were not there at the same time. We also followed the protocols of each venue and the panhellenic guidelines. We also had some virtual events in the spring and a virtual option for events in the spring and fall.
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'''Note to Chapter Registrar:'''
Please refer to your chapter archives including chapter meeting minutes and back issues of The Key to fill in any gaps in the above historical highlights. If your chapter archives are not complete, please research your university library, campus newspaper and yearbook archives for newsworthy information about your chapter. Please double check your work for accuracy. Contact chapter Advisory or House Board members, local Alumnae Association members, or your Province Director of Chapters for assistance.
Your efforts will ensure a complete and accurate history of your chapter for future generations to enjoy!