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Beta Omicron

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Highlights of 2021
|Image= [[File:Beta_Omicron.jpg|200px]]
|Founded= {{start date and years ago|1904|05|11}}
|College= [httphttps://tulane.edu/ Tulane University], formerly H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College of Tulane University
|Location= New Orleans, LA
|Homepage= [httphttps://wwwtulane.wixkappa.comorg/betaomicronkkg/tulanekkg Beta Omicron Homepage]|Media= [httphttps://wiki.kappakappagammakkg.org/index.php?title=Category:Beta_Omicron Media related to Beta Omicron Chapter]}}
'''Tulane University (formerly Newcomb College of Tulane University) established in 1886, New Orleans, Louisiana'''
'''23,839 048 initiates (as of June 20152018)'''
'''Charter members:'''
 
Hilda Margaretta Blount, Maria Fugenia Breazeale, Hester Isabel Craig, Hazel Ellis, Adele Ford, Florence Ford, Mary Minor, Gertrude Monroe, Katie Adair Monroe, Charlotte Prentiss, Pamela Robertson, Lucile Reynolds Vardell, Phoebe Nixon Williams.
'''Some of Beta Omicron's Outstanding Alumnae:'''
'''Fraternity Council Members;'''
 
Mary Seago Brooke, 1964, Outstanding contributions in social work and mental health <br>
Ginnie Johansen Johnson, 1986, Entrepreneur and Artist <br>
Jane Scott Offut Hodges, 2016, Entreprenuer
Chapter Council has introduced many new ideas in order to improve sisterhood, ritual, academic excellence, philanthropy, and over-all chapter dignity and respect. Our monthly sisterhood events, study hours, ritual reviews, and new exciting philanthropy opportunities have not only made us bond as a chapter, but has also allowed us to make strides to become a better chapter. Our members have taken an active role in helping Chapter Council make sure Beta Omicron reaches its full potential. The sophomore, junior and senior classes all understand that we are the role models for the new members. As upperclassmen we have discussed numerous times that we are responsible for setting a good example for them. All older members have taken this responsibility very seriously and are aware that the new members will uphold our chapter ideals if we do as well.
==Highlights of 2020s2016==  In January, we started off the year with a great round of recruitment with one of our best slideshows to date that truly showcased how much each member cares about our chapter. On the 18th, we accepted our largest pledge class in years (over 80 girls!) with the theme of United States of Kappa Kappa Gamma. Girls painted their faces and bounced in a bounce house– it was truly a memorable day. That night, the new members rode a bus to a restaurant in downtown New Orleans and sung songs and did ice breakers the whole day. In February, we held our first philanthropy event with Reading is Fundamental and STAIR. STAIR, or Start the Adventure in reading, is a volunteer based children's literacy organization that provides reading tutors for public school 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade students. By teaming up with these organizations, over 60 members gave one-on-one tutoring to students to improve their reading and language skills over the course of 5 different shifts. On March 4th, we hosted Big Little Reveal in the chapter room. All of the new members were incredibly excited to officially be paired with an old mentor. A couple days later, Mary Pat, a Kappa trainer, visited us. Throughout our years on probation, we have come to realize how much change we enacted and can still enact in our chapter. We decided that we would like to continue to promote sisterhood and philanthropy events over social events and noted just how much that feeling has changed since our pledge class (PC '14) were freshmen. We are incredibly proud of how far we have come these past few years and expect the new Chapter Council to continue our good work (with our help of course). In April, we held our first annual Kappa Klassic on the 2nd. The Kappa Klassic is a panhellenic philanthropy event in which each sorority makes a team of around 20 girls to participate in a Powderpuff Football competition. It was a huge hit and we are definitely going to make this a regular philanthropy event! Towards the end of April, Riley, our Vice President of Standards chair, hosted a sisterhood workout event. The class was packed and the girls had a blast working out together (and being a little too silly for the instructor). Over the summer months, many girls held incredible internships throughout the U.S. and abroad too! From interning at a film industry firm in Los Angeles to working in finance in New York, Tulane Kappas were getting unbelievable experience all over. School started up quickly, and thankfully a little later than normal, on August 29th. At the beginning of September, we had visits from the LCs Meril Weber and Jess Morin. Girls had a great time taking them around Nola to get food. Although we were all initially disappointed when they read our renewed probation terms, we quickly turned that attitude around into driving us to prove to them that we are so much more than what we were 3 years ago, or even 1 year ago. Around this time, the Panhellenic Council also announced that the Greek organizations would be teaming up to raise money to build a school in Africa through the Circle of Sisterhood. Many members throughout the Greek community were excited to start funding the school and hosted a fundraiser at Dat Dog. In October, we held another sisterhood workout class on the 6th, but this time it was at Cycle Bar. A week later was Founder's Day! To celebrate, we put out some handwritten chapter minutes from the early 1900's as well as some incredible scrapbooks from the 80s and 90s. The members could not get enough of the scrapbooks. We celebrated with adorable alumni and a great cake!  October is breast cancer month and we love to walk to raise money for breast cancer research into treatments and cures. Brittany Gallagher's mother, Shauna, died of breast cancer a few years ago and each year, we walk in the Race for a Cure in honor of her. Towards the end of the month, we held our biggest philanthropy event of the year, Kappa Kollection. Many parents and other family or friends were in town as it was also Homecoming weekend. It was a great weekend and we raised thousands of dollars for RIF. Towards mid-November, the Panhellenic Council held its first ever Greek Groove– a dance event in which all of the sororities compete (fraternities are going to become involved next year). Our theme was Red Hot and the girls had an absolute blast competing. While we didn't bring home the crown next year, we're all eager to get it next year. The girls ended a long semester with finals and cannot wait to see what next year has in store. Recently, our campus has placed an initiative to be more accepting and promoting diversity in the Greek community in terms of race, religion, and more. Potential new members have submitted an essay regarding the topic as well as attended multiple speeches about it. It is a great step in the right direction.  In addition to donating to the numerous other Greek organizations' charities, we support STAIR, "Start the Adventure in Reading." I explained STAIR's mission in the second paragraph of the 'Summary' section of this document. Literacy rates in the Greater New Orleans area are staggering with 39% of 16 year olds reading below the 5th grade level, 31% below the 8th grade level, and only 30% at level 3 or higher.  Each holiday season marks the times at which school attendance in New Orleans is at its all time lows. In order to combat this, our association hosts an annual Philanthropy Party, where alumni bring donations of small toys, toiletries, and healthy treats to support SciTech Academy, a nearby school. The gifts encourage students to attend school during the winter months. Each day that a child is in school is crucial to their chances of graduating high school. STAIR helps us organize events that facilitate schools in the area hosting these types of events. The falling children's literacy rates in New Orleans have become an epidemic. By being able to elicit a small amount of change in this is incredibly rewarding. ==Highlights of 2017== We started off the year with a great round of recruitment, again recruiting our one of our biggest pledge classes in history! (84 girls total!) Members proudly shared some of their fondest Kappa experiences with the chapter throughout the recruitment process. On the 15th, we celebrated bid day with a camouflage theme. The day was spent enjoying Frenchies Food Truck at the house, taking pictures in the photo booth, and getting to know each other through icebreakers and other games! The next day, all the new members enjoyed a fun day together at Sector 6— a trampoline park in downtown New Orleans. In February, we hosted our annual philanthropy event, Kappa Klassic, for Reading is Fundamental, our philanthropy partners who work to provide elementary students with the resources they need to learn how to read. Members volunteered to table around campus during the week leading up to the event, spreading the word about our event that took place on the 18th. Member also held team practices to prepare for the event! The Panhellenic philanthropy event attracted several other sororities on campus, composed of teams of around 20 girls to participate in a Powderpuff Football competition. During this month, our chapter was also proud to report that our members had the highest rate of participation in the campus-wide student Sexual Misconduct Climate Survey, which aimed to help the community better understand the incidence of sexual harassment and sexual violence in Tulane's community, totaling in at 100% participation. Big Little Reveal took place on February 19th. New members were excited to come together in the chapter room to find out whom they would be partnered with to look up to as a mentor in their years to come as a Kappa. Returning members were stoked to reveal to the new members who had been surprising them with gifts and excited to share their wisdom. In March, members enjoyed different sisterhood events including Painting with a Twist, City Surf workout classes, and Poke Loa lunches at the house. On the 22nd,Not my campus, a student-led movement to end the silence surrounding sexual assault and create a safe environment for all students at Tulane, came to speak to our chapter. We were thrilled to have the opportunity to support the organization.  During the summer, members participate in different service projects and internships throughout the country and abroad! Girls took on tasks from sponsoring Students in Zambia, hiking though Peru, interning in New York City and LA, and working with companies such as Teach for America and Eden House. Excited to get back into the swing of things as school approached in the fall, members attended Shifting the Paradigm on September 19th, the campus wide sexual prevention program that reviewed the results of the climate survey that took place in February. On the 21st, members enjoyed reuniting after summer break with groovy themed sisterhood event serving snowballs at the house. After the devastation that took place as a result of Hurricane Harvey touching down in Houston, members rallied together to provide relief through GoFundMe and donations. In October, we continued our tradition of celebrating Founders day with cake and a presentation from our Education Chair that covered the history of our founding! For our 147th anniversary, the Registrar also presented a brief overview on the little known origins of Louisiana Kappa’s unique traditional saying “Red Hot Mama.” '''Philanthropy''' On the 18th, we paired with another Greek group on campus to raise money for Reading is Fundamental and The Children’s Miracle Network, an organization dedicated to saving and improving the lives of as many children as possible during their time spent in the hospital. Our donations were used to support hospitals most in need of assistance. We sold coffee and bagels, raising a total of over $1000 for donations! Members also participated in “Panhellowen,” a Panhellenic trick-or-treating event supporting Star Advocates, whose mission is to build a community free from oppression and sexual trauma. We had a Leadership Consultant, Sydney, visit at the end of the month. Girls enjoyed taking her out to meals and showing her around the city during Halloween! In November, we hosted our Kappa Collection philanthropy event on the 5th, featuring different clothing stores including Krewe, Lennox and Lane, and Lacey Ryan. Fifteen of the proceeds went to the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation and our philanthropy organization— Reading is Fundamental. We were impressed by the outcome and thrilled by the amount we were able to put toward supporting Reading is Fundamental.   [[File:Kappa Kollection.jpg|thumb|Ad for Beta Omicron's signature philanthropy event]] We also participated in Greek Groove on the 9th, a Panhellenic event that raised a total of S24029.12 for girls’ education and a future Circle of Sisterhood trek. Sisters had a blast working together to create a choreographed dance for the event. In December, chapter members met at the house to take a holiday photo! The chapter was excited, as we felt that we had accomplished our goals to improve our structure and communication as a chapter, which allowed us not only to better support each other but also become more involved on campus and in our community. Members returned home for Holiday break excited about our improvement and ready to continue and expand our recent accomplishment with a new pledge class in the spring. ==Highlights of 2018== The previous calendar year has been much fun for the women of Beta Omicron at Tulane University. Bid Day was Candyland themed! We welcomed approximately 90 new members, and started 2018 in a pretty sweet way. We started this calendar year off with many of our members participating in the Women's March that took place in the French Quarter! The ladies of Kappa Kappa Gamma also supported Stoneman Douglas High School after the shooting, by hanging a "Douglas Strong" banner from our porch. We had numerous fun mixers and date parties. Some of our best included: Red Hot, Disco Date, and Kappa Krush! There were plenty of fun sisterhood events this year, including snowballs on the porch and attending the Pelican's basketball game as a chapter! Chapters were made fun with cake on Founder's Day, and holidays were made special with cookie decorating at the house! A few of our ladies had great successes for their sporting teams; we have members on the volleyball and rugby teams for the university. This year we had many fun philanthropic events! Beta Omicron switched up our traditional powderpuff football event for a SpikeBall event! This event was called "Spike and Slamma with Kappa Kappa Gamma" and the proceeds went to benefit a local startup called "TopBox Foods". We also teamed up with two other sororites on campus for a jewelry trunk show outside of the Kappa house that split the proceeds, with Kappa's portion going towards RIF. Lastly, we finished up 2018 with our traditional fall philanthropy event, "Kappa Kollection", where local stores set up tables in our chapter room with some merchandise to sell! The event is held on parent's weekend and is a great way for potential new members/parents to be welcomed into the house for a fun event! A portion of all proceeds went toward RIF as well. Beta Omicron also participated in fun campus activities as well. We had a team compete in Greek Groove, a dancing competition, that raises money for Tulane Panhellenic Council's philanthropy, Circle of Sisterhood. One of our very own members got selected to go on a trip to Africa with Circle of Sisterhood in 2019! We finished the semester with study snacks at the house and transformed the chapter room into the perfect place to study with your sisters! The ladies of Beta Omicron This year, Tulane University took a harder stance against underage drinking and the negative aspects of fraternity/sorority life. Every chapter on campus attended a 2 day leadership program before school started. The program was called IMPACT. At the program, Greeks on campus discussed the nature of our school and some of the issues that present itself with drinking mixed with hard schooling. The attendees agreed on a new rule not allowing freshmen to be at Greek events for the first week of school. Coupled with the new rule, the Beta Omicron chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma made direct efforts to limit the amount of underage drinking by making stricter rules through risk management. BO also used multiple "education nights" at chapter to advise about drinking, mental health, and sexual assault. ==Highlights of 2019== 2019 has been an incredible year for Kappa Kappa Gamma, Beta Omicron Chapter at Tulane. Under the leadership of our incredible President Mary Goldberg, traditions became solidified, the chapter became unified, and each challenge was met with maturity and regard for the chapter as a whole. Highlights included Kappa Kappa Girl Boss, which brought a panel of Tulane Kappa women and alumnae back to Tulane to give advice about beginning our careers. Additionally, Kamp Kappa was a fun way the chapter came together and raised money for our chapter philanthropy. VP of Standards Erika Kort also put together a sisterhood event at a roller rink, something the chapter had never done before!
(See Chapter History Report) Highlights (scholarship, honors/awardsThe youngest PC has really come together and made demands on the upperclassman, special like more sisterhood eventsand more ways to get involved. Also, philanthropy and service projectsthe restructuring of Chapter Council as our District began piloting the new officer structure, etcwas an undertaking that changed the chapter's overall nature. Getting to learn together about what it will look like was a positive process for all members.):
'''Housing:'''Beta Omicron chose to support our Fraternity philanthropy, Reading is Fundamental, to help end childhood illiteracy and to be in sync with the rest of Kappa Kappa Gamma chapters across the country.
We celebrated Founders Day this year with Leadership Consultant, Sydney Hawekotte, ''Nebraska'', and had a cake at dinner. We are currently brainstorming ideas to celebrate Kappa's sesquicentennial in 2020!
==Highlights of 2020s==
'''Philanthropy:'''
2020 has been a trying year for Kappa Kappa Gamma, although the Beta Omicron chapter has met COVID-19 with resilience. While the first two months of the year were filled with the usual in person Initiation, Big/Little reveal, and events such as Glo Kappa and My Tie, students were sent home in mid-March as coronavirus emerged as a national and global crisis. As social distancing and quarantining became the norm, we all missed our sisters dearly and were anxiously waiting to return to campus.
'''In the fall, thanks to the leadership of President Jaida Maller, Tulane Kappa handled the transition with responsibility and reason. We adapted to social distancing protocols by canceling all social events, moving chapter online, hosting Sisterhood events such as cooking and exercise classes via Zoom, and having ‘to-go’ lunches every Thursday. Thankfully, we were able to fund raise for our philanthropy, Reading is Fundamental, with a digital Kappa Kollection this year as well. As our Chapter Convention Awards:''', our University, and the world as we know it have all changed immensely in the past year, Beta Omicron has prioritized the safety of the New Orleans community and has aimed for its members to be role-models within the Tulane community in regard to wearing masks and social distancing.
Although we dearly miss pre-COVID days, we are thankful we have our sisters to help us through these unprecedented times. We are so excited for the day when things begin to return to normal and we can resume chapter events and be all together in person again!
==Highlights of 2021==
Spring semester of 2021 was held virtually within our chapter for meetings, recruitment, initiation, and all other special events held. Although it was all new to every chapter member and we missed seeing our sisters in-person, everyone handled it incredibly and Beta Omicron showed resilience. In the 2021 fall semester, we returned to seeing our sisters in person, while wearing a mask and following New Orleans city guidelines, for chapter meetings and events. It was a transition period for our new member class, going from all virtual to back in the house. Melody Li, member class of 2020, was awarded the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation Scholarship for the academic year of 2021-------------2022.
'''Note This year in the fall semester of 2021, Kappa Kappa Gamma Beta Omicron partnered with Sigma Alpha Epsilon to Chapter Registrar:'''support and raise money for the New Orleans organization Son of Saint’s Hurricane Ida relief, following the devastating hurricane that hit our city. This was done through the even Krewe du KKG x SAE, we sold snow cones, grilled hotdogs, and sold raffle tickets that all benefited Son of a Saint. It was attended by those in both our Tulane and New Orleans community, and the found and CEO of Son of a Saint. We raised over $3,300 to support Hurricane Ida relief. In addition to our event, our chapter came together to collect and donate basic goods for those in our New Orleans community who did not have access to them after Hurricane Ida.
Please refer to your chapter archives including How did the chapter meeting minutes and back issues support Kappa’s philanthropy? In support of ''The Key'' to fill in any gaps in the above historical highlights. If your chapter archives are not completeKappa’s national philanthropy, please research your university libraryNAMI, Beta Omicron held an event with Sigma Alpha Epsilon called Kappaccinos and SAEvory Snacks. We sold pastries and coffees on campus newspaper and yearbook archives for newsworthy information raised almost $2,000. It was held in March of 2021 and it encourages the new member class to be able to get involved and learn more about your chapterour national philanthropy and promote mental health. Please double check your work for accuracy. Contact All proceeds went towards NAMI New Orleans chapter Advisory or House Board members, local Alumnae Association members, or your Province Director of Chapters for assistance.
Your efforts will ensure This year Kappa Kappa Gamma Beta Omicron has been very active in upholding Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion through our chapter’s first DEI officer, Catherine Pappas. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, we held a complete Diversity, Equity, and accurate history of your Inclusion seminar for the entire chapter via Zoom on April 5ᵗʰ, 2021, ran by national’s representative Sudie Pennebaker. Beta Omicron has also been active on promoting our values for future generations diversity, equity, andsocial medias, including Instagram.This past year, Kappa Kappa Gamma Beta Omicron ran operations virtually during the spring semester to follow COVID-19 guidelines. Recruitment and initiation were both held virtually on zoom. Member class of 2021 contains 73 new members initiated virtually on March 3ʳᵈ , 2021. We returned to in-person operations at the start of the 2021 fall semester, wearing masks to enjoy!follow New Orleans guidelines.[[File:BOmicron.jpg|thumb|GreekGrove]][[File:BOmicron2.jpg|thumb|Bid Day]]