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Some of Beta Upsilon’s Outstanding Alumnae'''Charter Members: (If you have chapter alumna who have received recognition in any of these three categories''' Margaret Buchanan, please list them with the date(s) of recognitionEvelyn Sage Burns, Mary Dorothy Edwards, Bertha Sterling Hawley, Laura Frances Lewis, Mary Purinton, Cilda Langfitt Smith, Harriet Talbott Stalmaker, Eleanor Victoria Steele, Ida Katherine Sutherland, Linnie Vance, Lucy Chilton Wilson.)
==Highlights Beta Upsilon has historically/traditionally raised money for Kappa Kappa Gamma's philanthropy, Reading is Fundamental. In addition to that, we raise money for a local philanthropy, the Norma Mae Huggins Cancer Research Endowment Fund. The Endowment Fund supports clinical cancer research that focuses on diseases that are common among West Virginians. Our chapter also enjoys participating in various fraternity philanthropy events. Our chapter requires all members to participate in one philanthropic event per semester, outside of the 2020s:==ones Beta Upsilon coordinates.
'''Housing:'''Locally, our chapter supports the Norma Mae Huggins Cancer Research Endowment Fund while nationally supporting Reading is Fundamental and the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation. We chose this local organization in honor of the WVU Men’s Basketball Team Head Coach’s beloved mother who had passes away after a long battle with colon cancer. This fund supports the local WVU Medicine’s Cancer Institute for future clinical research and all proceeds stay in the area to help suffering West Virginians.
'''Philanthropy[[File:'''Beta Upsilon Bid Day 2020.jpg|thumb|Beta Upsilon 2020]][[File:Beta Upsilon 2020 Sisterhood.jpg|thumb|Beta Upsilon 2020]][[File:Beta Upsilon 2020 Bid Day Part 2.jpg|thumb|Beta Upsilon 2020]][[File:Beta Upsilon Chapter History Report.jpg|thumb|Beta Upsilon 2020]][[File:Beta Upsilon 2020 Part 2.jpg|thumb|Beta Upsilon 2020]][[File:Beta Upsilon 2020 Sisterhood 1.jpg|thumb|Beta Upsilon 2020]][[File:Beta Upsilon 2020 Part 4.jpg|thumb|Beta Upsilon 2020]][[File:Beta Upsilon Members.jpg|thumb|Beta Upsilon 2020]][[File:Beta Upsilon 2020 Graduation.jpg|thumb|Beta Upsilon 2020]][[File:Beta Upsilon Graduates 2020.jpg|thumb|Beta Upsilon 2020]]
'''Chapter Convention Awards'''The members of Beta Upsilon were excited to return to campus this fall and get back to participating in university and chapter life! We kicked off the year with some fun sisterhood bonding at the house on August 26th where we painted mini canvases. Then, on August 31st we held a shake party at the house provided by a local business, Star City Nutrition. On September 4th, Beta Upsilon Kappa Kappa Gamma hosted a brunch at the house for a small group of PNMs during informal recruitment. In preparation for our first in-person football game day since 2019, we made a chick-fil-a brunch at the house to fuel all of our members for the fun game day on September 11th! We held our New Member Pinning Ceremony on September 16th for our 4 new members. Afterwards, we invited our Spring and Fall 2021 member classes to spend the night at the Kappa house and take part in fun games! Our first annual Kappa Kornhole philanthropy event was a success on September 26th, where we raised over $1000 for Kappa’s new national philanthropy for mental health. The week of September 28th, Kappa participated in WVU’s Greek Games and even won the Musical Yoga Mat competition. On September 30th we held our second Sisterhood Event of the semester, Kappa Koffee, where we supported a local coffee shop, called The Grind, by purchasing a coffee for all of our members. Kappa Kappa Gamma celebrated WVU’s Homecoming on October 1st by making a parade float with the Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity, the theme was “Space Jams.” We finally welcomed home our 4 new members with a Bid Day event at the house on October 3rd, where everyone dressed in blue and blue! On October 13th we held a small Inspiration Week event where our seniors passed down a favorite Kappa shirt and a favorite Kappa memory to each of our new members. Then we officially initiated our 4 new members on October 16th with a full in-person ceremony. Founders Day took place that Sunday, October 17th, where we had lunch at the house and had so much fun singing ‘O Pat’ in the street! On October 23rd we held a Sisterhood Event at pumpkin patch where our members participated in a hayride and painted our own pumpkins. On November 7th we held a 4.0 brunch at a local restaurant, Iron Horse Tavern, to commend our members who have received a 4.0 GPA. We went out with a bang this semester with a fun Formal event at a local venue called Almost Heaven Bar & Grill on November 13th. The next day, our members participated in our philanthropy event called Hoops 4 Huggins, a basketball tournament that supports our local philanthropy the Norma Mae Huggins Foundation, and we raised over $1000. We’re finishing up our semester with a winter Sisterhood Event on December 2nd, where we decorated holiday cookies and wrote cards to people who are spending the holidays in our local hospitals. Our active members and chapter council have really stepped up and taken initiative this semester by building a wonderful sisterhood and creating an amazing chapter climate, despite the setbacks of the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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|Image= [[File:Beta_Upsilon.jpg|200px]]
|Founded= {{start date and years ago|1906|12|22}}
|College= [httphttps://www.wvu.edu/ West Virginia University]
|Location= Morgantown, West Virginia
|Homepage= [httphttps://chapterswvu.kappakappagammakappa.org/betaupsilon/ Beta Upsilon Website]|Media= [httphttps://wiki.kappakappagammakkg.org/index.php?title=Category:Beta_Upsilon Media related to Beta Upsilon Chapter]}}
'''West Virginia University established in 1867, Morgantown, West Virginia'''
'''2,198 481 initiates (as of June 20122018)'''
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'''Fraternity Alumnae Achievement Award Recipients:'''
Louise Keener, 1956, comptroller at West Virginia University and honored community and business volunteer; Dr. Mary Louise Scholl, 1988, developmental pediatric neurologist
Highlights (scholarship, honors/awards, special events, philanthropy and service projects, etc.):
==Highlights of 2012==
Through the year of 20112-2013 Breana Marquand and Lakyn Hose were awarded the Kappa Kappa Gamma undergraduate scholarship award from the foundation. If you would like the full list of each scholarship awarded to all chapter women, please contact me. Kappa Kappa Gamma Beta Upsilon chapter won the WVU spirit stick for being very school spirited and involved on campus.
We had quite a few special events throughout the year. We hosted a Chapter Founder's day, Senior Luncheon, Sapphire Ball, Spring Formal, and Parent's Weekend. We had a lot of philanthropic involvement this year. Every year we host Kappa Klassic for all the fraternities on campus to raise money for Reading is Fundamental. We also participate in every fraternity philanthropy on campus to remain very active in Greek life. We participated in Relay for Life, Dance Marathon for Children's Miracle Network, Alzheimer's Walk, and Greek Clean-up.
Last year, our chapter's goal was to get back to the foundation about what Kappa really means to us and try to better the chapter by following the bylaws. One of the major challenges we noticed was our policies and procedures were out of date. To overcome these challenges and we chose to reach out for help from chapter alumni. We also kept a strong chapter council to help lead the chapter. When Hurricane sandy Sandy came and wiped out a lot of cities and towns, we decided to help anyway we could. We donated toiletries, clothes, and other necessities to relief organizations in the New Jersey, New York area. ==Highlights of 2014== We had quite a few special events over the past year. In the spring we enjoyed our annual Spring Formal and hosted Senior Send Off for our members graduating. We hosted Founders Day where sixteen alumnae came, which we thoroughly enjoyed. They shared their favorite memories and told us what Kappa means to them. In the fall, we participated in Formal Recruitment in mid-September. We also hosted a parent date party where we had a raffle to raise money for Reading is Fundamental. We are very involved in philanthropic work on campus. We host several events of our own, such as our annual Bowling for Books, in which fraternities on campus participate to raise money for Reading is Fundamental. We also remain active in Greek life on campus and participate in every fraternity philanthropy. We also participated in Relay for Life, Dance Marathon, and Greek Clean Up. We recently worked with a local homeless shelter, the Bartlett House. We had the opportunity to serve there by cleaning the facilities, tutoring and playing with children, filing paperwork, sorting clothes, and donating necessities. We are currently in the process of starting a Big Sis program with the Bartlett House, which we are very excited about. It has been years since our chapter has had a newsletter, but our new Public Relations chair published the first Kappa Klippings for January-February 2015. We hope to continue this throughout the years to come. Our registrar is creating a scrapbook for the school year, and we would like for this to become a tradition. We received a warning of probation, which was definitely a wake up call for our chapter. We are striving to get back to the ideals that Kappa was founded on, and we have seen tremendous progress. We are working together to enforce risk management procedures, improve chapter management, and increase sisterhood. We have already seen a huge improvement, and we can't wait to see what this next year brings. Our chapter prides itself on having the reputation of being "Kappa Klassy." We are a service-oriented sorority, and we have maintained great relationships with all of Greek life on campus. We have a strong sisterhood that is only increasing. Many chapters, including ours, are on a warning of probation. We are working together to change our chapter for the better, and other chapters on campus are as well. In mid-November, all Greek organizations on campus were placed on a moratorium. This was spurred by the death of a fraternity new member in a fraternity related event. This fraternity had already lost its charter previous to the death of the student, but the University saw this as an opportunity to rebuild Greek life on campus. During this time, sororities and fraternities were not allowed to engage in social events. The only events allowed required approval by Student Activities at least 48 hours in advance. These were mostly weekly chapter meetings and philanthropic events. Although the circumstances were unfortunate, this provided time for our chapter to increase sisterhood become more involved in philanthropic projects. We took this as an opportunity to improve the chapter as a whole. We fulfilled the 2/3 requirement for a sisterhood event and a philanthropic event to be lifted from moratorium on Feb. 4. ==Highlights of 2015==One member from Beta Upsilon received an undergraduate scholarship from the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation, and many of our members have scholarships through various other sources. If you would like a full list of each scholarship awarded to all chapter women, please let me know. We had numerous special events throughout the past year. In the spring we had our annual spring formal, and we also hosted the annual Senior Send Off, honoring our graduating members. In October we hosted Founder’s Day. We also hosted a Parent Date Party, where the proceeds benefited the Norma Mae Huggins Cancer Research Endowment Fund. We are very involved in philanthropic work on campus. We are involved with Greek Life on campus, and we participate in every fraternity philanthropy. We have even had the opportunity to participate in other sorority philanthropies as well. We also host our own philanthropies, such as Bowling for Books (spring philanthropy) and Hoops for Huggins (fall philanthropy). In the spring we volunteered quite a bit at the Bartlett House, which is a homeless shelter in our community. We have also continued to donate food the shelter this semester. Our registrar made a scrapbook for the 2014-2015 school year, and she presented it to the chapter in August. Our PR chair is continuing to make the monthly newsletter, which members are enjoying. In August, we were told that our Warning of Probation would be extended. We have already seen so much progress in the chapter. We have placed emphasis on improving risk management procedures, chapter management, and increasing sisterhood. We recently won several awards at the Panhellenic Banquet. These awards included Maintenance of Fine Standards, Excellence in Risk Management, Order of Omega Award for Academic Excellence, Excellence in New Member Education and Retention, Greek Woman of the Year (President Ellen Walburn), and Outstanding Alumna of the Year (Whitney Hatcher). We also just had initiation this month, and we welcomed 45 new sisters into Kappa. Due to the moratorium last year, WVU’s Greek Life is continuing to see changes this year. Greek Life on our campus is striving to become more service-oriented and academically focused. The University decided to change recruitment to deferred recruitment. Although details are uncertain, we believe this will be put in place next year. Chapter Philanthropy: What organization(s) has your chapter historically/traditionally raised money for, or donated hours to, in your community? We have always raised money for our national philanthropy, Reading is Fundamental. Last spring we hosted Bowling for Books, where fraternities on campus brought books to donate and their entry fee was donated to Reading is Fundamental. In October we hosted our first annual Hoops for Huggins. The money was donated to the Norma Mae Huggins Research Endowment Fun, which funds cancer research in West Virginia. ==Highlight 2016== This past calendar year, Beta Upsilon has been quite busy! Last Spring we held our annual Spring Formal and Senior Send off that honored our graduating members. Over the summer, some of our members attended National Convention. Here, we received quite a few awards. The Gracious Living Award was given to us for our chapter's graciousness and hospitality at our facility and on campus, our members have best secured the art of living and working harmoniously together. We received the Risk Management Award for practicing sound risk management in accordance with Fraternity guidelines and procedures. We have provided our members with educational programming about Risk importance. The Strive to Succeed Award was given to us for exceeded academic expectations. Lastly, we received the Standards Award for having the best overall, comprehensive Standards programming. It was such an honor to have received each and every award from National Convention! This past Fall we hosted our Parent Date Party. This event was very successful considering we were able to raise money or our philanthropy. In October, our annual Founders Day celebration was held. Many Beta Upsilon alumna were able to join us this year for such a special day. We also had our annual Fall Formal this past November. Beta Upsilon is very involved in philanthropic work on our campus. We participate in fraternity philanthropies and even some other sorority philanthropies as well. Last Spring we hosted Kappa Dodgeball that raised money for Reading is Fundamental. Our members also went out to a local elementary school last Spring on Dr. Suess Day to read to children. This promoted RIF. In the Fall we raised money for our local philanthropy, The Norma Mae Huggins Cancer Research Endowment Fund, through our Hoops for Huggins Event. This gave fraternities an opportunity to come out and compete in a basketball tournament to support our philanthropy. We returned back to a local elementary school over the Fall to donate books to the children, again promoting Reading is Fundamental. Furthermore, our chapter is very involved with community service. Over the course of this year, out chapter completed 3,697.35 hours of community service. Being very involved on campus and around the community helped us to achieve this. In particular, there is an organization, Sundale Senior Living, that Beta Upsilon reached out to and completed many service hours for. We also participated in WVU's Greek Day of Service. For this, we were paired with other fraternity and sorority members on our campus to complete service projects at different locations throughout the community. As a chapter, we are proud of our accomplishments and growth that has been seen within Beta Upsilon over the past year. We plan to continue to make improvements and increase our sisterhood to help our chapter grow even more. We are excited to see what this coming year has in store for us! This year WVU implemented an Accreditation Program for Greek Life. This was a huge adjustment and change on our campus. The evaluation of every Greek chapter on campus was based off of basic requirements, chapter house management, membership development, philanthropy, community service, panhellenic involvement, and conduct action. Beta Upsilon is projected to receive "chapter of prominence". This is a huge accomplishment considering it is the highest ranking able to be received. We have exceeded the minimum expectations for the program! We have also experienced change with our new house renovations. A brand new heating and air conditioning system were added along with anew study area and TV area in the house. Our third floor bathroom was remodeled and the basement is still in the process of being redone as well. Although change can be difficult to undergo, these are changes that have helped to improve our chapter even more! Our chapter has historically/traditionally raised money for Reading is Fundamental. We also raise money locally for the Norma Mae Huggins Cancer Research Endowment Fund. As a chapter we support Reading is Fundamental not only because it is our national philanthropy, but because we see the impact it has in our local community. Reading is Fundamental is the largest reading non-profit in the entire country. It promotes leadership and creativity through reading. In the state of West Virginia there is a major literacy crisis. About 73% of third graders read below grade level. This organization allows us to interact with the children in our local schools and neighborhoods and inspire them to read and succeed. We support the Norma Mae Huggins Cancer Research Endowment Fund for similar reasons. This organization raises money for cancer trials for West Virginia residents. The fund was created by the university's head basketball coach Bob Huggins in memory of his beloved mother who passed away of colon cancer. Our chapter strives to support our local community as much as possible, and we feel that these two organizations help us do so! A current member of Beta Upsilon, Kallie Nealis, had the honor in receiving 2016 Homecoming Queen at WVU. Here is her story: "People say that the sisterhood you gain from joining a sorority is one of the greatest treasures you could ask for, and I can say that I experienced that more this fall. This year I was able to receive the greatest honor that I could ever hope to achieve, becoming West Virginia University's 2016 Homecoming Queen. However, I can wholeheartedly say that achieving this honor would not have been possible without Kappa Kappa Gamma and my fellow sisters of the Beta Upsilon chapter. The women in this chapter are undoubtedly the most selfless women I have ever met. As a four-year member of the WVU Dance Team, my sisters have shown unwavering support in all of my endeavors that Dance Team entailed. However, nothing can compare to the love and support during my three-week journey on Homecoming Court. They did whatever they could to help me campaign. From standing outside our student union for hours yelling "Kallie for Queen", pulling all-nighters to help me paint banners to deck the other fraternity and sorority houses, and doing all they could on social media to help spread the word. But what really meant the most to me are the sisters who dropped everything to help me, be it moral support or with campaigning, to make this dream of mine come true. Years down the road when I look back at my Homecoming experience, the feeling of having my sisters behind me and support me no matter what will always mean the most to me. It was more than I could have ever asked for and I will certainly never forget it."Best Wishes, Kallie Nealis ==Highlights of 2017== Throughout the past year, Beta Upsilon has grown tremendously. We opened up our year with the spring semester strong. After electing the new chapter officers, chapter council worked diligently to ensure the success of the chapter. This year, we actually held recruitment in the spring so we welcomed a new pledge class into our chapter and eventually initiated those new members near the end of the semester. We held our Spring Formal that allowed members to mingle and spend quality time together. We also had a senior send off for the seniors that graduated. We also held a parent date party that showcased our hard work to our parents. Over the summer, many individuals continued their leadership skills learned through Kappa at various summer internships. As I mentioned before, something that changed for our fall semester is the change that West Virginia University made to formal recruitment. WVU will no longer hold fall formal recruitment. This is still a huge adjustment for our chapter but we are working towards improving this.
We held our annual Founders Day celebration and welcomed many alumna into our house. During the weekend of Founders Day, one of the past pledge classes held a reunion and they all attended our ceremony, making this Founders day one for the books. This past year we joined also held our annual Hoops for Huggins philanthropy that raises money for the Big 12 Conference which has given the campus more publicity and will hopefully start Norma Mae Huggins Cancer Research Endowment Fund. In addition to that, we held Kappa Dodgeball that raises money for Reading is Fundamental. To also assist with RIF, we continued our tradition of reading to improve attendance and give us the chance local elementary schools. During this effort, we donated over 150 books to promote children in surrounding schools. We also participated in Greek lifeDay of Service, which is a school-wide community service event. This event allows all the fraternities and help the sororities to interact with each other by participating in various community service efforts. While this day is extremely important to Beta Upsilon chapter keep its , the assistance doesn'Kappa Klassy' reputationt stop there. OverallWe participate in a wide range of efforts around the city of Morgantown, any as well as the other fraternity and sorority on campus we have do strong bond withphilanthropy events. Not only within each otherAs you can see, but with everyone else Beta Upsilon cares about community service and always shows interest in helping those in Greek lifeneed. We pride ourselves to not be known To build our chapter as the party girlsa whole, but strive we host a lot of sisterhood events to maintain help members connect and bond over fun activities. We take pride in all the 'Kappa Klassy' reputation to peers activities our chapter participates in and we hope that our mentality for leadership and involvement will stay with all our members when they graduate and leave West Virginia University and everyone on campusBeta Upsilon.
This year, our chapter has seen a lot of changes that have been campus related. First, we received a new Director of Greek Life. This changed a lot of things for our chapter. This also changed some of the rules to the previous Accreditation Program that was implemented. In addition to that, we are still trying to adjust to the changes that WVU made to recruitment. With formal recruitment being in the spring, we had to make some changes to our normal practices.
With Reading is Fundamental being our national philanthropy, we feel that it is really important as a chapter to contribute to this initiative. Aside from that, this philanthropy is extremely important to our local community and state. Seventy three percent of WV third graders read below grade level. This issue is extremely prevalent in our state which makes it more important for us to take action. As a chapter, we are able to connect with children in our local schools by motivating them to read and stimulate their creativity. The Norma Mae Huggins Cancer Research Endowment Fund is also important to our chapter for the local impact it has. This fund was created by West Virginia University's men's basketball coach, Bob Huggins, in memory of his mother who passed away of colon cancer. This fund assists clinical cancer research for West Virginians. Supporting this organization allows us to see a positive impact for the great people in the mountain state. Every year we hold "Hoops for Huggins" which is an event that helps us raise money for the endowment fund. There has been multiple philanthropic efforts we contribute to as well for other reasons. Whenever Beta Upsilon notices a need for community service, we show no hesitation to jump into the community and help out. ==Highlights of 2018== Over the past year, Beta Upsilon has had many successes and accomplishments. We began the Spring semester with recruitment. WVU has a deferred recruitment policy, so our formal recruitment occurs in the spring semester every year. We welcomed an amazing pledge class and initiated them in April after completing their new member period. We had successful philanthropies including Hoops for Huggins, in which we raised money for the Norma Mae Huggins Cancer Research Endowment Fund. We held Bumps for Books, which was a volleyball tournament benefiting our National Philanthropy, Reading is Fundamental. We also experimented with a new event in which we welcomed a traveling boutique into our Chapter House, with proceeds benefiting Reading is Fundamental. We had amazing sisterhood events including bowling, movie watching, and Sundae stations after chapter meetings. We held a Behind Happy Faces educational session which discussed the importance of mental health with our members and allowed us to open up and be understanding with one another. We had our Founders Day celebration at our chapter house, where we were given the opportunity to bond and chat with our sisters of all ages. We held events such as our Kappa Krush date party and Spring Formal in the spring, which were both successful. We sent off our seniors with an amazing Senior Sendoff event, as well as all of the fun activities included in senior week. In the Fall, we held several date parties and Fall Formal which allowed our members to relax and socialize with their sisters. In the spring semester, WVU Greek Life established a moratorium which suspended activities until chapters could complete a Reaching the Summits program. Each chapter was required to have a membership review. Beta Upsilon passed the Reaching the Summits program with flying colors. Our chapter was awarded for highest GPA, which is an amazing accomplishment, since we take pride in our academic achievements. This year has been successful for Beta Upsilon and we are very proud of our accomplishments. Recent changes on campus include several fratnernities disassociating from WVU's Greek Life to form their own Independent Interfraternity Council. This has posed some challenges for Beta Upsilon as we now have a smaller number of organizations participating in our philanthropies. The Beta Upsilon chapter has historically supported our national philanthropy, Reading is Fundamental. The illiteracy rate in West Virginia is high, so we find it important to continue to raise money through efforts to decrease this. We additionally raise money for the Norma Mae Huggins Cancer Research Endowment Fund which supports clinical research that focuses on diseases common among residents of our state. We chose this organization because it is in honor of the mother of our school's head men's basketball coach. ==Highlights of 2019== The spring semester of 2019 was a very successful period for Beta Upsilon. We started the semester off with recruitment, which was held the week of January 20th. We also had a lovely LC stay with us that week, which was a huge help in making our selection process run flawlessly. Our bid day took place on January 27th , and it was disco themed! We received 3 33 new members. We rented out a local restaurant, Almost Heaven Bar and Grill, and had lunch provided to the entire chapter. On January 28th we held the New Member Pinning, where all new members pledged their name and interest to the Fraternity. On February 9th, our chapter had our annual Valentine's Day date party, which we call "Kappa Krush". Big and little clues were held on the nights of February 12th, 13th, and 14th, where each new member received a craft made by her Big sister. Big/Little night was on February 15th, at the house. On February 23rd, our chapter had the Initiation sleepover and on the morning of February 24th 32 new members became sisters of KKG (one member had dropped before then for school/financial reasons). February 28th, we had a sisterhood event at a local trampoline park. This was a huge hit with all of our members! Around this time we also had KKG Parents weekend, where parents could come tour the house and meet some of their daughters new sisters. Composite pictures were taken at the house on March 20th. Our chapter held our annual "Bumping for Books" volley ball tournament at the WVU Recreational Center, in support of RIF, on Sunday, March 24th. We had a great turnout and raised hundreds of dollars to donate to RIF. On April 8th, a group of 20 kappas went to read at a local elementary school, "Reading is Key", in support of RIF. A few weeks later, our chapter spent a week to celebrate our graduating seniors. On April 10th, we had "Senior Wills", where seniors can come pass down t-shirts, crafts, or tell fun memories of their time in Kappa. Senior Fireside was held at the house on April 12th, where the entire chapter came dressed to pin to further celebrate our kappa seniors. "Senior Send-Off" was held at Almost Heaven Bar and Grill on April 13th. This was a fun day to eat food and spend time dancing and talking with all of our sisters. We had a sisterhood event planned for April 14th, but it was cancelled due to weather related reasons. This event was going to be called "Kappa Kappa Games" and was going to have obstacle courses and games such as a balloon toss. On Monday April 15th, the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life hosted it's Annual Award Banquet. Our member Rachel Rogers won "Rising Star of the Year", and our chapter as a whole won "Excellence in Academic Achievement" for maintaining the highest average GPA of all WVU sororities. WVU Panhellenic installed their new executive team on the evening of April 4th. Rachel Rogers, Hannah Davis, and Amanda Natale became part of the executive board. Rachel is the President, Hannah is the VP of Recruitment, and Amanda is the Director of Recruitment Counselors. This was a very proud moment for our chapter! To end the semester, our Spring Formal was held on Saturday, April 27th. SUMMARY OF EVENTS FALL 2019: We kicked off the new semester with a social with Pi Kappa Phi, on September 6th, which was "Koachella" themed! On September 21st, we had our first date party of the semester. The following weekend, we had a tie dye sisterhood event where all the sisters dyed shirts at the house and we wore fun blue and blue clothes to take pictures for our social media pages! We hired a videographer to come and take fun shots of us. The evening of September 11th, the entire chapter hosted a call-a-thon in support of raising money for the Kappa house. On September 25th we had a welcome back ice cream the house for all members, called "Sundae Funday". On October 16th we held a Chipotle fundraiser to raise money for the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation, and also had a senior only sisterhood event which was pumpkin painting. Our chapter held a halloween themed date party of October 18th, which was the first time we had done this. It was very popular and a different theme that we all enjoyed! A few weeks later we elected our new Chapter Council for the new year. The Sapphire Ball, was held on November 2nd at the WVU Alumni Center. Also on this day, our chapter attended an event called "Phired Up", which taught us about how to properly talk to girls during recruitment. Around this time as well our chapter sent 25 girls to read at a local elementary school, "Reading is Key", in support of RIF. Triplet meetings were held at the house on November 17th, so incoming officers were able to be filled out by in and trained for their new position. On November 22nd we had a social with Phi Kappa Psi, which was 80's Skiing in Aspen themed. On December 8th, we have our first recruitment practice for the entire chapter. We also had a new chapter council photoshoot to update the website and other social media pages. Our annual philanthropy, Hoops for Huggins, in support of our local philanthropy the Norma Mae Huggins Cancer Research Foundation, was supposed to happen but unfortunately there was a mistake in the paperwork and the event was unable to be held. The new date for that is being currently being established for the beginning of Spring 2020. On December 6th we had our Holiday themed date party, at Blaze Nightclub. CHAPTER GOALS: The main goal that our previous and current chapter council have is to bring back the "Golden Key Luncheon". This was a fundraising event that our chapter used to have once a year to raise money for the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation. This is something we are currently in the works of planning and have set goals that we want each chapter member to accomplish. Our chapter is also focused on improving anything that the members want to see worked on. In effort to do so, our new President, Eviana Barnes, has created a comments box where any member can anonymously leave a note for chapter council to review. Our local philanthropy is the Norma Mae Huggins Cancer Research Foundation. Our chapter also supports Reading is Fundamental and the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation. The chapter chose the Norma Mae Huggins Cancer Research Foundation because this is a local philanthropy for the mother of the WVU Men's Basketball team coach, Bob Huggins. KKG at WVU has a lot of school spirit, and this was a great way for us to support WVU and put an end to cancer. Our chapter Registrar)celebrated Founder's Day on October 6th at our house. On this day, our entire chapter and alumni came to eat food, share stories of our beloved Beta Upsilon, and vote on our house board. The house board talked to us about previous renovations to our house, and future plans for the summer. ==Highlights (scholarshipof 2020:== The Beta Upsilon chapter in the spring of 2020 held all functions per usual. we started on the week of January 11th and 12th with our recruitment practices, called “Kamp Kappa” with all current pledge classes. During this time the girls are able to run through the ropes of recruitment and practice the rounds and talk about ideals based recruiting and the future of the chapter. Spring 19 and all who were receiving littles within this new pledge class attended ritual reviews and practiced for the initiation of the new members. The following week, recruitment week took off and our girls were put to work! Recruitment started on the week of the 19th and continued during the weekends for the next two weeks. We gained a new pledge class of 38 girls and welcomed them home on Bid Day, February 2nd. The following day on the 3rd the new members attended the New Member Pinning Ceremony and started their new member meetings with the new Member Chairman. They had their new member retreat on the 13th of February and ended the weekend with our annual “Kappa Crush” date party. The following week of the 16th was the begging of the Big/Little Clues, honorswhere the new members were given clues by their big of who they were. Our Big/awardsLittle reveal was on the 20th, and the girls were so excited to see who their big finally was after a week of clues! Inspiration week took place that Saturday and started the week of the initiation process. During inspiration week, we had an Ice-Skating sisterhood Event at the local ice rink and spent time skating and having fun with our sisters and new members. that week also included the return of the new member pin ceremony, ritual reviews for the bigs and initiation practices. To finish off the week we had our crest ceremony and finished the weekend with initiation. We were so excited that during this initiation, the beta upsilon chapter had initiated their first alumna, who is also the current house director, Rickie Huffman. This was a huge milestone in our chapter’s history because she was only the 12th overall alumna initiated within the Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity. To kick off March, special our newly initiated pledge class had their first ritual review and ended with our parents’ weekend. Over that weekend we had our parent date party on Saturday the 7th and had our Golden Key Luncheon the following day. The Golden Key Luncheon was a fundraiser for our philanthropies, the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation and the Norma Mae Huggins Cancer research Endowment Fund. We had guest speakers and parents and members and local alumni were able to take place in raffles and had a buffet style lunch served. To honor our 4.0 members, we hold a dinner for them every semester and the dinner for that semester took place on March 6th. Our Spring Break began that weekend,little to know shortly after that would be the last time we were on campus for the semester. During the end of the spring semester and virtual classes, the elections of the Panhellenic Executive Board were completed, and our member Blair Lewis was the new Vice President of Communications. Over break the university had informed all students and staff that we would switch to remote learning due to the outbreak of COVID-19. It was unfortunate that we were not going to be able to see our sisters for the rest of the semester, but all kept in touch over the following months. The chapter continued the weekly chapter meetings, and it was a nice way to keep all of us together and keep all members still involved within our organization. We had to become creative with all the ways we could virtually spend time together, which was now going to be the new “norm” for us. Our members had completed their spring semester and were at home with their families for the summer break. with COVID-19 still spiking and spreading over break, girls were limited on the travel and contacted we had with one another in person to make sure we all kept one another safe. Our break was filled with sisters participating in FaceTime calls, emails, and social media to make sure we all were staying healthy and to check in on one another in such hard times. unfortunately, although we were allowed to return to campus, 90% of classes were to be held virtually the upcoming fall semester. The was going to be challenging for our chapter council to continue their duties and eventsnow switching virtually. But with resilience, our chapter council had found a way. We started the fall semester with themed chapter meetings and giving away prizes to the member best dressed. As in person events and meetings were now cancelled, we still found ways to have chapter and member involvement. We had our virtual founder’s Day on October 13th and celebrated the 150th year of Kappa Kappa Gamma. our Sesiquentcentennial celebration was very important to us and celebrated in a way to keep all our members safe and healthy. Our Education Chairman had put together our founder’s day with alumna speakers and our annual house board meeting with all members present. Alumna had the time to share their favorite memories of kappa, and what kappa has given them. We also opened the floor to current members, and it was a heartwarming time to share with each other all the amazing things this organization has given us. We all can agree it had given us many friendships, memories, and had opened so many doors for all of us to excel and become the best version of ourselves. Our founder’s day concluded with pictures of the house over the years and all the members and pictures from over the past decades. Later on in the semester, our Risk Management Chairman had put together a dunking Donuts drive thru for our members which was a great pick me up before we had all gone home for thanksgiving break. She had also spent time doing a chapter game night of two truths and a lie, and members were able to send in fun facts about themselves for sisters to guess! Prizes we also given away for winners and our chapter had really loved getting to know some interesting things about one another. We unfortunately would not be having any in person classes and most students would return home for the rest of the semester when leaving for fall break over thanksgiving. Panhellenic meetings were now virtual and members joined in, being able to interact and had played a Kahoot trivia game against the other sororities on campus. A member of our chapter, philanthropy Emily Lyle had won first place out of over 100 other women! We had finished off the semester with the presentation of the slate and our 2021 Chapter Council elections and service projectsvoting was held virtually over formal chapter meetings to conclude our chapter functions for this school year. This past year was nothing short of unique, etcand like said before we had faced it with the utmost resilience.):
This year, we had added DEI training into our educational meeting requirements. We had a guest speaker come in and train all our girls appropriately. As the next chapter council is inaugurated in January, they will be appointing a DEI chairman to add to our chapter council. Also, PanHellenic as a whole released a statement regarding DEI that speaks on behalf of all the chapters. It has stated, “Silence is compliance and the West Virginia University Panhellenic Association does not tolerate discrimination, bigotry, intolerance, or racism in any form…Panhellenic is dedicated to upholding strong moral values specifically related to Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Community Responsibility. Therefore we expect all of our members to speak out against racism and discrimination. Just as begins with accountability and requires all of us to commit to combating racism. It begins with acknowledging and that there’s a problem.” Our chapter will continue to become educated and be a resource for our WVU community and within Greek Life.
During the 150th founders day, our education chairman put hours of work into having guest speakers, our formal ritual for founder’s day, activities for sister over zoom, and cute stickers for all of the girls to have. We also were able to get the sesiquentcentennial badge for any member.
==Highlights of 2021:==
The spring semester of 2021 has perhaps been the most unique semester in Beta Upsilon chapter’s history, as our members and chapter council tried to navigate through the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, and make the most of a time where we were unable to participate in our normal events and traditions. We began the semester off with recruitment during the week of January 30th, and we received 35 wonderful new members on Bid Day, which took place on February 7th. Due to university and Kappa Kappa Gamma protocols during the pandemic, each round of recruitment, including Bid Day, took place over Zoom. Despite these restrictions, Beta Upsilon welcomed our Spring 2021 new member class by providing our new members with a Bid Day basket filled with Kappa shirts and sweet treats, as our theme was Kappa Kandyland! The members who lived in the house made a Bid Day banner for our new and active members to take pictures with on their own time, in a safe and socially distanced way. Beta Upsilon celebrated our spring 2021 Bid Day over Zoom and social media, making it just as special as a typical Bid Day. Our New Member Pinning Ceremony was also held over Zoom on February 9th, where 35 women pledged their name and interest to the Fraternity. Big and Little clues were dropped off at the house by the big sisters, picked up later by the little sisters, and presented over Zoom during the week of March 1st. Our New Member Chairman and Risk Management Chairman worked diligently to provide our new members with an in-person, socially distanced, Big/Little reveal at the house on March 6th. Although we had to forego the traditional initiation sleepover this year, on the morning of March 13th, Beta Upsilon proudly initiated 35 women into our sisterhood during a Zoom ceremony that combined both Fireside and Initiation services. Many alumnae were in attendance and able to witness our beautiful ceremony. We held a Zoom event with our new members for the first time on March 24th called Powerpoint Night, where our members made funny powerpoints and shared them with the chapter. On March 30th, our members took their composite photos in the Mountainlair, which is West Virginia University’s student union building. West Virginia University’s Greek Life joined in the Spring 2021 Greek Week from March 29th- April 2nd where our members participated in a banner decorating competition, WVU trivia night, and a tik tok challenge. Our university held a Greek Day of Service event on April 11th, which many of our members attended and helped repaint a wall on our campus with all of our Greek Life community. On April 14th we held a virtual Sisterhood Event and watched a movie with the whole chapter while we wore our new matching Kappa sweatshirts and sweatpants! Seniors were given a senior ceremony and a senior Fireside on April 15th, where all seniors were invited to the house for a traditional ceremony, as well as to share their experiences with the chapter over Zoom. Beta Upsilon worked hard to provide the Chapter with an in-person philanthropy event to support Kappa’s national philanthropy, which at the time was still “Reading is Fundamental.” The philanthropy event, Kappa Kakes, was held at the house on April 24th, where we raised money by selling pancakes to our community. On April 25th, our Education Chairman held a special senior send off ceremony with just the seniors, where they shared senior superlatives and had a delicious lunch at the house. We held a second Sisterhood Event on April 28th where we had a yoga retreat outside for all of our members! To get everyone ready for finals week, we held a Kappaccino drive thru event at the house on May 1st and we bought donuts and coffee for our members to pick up to help them get through their studies. This spring semester brought many awards to Beta Upsilon. Due to our incredibly hardworking chapter council, with the help of our active members, Beta Upsilon was presented with the Excellence in Risk Management award by our university’s InterFraternity Council. We also had many members participate in the Nolan Burch Greek Leadership Academy to help learn about and prevent hazing in the Greek Life community. At the end of the semester, Beta Upsilon was placed on a probation by Kappa Kappa Gamma Headquarters for Sisterhood and Risk Management concerns, but since then we have been dedicated to creating a better chapter environment for years to come. Chapter council and active members have listened to and understood the concerns Headquarters have presented to us, and we have taken this opportunity to change the chapter climate by putting forth the effort to create stronger bonds, all the while upholding the safety and well-being of our members and chapter as a whole.
Beta Upsilon supports the Norma Mae Huggins Endowment Fund. This foundation supports the fight against cancer and is important to Kappas at West Virginia University because the foundation was created in honor of Bob Huggins’ mother, who is currently WVU Men’s Basketball Coach. This foundation is incredibly important to our local community and we are proud to be able to help in any way we can. To support Kappa’s national philanthropy, on September 26th, Beta Upsilon held the first annual Kappa Kornhole event, which was a success. The participants and our members had an incredible time and we raised over $1000 towards the GED Foundation.
In the spring, Beta Upsilon elected our first DEI chairman, who has been dedicated to informing the chapter on all things regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion. Our chapter council had many educational meetings and conversations about DEI and we were committed to spreading positive diversity, equity, and inclusion on our social media platforms, mainly through Instagram.
[[File:Bid Day!.jpg|thumb|Bid Day!]]
[[File:Date Party.jpg|thumb|Date Party]]
[[File:Founder's Day.jpg|thumb|Founder's Day]]
[[File:Hoops For Huggins.jpg|thumb|Hoops For Huggins]]
[[File:KKG 2.jpg|thumb|KKG PHOTO]]
[[File:KKG Sisterhood.jpg|thumb|KKG Photo]]
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[[File:Pledge Mom Reveal.jpg|thumb|Pledge Mom Reveal]]
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