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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 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 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 of the 2020s:==