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→Highlights of 2020s:
Sesquicentennial Celebration: We have been doing "Marshal Minutes" where I share some of the history and traditions of the Delta Beta before us. We are hoping to get a visit from the Minnie Stewart Van. Every year the biggest event at Duke and UNC is the UNC-Duke Basketball game. With Carolina Blue vs Duke Blue: for the day Blue and Blue takes on a whole new meaning. We really want to set up a blue and other blue themed birthday party where we get together to celebrate the blues that bring us together, rather than the blues that set us apart
'''==Highlights of 2020==''' This year , our chapter operations changed drastically because of COVID-19 and Duke University's strict social-distancing regulations. Because Duke discouraged all campus groups from meeting in person, we were not able to have any formal in-person gatherings. However, that didn't stop us from continuing chapter traditions and spending time together! We were able to shift all of our chapter meetings and events online, and we were even able to put additional focus on new chapter goals. This semester, our most important goal was focusing on diversity, equity, and inclusion within our chapter, and we worked hard at internal reforms to better our chapter's traditions. A large part of these efforts came from our education chairs, who spent a lot of time researching and implementing a more effective education program within our chapter. We had a chapter dedicated to implicit bias training, particularly targeting biases toward low-income students, heteronormativity, and skin color. Moreover, we decided to restructure our executive council to strengthen each member's voice and allow younger Delta Beta members to be more involved with council. This new structure involvescommittees instead of individuals - a committee for internal affairs, external affairs, operations, and education - with one member heading each committee. We hope this will improve communication and further strengthen our bond as an executive council. There were also many efforts made to restructure and reform new member recruitment this year, but in light of COVID-19, we were not able to have any form of in-person recruitment. We are still finalizing what virtual recruitment will look like within Delta Beta and across all Panhellenic chapters at Duke. Socially, we had quite a fun semester, despite it being virtually! Our social chair did an incredible job putting together ZXoom events like funny trio games, and she placed everyone in the chapter on smaller groups we call "Blue Krews" a Delta Beta tradition. These groups were mixed with members of all ages and it allowed us to coordinate our own smaller group gatherings to get to know each other better. While our greatest focus was DEI and internal reforms within our chapter, we also put a great deal of effort into building our community and supporting each other as sisters during these isolating times. =Chapter Convention Awards:Philanthropy= We supported Step Up Durham. Step Up Durham offers free employment readiness training, personalized job coaching, employer referrals, and services to job seekers. They have helped over 600 families with children in need who have benefitted from employment raining. We chose Step Up Durham because in the past, the majority of our philanthropy efforts have beeline-day commitments or raising money. However, this year we decided to focus on a long-term, more sustainable commitment specific to the greater Durham community. We thought volunteering with Step Up would be a great way to continuously spend time with the organization over the next year, especially over Zoom and online, instead of a one-time event. Our roles as volunteer workers will include working as employment counselors, helping people research and community job leads, prepare people for interviewers, and help build resumes with one-on-one mentorship. We felt that as Duke students, we have access to so many pre-professiona resources, and we wanted to put our knowledge to its best by giving back to the Duke community. =Diversity,Equity, Inclusion= As mentioned in our chapter summary, a great sum of our efforts were centered around diversity, equity, and inclusion across all facets of our chapter. Within the financial sector of our chapter, we were able to eliminate many of the costs to be a Delta Beta member. Our treasurer was able to get our dues down to $0, and PNMs who want to take part in recruitment will no longer have to pay a participation fee in the Spring. Regarding ritual, our President was nominated to serve on a committee of 16 people who worked to completely reframe legacy and implications of legacy policies in recruitment, as they have historically negatively impacted minorities. We are awaiting Duke Panhellenic guidelines before making any final decisions about what our recruitment process will look like with regard to DEI reform. Socially, we worked with other panhellenic chapter at Duke to put together an initiative that implements better accountability towards preventing sexual assault and misogynistic behavior among IFC/all-male organization on campus. To make an even greater impact on DEI and the greater social justice movement across the country this summer, our chapter also put together a Black Lives Matter 24-hour sprint in which we spent 24 hours fundraising, signing petitions, and calling government officials. ?Finally, our chapter also put forth lots of effort to get involved with this year's presidential election. We sent out voting information to all Delta Beta members over the course of the semester, and as a chapter, we pledged the Duke Votes student group pledge. As an organization, awe pledged have 100% of eligible members register and vote, as welk as provide resources to all our members. We even offered office hours weekly for any chapter members who had questions about voting, from registration to sending i absentee ballots. =Sesquicentennial Celebration=Our chapter didn't do anything on our own to celebrate the anniversary, but we extended the invitation to the National virtual ceremony to everyone in our chapter, and we were happy to have Delta Beta advisors and members join. '''==Highlights of 2021=='''