2,350
edits
Changes
→Highlights of 2021
|Image= [[File:Delta_Iota.jpg|200px]]
|Founded= {{start date and years ago|1935|12|06}}
|College= [httphttps://www.lsu.edu/ Louisiana State University]
|Location= Baton Rouge, LA
|Homepage= [httphttps://chapterslsu.kappakappagammakappa.org/deltaiota/ Delta Iota Homepage]|Media= [httphttps://wiki.kappakappagammakkg.org/index.php?title=Category:Delta_Iota Media related to Delta Iota Chapter]}}
'''Louisiana State University established in 1860, Baton Rouge, Louisiana'''
==Highlights of 2020s==
Spring 2020 was an exciting and unpredictable one. Members were able to enjoy our spring formal on February 14th and participated in exchanges before the chapter and university closed due to the pandemic. Following the closure of the University and Delta Iota, communication became even more important than before with meetings and classes being conducted virtually. The summer also proved challenging as it was unclear what the formal recruitment process would look like until the University’s Panhellenic office decided to make the shift to a totally virtual recruitment. Although many things were done differently, the spirit of Kappa remained the same this fall. Some of the major activities held included virtual recruitment, bid day, virtual initiation and ritual ceremonies, “pod” events, and the excitement of a brand new house! Despite the roadblocks put in our path, Delta Iota has worked hard to excel in academics, sisterhood, communication, and Panhellenic involvement, which we hope to continue and to put to use once we are able to return to normal. Our “pod” events were used as a replacement to larger sisterhood events due to in person limits of 10 people. These “pods” were available to all and allowed members from different member classes to interact in ways they may not have been able to before, such as, going bowling, getting manicures, carving pumpkins or just grabbing dinner and a movie! Women from all four member classes stepped up as pod leaders and organized an event each week with a given budget. These events allowed for deeper connections between different ages to be made due to the more intimate group sizes and all those who participated enjoyed attending these events! Hosting virtual events proved to be a challenge at first but was managed with grace. Chapter President, Grace Gardere ’17 and Primary Recruitment Director, Alyssa Bellelo ‘17, had the opportunity to put on Delta Iota’s first virtual recruitment and get our chapter’s largest new member class of 106 impressive new Kappa women! Our Ritual and History Director, Reese Kelso ’18 and Founders Day Coordinator, Anna Harris ‘18, worked together to host a ‘Which Kappa Founding Member Are You? Founders Day raffle and celebrate Kappa’s 150 year anniversary. The two also planned and coordinated Delta Iota’s first ever virtual initiation, successfully initiating 104 New Members in a new way, while maintaining the beauty and integrity of an in person ritual ceremony. The chapter was incredibly eager to see the new house and those that currently live in the house were anticipating move-in day all summer! The house not only meets, but exceeds the Chapter’s needs; it is spacious, elegant, functional, and Delta Iota is so grateful that we get to call it our home. Although we were not able to have large groups come to the house this year for sisterhood events or chapter meetings, we look forward to hosting these at the house in the future. Academically, the chapter continues to improve. The current chapter GPA is 3.718, which is higher than the All-Sorority and LSU All-Women GPA averages. Our members received a variety of internships and scholarships over a wide range of disciplines as well. COVID may have changed the way the chapter operates, but Delta Iota took this chaos and improved in spite of a hectic year.
Delta Iota chose to support the St. Jude’s Dream Day Foundation because the co-founder Ms. Marty, was an LSU Kappa and the Chapter enjoys supporting her Foundation. We help put on an event at her farm in Clinton, Louisiana each year for St. Jude's patients and their families called “Dream Day”.
This year we held an informative session with facts about our Founders and held a Founding Member themed raffle. We also celebrated by looking at pictures from alumnae of Delta Iota. Founders Day was the largest celebration of our Sesquicentennial.
[[File:KKG HOuse.JPG|thumb|House decorated for Christmas]]
[[File:Sisters having fun.jpg|thumb|Sisterpod]]
[[File:Initiation.jpg|thumb|Two New Members]]
[[File:Bid Day.jpg|thumb|Welcome new members]]
The first event of the spring semester for Delta Iota was Leadership Day (Jan. 24) where the 2021 Chapter Council discussed how to successfully navigate the new Pilot Structure that was implemented last year and improve our group function. Caroline Mitchell (VPO, 2020) was the keynote speaker. Throughout the spring semester we were able to hold our first in person social events since the onset of the Covid-19 Pandemic which was very exciting for new and active members alike! We had date events by grade at several Baton Rouge locations, ending with a Senior Grub at Red Stick Social. Over the summer our President-Reese Kelso, Vice President of Membership-Meghan Zito and Director of Recruitment-Regan Odenwald worked very hard to plan and prepare for our first in-person recruitment since the fall of 2019. We were able to have in-person recruitment beginning on August 20th! The recruitment process was delayed several times by the impact of Hurricane Ida, but recruitment ended in early September with Bid Day on September 12th. Formal New Member Pledging took place Thursday, September 16th and that evening we had our first exchange with Kappa Sigma at Uncle Earl’s. Saturday, September 25th was the House Dedication Gala where actives and alumna gathered to formally dedicate the new Delta Iota Kappa Kappa Gamma house at 4050 W. Lakeshore Dr. Our annual Founders Day Banquet was held for active and alumna members at the LSU Student Union Royal Cotillion Ballroom on Sunday, October 10th, and the chapter had a Founders Day Movie Night Sisterhood event on the 13th to celebrate. Friday, October 15th was the Kappa Parents’ Cocktail, which was held by our Director of Public Relations Callie Braud at the Knock Knock Children’s Museum. The following Sunday was Delta Iota’s Annual Golf Tournament, Kappa Klassic, at Santa Rosa Golf Course in Baton Rouge. Overall, at the golf tournament, we raised a total of $45,599.54 for Mental Health America, $11,399.86 for the KKG Foundation, and $11,399.86 for St. Jude’s Dream Day Foundation thanks to the hard work of our donors, members and our incredible Philanthropy Director, Gillian Cole. Inspiration Week began on November 7th beginning with the Blue and Blue Ceremony where our new members returned their pins. That week we had several sisterhood activities such as pop-up shops at the house on Tuesday, a coffee bar study session Wednesday and a Christmas movie/trivia night and pajama night on Thursday. On Saturday, November 13th all 92 of our new members were initiated by Marshal Anna Harris and President Reese Kelso. Two weeks later on Monday, November 22 the chapter voted for the new Slate at our last chapter meeting of the year before finals.