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'''1,931 initiates (as of June 2018)'''
'''Charter Members:'''
Millie R. Clarke, Kate Rosetta Graves, Kate B. Ross
'''Fraternity Council Members:'''
Our chapter chose Susan G. Komen as our local philanthropy because it is an organization to which all women can relate. Breast cancer is a disease that primarily affects women, and many girls in our chapter know women who have been personally affected by it, making it a very meaningful and inspirational experience to support this organization.
==Highlights of 2016==
During 2016, Epsilon Chapter has made great strives to become outstanding leaders, better our values, and better our public relations. It started at the beginning of the year when our Public Relations Chairman brought "Why Kappa Wednesday" to our chapter. This is where our members post on social media on Wednesdays and explain why we choose Kappa. In January, we also had a Kappa Trainer come and speak to our Chapter Council and our whole chapter on values. We held a gala and hosted Kappa Karaoke in our house. Throughout February, we made strives to strengthen our sisterhood by participating in a sisterhood self defense class and Greek week. This enabled us to work together.
We had three dances this year: Kappa Kappa Throwback (February 12th), Sapphire Ball (April 23rd), and Kappa Kappa Space Jam (November 4th). Two of our biggest accomplishments philanthropically and public relation wise was our Golden Key Gala held on April 9th. This Gala was used to raise money and awareness about Reading is Fundamental and to reach out to our Alumnae and other chapters on campus. Other philanthropy events this year included "Reading is Key" event where we spent a day at a local day care, annual "pie a Kappa" held on the quad, and "Kick it with Kappa" to raise money for the Susan G. Komen foundation. Some of our public relations events this year included: Breaking Barriers and events on the quad where we give away cookies or candy to our colleagues. In November, we initiated 23 girls into our chapter after formal recruitment.
In 2016, Illinois Wesleyan University finished the renovations on the Shirk Center, our athletic building. They also changed the way we dispose of waste in our dining halls. We have three bins: one for waste, one for recyclables, and one for composting. As for our chapter, our kitchenette and our chapter room were completely redone. In the kitchenette we now have shelving and cabinets where we can store plates, bowls, and utensils. Our chapter room has new hard wood flooring.
Our Chapter has continued to raise money and support research through the Susan G. Komen foundation, because it is a philanthropy that all women can appreciate considering that the disease primarily affects women. Bloomington is one of the locations where there is a "Race for the Cure", and there are many women in our house that have been personally affected by breast cancer making this philanthropy one that is meaningful and dear to many.
Our chapter meets in our chapter room. Our chapter room has just received new flooring.
==Highlights of 2017==
During 2017, the ladies of Epsilon have made it our mission to improve our chapter’s campus involvement, academics, and sisterhood. We kicked off our spring semester with multiple sisterhood events that allowed us to bond and work together as a team. These continued throughout the year with activities like competitions between pledge classes and movie nights in the TV room for the whole chapter. We added two new members to the pledge class of 2020 in the spring as well. Our Vice President of Academic Excellence, Allie Paradis, promoted our excellence in the classroom by having weekly competitions for study hours and studying with a sister. These motivated us to always get our work done!
We had three dances this year and they were so fun! Our spring informal dance was themed Denim on Denim. We had our annual Sapphire Ball in April where we said goodbye to all of our graduating seniors. This fall, we had another informal themed Sweet Home Kappa Gam. Our new members got to pick this year’s informal theme and we loved it! Our two biggest philanthropic events were our annual “Pie a Kappa” event on the quad and “Kick it with Kappa”, both benefiting our local philanthropy, Susan G. Komen. We also hosted a “Girls who go Greek” event outside our home for all the Greek women on campus to come and hangout with us.
Our beautiful home just got a new addition this fall: a brand new back patio! It is perfect and just what we imagined, and we can’t wait to finally be able to use it in the spring! We also redid our study room, the Wise Owl.
We have continued to support our local philanthropy, Susan G. Komen, because it is a cause that many women feel emotionally connected. Overall, it has been a great year for us here at Epsilon and we feel as though we have accomplished many of our goals. We can’t wait to see what 2018 has in store! We were also lucky to have another visit from Fraternity President Beth Black who is an Epsilon Kappa!
==Highlights of 2018==
We participated in reading buddies in the spring for RIF as well as Hoops for Hope for Susan G. Komen. We also raised money for RIF through Pie-a-Kappa in early fall 2018 as well as a Reading is Key event for RIF in November and a tabling event for Susan G. Komen for breast cancer awareness. Our biggest philanthropy event of the year was the Golden Key Gala in the spring benefiting RIF. We won Chapter of the Year in Spring 2018 at the FSL awards and our advisor Erin won Adviser of the Year. We also received a Civic Engagement Award. We were paired with Sigma Chi for Homecoming Week and we took first place. Something our chapter worked on this year was improving our chapter GPA by awarding people for various academic things such as studying with a sister, not skipping any classes, and getting an A on an exam.
The class of 2022 at IWU is the largest incoming class in five years with over 500 students and one of the most diverse in the university's history. Illinois Wesleyan added an e-sports program and facility in Hansen Student Center in fall 2018 where students can professionally compete in online gaming. IWU also changed the design of its athletic logo and wordmark logo.
Susan G. Komen is a philanthropy that all people and all women especially can relate to as we all know someone who has been affected by breast cancer. Our chapter feels emotionally connected to this organization and therefore feel it is important to raise money and awareness towards finding a cure for breast cancer.
==Highlights of 2019==
January 18, 2019- Epsilon Chapter held an ice skating sisterhood at Pepsi Ice Center. It was a good jump into the new semester!
February 15-17, 2019- Select members on the executive board went to the Kappa Leadership Conference in Texas for the weekend. Here they met with other Kappas and learned the foundations of sisterhood and values shared in our fraternity.
February 22, 2019- Epsilon Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma help their spring informal.
February 27, 2019- Epsilon Chapter held a Yoga Class Sisterhood at Shirk Gymnasium to support body positivity week directed by the Panhellenic Council.
March 3-8, 2019- Epsilon Chapter had an LC visit for the week. Many of the members had the chance to meet with her and bond over ritual, their positions within the chapter, and ways to improve their role in the chapter. The LC presented a powerpoint in chapter on the values of being a Kappa.
March 23, 2019- Epsilon Chapter held their annual Golden Key Gala and raised $5,353 for our national philanthropy, Reading Is Fundamental.
March 24, 2019- Epsilon Chapter had an EME training from 10-12pm. We discussed ways to improve our sisterhood within our house, as well as in the community.
March 25-30, 2019- Epsilon Chapter had their spring Inspiration Period. Initiation was held on March 29 and 30.
April 2, 2019- Epsilon Chapter was granted awards for Sorority New Member of the Year and Outstanding Chapter Program/Event Award for the Fraternity and Sorority Life Awards.
April 7, 2019- Epsilon Chapter had Moms' Day. The day consisted of spending time with our moms at the house with games, food, and a silent auction!
April 24, 2019- Epsilon Chapter had their last sisterhood of the Spring 2019 semester. Due to stress from finals, we had a Spa sisterhood to de-stress and relax from our academic responsibilities.
April 26, 2019- Epsilon Chapter had their annual Sapphire Ball. We said goodbye to our loving Seniors, spending time together with good music and food.
September 11-15, 2019- Epsilon Chapter had their fall recruitment with a Heaven on Earth theme for Bid Day!
September 25, 2019- Epsilon Chapter had their first fall sisterhood. The sisterhood was themed Kappa Kampfire with s’mores and fun!
October 23, 2019- Epsilon Chapter had a Halloween themed Sisterhood. We each carved pumpkins and had a good time!
November 4-9, 2019- Epsilon Chapter had their fall Inspiration Period. Initiation was held on November 8 and 9. We had a flower sisterhood to bond with our sisters on November 6 and a new member retreat on Thursday November 7th.
The incoming class of 2023 was welcomed from 22 states, 10 countries, and 27% of the class self-identifies as a student of color. This year Illinois Wesleyan University welcomed a new Interim President, S. Georgia Nugent for the 2019-2020 academic year, while they search for its next president.
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We believe in giving back to our community and youth, especially, which is supported through Reading Is Fundamental which helps provide books and a better eduation to the underserved children in our community. Stay Alive brings awareness to mental health which we believe is an important topic that should be talked about especially in university. Breast Cancer Awareness is a sentimental topic and we chose to support this organization and cause because of how close it is to many of the members' hearts.
==Highlights of 2020==
Chapter Summary
We started this year with an ice skating sisterhood at the Bloomington ice center on January 24th, 2020. This was a fun way to get together after a long winter break. Our next event was another sisterhood. At this sisterhood, we frosted cookies for Valentine’s Day on February 12th, 2020. We delivered the cookies to all of the other sororities and fraternities on campus. We had our spring informal on February 21st, 2020. The theme “Kappa never goes out of style” was chosen by the senior class. Due to COVID-19, we were sent home for the rest of the semester. We had one member initiated virtually. This was on May 2nd. We had a virtual work week to prepare for recruitment the week of August 9th, 2020. We then had a completely virtual recruitment from September 10th to the 12th. We had a socially distanced Bid Day on September 13th. We had a virtual sisterhood on September 16th, 2020. We played a Kahoot based off of fun facts about each sister in the chapter. Homecoming week was from October 5th to the 10th. All of the events were virtual. We had 5 new members participate in a dance competition, where our other members were able to watch a live streaming of it. Our next sisterhood was Flowerside. This was on October 21st and was a great way to begin inspiration period. This event was virtual as well. The new member retreat was held on October 22nd. This event was held in person in an on campus space with social distancing. Initiation took place on October 24th and was virtual. We won three awards this year. We won the Panhellenic award, the Recruitment award, and the Most Improved Academics award. We also had honorable mention for Philanthropy award. Chapter operations were altered significantly because of COVID-19. All of our executive board meetings and chapters were held virtually, as well as many other events as I described.
We chose Reading is Fundamental for our philanthropy, because there is a literacy problem in America. This organization tries to provide resources to children in need by donating books and raising money. Stay Alive was chosen because it breaks the stigma surrounding mental health issues and helps support those who are struggling. The Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation helps sisters in many ways, with the most common being scholarships.
We added a DEI director position. This position is under VP Member Development. We had elections and have filled this position for the next term. Due to COVID-19, we could not have our normal Founders Day ceremony. Our chapter had small groups watch the Facebook live program. Our Bloomington---------------Normal Alumnae Association brought festive cookies to the house to celebrate too.
