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|Image= [[File:Epsilon_Lambda.jpg|200px]]
|Founded= {{start date and years ago|1967|02|25}}
|College= [httphttps://www.utk.edu/ University of Tennessee]
|Location= Knoxville, Tennessee
|Homepage= [httphttps://chaptersutk.kappakappagammakappa.org/epsilonlambda/ Epsilon Lambda Homepage]|Media= [httphttps://wiki.kappakappagammakkg.org/index.php?title=Category:Epsilon_Lambda Media related to Epsilon Lambda Chapter]}}
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'''University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, Established 1794'''
'''1,923 942 initiates (as of June 20172018)'''
Looking back over Epsilon Lambda's growth, each member's contribution is appreciated, and it is certain that these same attributes will make them valuable members of alumnae groups for years to come.
==Highlights of 1980's1980s==
The 1980’s found Epsilon Lambda very busy trying to establish themselves on campus. Their goal of campus participation continued throughout the 80’s and it began to pay off with all of the Campus events like All-Sing, Homecoming and helping each with the Helen Ross McNabb Therapeutic nursery. All the while working to keep up their grades. At the 1987 Nu Province meeting the chapter was awarded the Scholarship Award. They were very successful with the recruitment process and each year pledged a quota of girls for their chapter. ==Highlights of 1990'S1990s==
The 1990’s started with a Letter of Concern which the chapter received well and worked hard to be removed and they did. But, lack of scholarship caused great hardship with several officers being replaced because of grade problems. This taught the chapter the importance of time management. This period of the 90’s also initiated the beginning of the bus policy when the chapter traveled to an event off campus. After a little period of adjustment, they wondered why they hadn’t done it before! Each year the chapter participated in All-Sing, Sapphire Ball , Derby Week ,Helen McNabb Center and in 1992 adopted a barn owl at the Knoxville Zoo. Hurricane Andrew gave the chapter an opportunity to raise money to help those in need along with all other Greeks on campus. Each year the chapter worked to help each member to improve their grades. Through must hard work on behalf of the members as well as the chapter Council this was achieved many years. In 1994, Epsilon Lambda was assigned a whole floor in Massey Hall in which 39 girls could live together. This proved to be a great sisterhood enhancement.
Philanthropy was a big part of the chapter and in 1998 they teamed with Aids Response Knoxville to implement the first annual AIDS Walk and it was an overwhelming success. By the end of the 90’s they had become a more recognized name on the UT campus for their campus philanthropic events, community philanthropies as well as campus leadership in student organizations all the while maintaining grades and getting outstanding pledge classes to make their chapter strong.
==Highlights of 2000-2010==
From 2000-2010, Epsilon Lambda participated in many campus events like All Sing, Greek Week, Kappa-Lympics and often won or placed in these events. In 2004, they adopted the March of Dimes as their philanthropy. Also raised $8,702.63 at the Dance Marathon benefiting the Tennessee Children’s Hospital. The chapter continued to support March of Dimes and was the National Collegiate Award for raising the most money of any college in the country. They also teamed up with a Kappa designer and sold hundreds of designer jeans at a discounted price with 15% goes to March of Dimes. Princess for a day was another meaningful event where members went to hospitals and played one on one with the children. During these years they celebrated their 40th anniversary with many alumnae who shared stories of the chapter.
Many new pledges acme to Epsilon Lambda during this time who help make the chapter strong even in times of chapter issues. But, these issues made the chapter wiser, closer and in the end made the chapter so much stronger than it had been in years. They learned the value of good communication, respecting the alumnae and each other.
==Highlights of 2011==
All Epsilon Lambda meetings are held in the Chapter Room of our beautiful house.
== Highlights of 2018 ==
This year Epsilon Lambda continued to grow with the addition of over 70 new ladies who shared our values and have helped us reach our chapter's goals. We were able to meet these goals with the help of our hardworking, dedicated members. With such an outstanding group of ladies in our chapter, our goals and standards were easily met. We also completed the SOFEE requirements this year. While we were not able to stay above the All-Sorority average in the Spring, Allison Padgett, our VPAE, worked hard to motivate all of our members to do the best they can in classes. She came up with new successful programs and incentives for our members to reach their academic and career goals such as a resume building course and gift cards for members who get above average test grades. The University of Tennessee always seems to be changing and setting new rules and standards for its students to meet. Epsilon Lambda aims to follow our university standards to become proud and successful women of Kappa Kappa Gamma and the the University of Tennessee. One of the biggest issues we saw this year on campus was still having to do with diversity. Epsilon Lambda knows that we have all unique but wonderful members as a part of our chapter and we welcome them all and the diversity that comes our way. We also participated in many philanthropic events including Kappa Kolor Wars, Breakfast for Babies, March for Babies at the Knoxville Zoo, and the Chef's Auction supporting the March of Dimes. We also volunteered at THRIVE Lonsdale Elementary School, and For the Kids. Epsilon Lambda worked hard to be involved and make a difference this year on and off campus and with our own members but also members of the community. We have put in a lot of hard work this year and it has paid off by getting to see all the lives we have impacted and helped.
'''Philanthropy:'''
In the spring we had our Breakfast for Babies brunch benefitting March for Dimes at the house. We had a very successful year and raised 6000 dollars for the Knoxville March of Dimes chapter. We also participated in many philanthropic events including Kappa Kolor Wars, Breakfast for Babies, March for Babies at the Knoxville Zoo, and the Chef's Auction supporting the March of Dimes. We also volunteered at THRIVE Lonsdale Elementary School, Relay for Life, and For the Kids. We also participated in other chapter’s philanthropy events on campus. Epsilon Lambda worked hard to be involved and make a difference this year on and off campus and with our own members but also members of the community. We have put in a lot of hard work this year and it has paid off by getting to see all the lives we have impacted and helped. In the fall we decided as a chapter to focus fully on Kappa’s National Philanthropy Reading is Fundamental, this means that we no longer support March of Dimes and the Knoxville Chapter. This came about because the Knoxville chapter was really struggling and the money we donate could not help save it. We decided to put all our time and resources into THRIVE at Lonsdale Elementary school. This provides us with the opportunity to go and help children with their homework and give them someone they can read to. This year we are still able to continue going twice a week to help the students.
All Epsilon Lambda meetings are held in the Chapter Room of our beautiful house.
==Highlights of 2019==
[[File:Epsilon Lambda Chapter Council 2019.png|thumb|Epsilon Lambda Chapter Council 2019]]
This August Epsilon Lambda welcomed home 92 new members to our chapter, which is our largest pledge class we have ever taken. We have achieved many goals this calendar year such as raising our chapter GPA and advancing from 10/ 13 in the village to 7/13 in the village. This advancement could not have been done without our amazing VPAE, Katelyn Robinson. Katelyn has implemented many things throughout her time as VPAE and has helped us as a chapter achieve our goals of becoming better students in our classes.
This year Epsilon Lambda has participated, and won many philanthropy events throughout the Greek community. In the spring we participated in SAE’s Paddy Murphy week and AOPi’s strike out arthritis kickball tournament and placed first in both of these events. As for our own chapter philanthropy events, we volunteer weekly at THRIVE a multiple locations to help under privileged children complete different homework assignments such as math and reading that goes hand in hand with our national philanthropy, Reading Is Fundamental. We also competed in the All Campus Events All Sing partnered with Sigma Kappa and took home first place. In April of 2019 we competed in All Campus Events Big Orange Beat partnered with Tri Delta and took home first place again. This year has been filled with many events and competitions that we as a chapter have loved participating in. It has been such a rewarding year for Epsilon Lambda!
We celebrated our fraternity’s Founder’s Day with a brunch at The Standard in downtown Knoxville. Many alumnae were in attendance and we were able to hold our annual Founders Day ceremony for the chapter and new members. In November we successfully initiated 90 new members and welcomed them into the sisterhood of Kappa Kappa Gamma. During inspiration period we were able to hold a dinner for the whole chapter at The Press Room in downtown Knoxville and celebrate the new members as they were about to be officially welcomed into our chapter.
'''Philanthropy'''
This year our amazing philanthropy chair, Avery Kraus, introduced a new spring philanthropy event to the chapter and Greek community. The spring event was a mac and cheese bar that we called “Mac and Keys.” This event benefitted our local philanthropy, THRIVE. In the fall we held our annual Kappa Kolor Wars event. KKW is an obstacle course event that involved different courses involving paint. At the end we have a dodgeball tournament for the sororities and fraternities that participated in the event. Since we do not support March of Dimes as our local philanthropy anymore both of these events benefitted THRIVE. We were able to donate money towards philanthropy events that we were unable to participate in such as Kappa Delta’s annual golf tournament, and Phi Kappa Tau’s philanthropy week. Overall this year for philanthropy has been so fun and rewarding for us as a chapter.
[[File:Epsilon Lambda Chapter House.png|thumb|Epsilon Lambda Chapter House]]
All Epsilon Lambda meetings are held in the Chapter Room of our beautiful house.
==Highlights of 2020==
This year has been nothing short of bizarre and unprecedented, while Kappas everywhere struggled, here are a few things we did to try and stay relevant and a strong sisterhood. This spring we held a Valentine's Day party with UT Future and Best Buddies, a sisterhood bowling event with BYX, and a sisterhood craft night where made scrapbook pages to put together. After we got sent home in March because of COVID-19, we begin Kappa pen pals, and we continued Lady Minerva through our Facebook page. We had a few Zoom calls where we just caught up and talked about things that were going on. Some friend groups had Zoom formals where they dressed up and got on a Zoom call. During the summer months we had a scrapbook that got sent around to different sisters where they added pages of things they had been up to. This fall had sisterhood events such as picnic in circle park, at main event (an adult arcade), and movie night outside. All of these were conducted following guidelines such as wearing masks and keeping our distance. All in person events were held outside and planned so that there would be shifts or limits on who all could attend. We also incorporated a fun way to attend virtual meetings, with some fun themes. Before the outbreak of COVID-19 we had a fun themed meeting at the beginning of each month such as a pajama meeting and jersey meeting. It was a way to boost chapter morale both before and after things went virtual. Things such as recruitment and the new member process were conducted differently with recruitment being entirely virtual. We started Zoom lunches this semester as well where we had girls get on Zoom during the middle of the day and just eat and chat about random things. In January we initiated a holdover initiate from the 2019 pledge class and this fall Initiation was held virtually over Zoom where we initiated 92 girls in two separate calls on October 31st. Big/little reveal was done differently with everyone spread out over campus and those who were virtual over Zoom.
[[File:Epsilon Lambda 2020.png|thumb|Epsilon Lambda 2020]]
'''Philanthropy'''
We were able to assist our philanthropy, "Thrive," with things such as a book drive and painting rooms in their building. Thrive is a nonprofit after school program where kids in lower income areas come and do their work. Not only are they helped with school work but they are also introduced to other fun activities that are school related and some that have to do with the Christian faith. We believe that this organization helps highlight our values in the Knoxville community, as these kids don’t have many opportunities for help at home so at Thrive they are helped with homework and some kids have learned to read because of Thrive. This fall we held a small philanthropy event where we sold Chick-fil-A breakfast to pick up at a drive through outside of our house and partnered with a jewelry company to have some of the proceeds go to our three organizations. Each chapter and chapter council meeting was held over Zoom, and officer transitions were done virtually November 16, 2020. During Spirit Week with the university we were paired with BYX and placed third overall.
'''Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion'''
This year we have added a DEI chair where the Chapter Council selects someone who would make sure that Diversity and Inclusion is kept a relevant subject in all chapter discussions. During recruitment work, our DEI chair spoke on some ways that we can prevent biases when talking to women of color. She also posted several items in our Facebook page that helped prevent biases on campus and raised awareness for different events that different councils were having. Towards the end of the semester we also had a DEI training session where every member was required to attended, and it was a great conversation starter in the chapter.
'''Sesquicentennial'''
We had the Minnie Stewart Van virtually present their van and tell us about the founding Kappa chapter. We also held a virtual celebration on Zoom the week after Founders Day.
==Highlights of 2021==
This Spring we held a Valentine’s Day Party with Best Buddies, weekly Zoom dinners where members were able to catch up on zoom, a Virtual Neighborhood Barre Class, Dance Moms Empowerment Talk with Christi Lukasiak and a Main Event Sisterhood Event. In the fall we were able to start back up Lady Minerva where every week at Chapter Meetings, a member would read a letter to another member who has made an impact on their college life in Kappa. As we gradually go back to a somewhat “normal” life, we have all been able to get closer to each other and experience what it is like to be a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma to the fullest.
[[File:Epsilon Lambda Preference Round 2021.png|thumb|Epsilon Lambda Preference Round 2021]]
'''Philanthropy'''
We were able to assist our local philanthropy “Thrive”, with things such as volunteering weekly. Thrive is a nonprofit after school program where kids in lower income areas come and do their school work. Not only are they helped with school work but they are also introduced to other fun activities that are school related and some that have to do with the Christian faith. We believe that this organization helps highlight our values in the Knoxville community, as these kids do not have many opportunities for help at home so at Thrive they are helped with homework and some kids have learned to read because of Thrive. This spring we held a drive-by philanthropy event called “Get Wa-Full with Kappa”, people were able to buy tickets and purchase a waffle from “Never Full Waffles” and pick it up at the Kappa house. This was a great way for us to still support our philanthropies while abiding by COVID-19 protocols. In the fall we were able to have an in-person philanthropy event called “Kappa Karnival” where different fraternities and sororities teamed up to compete in different carnival games, we also sold tickets to people in the Knoxville community to come participate. As a chapter we were also able to participate in different chapter philanthropy events, such as Delta Gamma’s Anchor Splash and Lambda Chi’s Watermelon Bust. This year with the change to Kappa’s national philanthropy of Mental Health Awareness and Advocacy, our chapter voted to support Active Minds, a nonprofit in the United States working to end the silence and change the culture around mental health by mobilizing the next generation.
'''Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion'''
The previous year we added a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion chair to our Associates Council to ensure that we were implementing DEI initiatives within all chapter decisions. In the fall, we added a requirement for all of our members to participate in at least two different DEI events per semester. As a chapter, we felt that this new requirement was a necessary step toward actively creating a more inclusive environment. Through educational programming and diversity training, we strive to keep our members informed about current events, as well as spark positive personal growth Our DEI chair also kept the conversation going with having a “trailblazer of the week” where she highlighted different people in history who have made a positive impact in the conversation of diversity. In the spring semester our members were required to attend a DEI Training Program held over zoom which was a great conversation starter in the chapter. In the spring, some of our members also volunteered for the MLK Service event. During Black History Month, our Public Relations chair highlighted trailblazing Black women that have left their mark on history, and posted different educational resources where people can learn more about Black History Month.
'''Operating During a Pandemic'''
This Spring we held all of our weekly chapter meetings on zoom to adhere by the COVID-19 Protocols. By doing this we were still able to see each other but in a safe manner. We also were able to still hold a philanthropy event which was a drive-by to keep people outside of the Kappa house. Thankfully this Fall we were able to have in-person weekly Chapter meetings. These had to be held on campus to ensure all of our members could fit. This was a breath of fresh air for our members as we were finally able to see each other again. Recruitment was also held in person while wearing masks and we successfully recruited a new pledge class of 113 new members. Initiation in the fall was also able to be held in person while wearing masks but we limited the number of people who attended to only our new members and the girls who were taking littles in the new pledge class. As a Chapter, we are so thankful to be able to semi go back to normal, but also keeping in mind the Pandemic is still on going.
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'''Note to Chapter Registrar:'''
Please refer to your chapter archives including chapter meeting minutes and back issues of ''The Key'' to fill in any gaps in the above historical highlights. If your chapter archives are not complete, please research your university library, campus newspaper and yearbook archives for newsworthy information about your chapter. Please double check your work for accuracy. Contact chapter Advisory or House Board members, local Alumnae Association members, or your Province Director of Chapters for assistance.
Your efforts will ensure a complete and accurate history of your chapter for future generations to enjoy!