The Eta Eta chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma had an incredible year. We are so proud of all of our accomplishments academically, and in the Greek community. We have grown as a chapter and a sisterhood within the year of 2017. Many new opportunities have been presented to us and we have taken advantage of them to the fullest, and can’t wait to see what the new council, led by Tillie Schumann, will bring us in the year of 2018.
Scholarship:-Our chapter's average GPA ==Highlights of 3.48 was ranked 5th out of the 13 Panhellenic sororities at the end of the spring semester and ranked 7th overall Panhellenic Sororities and Fraternities. -We focused on academic growth through Geek of the Week, 4.0 gifts, Kappa Kappaccino, Sweet Tea with KKG, study groups for the new members. We also introduced smarty pants as an award once a month.-For Kappa Kappaccino and Sweet Tea with KKG, members were encouraged to invite a professor to the house for refreshments in order to encourage socialization outside of the classroom.-We also created an EK Kappa Google Drive to allow all members to access sisters’ teacher recommendations, class recommendations and other very helpful academic resources.2018==
Awards:-This 2018 was an amazing year our university changed for the sisters of the date Eta Eta chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma. We began the award ceremony New Year with a planner party hosted by our AE chair Kyla Johns where we were able to see each other after the winter break and prepare for the spring so semester. Next, we won’t know any celebrated being a kappa with our Kappa’s It event by singing karaoke, putting on giant sumo suits, and taking lots and lots of glitter pictures. For Valentines Day we celebrated with our gal pals at the awards house by eating sweet treats at our pan love event. To end the month of February we won until this springpacked our bathing suits and sunscreen for a weekend getaway at Daytona Beach for our sisterhood retreat. We spent the day lounging outside by the beach and pool enjoying the sunshine and spent the night acting in skits and playing bonding games with all of our sisters.
Leadership:-Leadership Academy attended by Kat GerrityOn March 3rd Kenzi Gangwish our PR chair planned a fun night with our favorite kappa dads for father daughter day where we cheered on the Orlando Magic vs.-Coalition for Collegiate Women’s Leadership was attended by Lulu Hawken and Lindsay Bratunthe Memphis Grizzlies. -Later that month we had a cozy pan grab a date at the Kappa Leadership Conference- Attended by Beth PochèKastle. We put on our favorite pair of PJ’s, Kristin Stotlerwatched Disney movies, Brenna Shipmanand had a gelato truck come to the house. The grab a date’s continued with another at Wonderworks where we wore on our best Hawaiian shirts and tried the high ropes course and interactive games. At the end of March we put on legwarmers, Kate Jepsonscrunchies, and Olivia King - neon leotards for an 80s fitness themed grab a date at the bowling alley.
Traditions:-At each chapter, To kick off the month of April we hosted our second annual Key to Wingin’ It Philanthropy event at the house benefitting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. We cheered on the Lady Minerva stands up different fraternities and reads aloud a meaningful letter that she wrote for a sister that is important sororities as they competed to hereat as many wings as they could. The sister who is written about becomes the new Lady Minerva On April 7th kappa was FTK and takes possession of participate in UCFs annual Knight-Thon 20 hour dance marathon. We spent the journal night in which all the letters are written. She will write her own letter CFE arena dancing, listening to a different sister miracle stories, getting hypnotized, and present her it at the following chapter. -Geek of the Week acknowledges a sister raising money for her academic achievement. She is awarded a giftcard at chapter for her achievementgreat cause. - Our Vice President of Academic Excellence added “Smarty Pants” to chapter once a month. This award is presented to one sister who has excelled in academics. She is awarded with a pair of smarty pants (underwear) of her choosing.-Our Chapter Recording Secretary sends out a newsletter to everyone after chapter with the weekly news. - Supportive sister is nominated weekly and is awarded Overall, we raised $33,000 benefitting the Supportive BarChildren’s Miracle Network.
Programs:-Chapter meetings held every Sunday night at 7 pm We continued to be philanthropic by participating in Alpha Delta Pi’s Cheers for Charity competition. Seniors Andrea Dimayo, Talia Meizinger, and Sammy Brown teamed up as captains and lead us to victory where made a comeback and placed 2nd in the Chapter Room of the Kappa Housecompetition.-Epsilon We got dressed in Kappa Celebrated Klassy for our 50th anniversary. Founders Day Celebration: We had a huge Gala weekend formal, which was planned by our Education Chair and active alumsIngrid Onoriode. We had a Welcome Event at spent the Top of Carolina on Fridaynight dancing under twinkling lights, February the 17thgetting our palms read by Madam Morgana, then and Oh Patting our seniors on Saturday, February their final formal. It was a night for the 18th Alums were welcomed books. On April 22nd we said goodbye to tour the Kappa House, and the night was ended with our seniors during a Golden Key Gala where sisters danced, took pictures, and listened to stories from alumcountry club brunch for senior wills.-Recruitment workshops We were held early in the spring semester able to prepare members for the upcoming fall recruitment process.-Parent's cocktail was held at look back on the State Museum on October 6, 2017. Sisters senior’s favorite college memories and their family members enjoyed yummy desserts, a dj, and other fun activities. -Founders Day Celebration was held reminisce on October 10th during Inspiration Weekall they loved about kappa. Our Education Chair planned a fun educational slideshow followed by cake To wrap up the month and conversations between sisters.-Our sisterhood committee worked together to plan exciting sisterhood events throughout the year. Our sisters participated in cycle classes, ice cream parties, bachelor watch parties, semester Paula Ramos our House Chair hosted a trip to a pumpkin patch, a barre class held in the Kappa much needed house breakfast during finals where we could fuel up on some Maple Street biscuits before going back to help benefit Dance Marathon,-Our Chaplin holds weekly Bible study sessions in the yellow room of the Kappa house on Monday nights at 8 pm.-Every Tuesday at 3:30 there is a nutrition committee meeting to talk about the menu for the next week
-Senior Sisterhood events include: -Senior Tea -Sweat Cycle Class -Senior Recognition -Barre Class at Over the summer, big things were still happening for kappa. Tillie Schumann, Katherine Briatico, Madi Wiesen, and Brittany Barnes attended the national Kappa Kappa House-Senior Programming events include: -Senior Superlatives -Senior Wills -Attending Gamma Convention in Denver, Colorado where they represented Eta Eta chapter. Our chapter won the ritual award, Panhellenic award, and was among the top 5 for most outstanding chapter. This showed how much our chapter has grown and will continue to grow in the Initiation sleepover future. Our study lounge was also revamped thanks to bond with New MembersSenior gifts include: -Gold bracelets with house board and our renovation committee. They transformed the room into not only a functional study space, but a fleur de lis on itbeautiful area that represents Kappa.
-Fall 2017 New Member Weekly Events: -New Member information meetings held every Wednesday night in Before school started both the 7 rho gammas and eta eta chapter room were hard at work preparing for recruitment during spirit week. And after 2 weeks of hard work it was worth it when on bid day the future members of Eta Eta and theKappa housereturning rho gammas ran down the red carpet leading home. New Members learned Nicole Cantore the history of new member chair put on an amazing bid day with Lights, Camera, Kappa Kappa Gamma and what itmeans where the new members were able to be enjoy a woman in Kappapopcorn and candy bar and spent the rest of the day at Hollywood Studios screaming on Tower of Terror and Rockin’ Rollercoaster. New Members also learned about our own chapterthrough presentations made by various sisters Later that night we had the VIP treatment with Chapter Council positionsa dessert party at the Fantasmic show.
-One Time New Member Events -Big/Little Reveal: October 05To get to know the new members we had a planner party, 2017 -Initiation: On October 14speed dating, 2017, following I-Week, Firesidegame night, and a dinner and movie night spent singing along to Mamma Mia. On September 15th the Initiation new members had a sleepoverfor their retreat at the Kappa house. The Initiation Brunch night was held spent playing bonding games, having an ice cream bar, and staying up late laughing with new friends. At the day after Initiation with all end of our sisters September everyone decked out in black and several alumnigold to represent the undefeated knights for parents weekend. - Alcohol Education: On 11/15/2017 New Members attended an alcohol education seminarKappas were able to show off the house to family and eat Sonny’s BBQ.
-New Member Retreat: Overnight trip held Education chair Kristin Collison started a new member and senior Q & A called Dear Kappa Days where older kappa’s were able to reflect on November 4, 2017their experiences and give tips and advice to the future members. New members spent We had our first grab a date of the semester at Rebounderz where we dressed all American and bounced the night away on trampolines. Later that month Becca Zerbo represented Eta Eta chapter at leadership academy in cabins which allowed them Ohio where she attended workshops and learned new skills that she was able to further bond share with the sisters in their pledge classour chapter.
We then participated in Zeta Lip Sync where Brittany Barnes and Kenzi Gangwish choreographed alpha alpha class in their fight night dance. A few days later was big little reveal where the new members were surprised with their big sister holding a matching puzzle piece. On October 13th we celebrated Founders day at Tuscawilla Country club and had brunch with other kappa alumni where we reflected on the 6 founding women who made this incredible chapter possible. Next was I Week which was put on by our Marshal Becca Kirsch to prepare for initiation. Every day included a special hash-Kappa Trainer Events -9/24/17 by One Love came tag where sisters could post their favorite memories and taught us about warning signs of unhealthy relationships we also rented out a theater to watch and what healthy relationship looks likecry to A Star is Born. -10/15/17 Then on best places October 20th 51 new members became forever sisters during initiation. A few days later Kappa hosted its first annual Kappa Con Queso thanks to live on our philanthropy chair Denise Cukierman, which benefitted Reading is Fundamental. With unlimited chips and queso and off campus a surprise appearance from Knightro the night was a complete success To wrap up the end the month we had a K K Jean themed grab a date at drive shack. We channeled our inner Tiger Woods and sisters shared their experiences with internshipsate so many churros.
Functions:-Spring: -2/11/17 Dynamic Duos -3/24/17 To start off the month of November we had Kamp Kappa Kup -4/21/17 Masquerade Formalour sisterhood retreat at the house created by our Standards chair Katherine Briatico. We spent the night making bracelets, sugar scrubs, and s’mores. Next we had a social with Tau Kappa Epsilon and got creative dressing as anything with the first letter of your name. Finally we wrapped up the end of the semester with our Bright Lights Big City semi formal in downtown Orlando. We danced the night away and sang our traditional Oh Pat to the graduating seniors.
-9/15/17 That’s So 1870’s Show -11/17/17 Backwoods -12/1/17 Semi Formal -12/7/17 Rock and Roll Mixer with Sig Ep Special Events:-4/10-14/17: Participated in Greek Week; a week-long event to unite the USC Greek community. This year the overall theme was 90’s Throwback. Our chapter was teamed with Kappa Sigma and Sigma Phi Epsilon. Events from this week included: A blood drive, Night at Strom, a cultural food fest, and Greek Sing. -10/23-27/17: Homecoming Week, partners with the Phi Kappa Tau. Overall we came in 3rd place and got 2nd in the float building contest! Philanthropic Involvement:-Spring: -This spring out Eta Eta chapter had many difficulties trying to put on our regular spring philanthropy of Lip Sync Battle, so we decided to create a new event called Kappa Cookies. We had an extended bake sale, for three days we tabled on our campus’s busiest street selling baked good that sisters baked themselves.-2/25/2017: Many sisters participated in USC’s Dance Marathon; this event was able to raise over $700,000.-3/1/2017: Sisters attended a percent night at Village Idiot Pizza to support Circle of Sisterhood.-3/16/2017: A Literacy is Key event was held at AC Moore Elementary.-4/5/2017: We as a chapter voted to skip a meal at the house and donate the $800 to the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation. This same night we hosted a Percent night at Village Idiot Pizza for RIF and raised $286 from our pizza orders.-4/7/2017: Many sisters participated in UCS’s Relay For Life-Fall:-9/20/2017: Phi Mu’s Bonnamu was held to support Children’s Miracle Network-9/21/2017: Successful Petal Percent night-9/26/2017: Pelicans Percent night-9/27/2017: Barefoot Percent night-9/29/2017: Barbeque for Books was our main philanthropy event for the fall semester. It was advertised for far in advance, so other members of the Greek community could purchase tickets. Tickets could also be purchased at the door as well! It was held at a music venue in Columbia called Breakers Live. There was a band and unlimited food big year filled with purchase of a ticket. Sisters came out enjoyed the music, food, conversation, and supporting RIF. The event was a success we were able to raise $2,863 for RIF.-9/30/2017: Many sisters supported St. Jude at Delta Delta Delta’s Game Day event at Jake’s on Devine-10/9/2017: Pelicans Percent Night-10/24/2017: Vestique percent night-10/25/2017: We participated in Trick-or-Treat with the Greeks, which was a Homecoming event that invites the local community children to come and trick-or-treat.-10/27/2017: A group of sisters went to Satchel Ford Elementary and volunteered at their Fall Festival. Sisters helped with a variety of different stations and -11/15/2017: A team participated in Chi Omega's Cookoff event to benefit Make a Wish and was awarded 3rd place. Goals:During 2017, our chapter had two main goals. Our first goal was to improve communication throughout our entire chapter We noticed that we had so many different forms of communication. We had two Facebook pages; one was the EK Facebook page, and the other is Kappa Klassifieds Facebook page. We also created a Google Drive created for all members, and we also use GinSystem. The Ek page was for all important announcements, updates from officers, philanthropy information, and minutes were posted there as well. It was a great resource but we found it lacked many of the feature that GinSystem already had and we are all paying for GinSystemmemories, so we as a chapter council decided to delete the EK Facebook and take full advantage of Gin. This way we can streamline information to all members. Now Gynsystem is the go to place for everything. Members can check in to mandatory events here, look at the calendar and find all the events happening in the month. Also, anyone can post announcements on the board similar to the EK Facebook page. We still have out Kappa Klassified Facebook page, which is where sisters can ask other sisters about Columbia recommendations, teacher recommendations, questions, and where members can go to sell their loved Kappa apparel. We also use the Google Drive, which is where all things academic are held. There are teacher recommendations, class recommendations, and other helpful tips to help with some of the most difficult courses. Our second goal was, as a chapter council, be as transparent to all members as we possibly could. To do this we presented on the budget so members know exactly where their money is going when they pay dues. We also did presentations on standards expectations, so there is no confusion on what is expected when it comes to the standards process. Lastly, we did presentations on PR and risk reminders before especially high risk periods like spring break, first game day, Halloween, and functions. We all worked together to try and enact these and many other small changes throughout our chapter, to try and create the best and most effective chapter we could. This year’s recruitment was a values based recruitment. The Colligate Panhellenic Association decided to switch the sisterhood and philanthropy round. This August we had a very successful recruitment and welcomed 118 new members into the Epsilon Kappa chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma on Bid Day. This fall, our campus experienced the consequences of yet another natural disaster. Hurricane Irma closed campus for two entire days the weekend after labor day. Thankfully, the city of Columbia was not directly affected by the storm; however, other coastal areas in South Carolina were impacted by flooding and strong winds. Once again our campus was able to assist our neighboring communities that were directly affected by this hurricane. Chapter Philanthropy:What organization(s) has your chapter historically/traditionally raised money for, or donated hours to, in your community? Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation, Reading is Fundamental, and Girls Academy.Why did your chapter choose this organization(s) to support?Our chapter choose to support the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation and Reading is Fundamental because these are Kappa'a two national philanthropies. We love being able to help our own sisters that are in need through the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation. Giving back to them is so special especially when they have given so much to this organization. In addition, we choose to support Reading is Fundamental (RIF) because it is so important that all children are given the resources necessary to learn how to read. We love how we can see the impact of our philanthropy throughout our own community's primary schools. We get to travel to different schools throughout South Carolina through Cocky's Reading Express and deliver books to children in need. Seeing our direct impact to a cause that is so important makes our philanthropy so special. At the beginning of the year we also voted on whether to host Girl’s Academy. We all saw this as an amazing opportunity to help young women in our community. We as not only college women, but sorority women have so much to offer young minds. We have the power to inspire these young girls in such an important time of growth in their lives. We are so excited to be active in so many amazing philanthropies. Chapter Facility:In what kind of a facility does your chapter meet? Please attach a clear photo of where you typically hold chapter meetings – whether in a classroom, chapter house or elsewhere. Our chapter regularly meets in the chapter room of the Kappa House. We are lucky enough to be one of the only sororities on our campus that has a big enough room to accommodate for our entire chapter at once. For informal chapter, we sit around our tables, on the floor, or on the couches. For formal chapter, we will arrange chairs into rows throughout the entire room so that everyone has a seat. There is a new stage at the front of the room that member present on. We usually display a powerpoint for chapter notes across the back wall so that everyone can follow along. We occasionally have paper chapters which means that only the most important things are presented and the rest of the announcements are provided in our newsletter. This not only insures an efficient chapter meeting, but it also encourages members to read the newsletterlaughter.
