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==Highlights of the 2020s==
(Information from chapter history reports, scholarship, group honors/awards, traditions, special events, changes on campus or within chapter, overall nature of the chapter, chapter goals, challenges and how they were overcome, etc.)
'''Note to Chapter Registrar[[File:''' Eta Mu1.jpg|thumb|recruitment]]•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[[File:Traveling. jpg|thumb|Chicago]]•If your chapter archives are not complete, please research your university library, campus newspaper and yearbook archives for newsworthy information about your chapter[[File:Social Distancing. jpg|thumb|buying plants]]•Please double check your work for accuracy[[File:Graduation. Contact chapter Advisory or House Board members, local Alumnae Association members, or your Province Director jpg|thumb|some of Chapters for assistance. Your efforts will ensure a complete and accurate history of your chapter for future generations to enjoy!the graduates]]
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|Image= [[File:Eta_Mu.jpg|200px]]
|Founded= {{start date and years ago|2007|04|29}}
|College= [httphttps://www.ucsc.edu/ University of California, Santa Cruz]
|Location= Santa Cruz, CA
|Homepage= [httphttps://ucsckkgucsc.celectkappa.org/welcome Eta Mu Homepage]|Media= [httphttps://wiki.kappakappagammakkg.org/index.php?title=Category:Eta_Mu Media related to Eta Mu Chapter]}}
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'''251 469 initiates (as of June 20142018)'''
==Colonization==
Members of a local sorority named Alpha Sigma Delta at UC Santa Cruz who met with the Kappa extension team determined that Kappa would be the complement to their ideals of academic excellence, service, friendship and leadership. These women had made a positive impact on the university’s campus, and the extension team agreed the women would make a strong chapter and a pioneer in the establishment of campus Panhellenic with Gamma Phi Beta.
Members of the colonization team were Fraternity Extension Chairman Joanie Cook Cohen, Colorado; Pi Province Director of Chapters Felicity Meu, UC Berkeley; Coordinator of Chapter Development Mary Sue Hogan Babb, William & Mary and Chapter Consultant Angie Bloyer, Oregon State. The members of the UC Berkeley chapter served as big sisters for the new members.
==Installation==
arrangements, but it is very difficult.
==Highlights of 2015==
This year, Eta Mu consistently grew bigger and better than ever. During Winter quarter, we had our new officer installments. The new CC was very dedicated, and had many plans for the year. A leadership consultant visited and gave us wonderful tips on how to be the best leaders we could be. To start us off, the Vice President of Standards, Christine Charitar, hosted a fun sisterhood that many girls attended. It was a movie and candy night, which was desperately needed amongst the craziness of midterms. The Event chairwoman, Sophia Brinton, then hosted an amazing Semi-Formal at the Coconut Grove, with lots of dancing, fun photo props, and, of course, yummy food. The last event of Winter quarter was a tie-dying sisterhood on campus. We were given t-shirts, and we were also allowed to bring things we wanted to tie-dye from our homes.
Spring quarter was jam packed with fun Kappa activities. Presents brunch on April 19th was absolutely beautiful. We had a large new member class, so there were a lot of speeches, ranging from completely emotional and adorable to absolutely hysterical. About a week later, it was Eta Mu’s birthday! Our House chairwoman, Paula Pastuskovas, held an adorable birthday party on campus, with good food and games- it was a lot of fun. May 1st was our Sapphire Ball, which was an absolute success. It was held at Hotel Paradox, and there was a photobooth and a yummy sit down meal. There were also awards given out, which were voted on by our chapter, from things like Kappa Klassy (congrats to our President Sanaz Batmanghilich) to Kappa Krazy (congrats to Registrar Ruby Lynch). The next day was the start of Greek Week. As two-time reigning champions at powderpuff, our girls worked very hard and won it all again! We also won 3rd place in lipsync, which was the first time we have placed in many years, and we won 4th place in pizza eating. It was a great week for us. The next event was Kappa Karnival, thrown by our philanthropy chairwoman Roxanne Leon, which was new this year. There were games set up all over the lower field, and sisters were the game organizers and coaches. Students came in groups and played against each other. We successfully collected books and raised money for our national charity, Reading Is Fundamental. The etiquette dinner was held on campus in the Kresge Town Hall, and it went very well. We provided yummy Italian food, and hosted the charming men from the other greek organizations on campus. They were impressed, and responded positively to the event. Finally, it was senior appreciation time. The senior banquet was a success- it was very emotional and full of love. Seniors passed down gifts and their friends gave speeches. It really was lovely, all thanks to Kira Aarvig, the Education chairwoman. At the final meeting of the year, the seniors each gave their “last words” to the chapter. It was very sentimental, and we sent them off with much love.
Fall quarter was full of exciting events, especially with all the new members we got. Before recruitment began, we had another leadership consultant visit, and she helped us a lot when it came to running our recruitment. Recruitment went very well, thanks to Rachel Du and Yaritza Rodriguez, and we ended up with 52 new members who became sisters. Bid day was so much fun, as the New Member chair, Amanda Merrifield, welcomed the new members to Kappa. The event was sports themed, and was held at a gym on campus. We had a sisterhood at a pumpkin patch, to get in the mood for fall. Next up was our Date Dash event, which was country themed, and everyone enjoyed themselves. Spare the Hooters, our annual bowling for cancer philanthropy which we co-host with Sigma Pi, was a huge success as always. The bowling alley also contributed so that if we brought in cans of food to donate to a charity organization, they gave us free bowling shoes. Eventually, it was that amazing time of the year: Big Little week! The clues were a pin box, a mason jar, a picture frame, a CD, and special socks. For the reveal, we had the bigs wear matching socks that they gave to their littles, and they found their bigs like that. It was absolutely adorable, and everyone was very happy. Then it was I-week. Our Marshal, Magali Ceballos, hosted two wonderful nights of crafting preceding the initiation. We held initiation at the Veterans Memorial Building, and it went very smoothly. Nominations and elections for officers for the 2016 calendar year also went very well. At our last meeting of the quarter, our Vice President of Academic Excellence, Taylor Tibbs, gave everyone goodie bags of school supplies that we would need for the upcoming finals week. Eta Mu had a productive and positive year!
The campus of UC Santa Cruz is constantly evolving. The incoming classes continue growing bigger and bigger, and our campus has to account for this. Our chapter has grown so large that it has been hard finding places off campus to accommodate our size. We have been lucky to fit into the same room for the past few years, but we will have to update our room soon because we are so large now. We are one of the largest greek chapters at our school, and as diverse as possible. All of our girls come from many different backgrounds, and are learning many different things at school. However, we are united by our love of food and our love of each other.
Chapter Philanthropy:
What organization(s) has your chapter historically/traditionally raised money for, or donated hours to, in your community?
Our chapter continues to raise money for breast cancer research every year with our annual Spare the Hooters event. We also consistently volunteer with the boys and girls club in downtown Santa Cruz.
Why did your chapter choose this organization(s) to support?
We chose to raise money for breast cancer for many reasons, but mainly because it is such an important cause that has impacted many of our sisters and their families lives. We help the boys and girls club because the children of our community need our attention, and we love to give it to them. We have built a great reputation in our community.
==Highlights of 2016==
This year was another exciting year for Kappa Kappa Gamma at Santa Cruz. In the winter of 2016 we were involved in clothing drives to help donate clothes to the homeless shelter. We also had a magical night at semi-formal where we dressed up and danced the night away. This same theme was continued into spring with our formal dance which was a throw-back to the 90’s. We had fun dressing up for this blast to the past! We also took time to honor our graduating sisters and celebrate their time as Kappa and undergraduate students at UCSC. There was a senior tea and special meeting where they gave our chapter advice for the future. At the end of the year we watched so many amazing sisters graduate and wished them well as they start their next chapter in life.
Over the summer a few of our sisters were able to attend convention down in San Diego. They came back with a wealth of new knowledge that they shared with all of us through stories and a presentation during meeting. The Fall was an exciting season for our chapter. We welcomed a new Panhellenic sorority to our campus as well as went through our own rush events. Many of our sisters were involved in the selection, and establishment of Kappa Alpha Theta and our sisters were excited to expand Greek life at Santa Cruz. Our own Fall rush went extremely well. We welcomed 60 new sisters to our chapter. Through the remainder of the year we have been involved in teaching our new sisters kappa history and values. This class has eagerly learned and embraced Kappa which makes our members excited for their contribution in the years to come. We also put on a breast cancer bowling philanthropy that we do yearly with the men of Sigma Pi and our annual fall date dash event. Overall this year has been a year of growth and strengthen for our chapter.
==Highlights of 2017==
2017 was an awesome year for Kappa Kappa Gamma's Eta Mu Chapter here at Santa Cruz. To kick off 2017, we had the transition of our old Chapter Council to our new Chapter Council. February was a busy and exciting month for Kappa. We held our annual Presents Brunch to have bigs show some of the most important women in our lives their littles. During this month we also had an LC (Leadership Consultant) come and visit, and our sisters got the chance to show her what Eta Mu chapter and Santa Cruz is all about. Semi-formal was also in the month of February. The theme was Valentine's Masqureade and the chapter and their dates had fun dancing the night away. In March, some of our sisters participated in the Polar Plunge that was a philanthropy opportunity in which we raised money for the Special Olympics. April was another jam-packed month for Eta Mu as we started our spring quarter.
We had our 1st annual Kappa Kickball Event, which was a kickball tournament where other fraternities and sororities on campus competed to help us raise money for Reading is Key. We had our annual etiquette dinner in April as well and celebrated Eta Mu chapter's 10th birthday party where our active and alumni members got together for a nice lunch to celebrate this milestone. Our Reading is Key event took place in April too, where a couple of our sisters got to volunteer their time at the Santa Cruz Boys and Girls club reading, playing, and facepainting with the kids. May was a spirited month for Eta Mu as UC Santa Cruz held its annual Greek Week competition. During this week, all of the Greek organizations got to participate in fun events led by our Inter-Greek Council. Kappa participated in events like lipsync, a pizza eating contest, and Powederpuff. For Powderpuff we won for our 5th straight year in a row. During this month we also had our formal which took place at the Gilroy Gardens. It was a beautiful venue and our sisters and their dates got to dance under the lights for our last formal event of the school year. Towards the end of the 2016-2017 school year, we got to honor our graduating Kappa sisters.
We had a senior tea held for these sisters and at one of our final meetings had a special moment in which they shared some advice with the chapter as they continue their undergraduate careers. In June, we watched and supported all of our graduating seniors and wished them well on the next chapter of their lives.
Over the summer, many of our sisters got the chance to travel around the United States and the world and partake in awesome jobs and internships. Fall was an exciting part of the year for our chapter. In September we prepared for recruitment and in October we welcomed 50 new members into our chapter. Our recruitment went extremely well this year and Eta Mu has been very involved in teaching our new sisters about Kappa's history and rituals. Rho class has eagerly learned and embraced Kappa, which makes our sisters excited for their contributions in the years to come as they will become our future leaders. In November, we finally initiated our 50 new members into our chapter. Also in this month we held our annual Spare the Hooters philanthropy event in which we teamed up with Sigma Pi to raise money for a local breast cancer awareness organization here in Santa Cruz and had an amazing Thanksgiving Dinner with all of our sisters.
Overall, this year has been a year of growth and learning for Eta Mu chapter. Our Chapter Council did an amazing job working together and putting on events for our chapter to enjoy. Despite some minor setbacks, Chapter Council worked seamlessly together in order to overcome the hurdles with the support of the chapter and our advisor. As a chapter, we have come together and participated in many philanthropic events and have enjoyed the events put on by our hardworking officers and their committees.
Last year, we welcomed a new Panhellenic organization onto campus, Kappa Alpha Theta. This year for recruitment, it was awesome getting to work with another Panhellenic organization and recruit more girls for not only Kappa but also for Gamma Phi Beta and Kappa Alpha Theta. As for our Santa Cruz campus, there has been continued political movement and mobilization in response to the decisions President Trump and his administration are making. There has been growing solidarity and collaboration between different organizations to make Santa Cruz a safe community and environment for all of our students. As for Eta Mu chapter, we have been been continuing to improve our participation in Kappa events that we hold as well as share new ideas that the chapter can implement in order to improve this aspect of our chapter. Many of our sisters have also had amazing ideas that have promoted more sisterhood. Eta Mu has been expanding, improving, promoting participation and sisterhood, and informing the newer classes about Kappa's history and rituals.
There are a multitude of organizations that our chapter has traditionally raised money for and have donated our time to. One of the organizations that we primarily focus on giving back to is Reading is Fundamental. We also raise money for local breast cancer awareness organizations in Santa Cruz and donate our time to homeless shelters to help out our community. Numerous of our sisters are also involved in Camp Kesem, which is a non-profit organization that raises money to send kids whose parents have been affected by cancer to camp for a week during the summer.
RIF is a nationally recognized organization that is working to improve literacy in kids by providing them with access to books of their very own through community involvement and donations. Kappa Kappa Gamma has been a long time partner with RIF and our chapter wants to help raise money for this amazing organization. We held our Kappa Kickball tournament and have given our time to the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Cruz as our Reading is Key events in order to raise money for RIF. We also choose to support local breast cancer awareness organizations, homeless shelters, and Camp Kesem because the missions of these organizations are close to many of our sisters' hearts.
==Highlights of the 2019==
2018 proved to be another lovely year with another lovely bunch of Eta Mu Kappa women. To kick off the year, we had a smooth transition of chapter council, sworn in by last year’s president, Kamille. Meetings were filled with an unparalleled amount of gifs and memes in officer reports -- always a pleasure to see. On the philanthropy side of things, we’ve continued bringing in money for Kappa Kickball, a kickball fundraiser for the Santa Cruz animal shelter. This year at Spare The Hooters, we raised over $1100 for breast cancer research with help from the gentlemen of Sigma Pi, a new record for money raised at the event! Our Reading is Key events went well per usual and many books were collected for the Boys & Girls Club at Sapphires on Skates, a new and popular Kappa fundraiser taking place at the Santa Cruz Roller Rink. May was filled with events like our annual Greek Week in which most Greek organizations participate in a bit of friendly competition. Our ladies participated in basketball, game night, and of course, pizza eating. We had a beautiful Formal at Coconut Grove on Cinco de Mayo where one of our very own, Nicole S., drew the design for our shirts. Our girls got closer with events like sorority powderpuff, where many of our members practiced for months, which is what this chapter is all about: getting closer to an stronger with our Kappa sisters. The event brought in over $300 to Camp Kesem, a national nonprofit with a chapter at UC Santa Cruz dedicated to giving children whose parents have or have had cancer a free week of summer camp. In June we watched and honored our 2017-2018 class of Kappa girls graduate. Our seniors shared a special last year together with events like Senior Tea and Senior Send-off. It was our first year with an informal spring recruitment which brought our lovely Sigma class to us. Fall recruitment was stunning and organized as Kappas talked, sang, and smiled our hearts out to our new Tau class women. We’ve had some wonderful sisterhoods put on by both Standards and Ritual committees. From voting on our favorite Halloween costumes to watching “To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before” we’ve laughed our heads off considerably in each other's company. The always delicious Thanksgiving dinner at Terra Fresca was a success, leaving members more stuffed than the turkeys we ate.
This year has been a year of growth, laughter and learning for our Kappa chapter. Chapter Council came together to work though any and all issues and provide support to neighboring officers. This chapter as a whole is a group of beautiful, empowering, and always compassionate young women and we are sure to see next year bring even more progress.
This was our first year in Panhellenic recruitment that our chapter participated in informal spring recruitment. Officers who were a part of the initiation and new member process preformed most of their tasks twice, a change that was smoothly carried out by the designated officers.
This chapter has provided ongoing support to RIF and the Kappa Foundation, but outside of KKG Sanctioned organizations, we have provided donations and support to the Walnut Ave Family & Women's Center and Camp Kesem at UC Santa Cruz.
Kappa Kappa Gamma has been a long-time partner with RIF, an organization that promotes literacy in children by providing them with access to books of their own through community involvement and donations. We have also worked with the Walnut Avenue Family & Women’s Center which provides resources for women, children, and families in Santa Cruz County and has done so for over 80 years. Camp Kesem at UC Santa Cruz is a student-run, national nonprofit that provides an entirely free week of camp and year-long support to children who have been affected by a parent's cancer. At UC Santa Cruz, the Camp Kesem chapter has lots of Greek involvement, but the highest percentage of Greek life affiliates are Kappa women.
Our Meetings are traditionally at the Jack Baskin Engineering on campus at UC Santa Cruz. For special occasions and bigger events, we may meet at Kresge Town Hall which is also on campus, like we do for sisterhoods and Founder's Day.
==Highlights of 2020==
Eta Mu Chapter has undergone numerous improvements and troubles this year. We began this year with a new Chapter Council that helped our chapter work on challenges, supported us through the pandemic, and made the virtual experience of meetings meaningful. At the beginning of this year, our sisters helped volunteer for our school’s Colleges Against Cancer Blood Drive and helped collect 30 units of blood! In February, we hosted a Family Day that was filled with fun and games for our sisters’ families. Following that, we celebrated our Founder’s Day at Meder Park and got to experience the VR tours of how Kappa Kappa Gamma was founded which were provided by HQ’s Minnie Stewart Van. We then raised $700for the Walnut Avenue Family and Women’s Center through our annual Kappa Kakes Fundraiser. Our PR Chair, Cesia Villa Bello, made sure to represent all our members through fun Instagram Features like Kappa Meets (Hobby a Member does), Senior Spotlights, and Kappa Krushes where sisters would make shoutouts for each other. At the end of February, we had our Semi-Formal that was planned by our Event Chair, Victoria Caballero, and our Risk chair, Avery Bowen, who made sure everyone was safe and having a fun time! Our chapter operations changed dramatically when COVID-19 hit, and we all had to go back home for our Spring Quarter and do online learning. During the Spring Quarter, we faced hardship when horrific police brutality events sparked and caused discussion within our chapter. Our BIPOC sisters stood up and spoke about the injustices they have faced being in our chapter and were supported to use their voice. These discussions continued throughout the summer and into the fall quarter which really made us reflect and listen to each other. Our chapter participated in virtual recruitment with our other panhellenic organizations and made sure the recruitment went smooth and easy for PNMs. After recruitment, we welcomed 22 New Members who have made our Chapter filled with joy and optimism for our future. We had meetings every Sunday on Zoom where New Members would do programming with our New Member Chair, Aryn Williams-Escobar. During the Fall quarter, we made T-shirts to raise money for the Norcal Fire Relief Fund, and turned out to be a huge success! And towards the end of the quarter, our new members got their big sisters through a virtual big/little reveal. I also planned our virtual initiation for our new members and it went extremely well! All members were initiated and they did an outstanding job with completing their workshops and paying their dues. At our last meeting for the year, we swore in our new officers for the 2021 year, and it was quite emotional as this was a tough year for us all and we couldn’t have done without our 2020 CC.
Our Chapter supports RIF to help under served kids discover the joy of reading and books. We also help support local organizations to give back to our Santa community.
Our chapter added a DEI officer to our Chapter Council in an effort to educate our sisters and give voices to our BIPOC members. We elected Aryn Williams-Escobar as our DEI Chairwoman and she did an outstanding job in our Fall Quarter. Every meeting we would do a spotlight on a sister who talked about her identity which helped educate our sisters about new cultures and family dynamics. For example, our Indian sisters presented an informational presentation about the Punjabi Farmers Strike happening in India and shed light on what it means to be an Indian American in the U.S. and the stereotypes it follows. Furthermore, our PR Chair has made sure to represent all sisters in our Instagram Account and made posts about what it means to be an ally, a statement supporting the Black Lives Matter Movement,informational guides on what gaslighting and microaggressions are, and many more posts and stories. We celebrated at a local park with crafts and games. Also, the Minnie Stewart Van visited and we got to tour around the van to see the historical events that led to Kappa’s Founding. Sisters also experienced a VR tour of Monmouth College and how our founding sisters founded Kappa. On October 13, our PR Chair posted a celebration picture celebrating our Founders Day as well.
[[File:Etamuphotos.png|thumb|virtual]]
==Highlights of 2021== Although this year for Eta Mu was mainly online, we still managed to strengthen ourconnections with each other. Starting off the year, we had workshop for the whole chapterhosted by the Behind Happy Faces Program. The Behind Happy Faces Program is a two-partsystem to teach lessons. The curriculum utilizes creative PowerPoint presentations to exposeparticipants to the knowledge necessary for understanding mental health in their lives. Theinteractive exercises that coincide with the PowerPoint presentations have been constructedto maximize retention and improve participants’ emotional relationships to themselves andothers. This system is designed to deliver information in a short time frame, in order to meetparticipants where they are, in the culture that they live. This program helped us be morehonest with each other and reflect on our mental health in especially in a college setting. InFebruary, we had our annual Presents Brunch for our Phi Class to celebrate big/little pairingsand bigs were able to present speeches about their littles. During Spring Quarter, we hadCOB Recruitment and were able to get nine new members for Chi Class and I initiated themthrough a virtual ceremony. We then celebrated Eta Mu’s Birthday by meeting at a nearbypark to take pictures and hang out socially-distanced. Towards the end of the quarter, ourMembership Chair came up with Kappa Kash which helped incentivize members to come toevents and promote Kappa Events in turn for points and prizes. We then hosted a seniorbanquet for our seniors before graduation in June.During Fall Quarter, we had another virtual formal recruitment and were able to get 24 newmembers for Psi Class. We were able to do bid day in person at a nearby park as well asbig/little reveal, so that was amazing to see and hopefully made the new members feelwelcomed. Not many events were held to due to COVID procedures in place on campus andoff campus and all of our meetings remained online. I initiated Psi Class on November 21stand following that day we voted on our new Chapter Council for 2022. It was more of a slowyear but I hope that as COVID procedures loosen, our chapter can have more events next yearin person. We support Mental Health for America to live fully in the service of others by becomingadvocates for mental health and well-being. Kappa members will unite to educate, raiseawareness and reduce the stigma around mental health and well-being through fundraisingand service.This year we raised money for our philanthropy through a virtual Kappa Talent Show, a Yogaevent, and a fundraiser at Woodstock’s Pizza.Diversity, Equity, and InclusionWe had a number of DEI presentations this year held by our DEI Chair. We hosted culturalpresentations during meetings that spotlighted member’s cultures. We also hostedpresentations on African-American History Month, Asian American Heritage Month, andsome discussion panels on more gender--------neutral language within sororities.Operating in a Pandemic Mostly everything was online until Fall Quarter where there were a few events held in personincluding bid day, big/little reveal, and philanthropy events. However, all meetings wereonline including elections and initiation.