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The Philanthropy badge was presented by Allie Vukov on behalf of the Denver Alumnae Association to Eta Pi. It was given to Brittany Pace, then Kelly Naranjo, and now resides with Rebecca Borjas. The badge is inscribed with ΚΚΓ ΑΩΟ on the front, and “ΗΠ Philanthropy Chairman 11/11” on the back.
==Highlights of 2015==
The year of 2015 was yet another successful year for the Eta Pi Chapter at NYU. We are a tight knit
sisterhood made up of women who strive to be positive role models for one another while being
loyal friends and sisters. We have 164 initiated sisters from diverse backgrounds, cultures, states
and countries. Our chapter was recognized at the 2014 Fraternity and Sorority Life awards
(February 2015) for Outstanding Academic Achievement, Outstanding Community Involvement,
and Lafayette Housing Chairman of the Year. Multiple 2015 graduates were awarded Senior Pillar
honors, as well as a Commitment to Change Award. We also sent women to Leadership Academy
and Province this year.
We host multiple sisterhood events a month either on campus or in the KKG penthouse. The
sisterhood events of 2015 ranged from an in house spa day to an ugly sweater and cookie contest at
our holiday party. As an organization, our sisterhood is strong. Our sisters who live in the house go
above and beyond to create a warm and welcoming space for all members of the chapter (some
even giving up their beds to house our wonderful leadership consultants!). Our bi-monthly chapter
programming, Femisphere, created by our Risk Chair Jen Tonti, delves into a tough to talk about
issue such as gender and sexuality or girl-on-girl bullying. This programming generates more
participation from the chapter than most other events, ultimately creating a safe space for women
to be women and talk about things that need to be discussed. Femisphere has done a fantastic job
in fostering our sisterhood in 2015, and we hope to continue it into the future.
Scholarship remains of great importance to the women of Eta Pi. We had 32 Kappa Kappa
Geniuses (3.7+ GPA for the Spring 2015 semester), who received ‘KKGenuis’ t-shirts recognizing
their outstanding academic achievements. We also had four (!!) sisters earn perfect 4.0 GPAs this
semester, each of which received special pearl dangles for their badges. Keeping our grades so high
is no easy task, so our VP Academic Excellence works with the chapter and her committee to
reserve study rooms in the library for after every chapter, and for 24 hours a day leading up to and
during exam week.
Also in 2015, Eta Pi was honored to be selected to host a Girls Academy in 2016. We could not be
more excited for this opportunity work with the Alumni Association on a cause that is so near to
our hearts while increasing our involvement in the greater NYC community.
We initiated 64 new members in the Fall of 2015 after an amazing “Kappa is the Key to Paradise”
themed recruitment. The newly initiated women went through an easy and informative new
member process, which included a beautiful bid day, and a super fun big/little week all, leading up
to a spectacularly beautiful Initiation ceremony.
Greek Life at NYU will welcome Delta Gamma onto campus this spring. We have multiple
members involved in the process, and are excited to spread all the PanHellenic love we can. Also
over the course of 2015, our chapter has continued its steady participation on the Inter-Greek and
PanHellenic executive boards.
Chapter Philanthropy:
What organization(s) has your chapter historically/traditionally raised money for, or donated hours to, in
your community?
• Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation: (NYDM) In 2015, Eta Pi had around 40 dancers sign up
and raise money for the B+ Foundation’s Dance Marathon at NYU. Headed by Elana Rubin, our
team raised over $27,000 for the cause.
• American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life: Every year, Eta Pi has a team participate at NYU’s
Relay for Life. In 2015, our team captain Kristina Rathjen (2015) worked with sisters all across the
chapter to put on fundraisers and raise a significant amount of money for the cause! We have already
begun fundraising for Relay 2016 with events such as Kappa Kandy Grams, organized by are house
committee.
• Reading is Fundamental: Our philanthropy chair, Rebecca Borjas worked with Public School 64
for both tutoring hours in the Spring and our Reading is Key event in the Fall. At Reading is Key,
we provide every child with a new book, as well as a full afternoon of literacy crafts and games that
encourage the children to read.
Why did your chapter choose this organization(s) to support?
NYU does a great job encouraging Greek organizations to participate in student-body wide
fundraising events. We participate in NYDM because it began as a Greek only fundraising event,
but expanded in 2015 to include NYU residential life. This year, we put into place a new rule
stating that all women must participate in a minimum of 5 philanthropy hours over the course of
the semester. This has not only increased presence at our Philanthropy events, but has also grown
Kappa’s presence on the NYU campus as a whole, for it encourages sisters to attend the
philanthropic events of the other Greek organizations.
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