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{{Infobox Fraternity|Name= Eta Tau|Image= [[File:Georgetown.jpg|200px]]|Founded= {{start date and years ago|2013|10|26}}|College= [https://www.georgetown.edu/ Chapman University]|Location= Washington, D.C.|Homepage= [https://georgetown.kappa.org/ Eta Tau Website]|Media= [https://wiki.kkg.org/index.php?title=Category:Eta_Tau Media related to Eta Tau Chapter]}}
'''Number of charter members: 24'''
'''146 227 initiates as of (June 20162018)'''
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Some of Eta Tau’s Outstanding Members:
Georgetown has grown to be a major international research university with eight schools, an affiliated hospital and many highly ranked academic programs. Today the university has more than 12,000 undergraduate and graduate students who take classes at five locations: Main Campus, Medical Center, Law Center, GU-Northern Virginia and the university’s School of Foreign Service-Qatar. Georgetown has a large and diverse workforce that employs more than 5,000 faculty and staff members.
==Kappa Presentation==
Why did your chapter choose this organization(s) to support? We believe that it represents an important cause to benefit given the current political and social climate in colleges across the nation. Also our philanthropy chair sent out a poll asking which place chapter members wanted to benefit and the most people said the DC Women’s Rape Crisis Center.
== Highlights of 2017 ==
For Eta Tau, 2017 was an exciting year: old traditions were celebrated, new traditions were initiated, and our sisterhood continues to strengthen. Chapter Council 2017 approached this year with fresh, exciting ideas, and it has been wonderful seeing these new traditions brought to fruition.
[[File:Eta Tau 3.jpg|thumb|Eta Tau chapter members.]]
Throughout the year, we participated in and held several events that have focused on improving our chapter’s commitment to philanthropy, academic excellence, Panhellenic relations, and member development through sisterhood. To name a few, we hosted a Galentine’s Day sisterhood event, celebrated academic excellence with new professional development initiatives and two Academic Excellence Banquets, professional headshots, a trip to the movies, monthly book club meetings, several study breaks, a Dinner with Seven Sisters event, a women’s workwear workshop, our first chapter RIF event, a sisterhood pumpkin painting night, participated in other organizations’ philanthropy events, hosted our first annual Family Weekend Brunch, and so much more. To strengthen Panhellenic relations, Panhellenic planned the first ever meet-and-greet for our Chapter Council and Kappa Alpha Theta’s executive board, two Panhellenic pizza parties, Panhellenic office hours, and various other opportunities for members of both Panhellenic chapters to mingle and learn more about Panhellenic.
[[File:Eta Tau.jpg|thumb|Eta Tau celebrates Galentine's Day.]]
This April, some of our Chapter Council officers traveled to Pittsburgh for the very first Kappa Leadership Conference. These officers brought back with them new ideas that they immediately began implementing in our chapter to promote leadership and membership development. Additionally, we welcomed two Leadership Consultants, who each served as valuable resources for our chapter. With their guidance, we began new initiatives to enhance our chapter’s understanding of Fraternity Ritual – several ritual reviews, the Marshal Minute, and several forms of trivia regarding Fraternity history and ritual.
With our many successes, we certainly had our fair share of challenges this year, specifically with regards to budgeting. Unfortunately, we had fewer funds than we originally anticipated at the start of the fall semester, resulting in budget cuts. Despite this challenge, our Chapter Council, specifically our Treasurer and Assistant Treasurers, worked diligently to collaborate and find innovative ways to continue having fun events with fewer funds. This challenge in particular encouraged our Chapter Council to be as transparent as possible with Chapter members regarding Chapter finances. Additionally, with several pervasive issues surrounding our nation today, regarding feminism, diversity, and inclusivity, our Chapter has worked to address these issues and ensure that Kappa is a safe space where each member feels her voice is heard – specifically, through addressing all concerns brought through the anonymous Standards and Chapter Council forms, creating discussions surrounding women in the workplace and chapter issues, discussing ways we can introduce more inclusive language day to day, and feminist role model presentations.
In April, we said goodbye to 37 extraordinary seniors who created a lasting impact in our chapter. Through Fall Recruitment, we welcomed 34 incredible women into our chapter. They are dynamic, diverse, and wonderful young women who we are proud to welcome into our sisterhood. We are incredibly excited to see the impact they make in our chapter’s future.
With 2017 coming to a close, it has been remarkable to reflect on this year and see our chapter’s efforts to continue being a steadfast home to each and every member in our chapter. We are hopeful and excited that 2018 will be a year full of even more innovation in our chapter, with an unwavering commitment to Kappa Kappa Gamma’s ideals and values.
In 2017, Kappa Kappa Gamma Eta Tau has continued to develop through a variety of opportunities both on and off campus and seeks to make the chapter increasingly more inclusive.
Chapter Council altered their style of discussion to a more discussion-based platform which allows for increased dialogue regarding the challenges that our chapter faces most often. Our leadership is ultimately working toward a more collaborative environment to become more socio-economically accessible to all and retain more members long-term. These efforts hope to create a more cohesive chapter in the overall.
Eta Tau has implemented a lot of organizational changes aimed at creating a more efficient chapter. Our total shift to the GIN system is almost complete; we have successfully uploaded all documents, forms, and calendars to that system. Our last remaining step is to send all chapter correspondence out using the GIN interface, which should be complete by the end of this academic year. The usage of committees has also been improved; new members have been assigned to committees and committee heads have been working to better communication with their committee members, as well as better utilize the resources they provide. We have also implemented a new "committee recap" system in chapter, where one member of each committee stands up in chapter to recap what has been discussed in their meeting. This practice aims to increase regular chapter member participation. By the end of this academic year, we aim to implement positions within each committee to assign tasks and responsibilities to better engage chapter members with leadership roles. All these efforts to increase chapter participation aim to culminate in a greater effort on the part of the chapter to get to know our next LC.
In the fall, over half of our active members received an academic distinction. We also celebrated Eta Tau's average GPA of a 3.578. Throughout each semester, we provided chapter members with a number of opportunities to excel academically and professional. We booked private study rooms in the library for Kappa use only, debuted a number of initiatives, such as the Study Abroad Spreadsheet, Major Buddies, Senior Coffee Chats, and KKG Alumni Network, and hosted a number of study breaks for members.
Furthermore, this year our chapter continued to work towards the preservation of ritual and history despite our relatively new establishment. After our Registrar and Marshal reorganized and took inventory of our off-campus storage unit, we were able to purchase new white ropes for our 34 initiates to use at our recent initiation on November 11. This was by far our most successful and efficient initiation to date with every member of the Zeta pledge class being initiated together. Three new members' moms were able to attend Fireside and Initiation: Francesca Kehoe, Lindsey Schneider, and Peyton Shelburne. Out of 34 new members, 28 ordered fraternity badges. Additionally, we now have a t-shirt blanket to use at recruitment that depicts the variety of events that our chapter has held over the past 4 years.
[[File:EtaTau2.jpg|thumb|Eta Tau at big-little reveal.]]
In addition to welcoming 34 new members into our chapter this fall, Eta Tau has continued to make strides with our public relations. This year public relations has increased dramatically as we continue to build a positive relationship with the university administration. We have worked to ensure this by creating an online store to give members access to merchandise to represent our chapter on campus, designing and purchasing a banner to put up during all Kappa Kappa Gamma events, purchasing a camera for the chapter's use to increase the photos that our chapter has, and increasing the understanding across the chapter of the importance of positive imaging online and across campus. Finally, we will be holding a hot chocolate event for all students during finals week as a stress reliever and to exhibit the positivity that Kappa Kappa Gamma brings to Georgetown's campus.
The Education Chair and programming committee have also become a larger, more dynamic presence in our chapter. Every month there has been at least one programming night per month where we incorporate Georgetown's motto of cura personalis, or care of the whole person, into our programming events. For example, we've had personal gender based violence presentations, discussions about sexual assault, SoulCycle classes, documentary screenings, improv troupes leading us in team bonding exercises, and wellness workshops in order to try and foster a sense of holistic well-being amongst our sisters. We have laughed, bonded, and learned the value of balance through these monthly events.
In terms of senior programming, we've placed a large emphasis on senior sisterhood with manicure events and self-defense workshops, as well as a bonding-based senior orientation. We have also continued doing senior wills, senior gifts, family letters, and a then-and-now style slideshow, to celebrate our graduating sisters. Additionally, we've celebrated Founders Day in a meaningful way; we've partnered with surrounding alumna associations to commemorate our founders with a chapter-wide dinner, presentations on the six founders accompanied by trivia and giveaways, and a thoughtful ceremony. We continued the tradition of doing Founders Day awards, where we celebrate the traits of our 6 founders and present the women in our chapter who also possess those traits with commemorative posters.
Outside of chapter and senior programming, the committee has continued to have a positive impact on our chapter's culture. We have started a monthly book klub, Wellness-Wednesdays, our first annual Family Weekend Open House at the local coffee shop, our First Annual Secret Snowflake gift giving event, feminist role model presentations during elections, and more. By starting all of these new sisterhood- and empowerment- focused events, the education chair and programming committee have certainly increased their presence in Eta Tau.
Overall, we look forward to the positive impacts that 2018 Chapter Council and all members will make to continue this progress next year.
During this past year, Eta Tau has engaged in philanthropy and service for others in a variety of ways both on and off campus. In addition to each member completing service hours that often included unique and interesting clubs outside of our chapter, we have collectively partnered with other Greek and non-Greek organizations, raised awareness about important causes, and donated money through fundraising efforts.
In the spring of 2017, we focused primarily on Kappa Karnival which took place in April. For our annual Kappa Karnival on April 1st, we secured a co-sponsorship with Georgetown University Hawaii Club and donated all of the proceeds to Kahumana, a non-profit in Oahu whose mission is to co-create a healthy, inclusive, and productive, farm-based community with homeless families, people with disabilities, and children. We raised and donated $2000 to Kahumana. The event itself was a huge success, as we had the biggest turnout of any of our Karnivals to date, with participation from all of Georgetown's Greek organizations as well.
In the fall of 2017, we spent most of our energy aiding Reading is Fundamental. We raised about $800 dollars to go to the national RIF organization through our Family Weekend Brunch in addition to hosting a book drive that received about 250 books that will be going to DC Preparatory School. We crafted bookmarks in both the spring and the fall which will be going to DC Prep as well. Eta Tau also hosted a Reading is Fundamental station at the Center for Social Justice’s Fall Fest where the entire chapter came to do Mad-Libs, read fortunes, and play basketball with elementary school children in the CSJ’s tutoring programs.
Eta Tau has also been a helping hand to other organizations on campus this year. We purchased 50 books for the Center for Social Justice last spring to help them finish their book wish list for tutors to read with students. Our chapter members signed up to run Sigma Phi Epsilon’s annual Halloween 5k in which all the proceeds go to Doorways for Women and Children, an organization that provides protection to survivors of domestic violence. We also hosted a bake sale at the 5k. Additionally, we participated in Delta Phi Epsilon’s collection of pads for the homeless. Our chapter collected a total of 45 boxes of pads that went to N Street Village, a Washington D.C. shelter that aims to empower homeless and low-income women.
Our chapter has engaged with other off-campus organizations by raising $1040 for a young Zambian girl named Advent through Save the Children in the spring. We collected food donations for Washington D.C. Capital Food Bank this Thanksgiving season. We collected a total of 113 boxes and cans of goods for the food bank. We have also planned to sponsor nine children from the Georgetown School of Nursing Angel Tree to buy them presents for the upcoming holiday season.
Finally, we engaged with our local chapter of Relay for Life. Georgetown's Relay for Life, which was held on April 21st and raised over $100,000, $9,824 of which was raised by our Eta Tau team. At the event, many women from our chapter painted faces, participated in the Luminaria Ceremony, and cheered on one of our own in the Survivors Lap. This fall, our team has already raised $605 for the 2018 Relay for Life event.
Eta Tau looked both close to and far from home this year when selecting organizations to support. While we hold our commitment to RIF, Relay for Life, and other Greek organizations constant year to year, Kahumana, Georgetown's Center for Social Justice, Save the Children, Washington D.C. Capital Food Bank, and the upcoming Angel Tree were suggested to the chapter by our very own sisters. Working with organizations close to the hearts of our members is a phenomemenal way to keep them involved in our philanthrophic pursuits.
==Highlights of 2018==
[[File:EtaTau2018.jpg|thumb|Eta Tau in 2018.]]
Eta Tau proudly completed its first COB in the spring of 2018 and welcomed 15 new members. These women are some of the most involved and dedicated in our chapter, and they are incredibly special to us as our first COB class.
The President, Marshal and Membership chair traveled to Denver to celebrate Kappa Convention, where our chapter won the Best Recruitment Award and an Honorable Mention for standards.
In the fall, our chapter celebrated its 5th birthday, and we welcomed 28 new girls in our Eta class. We increased our philanthropy efforts exponentially by volunteering weekly at a bilingual preschool in DC and reading to the students there.
Despite efforts by the university to suppress Greek life, membership numbers are growing and chapters are gaining public recognition from other on campus groups. The chapter has a high morale at the moment and is excited to welcome back 20+ girls who were studying abroad during the fall semester.
==Highlights of 2019==
This year Eta Tau chapter was driven philanthropic and full of fun sisterhood events.
Philanthropy: Our philanthropy hit a sky high this year. Our very own sister, Callia Karas, celebrated her second annual hoyaTHON, a 12 hour non-profit event that most of our chapter attended! Through different events such as Valentines with the Veterans, RIF trips reading to children, hoyaTHON, Relay for Life, Sig Ep 5k, Girls on the Run, and many more fun philanthropy events, our chapter completed over 1,094.5 service hours.
Sisterhood events: We spent a lot of time bonding at fun sisterhood events. One Also, two our sisters taught workout classes, free for all Kappas to attend. Together we sang fun karaoke, celebrated Georgetown Day, St.Patrick's Day, and Homecoming, and hosted 4 extremely fun formals, all encouraging fun sisterhood bonding! To close out the year, we finished with Kappa secret santa that instilled our members with holiday spirit.
Academics: Our chapter has also been academically excellent this year. Our fabulous education chair has hosted multiple Kappa alumnae panels and career panels. Our awesome VPAE has booked us endless study rooms,hosted us for First Bake as a study break, and provided awesome study tips. She also really promoted Kappas helping Kappas. She created a mentor/mentee system within our chapter based on majors/minors to help when registration is happening. She also hosted a resume peer-reviewing workshop.
Recruitment: We received 40 new members hailing from across the globe, all with unique different backgrounds and passions. They have added so much to our chapter already. We held an awesome Bid Day on a rooftop apartment, overlooking the skyline of Washington, DC, and had an awesome Big/Little reveal at a cool bowling alley! They successfully completed their new member meetings and online EME with positive energy and enthusiasm. We held a beautiful initiation, formally welcoming them as full Kappa Kappa Gamma members. We cannot wait to see their future in Kappa.
Chapter Council: Chapter Council of 2018-2019 lead our chapter with an excitement and innovation that is truly contagious. They have spearheaded bigger and better things for our chapter, and we are forever thankful for their passion, spirit, and drivenness for our chapter. Our chapter has elected outstanding, qualified members for Chapter Council 2019-2020, and we are so excited to see everything the have in store for Eta Tau over this next year.
==Highlights of 2020==
Before COVID happened, we were able to host our academic banquet celebrating the chapter's academic achievements. We also had a formal in which all of our sisters had a great time. Once COVID happened, we switched to virtual events. Some of our virtual events included workout classes, watching Netflix or movies together. New Member baking retreat, big/little reveal, study hours on zoom, and kept up our tradition of having initiation sleepover but on Zoom instead. During convention, we were awarded the Ritual Award and had Honorable Mention for the categories of Risk Management and Recruitment. In the fall, we held our first ever virtual recruitment and were extremely successful! We had 47 new members and all of them were initiated in a virtual ceremony on November 14th with the prince of some Kappa family members. We held Chapter and Chapter Council weekly on Zoom as well. For Founders Day, we celebrated our 150th anniversary with a presentation, fun Kahoot, and which founder are you quiz. We also still had an academic excellence banquet to celebrate this last semester's academic achievements and gift cards were awarded. For RIF in the fall, we held a virtual 5K to encourage people to get active and also raise money on social media. Overall , our goal was to keep members engaged in the chapter and foster a community of support and I think we were successful in this.
"Chapter Philanthropy" - We support RIF, DC Central Kitchen, ACLU, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Martha's Table, and hoyaTHON. We chose these organizations to be involved ways that stuck to Kappas values and traditional philanthropy with child literacy and also to stay engaged in a world in a way that was productive with COVID and Racial Justice. For most of these organizations we raised money through virtual fundraising on social media or the 5K. We also donated our time through filming ourselves reading books to benefit Martha's Table.
=Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion = During recruitment training, we had breakout sessions where we talked about correct language, how to be inclusive, and how to be better sisters. Out philanthropy chair put together a fundraiser for many organizations such as the NCAAP and ACLU during the summer and our sisters supported this cause on their social media. We rose awareness on our social media and we also did a chapter presentation on race, discrimination, privilege, etc. and took part in a dialogue following the presentation.
We celebrated Kappa's150th anniversary in our virtual chapter meeting. Our Education chair made a presentation and we learned about our founders, took a "which founder are you" quiz and also did a fun Kahoot to end the presentation! We all learned a lot about our chapter's history and that was reflected when we were able to answer the questions on the Kahoot quiz.
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.
• 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!
==Highlights of 2021==
Chapter Summary
The Eta Tau Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma at Georgetown University welcomed 4 new members in the Spring of 2021 and 52 new members in Fall of 2021. They were all successfully initiated and have already contributed so much to our chapter. We held two successful signature philanthropy events (one raffle each semester) to raise money for Active Minds. We wanted to make sure that the transition from online to in person events between the Spring and the Fall went smoothly, and overall we were happy with the chapter’s excitement to return to in person events. By the end of the Fall, we were functioning almost exactly like we were pre-pandemic (although we had masks at most indoor events and occasional Zoom options).
Chapter Philanthropy We have supported many of the Georgetown campus community service initiatives by volunteering our own time for them, and we have raised money for a local organization called Martha’s Table. Gentrification-driven displacement and food deserts are a pressing issue in DC, and Martha’s Table is working to alleviate food insecurity in our city, which is why we feel strongly about their mission.
We held two raffles (one each semester) where we asked local businesses for donations and then sold raffle tickets for a chance to win these donated prizes. Chapter members buy tickets themselves and reach out to friends, family, campus organizations, and their social media community to sell tickets to the event. All profits go to Active Minds (we voted as a chapter to support Active Minds specifically).
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion We added a DEI chair for the 2021 Chapter Council and have begun incorporating DEI education into our chapter programming.
Operating in a Pandemic
In the Spring of 2021, Georgetown was completely virtual so we had all chapter meetings and sisterhood events virtually. In the Fall, we transitioned to in person chapter meetings and hybrid sisterhood events (at the beginning). By the end of the Fall of 2021, every event was happening in person with Covid modifications like capacity limits or masks.