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This past year we created a new event to raise money for RIF. We had a pasta dinner, called KAPPASTAfor the John Carroll Students and community. With raffles, tons of food, live performances, the night turned out to be a lot of fun. The event was successful and we were able to do it twice within the year, raising close to $2,500 for Reading Is Fundamental. The chapter also won “Tug of War” for the second year in a row, as well as the prestigious campus Talent Show again.
'''Chapter Convention Awards:'''
2010: Excellence in Chapter Management; Honorable Mention in Finance, Recruitment and Panhellenic
==Highlights of 2011 - 2019:==
Highlights (scholarship, group honors/awards, special events, philanthropy and service projects, etc.):
==2012==
The Eta Zeta Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma continues to be involved in campus and community events while always maintaining the ideals that define our fraternity. The year of 2012 has kept us very busy. Achieving the highest sorority GPA on John Carroll campus, our sisters have shown great dedication and importance to education. Collectively, we achieved a GPA of 3.26 during the spring of 2012. We keep a Kappademics binder in our campus library to log study hours as a way to encourage each other to strive for academic excellence.
Our chapter was very enthusiastic about winning Greek week. It was an exciting time and we enjoyed coming together as sisters to compete for the championship. Our chapter was also very excited to accept 20 new members into our fraternity.
Our 2012 president, Rebecca Magyar, attended the bi-annual Convention this past summer. Our chapter received a Standards award for chapters with fewer than 75 members. We also received honorable mention in three categories: most improved academic excellence award, academic excellence award, and recruitment award. These last three categories were all for the five or fewer Panhellenic group category.
At John Carroll University, Greek life is a very open community. Eta Zeta wears its letters on Tuesdays. This is one of the favorite traditions that have been going on for quite a while. Every year right after recruitment, new members go on a retreat to get to know their pledge class better and to learn Kappa songs in order to promote sisterhood. This retreat is usually held at a sister’s house. A new tradition started by our Greek Life director this year was a Panhel and IFC retreat. All new members were mandated to be at a Saturday training where they learned about Greek life at JCU and had the opportunity to bond with new members from other fraternities and sororities.
Sisterhood events have frequently been a favorite. This past year, we held over a dozen sisterhood activities. In the spring, we had a superbowl party on our floor, as well as a movie night off campus. On another night, we made crafts together. We also had our annual end-of-the-year Reading Day picnic at a sister’s house. Eta Zeta had Blue and Blue, Owl Pal, and Kappa Kousin which were nights that new members spent with older sisters to get to know them better. We also had a Pumpkin picking event around Halloween where we bought small and big pumpkins and came back to our KKG floor to paint and decorate them. Towards the end of fall semester, we each brought our own clothes in to decorate and held a Kappa Klothes night. We spray painted our clothes with different shades of blue and made ourselves more letters. We enjoyed a Kappa Christmas party where we ate a nice variety of food, made KKG ornaments and had a Christmas clothes contest. A special event that Greek life holds each year is the Greek Thanksgiving. All the fraternities and sororities get together to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal together, encouraging inter-fraternal relationships. At the dinner, we also held a canned food drive in which each chapter competed to bring the most cans. We enjoyed our date party in the fall with the theme of “Guys in Ties, Girls in Pearls.” It was a fun night to spend with sisters and some friends.
Philanthropic involvement is frequently seen in our Kappa activities. Our biggest event was our annual Kappasta which is a spaghetti dinner we sponsor. All of the proceeds go to Kappa Kidney Camp. Seven baskets were donated by parents, businesses and Kappa sisters to be raffled off. By the end of the night, we raised $1631.62. A group of our sisters were invited to volunteer a few hours at Ronald McDonald where they spent some time with families who had loved ones in the neighboring hospital. Hugs for Heroes is another philanthropy we like to be involved with. We gathered in our lounge one night and wrote letters to soldiers overseas. In the spring semester, we participated in Relay for Life, for which we teamed up and walked to raise money for those suffering from cancer. Some Kappas also decorated cookies that were given to a homeless shelter as a way to lift their spirits and give back to the community. We also volunteered at a Cleveland Battered Women's shelter.
Eta Zeta completed an Action Plan for 2012 covering four different categories: Intellectual Development, Leadership and Skill Building, Understanding and Appreciation of Kappa, and Interpersonal Development. For the academics category, our chapter made the goal to improve our floor in order to have a more study-friendly atmosphere. We also wanted to improve our Academics Program to combat procrastination. Under Leadership and Skill Building, we decided to focus on committee involvement and improving the efficiency of chapter meetings. We wanted to involve our committees more, prioritize our business, and review Robin’s Rules and update the way Chapter is run. To enhance our understanding and appreciation of Kappa, focus was placed on heritage and ritual. Eta Zeta aspired to hold program nights that focused on the history of Kappa and Eta Zeta, and expose chapter members to the Ritual book. To enhance our interpersonal development, our chapter wanted to focus on unity, sisterhood, risk management, and attendance. We did this by reviewing Kappa’s policies and standards, creating a buddy system for the entire year, holding sisterhood retreats every semester, and inviting speakers to address Risk Management issues.
One of the challenges we always face is transitions. It’s a difficult time because some of the positions are filled with new members who are the least familiar with Chapter Council. As we do every year, the outgoing and incoming officers schedule a meeting time with the adviser to discuss the transition. The outgoing officers are responsible for training the new officers, so there is constant communication between them to ensure a smooth transition.
Kappa Kappa Gamma likes to be supportive of all other Greeks on campus, so we attend as many other philanthropy events of our fellow Greeks as we can. The Greek presidents on campus are in great communication with each other and inform each other when philanthropy events are taking place.
John Carroll has had one of its main quads closed off for a few years. This past summer, the quad was finished and is now open to student use. A memorial fountain from the class of 1956 was just completed this past fall and built by our business school. The fountain is gorgeous and the tiling around it was also re-done. Our chapter donated a brick to the construction of this project. The lacrosse team went Varsity and looks forward to their first season this upcoming spring. One of the dorms was renovated on campus and is open for upper classmen housing. JCU has also decided to renovate one of the dorms this summer. It is the largest freshman dorm on campus and it will be closed for the next school year. With housing being limited, the Kappa floor is required to make some changes and accept non-Kappas on to the floor. We are currently unsure what this will look like, but as a chapter, we will be supportive of each other and embrace these changes with a continuous positive and encouraging attitude.
==Highlights of 2020s:==