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Our This past calendar year was full of new memories and accomplishments for our lovely little Gamma Alpha chapter supports Reading is Fundamental through local support. We chose this organization because we wanted to support this organization that we enjoy being apart of each For the 2018-2019 school year. We always love working with young children learning how to read and seeing , our donations chapter was awarded the title "Sorority of the Year" out of books in the elementary in Manhattan being put to good use13 sororities we have on K-State's campus. We also wanted to give Panhellenic awarded our semester donation to nationals chapter with this title because of our heavy involvment on K-State's campus, high academic standing, and strong retention rates during recruitment. Our chapter has often placed in the money collected top percent for panhellenic academics on our philanthropy campus, but this past spring semester, Gamma Alpha placed first. We love our chapter and take pride in the fallthese accomplishments, however, many of us believe there is always room for improvement.
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|Image= [[File:Gamma_Alpha.jpg|200px]]
|Founded= {{start date and years ago|1916|09|23}}
|College= [httphttps://www.k-state.edu/ Kansas State University], formerly Kansas State Agricultural College
|Location= Manhattan, Kansas
|Homepage= [httphttps://chapterskstate.kappakappagammakappa.org/gammaalpha/ Gamma Alpha Homepage]|Media= [httphttps://wiki.kappakappagammakkg.org/index.php?title=Category:Gamma_Alpha Media related to Gamma Alpha Chapter]}}
'''Gamma Alpha, Kansas State University (formerly Kansas State Agricultural College), established in 1863, Manhattan, Kansas'''
==Highlights of 2019==
Our chapter made it one of our goals this year to increase community involvment and support of our panhellenic brothers and sisters. Our Trunk-or-Treat philanthropy event was a huge success last year so we decided to continue the event. We partnered with the Manhattan public library to raise awareness for Reading is Fundamental (RIF), as well as give candy to families in the surrounding area and investing in the community around us. However, this year we invited other panhellenic and community organizations to join us at our Trunk-or-Treat event so we can support our community together. We are blessed to have so many self-motivated women in our chapter and because of this were able to have several additional philanthropy events. We put on the "KKBee" spelling bee at one of the local town coffee shops to raise money for RIF. We hosted a "Kappa Karwash" event at our house, and participated in the "Reading is Key" event as well as various book drives throughout the year. We are so thankful to have such warm-hearted and hard working young women in this house.
We may be hard working, but we also love some good ol' Kappa Kappa Grandma fun. Our formal this year was "Choose a Mister for Your Sister". Our women got to set their sisters up on blind dates for our formal event, it was a great way to meet new people and expand our Kappa community. Semi-formal was just as exciting with its theme, "Kappa Cotillion", and as always, we kept it Klassy.
We said goodbye to PC'15 and welcomed our new PC'19 women this year, but some things never change like our beloved house mom, Mom Jules, and house cook, Liz. We cannot talk these women up enough, they are phenomenal and make living in the house the experience of a lifetime. From Bachelor watch parties, ginger bread house decorating, outdoor movie nights, and frat boy Fridays, there's never a quite moment at 517 Fairchild Terrace and we are so thankful for the people that have provided us with this amazing opportunity to live with so many women we love. We are so excited for another year of memories.
Kansas State University is still known as one of the top college towns in the nation and our campus continues to grow. K-State has broken ground for our new Multi-Cultural Student Center that should be finished within the next few years. Similarly, the construction of the National Bio and Agro-defense Facility (NBAF) has made immense progress. We are so thankful that Hale Library has reopened the first floor after the fire that occurred two summers ago. Our students have enjoyed the study space that has provided and look forward to seeing the finished product. Kappa continues to be help in high regard on campus and plans to continue deepening our involvment with organizations outside of Kappa. Our members plan on investing in the Manhattan and Kansas State community to give back to the wonderful people who have given us so much love and support.
Our chapter supports Reading is Fundamental through local support. We chose this organization because we wanted to support this organization that we enjoy being apart of each year. We always love working with young children learning how to read and seeing our donations of books in the elementary in Manhattan being put to good use. We believe in empowering young people to pursue education and learn to love learning. Our chapter stands by the belief that you have to learn to read in order to read to learn. We love working with young students in their pursuit of learning and walking alongside the future generation of our society. RIF is a wonderful organization that provides us with so many opportunities to do that. We are so thankful for the educational privledges we have received and love handing those gifts down to the next generation of leaders and life long learners.
We also wanted to give our semester donation to nationals with the money collected for our philanthropy in the fall.
Every year we invite Gamma Alpha and various Kappa alumni to our house for our Founders Day celebration that takes place the Sunday after initiation weekend. We had a great turn out of alumni this year and enjoyed donuts, cider, and coffee to celebrate the new members and honor the women that founded our beloved organization.
==Highlights of 2020==
This past calendar year was full of many new memories and many new experiences for our sweet Gamma Alpha chapter. Our chapter is known for our heavy involvement on campus. We have many women who are involved in campus organizations ranging from K-State Student Foundation, Cats Cupboard, K-State Proud, Student Government Association, and the K-State band and Classy Cats (dance team). One of our won Gamma Alpha women was voted to be the 2021 K-State female Student Ambassador! [[File:Marissa Lux - 2021 K-State Female Student Ambassador.jpeg|thumb|Marissa Lux - 2021 K-State Female Student Ambassador]]
Our women are also involved in volunteering around Manhattan and even amidst COVID our women found a way. These volunteer opportunities have ranged from Big Brothers Big Sisters, nursing homes, and local food pantries. We were able to hold 1 philanthropy event over Instagram. We raised money with CrowdChange boards for Reading is Fundamental (RIF). We raised $638 for RIF, collected 80 books with our book drive to give to Manhattan schools, $200 were donated to KKG Foundation, and despite the pandemic, our Gamma Alpha women donated 289 hours of community service projects in 2020.
The ladies of Gamma Alpha are also Kappa geniuses. Our spring 2020 semester all chapter GPA was 3.7, ranked above the all sorority average for K-State. This put us in 5th out of 13 of the sororities that are on K-State’s campus for grades.
Recruitment looked very different this year, but our girls are resilient and can adapt and prosper through anything which was shown in our retention rates and outcome of recruitment. [[File:PC 17 during 2020 recruitment!.jpeg|thumb|PC 17 during 2020 recruitment!]] With COVID, our recruitment ended up being completely virtual, along with Bid Day as well. We pledged 39 wonderful women into our chapter this year, staying close to last year’s numbers despite the pandemic. We are so grateful we were able to hold initiation in person this year. We initiated 38 strong and wonderful women into the Gamma Alpha chapter. [[File:Bid Day 2020!.jpeg|thumb|Bid Day 2020!]]
[[File:Bid Day Fall 2020.jpeg|thumb|Bid Day 2020]]
[[File:Big Little Reveal.jpeg|thumb|Big Little Reveal]]
Unfortunately, K-State’s Homecoming also was put all online, but Kappa’s presence and involvement did not dip at all. We received second place in homecoming this year with our partner AGR! We are so proud of this achievement especially during the pandemic.
One goal our chapter had was to strengthen the sisterhood we were already building. We were very lucky and able to have our Mom’s Weekend and our “Kappa Kappa Galactica” date party before the pandemic hit. These were both hits with so much dancing and fun with our sisters.
After school went all online, our chapter got very creative in different activities we could participate in to strengthen sisterhood. We were able to hold our semi-formal in late November with only Kappa’s and it was a wonderful night of laughs, dancing and sisterhood. [[File:2020 Semi-Formal at the Kappa House!.jpeg|thumb|2020 Semi-Formal at the Kappa House!]] There were many online activities with lots of conversations and even a zoom call celebrating our 2020 spring graduates and showering them with memories and love we had for them. This year could not have been as fun and wonderful as it was without our house mom, Mom Jules, and house cook, Liz. These two women put the ladies of Gamma Alpha first and went above and beyond to make this year the best it could be. We are forever grateful for them. There were so many Bachelor watch parties, movie nights, dance parties, and side porch hammock hangouts that were so special and intimate this year with our sisters. [[File:Hammocking on Kappa's side porch on a beautiful spring day!.jpeg|thumb|Hammocking on Kappa's side porch on a beautiful spring day!]]
We are so thankful for the moments this year brought, the ability to slow down and appreciate the time we have, and the people who helped support our chapter to thrive in such a difficult time. We are so excited for another year of memories at 517 Fairchild Terrace.
Gamma Alpha supports Reading is Fundamental for our philanthropy. We believe in strengthening and empowering the youth to pursure their education and learn a love of reading. Our chapter stands by the belief that you have to learn to read in order to read to learn. We love working with young students while they pursure their education and being there beside the next generation of our society. RIF is a wonderful and powerful organization that gives us so many opportunities to do just that and give back to the community. We are so grateful for the education we all have received and are continuing to receive and love giving back to the next generation of leaders and life long learners.
This year, Gamma Alpha was very active and aware of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. We encouraged respectful and open conversations about DEI. Chapter Council decided to implement a new Diversity, Equity and Inclusion position in the 2021 calendar year when we could have more discussion about what this position would look like and what we would expect of it.
Due to Covid-19 guidelines and the safety of the women living in the Kappa house, our Founder’s Day and 150th anniversary celebration were held over zoom. It was encouraged for women to come to the Kappa house and have cookies and cider and conversations, if one felt comfortable, about Kappa’s history and legacy that was left for us from alumni. A fun “What Kappa Founder Are You” quiz was created to dwell and learn just a little bit about the founding Kappa’s and their personalities. It was a fun way to learn about their lives and how we are all still so connected and alike even 150 years apart.
==Highlights of 2021==
==Highlights of 2020s:==