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In the spring of 2017, we had 11 sisters with 4.0 grade point averages and 60 on dean’s list.
==Highlights of 2018==
The College of William and Mary is a tight-knit community of about 6,000 undergraduates. We are located in the city of Williamsburg, which is a small, but picturesque little village that is home to Colonial Williamsburg. Among its prime attractions are the Capitol Building and the historic Governor's Palace. Because of our well-established reputation as a challenging institution, with rigorous academic expectations, we are known as a "public ivy." We have an 11:1 student-to-faculty ratio that allows students to get the individual attention desired to graduate with an excellent education and deep understanding of the subject matter within our majors.
President Reveley retired and on July 1, 2018 President Katherine A. Rowe became William & Mary's 28th president, and the first woman president of the College. She was previously provost and dean of faculty at Smith College in Massachusetts. She did an incredible job during her first year here, and many of our sisters got the privilege of meeting her this year!
In 2018 William & Mary also celebrated 100 years of women and many of the halls that were named after some of our esteemed women alumni received new signs,that includes the first names of the women they were named after. In 2018 William & Mary also celebrated 50 years of African American students in residence.
The College of William and Mary again received outstanding accolades by the U.S. News & World Report 2018 ranking it tenth among public universities in the nation. Overall, William & Mary ranks 38th. Additionally, the U.S. News & World Report ranked William & Mary 5th in best undergraduate teaching and Princeton Review ranked William & Mary 1st in happiest students. We continue to have the highest percentage of students that study abroad at any public school in the nation. Construction began on Phi Beta Kappa Hall, and the new Tyler Mcleod Integrated Wellness Center was completed and opened. Chic-fil-A came to campus, and the Landrum Hall renovation was completed and the dorm was reopened. Next year, it will be a freshman dorm and Jefferson Hall will become an upperclassmen dorm. Work began on the Alumni House, which meant that our sisters were unable to have fall formal there like we had in past years.
Our campus is home to over 400 campus clubs and organizations, each of which enjoys a high level of participation. The College of William and Mary is known for being the first college ever to have an organization that referred to itself as a "fraternity." This honor fraternity, Phi Beta Kappa, was founded here in 1776. Acceptance to this fraternity is an extremely prestigious honor and privilege. Since 1776, Greek life has been a great way to get involved and meet new people. Our campus houses 16 fraternities and 10 sororities, with approximately 30.68% of student body involved in Greek life. Other social opportunities include a cappella groups, club sports, intramural sports teams, theatre and performance groups, and Alma Mater Productions (AMP), which is responsible for bringing comedy acts, singers, speakers, and new movies to campus for students to enjoy on the weekends. In fact, William and Mary is listed as the 4th highest a cappella involved school, nationwide.
The women of Gamma Kappa are involved in nearly every aspect of college life at William and Mary. Our sisters are known for their widespread range of activities and dedication to their interests. We had sisters studying in Spain, France, Amsterdam, the Czech Republic, England, Ireland and more. Gamma Kappa sisters are heavily involved in the Student Alumni Council, Tribe Ambassadors, the Bone Marrow Drive, the Tour Guide program, the Orientation Aide program, and various business development clubs. Sisters are also involved in different cultural groups, Student Assembly, the college’s Muscarelle Art Museum, and The Undergraduate Honor Council. Various sisters are on Varsity athletic teams such as golf, soccer, lacrosse, volleyball, swimming, gymnastics, cheerleading and track. Many Gamma Kappa members stay healthy and active through club and intramural teams, including sailing, field hockey, soccer, equestrian, and three campus dance groups, just to name a few.
Other members work for the campus Recreation Center as Group Fitness Instructors, Personal Trainers, and Rock Wall Instructors. Several members of our chapter continue to be involved in philanthropic organizations outside of Kappa, including Best Buddies - an organization that pairs members with differently abled children and adults and Camp Kesem - a free, week-long summer camp to support children whose parents have or have had cancer. Finally, many others are in charge of various local and international Branch Out trips, such as Students for Belize Education, Kenya Sustainability Village Project, and AIDSTanzania. Gamma Kappas take pride in the meaningful involvements of other sisters and support each other’s organizations in any way possible.
We had another successful season of recruitment. We had nearly 430 women visit our house during open house rounds. Our returns for both sisterhood and preference night rounds were exceptionally high as were our returns for philanthropy and open house rounds. As part of our values-based recruitment, the sisters of Gamma Kappa settled on the three following values that we would search for in newest members: authentic, respectful and empowered. On our Space Jam themed bid day we welcomed 34 new members, including 3 legacies, 23 freshmen, 7 sophomores, 4 junior and 0 seniors.
Over the course of the 2018 year, our education committee has worked especially hard to organize various programs and events. We’ve honored our seniors by hosting a celebration banquet during formal meeting and through our “Senior Spotlight” presentations, where five seniors presented to the chapter on a topic of their choice, usually their majors or past internship experiences. We have also had several sisters who are trained in gender and sexual violence conduct a presentation and workshop targeted toward women in the greek community.
Gamma Kappa remains committed to service and has again had great success with Kamp Kappa, and Kappaccino. This year, we switched our spring philanthropy event from Kappature the flag to Kamp Kappa. At Kamp Kappa we had food, music, and different camp games like cornhole, a water balloon toss and tug-of-war. The event was held on April 6, 2018. This year we raised $2523, a very high amount for us, for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Association which sisters voted for and decided upon. Kappaccino, where we turn our house into a coffee house with live music, hot drinks, and baked goods, raised $2545 this year for our local chapter of Head Start Community Action Agency, the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation, and the Sapphire Scholarship. For Reading is Fundamental, we partner with our local Head Start chapter and help them run 2 booths during their annual carnival. Local alumni help out at the book distribution booth, and sisters run a backpack decorating station at the event so that the children have their own bag in which they can take home their brand new book. It is held on April 21 at the Head Start Community Action Agency near us, and about 13 sisters participate and 150 children are served. Additionally, every other Friday a group of sisters does “Book Buddies” at Head Start, where we get to spend about a half hour reading with preschoolers. There are also 2 more Head Start locations in our area, and local alumni do Book Buddies at those two locations twice a month during the school year as well.
In the spring of 2018, we had 5 sisters with 4.0 grade point averages and 48 on dean’s list. The chapter GPA was 3.397 while the all sorority average was 3.433.
==Highlights of 2020s:==
