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→Highlights of 2013
The most exciting change at the University of Arkansas is undoubtedly the addition of a brand new Kappa Kappa Gamma house. The renovation of the Gamma Nu chapter house was completed in the summer of 2013. Unveiled to members in early August, the Gamma Nu chapter house now boasts 41,000 square feet, plenty of room for our 400+ members to enjoy each other’s company, study, and hold meetings. With a chapter as large as Gamma Nu’s, it is impossible to have every member live in-house, however, the new house allows as many as 90 members to live in. The addition of our new house has allowed our chapter to flourish, we now have a chapter room large enough to host chapter meetings every Monday at our house. Members are able to bond better with one another with a general meeting area that has plenty of space for everyone to come over throughout the week. Exciting things have been happening for the Gamma Nu chapter. Our morale and spirits are very high as we look forward to the intriguing future ahead.
==Highlights of 2014==
2014 was an incredible year for Gamma Nu! Under the leadership of our president, Kelly Hudnall, and the rest of Chapter Council, plans were made to take the chapter to new heights. We really aimed to improve chapter knowledge of history and ritual, as well as improving member involvement through committee usage. In the month of February, our new members enjoyed playing games, creating dance skits, and getting to know each other better at the New Member Sleepover. We also held our annual Mom's Day brunch, planned special events throughout the weekend for moms and daughters, and our girls competed with KA and Zeta Phi Beta with a Lion King themed performance in Greek Sing.
In March, Gamma Nu hosted the first annual King of the Kourt 3 on 3 basketball tournament that the men of IFC competed in. This event kicked off the beginning of "Reading is Key" week, in which we raised money for RIF and our local philanthropies with various fundraisers. On Friday, we finished the week with our annual "Reading is Key" day at Grace Hill Elementary where members dressed up like characters, read stories to classes, and passed out three books to each child. In total in 2014, Gamma Nu donated $12,650 to our local and national philanthropies and shared hundreds of hours in the classroom with children at Washington Elementary School, our local philanthropy partner.
Also in March, members participated in the annual Sigma Chi Derby Days variety show with a Jungle themed performance, passed out free Keds to students at Washington, and celebrated our academic accomplishments with our Scholarship Banquet. At the Order of Omega awards banquet, Gamma Nu received a number of honors, including: Most Outstanding President (Kelly Hudnall), Most Outstanding Panhellenic Delegate (Ashlyn Cook), Most Outstanding Sophomore (Hannah Birch), and the Award of Excellence Gold Rating. We were thrilled to celebrate these amazing members, as well as our chapter as a whole. The chapter was able to finish out the semester with the highest sorority overall GPA of 3.509, with 118 girls receiving 4.0's. At Kappa Convention that summer, Gamma Nu also had the honor of receiving awards for Most Outstanding Recruitment, Most Outstanding House Board, and Honorable Mention for both Finance and New Member Programming.
After a great summer, members returned back to Fayetteville for work week and formal recruitment. Using the theme "Drafting the Best" to motivate us throughout the two weeks, we were able to extend 108 bids, including 48 legacies, to a great group of women. The fall semester is always an exciting time with coke dates, Owl groups, Razorback football games, and Homecoming. This year we were paired with KA and placed 2nd overall in homecoming, as well as had two representatives on court, Amy May West and Amy Moorehead.
Other fall events included: Watermelon Bust with a second place finish, Big/Little Reveal, and our annual Owl-o-ween function with Chi Omega. In November, Kappa competed in the first annual UGC Latin Ballroom dance competition, again with KA, and took home the first place trophy, and held our annual philanthropy dinner, Kappa Con Queso, with a full taco bar created by our fabulous Chef John. After "Granny" made the announcement of the date, our new members were initiated on November 9th and we were excited to officially welcome them into our sisterhood. As Gamma Nu rounded out the Fall semester, we held our semi-formal "Kappa Kissmas" before members began to prepare for finals. We again ended strong in academics with a 3.496 GPA average and a first place finish in sorority average. Overall, we accomplished a lot as a chapter in 2014 and hope to keep striving to do even more in the following years.
The University of Arkansas has been growing exponentially within the last few years, with the student enrollment reaching 26,237 this year. Constant construction on campus has brought about changes to help with the growing pains. Many new academic buildings, auditoriums, and residence halls have recently been built to help accommodate our large student population. Greek life has also been growing by leaps and bounds, with now 27% of undergrads participating in a greek organization. The Gamma Nu chapter alone has over 430 members and we continually monitor and adjust to maintain such a large chapter. Our diverse base of members are known to be very active on campus within their own colleges, in student government, and various student organizations. Arkansas Kappas have a great reputation at the U of A, as well as in the Fayetteville community. We strive to maintain an awesome relationship with our Greek Life staff and other greek councils on campus. We are also especially proud of our large focus on academics and scholarship: Gamma Nu has held either 1st or 2nd place in all-sorority average GPA for the past five semesters. Overall, Gamma Nu strives to uphold all of the ideals and principles of the Fraternity in all aspects of college life.
After our recent renovations, Gamma Nu is now able to hold chapter meetings in our new chapter room, comfortably seating all 414 active members. We are very lucky to have the opportunity to hold one meeting while fitting the entire chapter in a single space.
Gamma Nu has had five different housing locations, but purchased the property for the current location in 1930. The original house on the property was converted into a 10 bedroom colonial home, housing 18 women. In 1940, the house was enlarged to accommodate 40 members, then later in 1956 a three-story wing addition, including a new kitchen, dining room, and bedrooms, was added to the original structure. This updated house was painted gray, creating the fond nickname "Old Gray", and housed a total of 75 women. In 1964, the chapter had outgrown "Old Gray", and tore down the original structure, except for the 1956 wing. The front of the house was rotated from facing Leverette to facing Maple Street, which is now referred to as "Sorority Row". The traditional 3-story colonial mansion, with white brick and grey accented shutters, was the beloved home of Gamma Nu until 2012.
In 2008, the plans began for Gamma Nu's biggest housing project thus far, using the campaign "Our Legacy-Our Future" to raise money from alumni, active members, and their families. The house was closed after the 2012 Spring semester, torn completely down, rebuilt, and opened back up for the 2013 Fall semester. The $8 million housing renovation created a new 49,000 square foot house for the Arkansas Kappas. The current white bricked, 4-story colonial style mansion was built, complete with three entertainment rooms, a library, an archive room, over ten study rooms, a large chapter room, a wellness center, and art room, and in total houses 92 women and our house mother. The new house is able to provide adequate space for our 400+ members: you can commonly find members studying together in the basement study rooms, practicing for dance competitions in the chapter room, watching the Bachelor in the Orange Couch Room, dining with friends every week at Chicken Finger Friday, and hanging out on the front porch after class. We are truly blessed by our incredible new house and can't wait for new memories and traditions to be made in this new space.
While under renovation, Gamma Nu's created a contracting deal with a new apartment complex to offer a housing alternative for members. Even after the opening of the house, the chapter continued to work with other complexes so that Kappas not living in-house could still live together in a common location. We hope this continues to be a lasting tradition for our members.
==Highlights of 2020s:==