Changes
→Highlights of 2023s:
|Image= [[File:Gamma_Upsilon.jpeg|200px]]
|Founded= {{start date and years ago|1929|05|11}}
|College= [httphttps://www.ubc.ca/ University of British Columbia]
|Location= Vancouver, BC
|Homepage= [httphttps://wwwubc.ubc-kkgkappa.comorg/ Gamma Upsilon Homepage]|Media= [httphttps://wiki.kappakappagammakkg.org/index.php?title=Category:Gamma_Upsilon Media related to Gamma Upsilon Chapter]}}
'''1,283 378 initiates (as of June 20152018)'''
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'''Charter Members:'''
'''Fraternity Council Members:'''
Gillian Marshall, Laura Seyler, Mia Flett, Julia Rastad, Trishana Tuyet-Pham, Rachel Beck, Yaz Tremblay, Madelaine Hargrave.
'''Fraternity Alumnae Achievement Award Recipients:'''
Dorothy Taylor, 1954, journalist, author; (Katherine ) Avis Pumphrey, 1964, Social Service pioneer
==Highlights of 2011==
First Baptist Church – weekly volunteering at soup kitchen
==Highlights of 2020s2016== As a whole chapter, we were able to accomplish the Anna Kianna Panhellenic Award and Ann McCucheon Philanthropy Award, as well as two individual awards, Top Panhellenic Scholar and Top Individual Philanthropist, at this past Panhellenic Spring Awards. Many have also won individual awards and scholarships such as Just Desserts (recognizes members of UBC community with outstanding contribution), Dean’s Honour List (for those with grades within the top 10%), Major Entrance Scholarship, Chancellor’s Scholar Award, Outstanding International Scholarship and initiation to Gamma Sigma Alpha (for members of the Greek system with +77% average). Our members were able to get involved with other UBC organizations such as the Alma Mater Society, various faculties and different clubs as executive members or as volunteers; Delegate, Promotional Team, RC and VP Recruitment for Panhellenic, Vice President for POITS, Dean’s Student Advisory Council, House President of Salish House of Totem Park Residence, General Volunteer for UBC Hospital, InterClub Executive at Blood for Life, VP Student Life at Arts Undergraduate Society, VP UBC Thunderbird Dance Team and Volunteer Avenue Coordinator of AMS to name just a few. Members have also volunteered with organizations outside the UBC community: BC Women and Children’s Hospital, VGH Renal Dialysis Unit, Strathcona Clinic, Kiwanis Club, Women for Women, Junior Achievement, BC SPCA and Burnaby Hospital of Mental Health. Describe the recent changes on your campus and describe the overall nature of your chapter. On campus, there is a newly open first year residence, Orchard Commons, which has greatly improved housing and expanded capacity for first years to be guaranteed housing. A lot of our new members have the privilege of living in this new building. Our chapter's nature in 2016 has once again been one of loyalty, community and sisterhood. We have gained 35 wonderful new members who have each been an extraordinary addition to our chapter. Many of the new members have taken positions on Chapter Council as well as been appointed significant leadership roles assisting some of the Chapter Council Executives. In addition, two of our members have been chosen for executive positions on Panhellenic Council. We are all very proud of these girls and especially excited for our chapter to have great representation on Panhel's board. Chapter Philanthropy: What organization(s) has your chapter historically/traditionally raised money for, or donated hours to, in your community? -Reading is Fundamental (international) -Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation (international) -The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation (national) -Soup Kitchen Tuesdays at First Baptist Church, Reading Buddy Fridays at University Hill Elementary (local) Why did your chapter choose this organization(s) to support? The members of our chapter hold the causes of both our national and local philanthropies dear to our hearts. Like most people, we have been affected one way or another by breast cancer, which is why we find it important to raise awareness and funds to support the research and survivors of this disease. As for our two local philanthropies, Soup Kitchen Tuesdays and Reading Buddy Fridays, our chapter wanted a way to give back to our community not just through organizing internal events, but also by participating in charitable activities every week. Reading Buddy Fridays is a program that also helps us show our support towards the Reading is Fundamental organization consistently throughout the year. Chapter Facility: In what kind of a facility does your chapter meet? Please attach a clear photo of where you typically hold chapter meetings – whether in a classroom, chapter house or elsewhere. With the exception of few formal meetings, most of our chapter meetings were previously held in the chapter room in the Panhellenic house. However, starting this October, we have been meeting in a class room in the IONA building on campus, as it provides more space for all of the members. ==Highlights of 2017== In January, the Gamma Upsilon chapter set out to strive towards a year of building a stronger sisterhood through strengthening the bond between sisters, and overall solidifying our community involvement and empowerment. We plan on improving our sisterhood by creating and planning g sisterhood events throughout each month to encourage sister-bonding and active participation within the chapter. We welcomed 2 new members in our January COB, who became a part of the 2016 pledge class. Throughout January-April, the Chapter focused on our sisterhood through attending sisterhood events and ensuring our sisters maintained academic excellence, great presence at Greek events and philanthropies, and good relations and communication with each other in the chapter. For the January-April semester, Gamma Upsilon chapter had the highest academic average of any sorority chapter at UBC this past semester with a 74.48%. At the Panhellenic Spring Awards, our chapter received two individual awards for Top Philanthropy, received by Farrah Bui-Turcotte, who is extremely involved with philanthropies and volunteering; Along with Top Leadership, received by Elise Mance, who maintained a double presidency being president of Kappa and president of the AUS (Arts Undergraduate Society). Two of our sisters were recently initiated into Gamma Sigma Alpha, which is a Greek organization for Greek members with averages of above 76%. We have a sister who was granted a UBC Excellence Scholarship for being within the top 10% in her faculty, undergraduate year, and program. We have sisters who are on the Deans Honour Roll, and who have been granted BC Achievement Scholarship awards, the District Authority Scholarship award, and the Maili Wong Award in Finance, to name a few. Five of our Chapter Council officers were able to attend the Kappa Leadership Conference where they learned skills to implement within our chapter and within council so that the officers are able to be greater leaders, and a newest member of PC16 attended the Kappa Leadership Academy. In September, we welcomed 40 new members into our Chapter, 38 of which were part of Formal Recruitment and 2 of which we welcomed through COB. For Formal Recruitment, we received a 97.5% retention rate after tours, and became the top recruiting sorority of 2017. Our President implemented ‘President’s Key’, which is a member spotlight for two girls who have gone above and beyond in the Chapter and who will be presented with this award at Chapter meeting and will be talked about in a little blurb highlighting the things they are doing for the Chapter, in which they will also receive a little care package. She also implemented ‘Accountabili-KEYS’, which is to maintain commitment and presence at other Greek philanthropies, where girls are in groups of 3, and 1/3 girls must attend and participate in each event. Our Registrar implemented ‘Owl Bet’cha Didn’t Know’, which is a monthly newsletter presented at Chapter meeting, where information taken from the Chapter History Nuggets are translated into a cute newsletter format highlighting certain historical or ongoing events, and also includes fun facts, and a sister shout out. The goal of this newsletter is to maintain awareness of Kappa history in a fun format. Furthermore, our sister Kennedy Gagnon, just recently became the president of UBC sororities, and will lead our community for the upcoming year. In the spring, a new aquatic centre opened up for students and faculty members of UBC and the community. There has also been ongoing construction as a new bus-loop is being built alongside another new residence for students. Overall, the Gamma Upsilon chapter has implemented monthly sisterhood events that have increased both active participation in the chapter, alongside establishing greater closeness among our sisters. We find that recruitment and initiation are always special for members, as these events remind us why we hold Kappa so close to our hearts, and it shows us the unification and the support systems amongst members. This past year, Gamma Upsilon has accomplished our goals and have done so with great pride, and we feel that our Chapter will continue to improve throughout the 2017-2018 year. '''Chapter Philanthropy''': Soup Kitchen at the First Baptist Church (Local), every Tuesday night with Phi Delta Theta. Reading Buddies at University Hill Elementary (Local), every Friday afternoon with Beta Theta Pi. Reading is Fundamental (International) The Canadian Brest Cancer Foundation (National) Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation (International) Reading is Fundamental is the international organization that all Kappa chapters support, therefore we show support by our weekly local philanthropy at Reading Buddies. We also choose to support the First Baptist Church weekly because it enables members to get out weekly to give back to our community. Our Chapter supports the Canadian Brest Cancer Foundation (CBBF) because as a large group of women, we have all been or known somebody who has been affected by breast cancer, and cancer in general. We choose to support this organization because the money we raised goes towards finding a cure, and supports and brings awareness to each woman affected by breast cancer in their courageous battles in fighting cancer. Most of chapter meetings are held within our Chapter room, as it was renovated and painted throughout the summer. We find that our Chapter room provides us with enough room and enables us to maintain focus throughout our meetings. We also tend to hold sisterhood events immediately after Chapter meetings every couple of weeks, so it is easy for girls to participate and attend these events as they are in our Chapter room. There are certain occasions we hold our meetings in classrooms across campus, and this is generally for Formal Meetings as this allows more space to perform ritual. ==Highlights of 2018s:== This year the chapter has seen growth in our sisterhood, increased engagement in our philanthropy events, and has initiated an incredible new member class. In January 2018 we successfully transitioned a brand new chapter council. Our VPOrganization arranged our Leadership Consultant visit who was able to further aid in transitions. The 2018 Chapter Council is responsible for implementing the Owl, Keys, and Fleur-de-lis groups to increase accountability for internal and external philanthropic events. The Academic Council maintained communication with members to ensure they were meeting their academic goals that our VPAcademic Excellence had encouraged us to set for ourselves. The standards committee worked closely with VPStandards to organize and host a variety of sisterhood events that we put on throughout the year. Some members belong to the Gamma Sigma Alpha fraternity which is a Greek organization that celebrates scholarly achievement by taking members with an academic average above 76%. Many of the women in our chapter hold volunteer positions on campus with organizations like Best Buddies and are also involved with the Alma Mater Society of UBC and other academic pursuits. During our January - April semester we were able to celebrate our senior members with a Panhellenic Senior Send Off and our Sapphire Ball was organized by our Events Chair a beautiful formal event for us. Our PR Chair did an incredible job in highlighting our chapter values on social media by focusing on our sisterhood, self love, and mental health awareness. During the summer our Recruitment Chair started work on creating a strong recruitment. Due to the hard work she and her committee put in we welcomed 30 beautiful new members in September. Our President attended the Leadership Conference in June where she shared leadership skills, ideas, and stories to strengthen our sisterhood. Our Philanthropy assistant attended the Kappa Leadership Academy. Our Risk Chairman along with our Education Chairman organized many education meetings for us that pertained to mental and physical health as well as self care. Our Marshal arranged a lovely initiation for everyone in November and saw 30 women initiated into Kappa Kappa Gamma. We have continued the tradition of supporting the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation through our bake sale event Desserts for a Cure where the proceeds all go to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation and the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation. Our Philanthropy Chair also attended our weekly philanthropic events such as our Tuesday night Soup Kitchen with Phi Delta Theta and Reading Buddies on Friday afternoons with Beta Theta Pi. These volunteer events give our women a chance to give back to the community that fits with their schedules. Our chapter showed support for Reading is Fundamental through a book drive and barbecue called Kappa Kookout and through our continued involvement in Reading Buddies. Our chapter takes great pride in helping the communities of the Vancouver area. Our chapter room is where we host our meetings, along with an occasional meeting in the Woodward Building on campus to hold elections and educational meetings. Our chapter room was renovated in the summer to update the decor. Our chapter room is one of 8 rooms within the Panhellenic House building that hosts all of the UBC sorority chapters.
From chapter’s History Report: Scholarship, group honors/awards, traditions, special events, changes on campus or within chapter, overall nature of the chapter, chapter goals, challenges and how they were overcome, etc.:
==Highlights of 2023s:==
Throughout the year, our chapter has experienced remarkable participation in both sisterhood and greek-life events. Our events chair has devoted significant effort to create exceptional bonding activities, including a memorable chapter-wide Canucks hockey game night. Additionally, our Director of Academic Excellence has been instrumental in fostering support and cohesion among our sisters through bi-weekly study rooms.
In February, our President, Vice-President Membership, and Vice-President External Affairs attended the Kappa Leadership Conference in Dallas, Texas. During the conference, our members had the opportunity to learn more about Kappa’s history and connect with sisters from all over the world.
We are thrilled to have reintroduced Kamp Kappa, our spring philanthropy event in support of Jack.org (mental health initiatives) and the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation. In November of last year, we proudly raised $2913 for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation through Deserts for a Cure.
Our chapter has recently launched ‘Kappa Talks,’ a program inspired by Ted Talks. This initiative aims to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion within our sisterhood by encouraging girls to share topics that they are passionate about.
Our members are leaders in various clubs on campus, including The Women’s Network, Campus Canines, UBC Pre-Law Association, The Calendar, and the AMS, among others. We have introduced Kappa Kash, a unique way to recognize and celebrate the involvement of our members in our chapter. We continue to recognize achievement through the Smart Cookies Program, KKGreat News and the No-“Skippy” Jar on a weekly basis.
Our Public Relations Chair has demonstrated an exceptional level of commitment to promoting our chapter on social media. As a result, we have amassed a following of over 3,500 on Instagram and received over 200,000 views on Tik Tok.
In January, we welcomed eight exceptional new members into our chapter through our Spring COB. Last fall, we welcomed 25 beautiful new members.
We regularly hold meetings at the Woodward Building on campus, with the exception of Formal Meetings and New Member Meetings, which are held in the Chapter Room. Our gorgeous chapter room recently had a kitchen renovation and ceiling reconstruction.
'''Philanthropy:'''
Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation (International)
The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation (National)
Jack.org (National)
Reading Buddies at University Hill Elementary (Local), every Friday afternoon.