745
edits
Changes
m
Loretta McCarthy, Field Secretary 1968-1970;
Ellen Ruth (lvey), Field Secretary 1971-1974;
Vicki Luciani, Leadership Consultant 2010-2011
Holly Busche Cottor, 2012, Founder of Ryan House;Jewell McFarland Lewis, 2002, Former chairman of the board of Media America; Holly Busche Cottor, pediatric respite-care facility co-founder, Founder of Ryan House, 2012;
==Highlights of 2020s:==
(Information ==Highlights of 2015== Throughout the year of 2015, the Gamma Zeta Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma participated in a variety of events, both social and also philanthropic, representing our chapter on campus. Classes resumed on Wednesday, January 14th, but our house re-opened several days before to allow the girls time to unpack and get settled before beginning classes again. Our first chapter meeting was held on Monday, January 26th. Members were excited to be back together as a complete chapter. During the first few weeks back, the new members attended many rookie recruitment meetings with the recruitment chair, Kalyanne Younker, in order to prepare for fall recruitment. Ritual Review meetings also took place with our Marshall, Brianna Marek, to become informed of initiation and chapter rituals. Throughout the year, many philanthropy projects were held weekly, such as Adopt a Street and Ronald McDonald House volunteering in order to give back to the community and give our members frequent opportunities to serve. On the 13th of February, we held a Valentine’s Day Sisterhood event. Later in the month we had Dad’s weekend, February 20th-22th, in which the ladies were able to spend time with each other and their dads. On February 27th, we attended a presentation on nutrition. On the 10th of March, we had our Formal Date Dash, which was a great success! Our chapter, for our all house GPA average for the spring semester of 2015 was 3.133 and our new members had an average of 3.5. We had several academic workshops including time management, final exam preparation, etc. We had Spring Fling with the men of Delta Tau Delta from April 6th-12th. It was a week filled with festivities, fun, and games. On April 13th-18th we participated in the gentlemen of Sigma Chi’s philanthropy Derby Days. Starting on April 20th we had senior week all while maintaining regular recruitment practices and ritual reviews. Before the Homecoming game, on April 11th Alumni stopped by to tour the house. We also help events with other sororities like yoga with Alpha Epsilon Phi, our sisterhood sorority, in order to spread PanHellenic love. Throughout the semester we had a few other date dashes. We held our annual philanthropy event, Hoops for Hope, on May 2nd headed by the philanthropy chair, Jaime Hewitt. Jaime ran a very smooth, successful, and organized event. Approximately $31,000 was raised and the money was donated towards Stand up to Cancer. After Hoops for Hope was complete, girls took their finals and then moved out and back home with their families for a nice summer vacation. The girls returned to the Kappa Kappa Gamma house on August 19th, for Work Week and Formal Recruitment. Bid Day took place on August 23rd, where the ladies of Kappa Kappa Gamma welcomed 104 new members. The president was Morgan Agster and the recruitment chair was Kalyanne Younker. The new member chair, Emily Sill, did a fantastic job informing the new members of the history of the Gamma Zeta chapter. Key Sis week began near the beginning of September and continued through the middle of September. These weeks were when the new girls were paired up with the older active members in order to get to know them and feel more welcome in the chapter history reports, scholarshipas well as to potentially find their big/little. On September 4th the new members had a sleepover at Kappa to help them bond as a pledge class. The ladies participated in Pi Kappa Alpha's Firefighter Challenge philanthropy on September 21st-25th. This was a great way for the new members to get involved, group honorsas well as the older members. Big/awardsLittle Week occurred September 28th-October 1st. The big sisters left anonymous clues and treats for the little sisters each day of the week, leading up to the exciting reveal. We had our first date dash of the semester at the first weekend of October. This was the first date dash for the new members and ending up being a very successful and safe night. Following this, we had Family weekend, as well as Pledge Presents. The new members were given the opportunity to show their parents the Kappa Kappa Gamma house and to also introduce them to their new sisters of the chapter. The Founder’s Day Tea was hosted on October 18th. The education chair, Paloma Marcotte, ran the event which was a great day involving the participation of many alumni. Homecoming Week began on October 22nd, with the men of Sigma Chi. We had Inspiration Week later this year, beginning November 2nd, where the new members were introduced to the rituals and values of Kappa Kappa Gamma through a variety of sisterhood events. To start off the week, the girls were encouraged to wear blue on Monday to highlight beauty as one of the main aspects of Kappa. This week was also filled with a variety of sisterhood events that gave the girls another opportunity to bond with one another. The new members were then initiated on November 7th and we displayed a great retention rate. Our philanthropy chair, Hailey Clark, was in charge of our food philanthropy for the second time ever, Kappa Kon Queso on November 12th and it was a huge success. The first part of the election process for the new Chapter Council began on November 9th, and voting occurred on Monday, November 30th at chapter. The new members of Chapter Council were installed on December 7th, and began training with the old Chapter Council throughout the month of December. To celebrate the holidays, Kappa hosted the Kappa Kozy event on December 6th, in which the girls participated in a gingerbread house decorating competition, was well as other holiday games. As the end of the semester came to a close, the girls really buckled down for their upcoming finals; the last day of finals being December 17th. Overall, the year of 2015 for the Gamma Zeta chapter was an outstanding and successful year. The values and ideals of Kappa Kappa Gamma were upheld and the meaning of sisterhood was expressed throughout the various activities throughout the year. The construction from the new Environment and Natural Resources 2 building finally finished. The Trolley system that was finally completely last year has been running smoothing around campus and travels downtown, as well as to University Boulevard. This system travels along the street located in front of the Kappa house. As always, the University of Arizona is a beautiful and sunny campus with wonderful scenery. Most days out of the year, the weather is warm and inviting, encouraging students to spend time outside. Kappa Kappa Gamma is located directly behind the Student Union, making it extremely accessible for members. Due to its location and large size, the house is easily noticed for all too see and admire. ==Highlights of 2016== During 2016 Gamma Zeta had an amazing year as a chapter. Gamma Zeta and its powerful Chapter Council provided great structure and support throughout the year. At our National Convention in June Gamma Zeta was recognized and awarded Outstanding Chapter with the National Ritual Award, along with Honorable Mention in Panhellenic, Standards, and Academics. During The University of Arizona's Panhellenic Banquet in December, Gamma Zeta was awarded with Outstanding Dedication to Philanthropy and Highest Attendance in Reflections. We were #2 out of 15 chapters for G.P.A. for the entire Panhellenic Council and #5 for G.P.A. for all of Greek life we and have been able to maintain this GPA for the spring and fall semesters of 2016-2017. Our chapter main focus is on the importance of grades and has implemented many different activities to maintain this high distinction including: Geek of the Week Awards, Smarties Pants Awards, Most Improved G.P.A., 4.0 Pearls, Academic Workshops, traditionsand Planner Parties. Our Panhellenic Delegate did an excellent job keeping the chapter involved with the Greek Community. Members are encouraged to participate in other chapters philanthropy events. We had a Monmouth Duo Tea Party with Sister Sorority Pi Beta Phi. While we were able to participate in events outside our chapter, special the best events were the ones spent with our sisters. A couple eventswe help this past year include Kappa Kozy Christmas Party with Delta Delta Delta, Kappa Kappa Grammies Sisterhood Event, New Member Sleepover Sisterhood Event, Founder's Day Celebration and Brunch, Spring Fling with Alpha Epsilon Phi, Keys Overseas, Big/Little Mentorship Program, Homecoming with our neighbors Sigma Alpha Epsilon, and Sisterhood Movie Night where over 250 women attended. During chapter, changes we recognize those sisters who have gone above and beyond to help everyone with Supportive Sister Award (monthly), Sapphire Sister Award (weekly), and Kappa Kisses (weekly). One of the most amazing things going on during 2016 was the preparation and planning we had to undertake as a chapter prior to the beginning of a multimillion dollar construction process that began in December. Everyone had to come together to accommodate each other, as women were moving out of the rooms being torn down and into different ones. The new construction is going to include new rooms, allowing more women to live in, new president and standards rooms, a new study room and tv room. A new and improved chapter room is the focus point of this construction. This new enlarged meeting area will provide improved technology and additional seating to encourage more members to attend meetings. We are so excited to see our beautiful home when completed in August 2017. We will be able to use all the new facilities when we return for recruitment and classes. As Kappa Kappa Gamma, we are granted the privilege to choose an organization that has touched our chapter personally. After much deliberation over wonderful organizations, our chapter voted upon supporting the Pseudomyxoma Peritonei Research Foundation. In total we raised over $27,000 for PMP Cancer Reasearch. We also had our annual Kappa Con Queso event to support Kappa's national philanthropy Reading Is Fundamental. In total we raised $4,450, collected 450 books, and donated 60 hours to Reading Is Fundamental. As a chapter we raised $15,620 and donated this to The KKG Foundation. Gamma Zeta members spent 900 hours doing campus or within service projects and over 2,400 hours to community service projects. After much deliberation over wonderful organizations, our chaptervoted upon supporting the Pseudomyxoma Peritonei Research Foundation. Alumni Taylor Wood's father and a current member of Gamma Zeta Maddie Wood's uncle Dave Wood (a former University of Arizona football player) was unexpectedly diagnosed with PMP Cancer this past year. Because we found this to be one of the unexpected things in life that make us thankful for our sisterhood, overall nature we donated over $27,000 from our annual Hoops for Hope event to PMP Cancer Research. Hoops for Hope is Saturday morning/afternoon event in April we put on at a nearby school's basketball courts and has been our of our most successful fundraisers. Our chapter has continually made Reading Is Fundamental a part of our philanthropy projects throughout each year and have connected with our alumnae group to expand our efforts. In November of 2016 we had an extremely successful annual event called Kappa Con Queso, that all proceeds went to RIF. Kappa Con Queso is always a well attended event that we put on where everyone is invited into our chapter to join us for loaded and delicious nachos! We meet in our chapter room inside our house located at 1435 E 2nd St, Tucson, Arizona 85719. Capacity issues in our current chapter room over the past years has lead us to have joint meetings with our house board and new construction of our house beginning December 2016- ending August 2017. These rennovations will include a new second story to the house and a new and improved chaper room that should service Gamma Zeta for many years to come. We are very excited about the rennovations and the new chapterroom that will be able to house our chapter of over 350 girls comfortably. This new chapter room will help our chapter stand out among other houses who have had to turn to meeting in lecture halls as their chapter sizes have also increased. Holding chapter in our own house continues to keep the authenticity of ritual and binds our chapter together even more. ==Highlights of 2017== [[File:Gamma Zeta3.png|thumb|Gamma Zeta Chapter, Arizona (2017)]] Throughout the year of 2017, our Gamma Zeta chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma received a variety of awards, hosted two large philanthropy events and was very persistent in achieving our chapter goalsfor the year. Our social and philanthropic events and involvement on campus are very important to our members and we were all very excited for the school year to begin again. When we returned back to school, spring classes began on January 11th and our first chapter of the year was held on the following Monday on January 23rd. Our house was began construction for our new renovations over winter break and finally finished in August. We were very excited to add another story on a part of our house in order to house a total of 93 girls. During the first months back, our youngest PC attended rookie recruitment practices on Sundays beginning in February with our recruitment chair, Hannah Matthiessen, in order to get them familiar with songs, rules, challenges and the dos and don’ts of recruitment in the fall. There were also a handful of ritual reviews with our Marshal, Kate Hall, that began with our first one on February 7th, to become informed about initiation and chapter rituals. Throughout the year there were multiple opportunities for volunteering such as Ronald McDonald House, Special Olympics, and serving at school carnivals. The chapter was very adamant about giving back our community and encouraging all our members to participate in a service. On January 17th we had our 'Kappa Krush Formal,' which was a great success and our members were very excited to attend. On February 24th - 26th we had our Dad's Weekend where we offered our girls to purchase baseball tickets for the baseball game and a BBQ at our house for them and their dads. On March 5th, we had a sisterhood event at Funtasticks where girls could go-kart and mini golf together. We had an amazing turn out and also filmed part of our recruitment video at this sisterhood event. On March 28th, we attended a presentation about Greek Rape Culture to inform our members about the dangers of sexual assault. After spring break, we had a Free Throw contest in our parking lot to begin raising money for our spring philanthropy Hoops for Hope. This year, we voted to support the National Meningitis Association because of the harmful effect the sickness had on some of our sisters' closest friend. [[File:Gamma Zeta1.png|thumb|Gamma Zeta Chapter, Arizona, 2017]] On April 1st we held our annual Hoops for Hope event which is a 3 on 3 basketball game of the teams that our girls coached. We raised about $21,790 for the National Meningitis Association. On April 2nd we had a senior event where there was a photoshoot for our seniors as they captured their last couple of months of being together. The week of April 3rd, we had our Spring Fling with the men of Kappa Sigma, and our members were excited to participate in festivities and games during the week. On April 20th we had a "How to Survive Finals" presentation to ease the stress of our members while they prepared for the busy week of tests soon to be coming up. On April 23rd we held an Alumni brunch at our house which was very successful. The alumni were excited to see how the construction of our house was coming along and have a blast from the past having another meal here. On April 24th-28th we had our senior week. We celebrated our seniors with fun events during the week such as icecream nights, bowling, and a date dash in celebration of their last couple of weeks at the university. We finished the last month of school with finals and then moved back home to enjoy our summer. On August 5th and 6th, everyone returned back to school and excited to begin practicing for recruitment during Work Week. Our Formal Recruitment began on August 13th and finished with Bid Day on August 20th where we welcomed 98 lovely new members into our chapter. This years theme was influenced by the 90's and everyone had a wonderful time celebrating, taking pictures, and dancing during the day. After Bid Day, the new members were brought back to the Kappa house where they were informed about the history and rules of the Gamma Zeta Chapter. The first day of classes began August 21st, and we had a planner party that following Friday to plan out our academic year together. New Member meetings began on Sunday the 27th and continued every Sunday until they were ready to be initiated. On August 30th we had a trunk show with Sunny Co Clothing where girls were excited to purchase swimsuits, skirts, and other apparel for our hot Arizona months. We also had a Kappa clothing trunk show and Lululemon trunk show at our house the following two weeks for girls to purchase apparel here as well. On September 16th, we had our first date dash of the semester called 'Kappa Kabana.' This date dash had a pool and our members were very excited to attend. At the end of September, pledge class 16 began having ritual reviews again to prepare for initiation in November. Beginning on October 2nd we had our 'Big Little Week' with the final reveal to our littles on October 5th. All the members who finally received littles were so excited to finally be the role model and life long friend to the new members of our chapter. The weekend of October 13th we had Family Weekend beginning with a Pledge Presents brunch where big and little were presented together in front of the new members' families. We also rented out a Kappa section for the football game and offered brunch for our Kappas and their families. [[File:Gamma Zeta2.png|thumb|Gamma Zeta Chapter, Arizona]] On October 20th we had another sisterhood event at a pumpkin patch to get into the fall spirit. We had a great turn out and received a lot of pictures and participation in the activities at the pumpkin patch. Founder's Day was celebrated on October 21st and our members were very excited to socialize with our alumni as they shared their Kappa memories and we all celebrated the love for Kappa together as we had a lovely brunch. From October 22nd - 27th we celebrated Homecoming with the men of Pi Kappa Alpha and had a wonderful week of bonding and celebrations with them. Following Homecoming week, we had our fall food philanthropy, Kappa Kampfire. We raised $4,080 for our national philanthropy Reading is Fundamental where we sold tickets for students to come eat s'mores, hotdogs and hamburgers as we played music, took photo booth pictures, and socialized with our supporting students. The new members were initiated on November 12th, and we officially welcomed 96 new members into our Kappa family. On December 3rd, we had our annual Kappa Kozy at our house to celebrate the holiday season. We invited our sister sorority of the semester, Alpha Chi Omega to join us in making gingerbread houses, taking polaroid pictures, and raffling off prize baskets. Our selection process for the 2018 Chapter Council began on November 12th and after voting was completed, the new Chapter Council was installed on December 4th. Everyone was very excited and encouraging of what our new Chapter Council will bring for the upcoming year. As the end of the semester came to a close, everyone began studying for finals and 24 hour quiet hours were enforced throughout our house. Overall, the 2017 school year for Gamma Zeta was filled with hard work, success, and of course some fun. The values and morals of what it means to be a Kappa were overcomeenforced, etcand the members showed this through their actions and participation in everything they accomplished.)
'''Philanthropy:'''==Highlights of 2020==
'''Convention Awards:''' This year our chapter introduced a DEI committee to educate our chapter. They held presentations at chapter meetingto promote diversity and inclusion within our chapter. We educated new members on theimportance of acceptance and love. All members attended the Ross Lawrence presentation whicheducated us on the history of Greek life’s founding. We were educated on the inherent racism in Greek life and how we can work to change it. We also reviewed the importance of accepting the LGBTQ+ community. One of our sisters who is amember of that community, shared some of her experiences with bias against her because of her sexuality and she educated the chapter on the importance of acceptance and inclusion. We also had a presentation on the importance ofmental health. As a chapter we were able to have an open dialogue about our mental health and theimportance of seeking help. This presentation/discussion was led by Zach Westerbeck, a well knownmental health speaker.
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|Image= [[File:Gamma_Zeta.jpg|200px]]
|Founded= {{start date and years ago|1920|01|03}}
|College= [httphttps://www.arizona.edu/ University of Arizona]
|Location= Tucson, AZ
|Homepage= [httphttps://wwwarizona.arizonakkgkappa.comorg/ Gamma Zeta Homepage]|Media= [httphttps://wiki.kappakappagammakkg.org/index.php?title=Category:Gamma_Zeta Media related to Gamma Zeta Chapter]}}
'''University of Arizona, established in 1885'''
'''3,269 members 658 initiates (as of June 20142018)'''
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'''Some of Gamma Zeta’s Outstanding AlumnaeCharter Members:''' Bess Louise Alexander, Dorothy, Galpin Andrews, Ruth Sinclair Bird, Grace Coralie Chatham, Kathryn Vinson Haga, Edith Isabelle Harrison, Clara Bess Hildebrandt, Hazel Hodges, Isabelle Annette Irvine, Dorothy Elinor Knox, Frances Louise Leeson, Margaret Drucille Loflin, Zella Temple Jay Matthews, Ann Beatrice Pace, Eva Cathrine Prina, Ruth Prina, Florence Shelby, Lucy Anne Stanton, Mildred Margarite Stark, La Verna Stevens, Lois Augusta Wendell, Helen Louise Equen Westover, Helen Willits, Lillian Grouse Wood.
'''Fraternity Council Members:''' (If you have chapter alumnae who have received recognition in any of these three categories, please list them with the date(s) of recognition.)
'''Fraternity Alumnae Achievement Award Recipients:'''
"Kim Stanley" (nee Patty Reid Conway),
Loretta McCarthy, 1984, A top executive with American Express;
Doris Born Monthan, 1984, Author, authority on American Indian culture;
'''AdditionalOutstanding Additional Outstanding Gamma Zeta Alumnae:'''
Molly Roller (Spingler), Graduate Counselor 1958-1959;
Mary Hendershott (Itani), Graduate Counselor 1969-1971;
Ellen Ruth (Ivey), Graduate Counselor 1971-1972
Loretta McCarthy, Field Secretary 1968-1970;
Ellen Ruth (lvey), Field Secretary 1971-1974;
Vicki Luciani, Leadership Consultant 2010-2011;
Morgan Weaver, Leadership Consultant 2015-2016;
Morgan Agster, Leadership Consultant 2016-2017
Our house, owned by the university, and being one of the largest on campus, houses 84 girls. There are four living styles; the sleeping porch, the doubles, west wing (4 or 6 person room) and the apartments. The sophomres live in the sleeping porch, the doubles and west wing in the house, while the juniors typically live in the apartments in the back. Each and everyone of the girls within our chapter have been striving for success, both academically and socially. While actively getting to know all of their new sisters, girls were keeping up with their academics. This chapter is composed of classy women that represent the ideal of Kappa Kappa Gamma. Living in the house not only gives you a place to eat and sleep, but also a place to study and receive tutoring help if needed. Our sisters are our best resources.
[[File:Gamma Zeta4.png|thumb|Gamma Zeta Chapter 2017]]
Although no significant changes has happened on our campus during this year, the University of Arizona continues to be a safe and beautiful campus that we are all thankful to be a part of. The warm weather gives us the opportunity to take advantage of our campus pool, participate in outdoor sports, or simply sit outside and do homework without being concerned about harsh weather. Our chapter is located in a very convenient spot that is close to most classrooms, University Boulevard, and the Student Union. This allows all our members, whether they live in or not, to come around often and spend time in the Kappa house before they have to run to class again. With that being said, the largest and most recent change for our chapter this year was the construction of our house. It is wonderful that we can now house more girls than we have ever had, and have a new chapter room that can fit all of our members-giving us the opportunity to host chapter in our house. We supported Reading is Fundamental because it is our national philanthropy that we host a food philanthropy every fall to donate money to this organization. We also supported the National Meningitis Association because a group of our sisters were greatly affected by the death of their closest friend from having Meningitis. Later, we also found out that one of our alumni's son was also affected by Meningitis and passed away at a young age. We were excited to be able to raise money for an organization that supported more than one of our past and current members. Our chapter meets in our chapter room located in the Kappa House. We have one of the largest chapters at the University of Arizona and we are very excited that we can fit all of our women in our newly built chapter room that now has a sound system and a projector for easy hearing and viewing purposes during Chapter. ==Highlights of 2018== Throughout the year of 2018, the Gamma Zeta chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma has thrived and been successful in completing a number of goals. This past year we have received a variety of awards, hosted two successful philanthropy events, and welcomed home an amazing new pledge class. Our social and philanthropic events and involvement on campus are very important to our members and we were all very excited for a new semester to begin in January. When we returned back to school, spring classes began on January 10th. Our transitional meeting to welcome in the new Chapter Council was held the following Saturday on January 13th and our first chapter of the new year was held on Monday, January 15th. During the first few months back, our youngest pledge class attended rookie recruitment practices on Sundays beginning in February with our recruitment chair, Claire Gordan, in order to familiarize them with song, rules, and the do's and don'Housing:t of formal recruitment in the fall. Our Marshal, Allie Kelley, also held a handful of ritual reviews that began in February, for the newest pledge class to become informed about initiation and chapter ritual. Throughout the year there were multiple opportunities for volunteering such as Ronald McDonald House, Girl Scouts of America, Special Olympics, and serving at school carnivals. Our philanthropy chair, Kelsey Hodge, encouraged our members and was very adamant about giving back to our local community in Tucson and at the University of Arizona. On February 16th-18th we had our Mom's Weekend where we offered a variety of activities for members and their moms. We offered a mother-daughter spin class taught by one of our members, rented out a restaurant for everyone to mingle, and hosted a beautiful brunch made by our chefs in our Kappa house. The next weekend, on February 24th, we had our annual spring Formal, which was a great success and all of the members were so excited to attend. After returning back from spring break on March 11th, we began the final preparations for our spring philanthropy, Hoops for Hope. Our members were were excited to make basketball teams and promote the hot dog eating contest we held at Kappa the night before the event. This year, we voted to support the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention because of the tragic impact suicide had on two of our sisters'family.On March 24th we held our annual Hoops for Hope event which is a 3 on 3 basketball game of the teams that our girls put together and coached. We raised over $30,000 for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. On August 4th and 5th, everyone returned back to school to begin practicing for recruitment during Work Week. Our Formal Recruitment began on August 12th and finished with Bid Day on August 19th where we welcomed 111 lovely new members into our chapter. The theme for this year was "The Ride of Your Life" and was inspired by Harley Davidson. Everyone had a great time taking picture, celebrating, and dancing during the day. Right after the Bid Day celebration, the new members were brought back to the Kappa house where they were given a brief history, rules, and expectations of the Gamma Zeta chapter. The first day of classes began August 20th. No significant changes have happened on our campus during this year, but the University of Arizona continues to be a safe and beautiful campus that we are all thankful to attend. The warm weather gives us the opportunity to take advantage of our campus pool, participate in outdoor sports, or simply sit outside and do homework year round. Our chapter is located in a very convenient spot that is close to majority of classroom buildings, University Boulevard, and the Student Union. This allows all our members, whether they live in or not, to come around often and spend time in our beautiful house before they have to run to class again. While we didn't have any new construction on our chapter's house, we did come back from summer break to find that our living room had been redone and the paint on the exterior of the house had all been made the same uniform color. Nobody knew that these updates were happening to the house and everyone was very excited upon our return. Our chapter also welcomed a new house mom, Kelly, this year. Kelly has been so helpful, supportive, and involved this semester and has had such a positive impact on our chapter and members. We supported Reading is Fundamental because it is our national philanthropy and we host a food philanthropy event every fall to donate money to this organization. We also chose to support the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention in the spring because two of our sisters had recently been greatly affected by the death of a close family friend as a result of suicide. We were so honored to be able to support our Kappa sisters, the Dusses, by raising money for an organization that could provide the help and resources that their family friend did not have. ==Highlights of 2019== Throughout 2019 Gamma Zeta thrived and was successful in completing a number of goals. We received a variety of awards, hosted two successful philanthropy events and welcomed home an amazing new member class. Throughout the term there were multiple opportunities for volunteering, such as Ronald McDonald House, Girl Scouts, Mothers Against Drunk Driving and Spiders and Ciders. In February we had our Dad's Weekend where we offered a variety of activities for members and their dads. There was a father-daughter workout class taught by one of our members, bowling, and a beautiful brunch at the Kappa house. In March we held our spring philanthropy, Hoops for Hope. Our members were excited to make basketball teams and promote the Kappa Carnival held the night before the event. Hoops for Hope, a 3 on 3 basketball tournament made up of teams our members put together and coached, raised over $32,000. The money will support Lighthouse for Hope, an organization that supports families dealing with pediatric cancer. This is a cause especially important to us because of a member of our chapter who dealt with pediatric cancer.
Our formal recruitment in August was very successful and we welcomed 122 new members. The theme for Bid Day was "Go Kappa! It's Your Bid Day" and was inspired by Kappa blue and blue. In October we held our Krispy Kreme with KKG event, where we sold doughnuts and chocolate milk to raise over $16,000 for Reading is Fundamental and the KKG Foundation. In addition we read to children at a local elementary school and did a book drive for the same school. In November, we held our initiation of our new members.
Gamma Zeta enjoyed our Founders Day brunch with our alumnae, recognizing our 50 and 65 year members. We are looking forward to the Fraternity's sesquicentennial as Gamma Zeta will celebrate its centennial year while the Fraternity celebrates its 150th anniversary.
This year our entire world was flipped upside down. Starting in March, our school and chapter events
went completely virtual. We held chapters on Zoom from March until December. We held a completely
virtual recruitment and gained a new member class of 105 women. Bid day was held over Zoom and so
was Big/Little Reveal. We wore masks around the house and almost every room in the house was
rearranged to allow for more social distancing. For the first time in a long time, the house was not filled
to capacity with live-in members. Sleeping porch rooms were rearranged to allow for less women
sleeping in the same space and were converted to two person rooms. House Board worked tirelessly to
allow us to safely return to our chapter house in the fall semester. Dividers were put in between sinks in
shared bathrooms to allow for physical distancing. Plexiglass was also installed in some sleeping rooms
between bunk beds. Initiation was held completely virtual as well as all Inspiration Week activities. The
initiation ceremony was a 35 minute condensed version of normal initiation. Alumni were invited to
join the Zoom to welcome our legacy members. All 105 new members that we started with were
initiated over Zoom. Our chapter also raised money for one of our housekeepers, Rosa, as her father
passed away from Covid-19 in November. We were able to donate $2,335 to go towards his funeral
costs. Even in a pandemic, we found a way to support one another.
We supported the Joyful Heart Foundation for our philanthropy this year. Our normal event is called Hoops for Hope in which we
host a basketball tournament to raise money for our organization. It was scheduled for late March of 2020 so unfortunately
our event was cancelled. We were still able to donate $12,000 to the organization through jersey sales.
This organization was brought to our attention when one of our dear sisters came to us with this
organization that supports survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence. The cause was very near
to her heart and many of our sisters. This organization empowers and educates society to change the
negative perception of survivors of these horrendous events. The organization was started by
Mariska Hargitay, an actress who plays Olivia Benson on the show Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
The contents of the script and the work she did to prepare for the role made her realize she wanted
to do more to help women who were victims of sexual assault. The organization’s mission is to
“transform society’s response to sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse, support survivors’ healing,
and end this violence forever.” As we all may know, on college campuses the
rate of sexual violence is high. This is a cause we can all get behind as many college women
experience this or know someone who has.
This year we held a virtual Founder’s Day celebration over Zoom. We had alumnae attend our Zoom meeting and
we held ritualistic activities in accordance with our bylaws. We also showed the Gail Owen 150 year
video provided by the Fraternity. The video told the story of many Kappa women and what being a Kappa
Kappa Gamma means to them, even after graduation. We had many alumnae attend over Zoom, even
more than we may have had in person. The one good thing about meeting virtually is almost
everyone is able to attend even if they are not in the area.
==Highlights of 2021==
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