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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'''
'''3,512 658 initiates (as of June 20162018)'''
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
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 chapter room 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 2020s:2017==
[[File:Gamma Zeta3.png|thumb|Gamma Zeta Chapter, Arizona (Information from chapter history reports, 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.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 goals for 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, 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'Housings 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 enforced,and the members showed this through their actions and participation in everything they accomplished. [[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'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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At the end of the Spring 2021 semester, our Gamma Zeta chapter received recognition for #1 GPA amongst all UA Panhellenic chapters. We recruited a class of 112 new members in the fall. Gamma Zeta held a virtual Founder’s Day and a lovely brunch celebration in the Kappa Kitchen post-meeting. We were recognized with academic achievement for the fall of 2021 with an average active member GPA of 3.46. We held a special date dash event which was Golden Globes themed at a local Tucson restaurant and were shuttled to and from in buses.
In the spring of 2021, Gamma Zeta supported Pathway to Work as our local philanthropy. This foundation was proposed by an active member, Lauren Dill of PC ‘19, whose adult brother has Autism. When faced with the challenges of the next step after schooling, her mother organized a program for individuals with developmental disabilities to gain a solid footing to enter the workforce. Our donations of over $8,000 allowed this foundation to purchase a brand-new vehicle for staff members to assist program members in job interview searches.
Since Kappa changed its national philanthropic focus from Reading is Fundamental to mental healthbased organizations, Gamma Zeta voted on the JED Foundation. This nonprofit founded by Tucson parents who lost their son named Jed to suicide protects the emotional health of the nation’s teens and young adults through the implementation of programs in high schools, colleges, and universities to prevent suicide. We supported this philanthropy through our annual Krispy Kreme with KKG evening fundraiser with a mask mandate. This was a wonderful event with nearly 3,000 donuts sold, designed sweatshirt & beanie merchandise, a DJ, streamers, balloons, and an igloo photobooth. We raised over $15,000 for the JED Foundation!
Kappa Kappa Gamma members expanded their awareness on DEI initiatives under the education of our newly elected DEI chairman. We had the opportunity to learn with short weekly educational
sessions at the end of our chapter meetings on various topics proposed by our active members via Google Forms. Our primary social media platform, Instagram, was used to promote anti-hazing week and suicide prevention week with encouraging posts. Additionally, our chapter attended a few informational sessions on anti-hazing and promoting growth within Greek life. Gamma Zeta no longer recognizes legacies during the recruitment process to create a fair recruitment process for each potential new member. Grade risks are dealt with privately and no longer voted on as an entire chapter, to preserve the integrity of each student and respect their academic record.
During the spring and fall of 2021, all live in members were required to wear masks while indoors. COVID-19 was under control due to our high regulations. We had several rooms allocated for active members to quarantine for up 14 days after exposure or testing positive. Food was delivered to their doorsteps each day by kind volunteering members to avoid any face-to-face interaction. Our chapter was fortunate to still meet weekly for in-person chapter meetings amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Students with prior obligations or illness were able to attend chapter virtually via Zoom. In the spring of 2021, our philanthropy chairman held a virtual auction with donated items and raised nearly $8,000 in funds for our local Tucson foundation, Pathway to Work. Our recruitment was half virtual. Short 1-minute-long videos were shown for Set 1, while Set 2 and 3 were held on Zoom. Set 4, Preference, was held in person since girls were paired up by twos. One of the biggest changes to the recruitment process was the timeline. Instead of sorority recruitment taking place one week prior to the start of school, recruitment began over a weekend and finished the following weekend. The first week of school with in-person classes broke up the flow of recruitment. Our lovely princess-themed bid day was held in person with a bounce house, DJ, tent, personalized napkins, catered food, watercolor face-tattoo artist. Our shirts were labeled “Kappaly Ever After,” with pink accents, and masks were encouraged since this event was held outdoors. Initiation in the fall was completely in person and masks were worn. During I-Week, we held sisterhood bonding events at the house. We held our annual Kappa Kappa Grammys where girls thought of kind awards for different Kappas in their new member class. For example, some ideas included, “Most likely to hold the door open for another Kappa” or “Most likely to be on Broadway.” Kappa Campfire consisted of all chapter members sharing stories in small circles of their best memories with other Kappas. We adjusted by eliminating the overnight portion of the ceremony and creating smaller ceremony groups. Alums were still able to attend and serve as readers. This initiation
was a unique experience for PC 20 since their initiation took place online the previous year. They played a key role in the behind-the-scenes activities such as bracelet making. Our key pin shipments were delayed several months due to supply chain issues from COVID-19. We distributed temporary key badges and distributed flower arrangements and personalized sweatshirts for the Member Class of 2023.
==Highlights of 2022==
'''Note to Chapter Registrar:'''
Please refer to your chapter archives including chapter meeting minutes and back issues of ''The Key'' to fill in any gaps in the above historical highlights. If your chapter archives are not complete, please research your university library, campus newspaper and yearbook archives for newsworthy information about your chapter. Please double check your work for accuracy. Contact chapter Advisory or House Board members, local Alumnae Association members, or your Province Director of Chapters for assistance.
Your efforts will ensure a complete and accurate history of your chapter for future generations to enjoy!
