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|Image= [[File:Zeta_Tau.jpg|200px]]
|Founded= {{start date and years ago|1989|05|01}}
|College= [httphttps://www.wlu.edu/ Washington and Lee University]
|Location= Lexington, VA
|Homepage= [httphttps://chapterswlu.kappakappagammakappa.org/zetatau/ Zeta Tau Homepage]|Media= [httphttps://wiki.kappakappagammakkg.org/index.php?title=Category:Zeta_Tau Media related to Zeta Tau Chapter]}}
'''938 991 initiates (as of June 20162018)'''
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The Zeta Tau Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma, on Washington and Lee University campus, had an action-filled 2015 2016 year. Our members are active leaders and participants in all aspects of campus, both extra-curricular and service-oriented. They are Johnson Scholars, varsity athletes, team captains, and Appalachian Adventure trip leaders. Members of our chapter actively participate and lead in many organizations on campus such as Fancy Dress Steering Committee, Habitat for Humanity, Relay for Life, and Generals’ Activity Board, University Ambassadors, LEAD, Williams’ Investment Society, and Real Estate Society. They participate in University Singers, Washington and Lee Dance Company, Jubilee Acapella group, Reformed University Fellowship, YoungLife, LIFE, and the University Big Program. Members have rejuvenated the Students’ Arts League on campus. Members serve as Panhellenic delegates and Peer Counselors. In March, we initiated twenty-nine new members into the chapter. This was an exciting moment for the chapter after all the hard work put into informal and formal rush. At the start of this academic year, we welcomed in a new house director. Out House Chair has done an incredible job getting her settled and acquainted to the Washington and Lee community, the members, and the advisors. We’re glad to have Mrs. Mary on board! Third Annual Concert For Kelsey, raising money for the Kelsey Durkin foundation. Kelsey Durkin was a member of our chapter who passed away in a fatal car accident. The chapter has dedicated a great deal of time and energy raising awareness on campus about the harms of drunk driving, a cause very near to their hearts. This coming spring we will host the Fourth-annual Concert for Kelsey, continuing to remember her legacy. This summer, three members attended the Kappa National Convention. They learned a lot about Kappa and have helped the Zeta Tau chapter implement many new ideas. They especially enjoyed the opportunity to take a photo with Beth Black! Following that convention, a member of the new pledge class attended the Kappa Leadership Council. She enjoyed getting to meet Kappas from all over the nation, sharing ideas, and exchanging Kappa memories. This fall we hosted a philanthropy event called "Tye Dye and Blue Sky" where students were invited to come make Tye Dye shirts and eat cookies from a favorite local restaurant. This was a successful event and we raised $1,558. As a chapter council, and an entire chapter, we are constantly working on improving our image on campus through social media, attendance at events (especially other sororities' events), and generally playing a more positive role throughout the campus.
Many improvements in organization and the general atmosphere of the chapter have been implemented in the past year. Our House Chair has made a huge effort to establish and clarify the rules for the house—a project that the entirety of the sorority has benefited from. The House Chair also planned a “Staff Appreciation Day” in which the cooking staff, cleaning staff, and House Director were given the day off of work and a well-deserved appreciation gift of cards and flowers. The Recording Secretary promoted and encouraged better attendance at chapter and all Kappa related events. Consequently, there was a huge improvement in attendance. She has also adjusted very well to the new system on KeyReports and encourages all of the chapter to review her minutes that she posts! This helps to keep all of our members on the same page when it comes to meeting details.
Kelsey Durkin Foundation
-Concert for Kelsey, Zeta Tau Chapter's biggest event of the year, is helf each spring. The chapter's third annual “Concert for Kelsey” was held last year. Kelsey was a member of the Zeta Tau chapter who died in a drunk driving accident in 2013. The concert honors and celebrates Kelsey Durkin’s life and promotes the prevention of drunk driving.
-Donations help fund the event which spreads drunk driving awareness. They are also donated to the Kelsey Durkin Foundation, established in Kesley’s honor. Through selling tickets, t-shirts, and receiving general donations, we raised $3,849. 44. We donated 90% to the Kelsey Durkin Foundation, and 10% to the Kappa Foundation.
Relay
Relay for Life
-Each year, Zeta Tau members participate in the Relay for Life walk on Canann green.
-Additionally, members participate in the banner challenge and cupcake challenge.
-This year we raised $1,558.20, which we donated to Reading is Fundamental
-We are also working on creating an event with a local Reading is Fundamental participant organization, such as the local elementary school, to create an annual event with community engagement and reading.
We meet in "The Chapter Room," which is in the bottom floor of the Kappa House.
==Highlights of 2017==
The Zeta Tau chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma has spent 2017 focusing on academics and working hard to get off of our focus letter. Our chapter accomplished an average 3.519 GPA, which we are extremely proud of. Our Concert for Kelsey philanthropy event in May was a success. We had the largest turn out and raised the most money out of any year of the event. This event is to honor the life of Kelsey Durkin, a Zeta Tau member who was killed by a drunk driver.
Our chapter promotes sober drivers and has a zero-tolerance policy for drunk driving. We are hoping to reach an agreement with Kappa nationals to promote sober drivers for all weekend nights. We have to work out insurance logistics with nationals though. Our philanthropy event Tie Dye and Blue Sky raised lots of money this year and allowed us to meet many new potential members of Kappa. Over the past year, we as a chapter were devoted to bettering ourselves, our school, and our chapter. We hope to be off our focus letter come May.
==Highlights of 2018==
Events – 5 chapter members went to Kappa Leadership Convention in Atlanta in February (pictured): Evy Verbinnen (VPS), Adele Petagna (president), Kathryn Williams (education), Lexie Gottsegen (VPO), and Ally Chebuhar (recruitment chair).
[[File:Zeta Tau chapter members.jpg|thumb|Zeta Tau chapter members.]]
Scholarships -- 2 junior Kappas received grants to do research in South America this Spring/Summer.
Awards -- One junior won an award at W&L's leadership baquet for her work as editor and chief in a new diversity magazine called Diverge.
Traditions -- Concert for Kelsey is always a nice tradition. We also are holding a senior dinner in the spring to wish the senior's goodluck after graduation! We usually try to do it outside since we have such pretty nature to enjoy in Lexington.
Philanthropy Involvement -- In March we had a "women's service day" and we had a bunch of different members participate in different service projects led by W&L Greek women. They worked with a bunch of local organizations such as Campus Kitchen, Project Horizon and Habitat for Humanity.
Reading is Fundemental is the national philanthropy organization of Kappa so we want to support the overall chapter's support in educating local children and promoting literacy.
We also chose to donate to the Kelsey Durkin foundation because our chapter has a special connection to this woman. Kelsey was a W&L Kappa who tragically died in a drunk driving accident on campus in December of 2013. Every year we host a concert in the spring and have local bands play, have food, and sell teachers to raise money for Kelsey's foundation and celebrate her life. The W&L business office just sent me a report on how much money the Kelsey Durkin foundation has raised. Thousands of dollars have been donated to the foundation just in this past year. We also hold an event every year called Love for Liza where we sell Chic Fil A sandwhiches (they are very popular at W&L since we don't have a Chic Fil A in town) and donote the proceeds to the Love for Liza Foundation at John Hopkinds that helps to fight synovial sarcoma. We hold this event because Liza was a Kappa at W&L a while back who passed from this tragic disease.
Chapter goals -- We have been working on better communication (specifically in chapter council but throughout the whole chapter as well). We also want to continue to do more sisterhood events! While we feel very connected and close, sometimes people can get too caught up in their friend groups. We recently worked with a new local fitness studio to hold spin classes!
Highlights of 2019
The current members of Zeta Tau chapter are smart, caring, outgoing, and funny women. The women of Kappa are highly regarded throughout campus and are involved in campus life in many ways, including membership in the Williams Investment Society, the Outing Club, the choir, D3 athletics, and more. Five of our members are Peer Counselors, which are students chosen for their leadership and communication skills to guide and advise freshmen who are struggling with aspects of college life. Ultimately, our chapter is made up of many different kinds of people. There are the artistically gifted, the athletes, the outdoorsy types, and the book-worms. Ultimately, our chapter is a group of girls who support and love each other despite our many differences. We meet started the year off with welcoming new freshmen women into our chapter. We had a very successful Fireside Ceremony and initiation.. Four mothers of our initiates, Kappa alumnae, even surprised their daughters during the initiation ceremony. The rest of the year continued to be a success. Our new members felt at home right away. We had a sisterhood event in the Spring where we all went to a local fitness studio and took a workout class together. Also in Spring was our annual Concert for Kelsey, honoring a former member of Zeta Tau chapter who was killed in a drunk driving accident a few years ago. We sold t-shirts and tickets for the concert to raise money for the Kelsey Durkin Foundation and ended up raising around $1,119. We held a pizza party as our first Sisterhood event of the fall. Members from all four grades came to the Kappa house to catch up over pizza. Our annual fund raiser "Love for Liza"The Chapter Roomwas held. We sold Chick-fil-A on campus, which was a huge success and raised about $!,133 for Love for Liza, which supports synovial sarcoma, the type of cancer a former member of our chapter died from. Additionally, we held our annual Tie-dye and Blue Sky event," which raises money for Reading is Fundamental. We sold t-sahirts and tickets for the event, and people from all around campus came to tie-dye shirts and snack on baked good from BlueSky Bakery. In the end, we raised $1,410. We concluded 2019 with the lighting of the Christmas Tree in honor of Kelsey Durkin. Every year we light a huge Christmas tree in front of the President's house, and member of the community all come to show their support. It truly is a special moment and one that really bonds our chapter as we remember the life of Kelsey. Philanthropy: Love for Liza, Kelsey Durkin Foundation. Both hold a special place in the bottom floor heart of our chapter. Liza and Kelsey were both former members of our chapter until their untimely deaths. Support and fundraising for these organizations is a way for us to remember and honor the Kappa Houselives of two wonderful members of our sorority. Founders Day: We did not celebrate Founders Day. I did forward the email I received from the National Sorority regarding Founders Day is case anyone wanted to watch the live stream on Facebook.
"Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" - Our chapter made diversity, equity, and inclusion a major goal this year. Led by one of our junior Kappas, Nico Sacci, we have created an open environment to discuss diversity and inclusion. As we rushed girls this past semester, Nico encouraged the whole chapter to extend friendships to people of all races. We plan on adding a new position to our chapter council that will be the head diversity and inclusion (DEI Officer). This position should go into effect next semester. In addition, the whole chapter participated in a diversity and equity seminar hosted by Washington and Lee. This training seminar helped make people aware of the current problems and gave ways to increase our inclusion.
"Sesquicentennial Celebration" - In order to celebrate Kappa's 150th anniversary, our chapter decided to make posts on the social media. Many women in the chapter posted on Instagram, and our PR chairman made lots of posts on the Washington and Lee Kappa Instagram as well. Because we couldn''Housing:''' t do any in person celebration because of there pandemic, our chapter thought the best way to celebrate would be through social media. We spread the word about 150 years and emphasized the importance of history. In addition, we spent time in chapter going over the history of KKG at Washington and Lee and the history of Kappa as a national foundation.
==Highlights of 2021==
apter Summary
In the past year our chapter has done some great things even with the restrictions of the pandemic placed upon us. Academically speaking our chapter has done a tremendous job bringing up our chapter wide GPA and rank. This fall semester we were ranked 5 of 6 of all the sororities in average GPA. This past winter semester, we placed 2 of 6 with an average GPA of 3.659. We currently have 6 open Merit-Based scholarships. Operationally speaking, we have held some awesome fundraiser events that our DEI heads planned and are currently working to plan our yearly tradition philanthropy fundraiser event for the promise committee at our school which works to prevent drinking and driving on campus. Aside from this, we hope to hold a fun run philanthropy event in the fall. We had a solid rush year and received 4-5 quota additions taking in 30 new members. Following a solid recruitment, we held our ritual and initiation for all new members to be inducted into the chapter. We have an exciting senior kickball event coming up that is being held through our panhellenic council. This event is a fundraiser to donate to a Gofundme for a member on our campus who recently became paralyzed due to a serious accident. One of our chapter wide goals this year is to increase our DEI efforts and work to get some new and fun philanthropy and sisterhood events in!
Chapter Philanthropy
Our chapter supports the Children’s Literacy Foundation through fundraising events we hold on campus. Additionally, we work with the Rockbridge County and elementary schools to raise money for supplies and school supplies for children. We are planning to do a few events in the fall with organizations in the area that support DEI efforts as well.
With the recent shift to focus on mental health and well-being advocacy, our chapter has been working to brainstorm some new ideas for events to fundraise for and support some of these organizations. We are hoping to hold events in the fall to support Active Minds, NEDA, Jed Foundation, and Mental Health America. Some current plans we have is to hold a fun run, a “food fuel” event during our finals week, a yoga event and more! [[File:Zeta Tau1.jpg|thumb|sisters in yoga]]