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|Image= [[File:Zeta_Upsilon.jpg|200px]]
|Founded= {{start date and years ago|1990|03|31}}
|College= [httphttps://www.georgiasouthern.edu/ Georgia Southern University]
|Location= Statesboro, GA
|Homepage= [httphttps://wwwgeorgiasouthern.gsukappakappa.comorg/ Zeta Upsilon Homepage]|Media= [httphttps://wiki.kappakappagammakkg.org/index.php?title=Category:Zeta_Upsilon Media related to Zeta Upsilon Chapter]}}
'''Fraternity Council Members'''
'''Additional Outstanding Zeta Upsilon Alumnae'''
Lynne Stanton Whinnem: Province Director of Chapters (2013-2016), Membership Specialist (2015-2021), Graduate Scholarship Reader (2019), District Director (2020-2024).
Kelcey Schmidt, Leadership Consultant 2011-2012.
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Reading is Fundamental and GIRLS Academy are Kappa's national philanthropies. We began participating heavily in Relay for Life starting in 2015 when one of our members was diagnosed with cancer.
Coming back to school in January we jumped right back into things. On Sundays we would have chapter council meetings and Mondays we would hold chapter, both at the kappa house. Our Standards chair planned a sisterhood the second week of getting back where sisters all got together and enjoyed a planner party. Then we got right into spring recruitment with 3 nights of recruitment rounds and then a bid day. The bid day was baseball themed and we welcomed 5 new members. The new girls got to enjoy a new member retreat where they got to know each other more while bowling! Then our Philanthropy chairman planned a service day at Haven House. At the service day we were able to help renovate the facilities for the women in need. With February and valentine's day feel in full swing our Public Relations chairman planned a PR event called Kappa Kisses where we were able to hand out sweet Hershey kisses to the University. Following that our Event chairman planned our annual Kappa Krush event where girls were able to bring a date and dance the night away. Soon after we had our first social event that semester with the men of Theta Xi Fraternity and we were able to get to know each other all decked out in a Mardi Gras theme clothes. The next day we had a trivia sisterhood where teams won prizes and were able to test their fun fact knowledge together. We also participated in Pi Kappa Phi Fraternities philanthropy event called War of the Roses where we ended up winning the whole week and winning money for our philanthropies. Ending the month we had big little week where the spring new member class was able to be surprised by their bigs at the end of the week. March quickly snuck up on us but we were happily busy. We had a group of girls compete in Kappa Sigma Fraternities annual lip sync competition. Girls then got a week break for spring break where we went all over including Disney, the beach, and even just home. St Patrick's Day finished off the week of spring break and many celebrated all over including in Savannah. When we got back from the week we had initiation for the spring new member class. Sisters were able to go to Tuesday night dinner and have their Kappa family pictures taken, as well as, a study night because academics were in full swing. Our Membership chair was able to have a movie night to film our sisterhood video and we watched The Greatest Showman. The following week we participated in Greek Week where we were paired with Delta Tau Delta and Alpha Sigma. Throughout the week we participated in many events including field day where we played games like bubble soccer and tug of war with the organizations we were paired with. Also during that week we had Frazier Appreciation day which was a dinner where we celebrated our house mom and all she does for us. We also had a senior sisterhood for the 2018 spring graduates put on by our Education chairman, they got to make banana pudding. April then started with Easter Sunday. We had a Backyard BBQ philanthropy event with Delta Tau Delta Fraternity to benefit Girls Academy and JDRF. Formal was at the end of that week and everyone had a great time dancing in the rain. Then mid April we had spring parents weekend where girls were able to hang out with their families in and out of Statesboro. We then had a few more weeks and all the sudden it was finals week and graduation, just like that we were on summer break. Over the summer, girls in our chapter did many things. Some girls studied abroad (even together), worked at home, had internships, went on new adventures, and everything in between. The end of July came fast where we had one work week for the newest pledge classes and then we had work weeks for all members for recruitment. Recruitment then happened where we worked hard together to bring in the new member class of fall 2018 where we welcomed 62 girls. Bid day rounded out the week where we got to celebrate with the new members themed in the 70s. Right after bid day we jumped right back into school. We happily had another planner party where girls got to fill out their new planners together to get ready for the semester. Then we had our annual Back to School date night and everyone got to bring a date and all hang out together. We also started having our weekly Tuesday night dinners again which included food from places like Chicken Salad Chick, Rjs, Honey Cafe, and more. In September, we had Labor Day and got a day off of school and at the end of that week we got to have our fall Parents Weekend. We got to hang out with our parents and show them Georgia Southern spirit at a football game that Saturday. We then had a Kappa only social to hang out and get to know each other with a vine theme and all had a good laugh. Then came a busy week with Big/Little week for the new members we gained in the fall. In the same week we had our annual Kappa Con Queso philanthropy event where we raised money for Girls Academy. Then it was already October. We kicked off the month with Homecoming week where we did events with the men of Sigma Alpha Epsilon. Some events including can sculpture contest, lip singing competition, sheet sign contest and many more. We also ended up placing 1st in GSU annual Doodah dance competition where we were awarded money to benefit our philanthropies. Other events we did throughout the week included Social events during the week with SAE and we all got to enjoy homecoming. We then were supposed to have initiation but Hurricane Michael came through Statesboro giving us days off school. Then we had semi formal which was at Eagle Creek Brewery and were able to hang out with sisters. Then we jumped right into November where we had Fireside and Initiation, we ended up initiating 57 new members. Then we had to have a mini Initiation where we initiated the 5 other new members rounding our Fall 18 pledge class out to 62 newly initiated members. To round out the year we elected a new chapter council and had 11 fall graduates. We ended the year off with a Tacky Holiday date night to celebrate the holidays!
GIRLS Academy, Reading Is Fundamental
[[File:Zeta Upsilon House.jpg|thumb|Zeta Upsilon House]]
==Highlights of 2019==
Throughout the past calendar year, the Zeta Upsilon chapter has been very active both on and off campus to promote not only our chapter’s ideals, but also to promote community, unity and teamwork within our chapter and with others outside of our chapter. Through our involvement and passion for growth with our school, ZY was awarded a Platinum WINGS award, which was only given to 3 organizations out of the hundreds that are on our campus. To receive this award, organizations must attend a certain number of informational sessions hosted on campus throughout the year. Sisterhoods were held every month of the year to help the chapter feel included and welcomed, including painting sisterhoods, a yoga sisterhood, and our annual t-shirt tie dye sisterhood. Our philanthropy chair offered service opportunities every month to help women take advantage of outside opportunities and be able to give back to our community. Ritual and recruitment practices were also held throughout the semester to prepare for upcoming Initiation services and recruitment. Chapter meetings were held every Monday at 7 p.m., Chapter Council was held every Sunday at 6 p.m., and weekly dinners were still held on Tuesday nights.
In January of this year, we welcomed 7 new women to our chapter with our Spring 2019 pledge class. They were able to grow and learn what it truly means to be a Kappa woman throughout their new member period and were initiated on April 6 after experiencing Fireside and a pledge class sleepover the night before.
In February, our Public Relations Chairman coordinated our annual Kappa Kisses event, where we passed out cups full of Hershey’s kisses on campus. Additionally, we had our annual Kappa Krush, which was planned by our event chair and is a date night that embodies the spirit of Valentine’s Day, with most members dressing in some variety of pink, red or purple and taking photos with props that add to the Valentine’s Day feel. Our chapter hosted GIRLS Academy on February 9, where we were able to guide middle school girls and mentor them in various ways.
March and April are busy months for ZY, as we participate in other chapters’ philanthropy events, prepare for initiation of our new members, support Greek Life with our PHA, NPHC and IFC partners during Greek Week, go on spring break, have formal and study for finals. Some of the philanthropy events we participated in were Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s Paddy Murphy Week, Sigma Chi’s Derby Days, Sigma Nu’s volleyball tournament, Kappa Delta’s War of the Wings, Alpha Omicron Pi’s “Strike Out for Arthritis" and so many more. We had a social with Delta Chi that was themed "Throw Down for Your Hometown" where everyone dressed in old high school uniforms or other costumes that reminded them from their hometown. Our sisters spent their spring breaks in so many fun places, including destinations in the U.S. as well as abroad. Formal was held in April as well as our spring Parents Weekend, which are two of our chapter's favorite springtime events!
In May, many of our sisters became Alumnae of Kappa Kappa Gamma and started their lives outside of Statesboro. Over the summer, our active members took classes, studied abroad, went on service trips, had internships and everything in between. Work Week and recruitment snuck up on us quickly, and we were all back together in late July to prepare for Fall 2019 formal recruitment.
In August, Zeta Upsilon broke chapter and school records by welcoming an amazing pledge class of 102 women. We celebrated our hard work and new members on Bid Day with a "Kappa World" bid day theme, which was a homage to the Spice Girls and everyone had a great time getting to dress up as a different member of the group. Right after bid day, the academic year was back in full swing and our members got right back into the routine of school. We had our annual Back to School date night and football season was upon us, which everyone always loves!
In September, we held our annual philanthropy event which has been named Chips, Cheese and KKGs where we had a nacho bar, music and raffle gifts to help raise money for RIF and the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation. The event, as usual, was a huge success and we raised over $5,000.
Big Little Reveal was the first week of October, where all of our amazing new members were able to find their families within our chapter. It was held at Paulson Stadium and was a great time. Shortly after, we welcomed our Fall 2019 pledge class into membership with initiation on October 12 and celebrated our Founders Day the same evening with dinner from Longhorn, cake, and a beautiful ceremony that was coordinated by our Education Chairman. Homecoming came right after that, where we worked with Delta Chi (our homecoming partner) to support our candidates and promote our platforms of diversity and inclusion around campus. We tabled during the day, went to competitions in the afternoon and were able to have some fun at night with a few date nights that were planned for homecoming week.
In November, the semester started to wind down. Semi-formal was held and chapter council prepared for voting and training the new council that would shortly take over. We ended our semester in December with our annual Tacky Holiday date night, elections for the new chapter council and celebrating our sisters' achievements. Beyond our sisters who graduated in December, two of our members were elected to the school's Panhellenic Council. Hannah Conway, our former secretary, was elected to serve as PHA President and Elizabeth Baney, our former House chairman, was elected to serve as Vice President of Finance. We are very proud of all of our sisters' hard work and dedication and are excited to see what they do next year!
We celebrated Founders Day the same day of Fall Initiation (October 12). We chose this day because it is the day before Founders Day and was the perfect weekend to celebrate because our newly initiated members would be able to participate in the ritual that occurs during Founders Day.
The biggest changes on campus have come from recruitment. With changes in how houses recruit and the number of chapters that are recruiting/the number of members they currently have, chapter totals were changed and affected recruitment.
'''Philanthropy'''
RIF, Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation, GIRLS Academy are organizations near and dear to our hearts. Supporting GIRLS Academy is so important to us because we see and hear the impact it has on the young women in our community.
==Highlights of 2020==
Spring Semester 2020 was cut short due to a virus outbreak that shut down in person school starting after spring break (March 15th) and finished out the semester virtually. This required the 8 new members who had joined Kappa in the spring to be one of the first ever virtual Invitations, and it went very smoothly. We were also planning a 30th anniversary for our chapter, which unfortunately had to be cancelled. On a positive note, to stay in touch with our sisters we have started a pen-pal letter writing activity between sisters, so that we can write each other letters and stay close through the pandemic.
This year we had our first ever fully virtual recruitment and work week. Our recruitment chair worked extremely hard to pull off a great work week and prepared the chapter for recruitment. It was a success, and we got a new member class of 77 girls. Since COVID-19 was still prevalent during the fall semester, Initiation was virtual again and was done in multiple sessions. It was again a successful Initiation. Since we had some experience with virtual Initiation, we had the opportunity to allow members of the chapter to be more involved in Initiation, reading the various ceremony roles as they normally are done.
[[File:Zeta Upsilon 2020.png|thumb|Zeta Upsilon 2020]]
'''Philanthropy'''
Our philanthropy chair also wanted to have philanthropy events, despite the pandemic restrictions. We were able to hold a virtual book drive and donated about 100 books to our local elementary school, Julia P. Bryant. We also held a wonderful safe in-person Chips, Cheese and KKGs, where we raised about $700. Another philanthropy opportunity we had was to have a percentage night with a multicultural organization at a local business, Rolling Monkey. A very popular sisterhood we have annually is a t-shirt tye dye, and this year we decided to try something new and instead of tye dying, we bleached the shirt.
We support our local elementary school because it allows us and the kids to have hands-on experiences that will last a lifetime. When we have had the chances to host G.I.R.L.S academy the impacts we have in the girls at the local middle school are amazing. It is an inspiring experience for members of our chapter as well as the young girls who get to be involved.
'''Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion'''
We appointed a DEI officer who was also our Education chairman. She reached out to multicultural organizations on campus to establish good communication between each other. We also hosted a philanthropy event with a multicultural sorority that was very fun and successful.
'''Sesquicentennial'''
Our chapter held a small virtual ceremony over Zoom during our chapter meeting on October 12th. Our education chair put together a wonderful slide show to play for the members and alumnae who attended and had members of the chapter read the script of the Founders.
==Highlights of 2021==
The first half of 2021, we were still under COVID-19 guidelines. This limited events that were possible, and the events we did have required masks to be worn, social distancing, and a limited number of people in attendance. Our major sisterhood in the spring included a virtual concert with the band Velcro Pygmies, which we invited actives and alumni to attend via zoom! We had another virtual initiation for our wonderful spring pledge class of 6 women. In the fall of 2021, the world was becoming normal again in Statesboro, Georgia. Mask mandates were lifted, and classes and events resumed completely normal. Recruitment this year was half virtual, half in person, and we were finally able to have a normal bid day again! Big little reveal was in person in the spring and fall! On October 2nd, 2021, we welcomed 62 amazing new members into our chapter at Zeta Upsilon’s first normal initiation since 2019! We were also able to raise our sisterhood attendance this fall! Some favorite sisterhood events included our bleach tie-dye sisterhood, a vision board sisterhood, and a Friendsgiving sisterhood that was planned by our fall ’21 girls! Zeta Upsilon was awarded platinum for Georgia Southern’s wings points again this year. We held a Founders Day brunch on October 9th. We also had a lot of firsts this semester, including our first combined trunk show with Chi Omega and Phi Mu. Zeta Upsilon held its first ever philanthropy week! This included events such as Kappa Karaoke and a cornhole tournament, as well as a raffle and our annual dinner to raise money!
[[File:Zeta Upsilon Chapter Members 2021.png|thumb|Zeta Upsilon Chapter Members 2021]]
'''Philanthropy'''
Zeta Upsilon locally supports G.I.R.L.S academy and the philanthropies of the winners of our first philanthropy week. These include Beta Upsilon Chi, Theta Xi, and Kappa Sigma. These are supported through our money raised from the raffle and dinner!
Our chapter hosted its first philanthropy week, as well as Kappa Kountry Dinner, which is an annual dinner formally known as Chips, Cheese, and KKGs. Zeta Upsilon also had percentage nights throughout the year at different restaurants around Statesboro to raise money.
'''Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion'''
We made a plan to incorporate DEI in the new member experience, had guest speakers at chapter, had the courage to commit program, gave DEI presentations during recruitment work week and chapter, and made a DEI plans & goals document for future DEI chairs as part of the action plan.
'''Operating in a Pandemic'''
It mainly affected our spring semester. We had to have virtual sisterhoods, as well as having Tuesday night dinners pick-up only. Chapters were held via zoom. Spring initiation was also virtual. By the time of fall recruitment, we were able to have work weeks in person, until halfway through they had to go virtual due to a few COVID cases around campus. We then had the first few rounds of recruitment virtually through zoom. Sisterhood day and Preference round were able to be held in person! Bid day was in person as well, and such a fun time to all be together again! With guidelines and mandates lifted, we were returning to normal and had sisterhoods, chapters, Initiation and dinners in person again!
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'''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!