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→Highlights of 2013
At the beginning of this school year, Lawrence’s new president, Mark Burstein, was inaugurated. He is a good president who is much more present than the last one, though he could use some education on the Greek life on campus, which we are offering to him. Our chapter is rather small, comparatively with chapters on bigger campuses, but that allows us to be very close-knit and have great interpersonal relationships. None of the sororities at Lawrence have housing, but we each have a nice room of our own on campus in which we hold our weekly meetings, as well as other smaller meetings and some sisterhood events; we are also free to hang out and do homework with one another in our room, as it is a very safe and comfortable space.
==Highlights of 2014==
Following recruitment 2014, Zeta Epsilon pledged 15 New Members in January 2014, including 1 legacy. Following recruitment, we have an All-Greek event with all the Greek organizations on campus to celebrate New Members. We later have a Baskin-Robbins lock-in sisterhood event to welcome new members. Kappa Krush is our Winter Term philanthropy event, which took place February 10-12. We sell Crush soda cans with proceeds going to our local philanthropy, Harbor House. Blue and Blue and Fireside ceremonies took place on February 28, 2014. Initiation took place March 1, 2014, and new member formal took place that night. Nerd Day was held March 15 to encourage members to study for exams. We had a sisterhood weekend at Bjorklunden, our northern campus, from April 11-13. A leadership consultant visited our chapter April 13-18. During Greek Week (May 12-16), we host Too Hot to Handle, our spring term philanthropy event. It is a hot wings eating contest with the proceeds going to Harbor House. May 19-23 was reverse I-Week to celebrate seniors, culminating with Senior formal on the 23rd. On May 25 we hosted Mother’s Tea, where we invite our mothers to campus for tea, crafts, and getting-to-know-you activities. May 26 was Senior Send-off and Key Pass. The last meeting of the school year was held June 1. Nerd Day was held June 7, our final event for the school year. Our first meeting for the 2014-2015 school year was held September 21, 2014. We held continuous open bidding events from September 22-24 and pledged 2 new members on September 28. For Fall Greek week (September 30-October 1), we hosted Greek Gourmet Grilled Cheese in conjunction with Delta Tau Delta. We sold a variety of grilled cheese sandwiches with the proceeds going to Harbor House. On October 11, we hosted Kappa Karamel Apples at the homecoming football game. We sold caramel apples to support Reading is Fundamental. We had a ceremony to celebrate Founders Day on October 13, complete with chapter and fraternity history presentation as well as a speaker from Harbor House. Additionally, we had a leadership consultant visit from October 13-October 17. November 2 we celebrated Dad’s Day, where we invite our dads to campus for a tailgating-themed event. Blue and Blue and Fireside were held November 14 and initiation was held November 15. Our last meeting for the term and the year was held November 16. We had two Nerd Days November 21 and 22 as our final events for the term.
Zeta Epsilon received Honorable Mention for Ritual at Convention. We received this award even without a nomination from our advisors.
The three philanthropies that our chapter supports are Reading is Fundamental, the Kappa Foundation, and Harbor House in Appleton, WI, a battered women’s shelter. Every year we hold Kappa Karamel Apples, Kappa Krush, and Too Hot to Handle to support our philanthropies.
We addressed and combated challenges through our Leadership Action Plan goals. Our focus areas included philanthropy and alumna relations, effectively using programming meetings, participation in committees and budgeting, and involvement in and understanding of the Panhellenic Council and knowledge of Kappa and chapter history. We aimed to address these challenges by giving a philanthropy presentation during new member periods, having more hands-on RIF related volunteering, planning monthly programing meetings coving topics of interest to the chapter, making committee agendas organized and efficient, holding one committee meeting per month, keeping committee members involved by delegating tasks and meeting regularly, holding a programing meeting informing members about the history and function of Panhel, enforcing attendance at Panhel meetings more strictly, and having the Panhel delegate be more explicit about the proceedings of Panhel meetings.
Recently, a local sorority, Beta Psi Nu, joined our Panhellenic Council as an associate member. We are also starting to work more closely with non-Panhellenic and non-Inter Fraternity Council Greek organizations, such as Sigma Alpha Iota and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. Renovations to dorms and small group housing are beginning to occur across campus. Along with this, there has been discussion regarding the relocation of our meeting room as renovations are completed across campus. Our chapter currently has 40 active members and 11 new members. Our numbers fluctuate greatly over the course of the year since we have deferred recruitment.
Zeta Epsilon holds meetings in our designated meeting room located in the Panhellenic Wing of one of the university-owned dorms on campus. Our chapter does not have (and has never had) a house or any type of group housing.
