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Our chapter is very genuine and down to earth. We love to volunteer at our local philanthropy and continue to look at Nehemiah as an opportunity to stay positive and help the wonderful kids who need support. We are also a very spirited chapter and love to have fun.
==Highlights of 2014==
January: The Epsilon Rho chapter officers for 2014 attended an officer’s retreat Friday January 10th through Saturday 11th at adviser, Carol’s Gruen’s, ranch house. This was the first time the 2014 officers worked together to plan for a great year for our chapter. The officers established goals for the entire chapter to accomplish in 2014, created the chapter calendar for the fall, and made important decisions about the Epsilon Rho Chapter as a whole. This 2 day retreat allowed all the officers to bond as friends and officers and helped our Chapter Council grow. The first meeting of the year was on Monday, January 13th, 2014. A Leadership consultant, Emilie Blake, came to our chapter from January 26th – 31st. She had been a Leadership Consultant for us the year before. It was a great opportunity to strengthen our relationship with her while she gave us feedback on our chapter’s strengths and focus areas and assessed our progress since her last visit.
February: Our chapter had a great time country dancing at our Semi-formal, “Texas Tuxes”, on February 6th. On February 8th, our officers attended, adviser, Carol Gruen’s ranch house again for a meeting with the University of Texas Kappa’s Chapter Council. We shared ideas, talked about our chapter’s pros and cons, and bonded with each other and our advisors. Our chapter also hosted a Valentine’s Day party on the 13th. The party was also to celebrate our house mom, Martha Hurley’s, birthday. We decorated cookies and sang Happy Birthday to Mom Hurley.
The Nehemiah Center of Navasota is an after school program to help at-risk kids reach their full potential. Every Epsilon Rho member must volunteer at least two times a semester. The girls help the kids with their homework, help with arts and crafts, read with them, and play activities outside. On the 15th we hosted our annual RIF event (Reading is Fundamental) for the kids at the Nehemiah Center. The kids had a fun day as two Texas A&M football players read books to 13 kids and the Kappa Pickers sang 3 songs. Our Academics Banquet was on Monday the 17th. PC 13 and PC 12 had a fun evening on February 20th at the Kappa house for paddle pass. PC13 gave cute, personalized paddles to their big sisters. Dad’s Day on Saturday, February 22th was a success. Kappa’s and their dads had lunch at a local restaurant, the Dixie Chicken. Afterwards, everyone went to a basketball game. PC 13 had a meeting, Rookie Workshop, on Sunday February 23rd. The girls learned about work week, recruitment, and the voting process for Recruitment. At a chapter meeting of February 24th, Sara Tharp and Christa Peyton, our Marshal advisor, explained the importance of Ritual.
March: Kappa was a part of the first Panhellenic Preview Day on Saturday, March 22nd. Every sorority had a booth and members outside of their house so potential new members who were interested in recruitment could talk to each sorority or ask questions. The first day of senior programming was on March 23rd. As our spring philanthropy, Kappa Kook-out, was near, members held banners between March 24th and April 1st advertising to the student body. The Senior Date Party was a few days later on March 27th. Since the theme was Kappa Kappa Grammy’s, everyone creatively dressed up as their favorite celebrity or artist. As a way to give back to the College Station community, Kappa and the fraternity, Kappa Alpha Order, participated together in Big Event on March 29th. Big Event was founded at Texas A&M, and is an annual university wide community service project for students to serve the local residents in College Station. Our chapters split into smaller groups and did whatever the locals needed help with, such as pulled weeds, raked, and spruced up peoples front and back yards. There was another Rookie Workshop on March 30th, which furthered PC13’s preparation for work week and Recruitment. The same day the seniors had Senior Programming.
April: Our chapter kicked April off with our philanthropy event, Kappa Kook-out, on the 1st at the Kappa House from 5-8pm. Everyone had a great time eating burgers, and taking pictures with fun props at the photo station. A local musician played live music and the Pickers sang. The line of people who attended was down the street! We raised around $5,000 for the Nehemiah Center of Navasota. A Recruitment workshop was held on April 6th to prepare all members for an effective recruitment. That same day there was a senior programming meeting. On April 10th we had our formal, Monmouth, with the sorority Pi Beta Phi. The night was filled with a live band, face painting, photo booth, and fun games! Saturday, April 12th was the annual Kappa Krawfish event, on Parents Weekend. It is not a philanthropy event, but a relaxing event for Epsilon Rho’s members, their families and friends to eat crawfish at the Kappa house. PC 13 began learning Kappa’s rituals for initiation at Ritual Review on the 13th. Seniors attended a senior programming meeting the same day. April 16th was PC 13’s roommate reveal at the Kappa house. Chapter members volunteered at Kappa Chino on the 22nd. They had a great opportunity serving Aggies free coffee and food on campus. The next Sunday, April 27th, the senior members had another Senior Programming meeting. As the semester began to end, our chapter had its last meeting of the semester on April 28. At this meeting our chapter was awarded first place in the SAE philanthropy event and received $3,700 towards our philanthropy, Nehemiah.
May: On May 4th, the Senior Programming Dinner was held. The local alums hosted a dinner for the seniors at Kay Cox’s house. The chapter room became the “Kappa Library” for all the members as finals approached.
June: Our chapter had the privilege to host the Kappa Convention in Houston, TX. Four of our officers and a few of our advisors attended the convention from June 25th to 29th. They attended workshops, meetings, banquets, a speaker, and much more. We received the Best Advisory Board Award and Honorable Mention for Gracious Living, Panhellenic, and Philanthropy. During the convention, the officers saw the heart of Kappa Kappa Gamma. They learned that Kappa Kappa Gamma is bigger than just our chapter, but Kappa’s all across the country make a difference in this sorority.
July: N/A
August: As the summer ended, PC 13 moved into the Kappa house on August 16th. From August 18th to the 22nd our chapter attended Work Week. We worked extremely hard for a great recruitment. Over the week, we kept spirits high with costume themes everyday, dunking booth, slip and slide, and snow cones. The Nehemiah board visited our chapter one day during work week thanking us for all our support and donations. It was very special to us to see Epsilon Rho’s impact on Nehemiah. Saturday, the 23rd our parents and friends supported us by watching our wonderful Disney themed skit for recruitment. As a result, we received great feedback. The next week, August 25th through the 29th, our chapter and Recruitment team gave 110% during Recruitment. Our first theme of the week was “Candy Land”. We changed our philanthropy day this year. We explained Nehemiah and our national philanthropy through parodies of famous songs. Girls dress up as the iconic singers and sang the parts. It was a hit! As a result of our hard work, our chapter received 89 wonderful girls to our chapter! We were ecstatic to welcome them on August 30th with the theme “Don’t Mess With Kappa.”
September: September 1st was the beginning of school. This was also the first new member meeting at 6pm each week following the first weekly chapter meeting at 7pm. The officers described their positions during the chapter meeting for PC 14. PC 14 had formal pledging at the next meeting on September 8th, which was a formal meeting. Our chapter had a special opportunity on the 14th as a trainer, Sharon Gober, from Fraternity Council talked to our entire chapter. She taught us about the use of committees and ritual, and our chapter grew stronger from her advice. The Panhellenic soccer game was held on the same day. Our chapter won the highest attendance of the game. This is our second year to win. During our next meeting, September 22nd, we had an academic celebration. The members who earned excellent grades received gifts. 33 girls earned 4.0’s during the fall semester. September 30th was an exciting night for PC 14 because it was Big Little reveal at the Kappa house.
October: Composite pictures were taken on the first and second of October at the park nearby the Kappa house. The first date party of the fall semester was on the second as well. The theme was “Peace, Love, and Kappa” and everyone dressed up in 70’s theme costumes. On Sunday the 5th, PC13 attended a ritual review meeting. They prepared for initiation and fireside through entertaining activities. For the Ole Miss vs. Texas A&M game, Epsilon Rho hosted a Kappa Parents tailgate on Saturday the 11th at Spence Park for our members and their families. Everyone ate delicious barbeque and played games.
The next day all our members attended the chapter ritual workshop. We prepared for Fireside and practiced ritual to ensure that initiation would run smoothly. Our chapter celebrated Founders Day at our formal meeting on October 13th.The education officer, Monica Priwin, and her committee gave a presentation to the chapter. Everyone had dessert and spent time together after the meeting to continue the celebration.
To celebrate PC 14’s initiation, our chapter had a Sisterhood-Initiation week event on the 22nd. Everyone spent the evening together watching Hocus Pocus and eating s’mores at the Kappa house. October 24th was a memorable night for our sorority. Our chapter had Fireside at the Kappa house for PC 14. The Aggie Greek Awards Banquet was that night. Epsilon Rho received the Loyalty award and the Selfless Service Award. Only 8 awards were presented and we received two. Also, our President, Rachel Huber, was a finalist for Sorority Woman of the Year. These awards were great accomplishments for our chapter. The next morning, we had initiation. 88 wonderful girls in PC 14 officially became members of our chapter. On October 28th we had a date party with the sorority Chi Omega. It was “Owl-oween” themed and everyone decked out in creative Halloween costumes. It was great having an event with another sorority. On Halloween, Our sorority participated in the Panhellenic Trick or Treat on the Row event. Kids who lived in the area played games in front of the Kappa house with our members from 5:30 to 7:30 pm.
November: On November 8th our chapter hosted our biggest philanthropy event, Kappa Kolor Run. It is a 5k run around sorority row in College Station. Chapter members are stationed throughout the race throwing powdered paint at the runners. Every runner received a t-shirt before the race and food was provided for everyone afterwards. Another part of the event was a silent auction; we had great items such as a weekend at a beach house, beat headphones, and a puppy. In all the three years our chapter has hosted Kappa Kolor, this was the highest attended race and the most money every raised. About 950 people attended the race, which greatly surpassed our expectations. Our chapter raised around $35,000 in total. This was a huge accomplishment for us and appreciated by our philanthropy, Nehemiah.
Later that day, our chapter celebrated Mom’s Day. Our members and their moms went to the Hilton in College station for a luncheon. There was great food, a raffle, and everyone spent great quality time together. For a fun treat, we had a sisterhood event on the 19th. Just our chapter saw the premiere of the Hunger Games at the movie theatre in College Station. The next evening, November 20th, our chapter had our last date party of the semester, Ranch Party, with the sorority Tri Delta in Bryan, TX. Everyone put on their cowboy boots and had a great time two stepping the night away. On November 21st and 22nd, we participated in Songfest, which is a dance competition hosted by Chi Omega that organizations pair up to compete in for two days. This is a great way for organizations to make friends with their partners and raise money for their philanthropies. We competed with the fraternity Beta Theta Pi and raised $2,000 for Nehemiah.
December: On the December 1st meeting, the new officers for 2015 were inducted. On Sunday the 7th, the new and old officers, and advisors attended the Triplet meeting to discuss each position for the new officers. On December 8th, we had karaoke at the Kappa house for our last meeting. The girls sang songs and ate yummy desserts for a relaxing last meeting before finals.
Over the year, Texas A&M stadium has been under construction. The new stadium will be the biggest in the SEC and will hold 102,500 screaming fans. Our Previous president, President Loftin, stepped down last year and was not replaced in 2014. He has been replaced by Michael Young in the beginning of 2015. Epsilon Rho is very genuine and down to earth chapter. We love to volunteer at our local philanthropy, Nehemiah. It has been an a wonderful opportunity that positively impacts spirited kids who need support and even our members. We are also a very enthusiastic chapter and love friendly competition. We are flexible, and willing to try new things for the benefit of the chapter overall.
Our Chapter holds its meetings in the chapter room of the Epsilon Rho Kappa house. The facility is a house owned by the chapter. Our chapter house, which we own, was built in 1981. We added an addition in 2000. Girls from in newest pledge class have the opportunity to live in the house. 49 sisters (including 3 officers) can live in the house.
