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→Highlights of 2016
Our chapter chooses to support Reading is Fundamental (RIF) because it is Kappa Kappa Gamma’s partner. RIF is wonderful because it gives underprivileged children the gift of reading and it unites all Kappa Kappa Gamma chapters together. The Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation is also important to our chapter since one never knows when she will be in need of her sisters’ help. We are all sisters and supporting each other during difficult times is important to us. Our chapter voted on a new chapter philanthropy this year that we plan to continue to support. The result of the vote was the SEGA Girls School, a residential secondary school for bright motivated Tanzanian girls who otherwise are unable to attend school due to extreme poverty. We felt that the SEGA Girls School ties into RIF since The SEGA Girls School values the education of disadvantaged youth like RIF does. Also, The SEGA Girls School is an organization that our fundraising could really make a difference for.
==Highlights of 2016==
'''Scholarship'''
Our chapter's average GPA of 3.51 was ranked 5th out of the 12 Panhellenic sororities at the end of the spring semester. We focused on academic growth through Geek of the Week, 4.0 gifts, Kappa Kappaccino, Sweet Tea with KKG, study groups for the new members, and chapter-wide study hours. For Kappa Kappaccino and Sweet Tea with KKG, members were encouraged to invite a professor to the house for refreshments in order to encourage socialization outside of the classroom. We had the goal to earn 1870 study hours on the app called MyGreekStudy during Academic Excellence Month (February), and we rented out a study room in Thomas Cooper Library on Sunday nights.
'''Awards'''
Voted Best Sorority on Campus by the Columbia community for the fourth year in a row!
Awarded for our Achievement in Involvement and Achievement in Scholarship by USC's Fraternity and Sorority Life.
Recruitment Award Winner, Honorable Mention for Standards Award, and for the Sally Moore Nitschke Lifelong Education Award at Convention.
Richland One School District recognized us for Continuous Involvement with Reading Rocks.
Literacy Leaders Award from USC College of Library and Information Sciences.
Our sister Megan O'Brien was given the Courage Award for It's On Us from Joe Biden.
'''Leadership'''
Leadership Academy attended by Grace Chadwick.
Southeastern Panhellenic Conference (SEPC) attended by Libby Allen.
Lindsay Webb appointed to be a Leadership Consultant.
71st Biennial Kappa Kappa Gamma Convention attended by Emily Fuldner, Libby Allen, Taylor Kane, and Lindsay Bratun.
'''Traditions'''
At each chapter, the Lady Minerva stands up and reads aloud a meaningful letter that she wrote for a sister that is important to her. The sister who is written about becomes the new Lady Minerva and takes possession of the journal in which all the letters are written. She will write her own letter to a different sister and present her it at the following chapter. Geek of the Week acknowledges a sister for her academic achievement. She is awarded a Starbucks giftcard at chapter for her achievement. Pan-Hell Princess was started back up in March. This award is given at chapter to acknowledge a sister that has participated in various Panhellenic events. Senior spotlight highlights a senior's academic achievement and favorite Kappa memory on the chapter's Instagram page. Jars for sister shout-outs and prayer requests are located in the Chapter room. Sister shout-outs are read aloud at chapter. Cards are sent to families in regard to prayer requests. Risk Minute was started back up during the spring to encourage safety precautions. Our chapter President sends out a newsletter to everyone after chapter with weekly news.
'''Programs'''
Chapter meetings held every Monday night at 8 pm in the Chapter Room of the Kappa House. Parents' cocktail was held at 701 Whaley on September 16, 2016. Sisters and their family members enjoyed yummy desserts, a live band, a photobooth, and other fun activities. Epsilon Kappa Founders Day Celebration: Cake and candy were served with dinner. Sisters wore their stitched letters to class to celebrate our 49th Founders Day! Our Education Chairman planned a separate celebration that got cancelled due to Hurricane Matthew; however, our chapter celebrated Founders Day at our Initiation Brunch. Our sisterhood committee worked together to plan exciting sisterhood events throughout the year. Our sisters participated in yoga, Barre3, pilates, kickboxing, self defense, movie nights, a day trip to Charleston, pottery, iceskating, and many other fun activities together. Our Chaplain holds weekly Bible study sessions in the yellow room of the Kappa house on Wednesday nights at 8 pm.
Senior Sisterhood events include: Senior Tea; Mad Platter; Photoshoot; Yoga
Senior Programming events include: Senior Superlatives; Senior Wills; attending the Initiation sleepover to bond with New Members
Senior gifts include: bracelets with the coordinates of the Kappa House
'''Fall 2016 New Member Weekly Events'''
-New Member information meetings held every Sunday night in the chapter room of the
Kappa house. New Members learned the history of Kappa Kappa Gamma and what it
means to be a women in Kappa. New Members also learned about our own chapter
through presentations made by various sisters with Chapter Council positions.
-One Time New Member Events: Sisterhood potluck event; Big/Little Reveal;
-Initiation (Oct 22, 2016, following I-Week, Fireside, and the Initiation sleepover); the Initiation
Brunch was held the day after Initiation with all of our sisters and several
alumnae; New Member Retreat (overnight trip held on November 5, 2016 - New Members
spent the night in cabins which allowed them to further bond with the sisters in their NM class).
'''Kappa Trainer Events'''
-2/7/16 on Social Media
-4/10/16 on Bystander Accountability
-11/7/16 Alcohol Training
'''Functions and Special Events'''
-Spring: Mixer with Lambda Chi Alpha #throwbackthursday; Every Day's a Holiday Function; Red Carpet Formal at Williams-Brice Stadium
-Fall: Sweet Home Carolina; Backwoods; Semi Formal
-3/21-24/16: Participated in Greek Week; a week long event to unite the USC Greek community. This year the overall theme was Disney. Our chapter was teamed with Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Phi Beta Sigma, and our specific theme was Snow White. Events from this week included: A blood drive, Night at Strom, a cultural food fest, and Greek Sing.
-10/31/16 - 11/4/16: Homecoming Week, partners with the Club Hockey team; first time in history that a sorority was not paired with a fraternity. Overall we came in 4th place and got 2nd in the float building contest!
'''Philanthropy'''
Our chapter chose to support the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation and Reading is Fundamental because these are Kappa's two national philanthropies. We love being able to help our own sisters that are in need through the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation. Giving back to them is so special especially when they have given so much to this organization. In addition, we choose to support Reading is Fundamental (RIF) because it is so important that all children are given the resources necessary to learn how to read. We love how we can see the impact of our philanthropy throughout our own community's primary schools. We get to travel to different schools throughout South Carolina through Cocky's Reading Express and deliever books to children in need. Seeing our direct impact to a cause that is so important makes our philanthropy so special. At the beginning of this year, we were also supporting the SEGA Girls School which is located in Tanzania; however, our chapter voted to currently stop our support to this organization. Although it is for a good cause, our chapter has decided that we want to get more involved with local organizations so that we can make more of a direct impact. As of now, we have not added a new chapter philanthropy; however, this is something we look forward to doing in the near future.
Our chapter held a Lip Sync Battle as our main Philanthropy event in the spring. Various teams signed up to perform in front of a large audience in the Russell House Ballroom. Our Philanthropy Committee paired with Carolina Productions in order to successfully pull off this new event. As a result, this event encouraged all students at the University of South Carolina to participate instead of just the Greek Community. Members in our chapter participated by being team captains for the participating teams and selling tickets at the door of the event. This event was very fun for everyone involved and our chapter was able to raise a total of $2,001.85 for Reading is Fundamental.
Other involvement included: Cupcake Sendout during finals, raised $384 for the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation; Successful Village Idiot percent night; Many of our members participated in the University of South Carolina's Dance Marathon all-nighter event. In order to participate in the event, you were required to raise $119; however, many chose to raise much more than this minimum. Our chapter's team was able to raise a record amount of $15,337 towards the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals; Our chapter also made a team that raised a total of $1,970.30 for the all-nighter Relay for Life event which directly benefitted the American Cancer Society. Our team wore the color Amber to specifically represent appendix cancer; Various sisters participated in the Out of the Darkness Walk to directly benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention; Participated in the local event "Walk a Mile in Their Shoes" to benefit Sexual Trauma Services in the Midlands; Participated in Sigma Chi's Derby Day events to benefit the Children Network of Miracle Hospitals; Various sisters attended Alpha Gamma Delta and Alpha Eplison Pi's event "Poker and Pearls" to benefit the American Diabetes Association; Sisters participated in Kappa Delta's Shamrock Week events to benefit Confiedence Coalition; A team of sisters participated in Chi Omega's "War of the Wings" to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation; Supported USC's Panhellenic philanthropy during Circle of Sisterhood Week; Our chapter participated in the RIF event "Reading Rocks" to benefit schools in Richland County School District One. We went to the Sanders Middle School Campus to give away free books and assist with various games and fun activities; Participated in Lambda Chi Alpha's Watermelon smash event to benefit their philanthropy; Participated in Theta Chi's Hope for Hoag event; Sisters participated in Phi Mu's Bonnamu event benefitting the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals; Successful Five Below percent days; Participated in Alpha Chi Omega's Paint War benefitting Domestic Violence Awareness; Various sisters raised $5,321 for the event "Light the Night" to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society; Successful percent night at Entourage; A team participated in Chi Omega's Cookoff event to benefit Make a Wish; Donated to Pike's Powderpuff football event to benefit their philanthropy; Our chapter's main philanthropy event in the fall was our annual Kappa Kickoff. Various teams signed up to participate in our flag football tournament. We included fun activities such as face painting, balloon darts, cornhole, etc. In total, we were able to raise $1,406 towards Reading is Fundamental. The T-shirts for this event added $434 in proceeds; Donated $3,690 of extra money in our Fall budget to Dance Marathon. With this donation our chapter will get our logo advertised at the event.
'''Goals'''
During 2016, our chapter had two main goals. Our first goal was to improve involvement throughout our entire chapter. Since our chapter is so large, it can often be difficult for everyone to feel as if their individual voice is being heard. This year, we aimed to keep everyone involved by using the entire chapter's opinion on big ideas and decisions. In addition, we decided to make certain positions such as our t-shirt, banner, and intramural sports chairs semester-long terms. As a result, more of our sisters were able to hold these leadership positions since they were changed more frequently. In addition, more of our Chapter Council positions such as Treasurer, Membership, and New Member offered assistant positions to sisters in our chapter. Girls that were chosen as assistants got to work on big assignments more closely with girls on Chapter Council. Our other main goal for this year was to improve our overall philanthropic involvement. At the beginning of the year, we were benefitting our two national philanthropies plus the SEGA girls school. In the spring, our chapter voted to discontinue our involvement with the SEGA girls school so that we could focus our attention more to our main two philanthropies and possibly a more local philanthropy in the near future. Although we have not yet decided on a new philanthropy for our chapter, we were able to get more involved with the local Reading Rocks events. In addition, we added a successful philanthropy event in the spring which we plan to make an annual event for our chapter. Our sisters worked together to make these decisions that would be in the best interest of our chapter as a whole.
This August we had a very successful recruitment and welcomed 114 new members into the Epsilon Kappa chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma. In addition, we welcomed two temporary exchange students into our sisterhood; one from California State Northridge and another from the University of Kentucky. Both of these girls were welcomed into our sisterhood this August, and they are planning to stay for one semester before returning to their original schools.
This fall, our campus welcomed Alpha Xi Delta into our Greek community. The University of South Carolina now offers thirteen different Panhellenic sororities to its students. During the beginning of October, our campus experienced the consequences of yet another natural disaster. Hurricane Matthew closed campus for three entire days at the beginning of October. Thankfully, the city of Columbia was not directly affected by the storm; however, Charleston and other coastal areas in South Carolina were impacted by devastating flooding. Once again our campus was able to assist our neighboring communities that were directly affected by this hurricane.
This fall, our Sorority Council took the initiative to enact a Greek-wide plan that ensures safer Greek events. Under this new plan, events must be approved by the University of South Carolina's Fraternity and Sorority Life a few weeks prior to the actual event. Events are only approved if they follow strict guidelines in order to ensure the safety of its participants. Each week, a list of the approved events are sent out to the members in Greek organizations, discouraging the attendance of events that do not follow the University's regulations.
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'''Note to Chapter Registrar:'''
