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Chapter Council has introduced many new ideas in order to improve sisterhood, ritual, academic excellence, philanthropy, and over-all chapter dignity and respect. Our monthly sisterhood events, study hours, ritual reviews, and new exciting philanthropy opportunities have not only made us bond as a chapter, but has also allowed us to make strides to become a better chapter. Our members have taken an active role in helping Chapter Council make sure Beta Omicron reaches its full potential. The sophomore, junior and senior classes all understand that we are the role models for the new members. As upperclassmen we have discussed numerous times that we are responsible for setting a good example for them. All older members have taken this responsibility very seriously and are aware that the new members will uphold our chapter ideals if we do as well.
==Highlights of 2016==
In January, we started off the year with a great round of recruitment with one of our best slideshows to date that truly showcased how much each member cares about our chapter. On the 18th, we accepted our largest pledge class in years (over 80 girls!) with the theme of United States of Kappa Kappa Gamma. Girls painted their faces and bounced in a bounce house– it was truly a memorable day. That night, the new members rode a bus to a restaurant in downtown New Orleans and sung songs and did ice breakers the whole day.
In February, we held our first philanthropy event with Reading is Fundamental and STAIR. STAIR, or Start the Adventure in reading, is a volunteer based children's literacy organization that provides reading tutors for public school 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade students. By teaming up with these organizations, over 60 members gave one-on-one tutoring to students to improve their reading and language skills over the course of 5 different shifts.
On March 4th, we hosted Big Little Reveal in the chapter room. All of the new members were incredibly excited to officially be paired with an old mentor. A couple days later, Mary Pat, a Kappa trainer, visited us. Throughout our years on probation, we have come to realize how much change we enacted and can still enact in our chapter. We decided that we would like to continue to promote sisterhood and philanthropy events over social events and noted just how much that feeling has changed since our pledge class (PC '14) were freshmen. We are incredibly proud of how far we have come these past few years and expect the new Chapter Council to continue our good work (with our help of course).
In April, we held our first annual Kappa Klassic on the 2nd. The Kappa Klassic is a panhellenic philanthropy event in which each sorority makes a team of around 20 girls to participate in a Powderpuff Football competition. It was a huge hit and we are definitely going to make this a regular philanthropy event! Towards the end of April, Riley, our Vice President of Standards chair, hosted a sisterhood workout event. The class was packed and the girls had a blast working out together (and being a little too silly for the instructor).
Over the summer months, many girls held incredible internships throughout the U.S. and abroad too! From interning at a film industry firm in Los Angeles to working in finance in New York, Tulane Kappas were getting unbelievable experience all over.
School started up quickly, and thankfully a little later than normal, on August 29th. At the beginning of September, we had visits from the LCs Meril Weber and Jess Morin. Girls had a great time taking them around Nola to get food. Although we were all initially disappointed when they read our renewed probation terms, we quickly turned that attitude around into driving us to prove to them that we are so much more than what we were 3 years ago, or even 1 year ago. Around this time, the Panhellenic Council also announced that the Greek organizations would be teaming up to raise money to build a school in Africa through the Circle of Sisterhood. Many members throughout the Greek community were excited to start funding the school and hosted a fundraiser at Dat Dog.
In October, we held another sisterhood workout class on the 6th, but this time it was at Cycle Bar. A week later was Founder's Day! To celebrate, we put out some handwritten chapter minutes from the early 1900's as well as some incredible scrapbooks from the 80s and 90s. The members could not get enough of the scrapbooks. We celebrated with adorable alumni and a great cake!
October is breast cancer month and we love to walk to raise money for breast cancer research into treatments and cures. Brittany Gallagher's mother, Shauna, died of breast cancer a few years ago and each year, we walk in the Race for a Cure in honor of her. Towards the end of the month, we held our biggest philanthropy event of the year, Kappa Kollection. Many parents and other family or friends were in town as it was also Homecoming weekend. It was a great weekend and we raised thousands of dollars for RIF.
Towards mid-November, the Panhellenic Council held its first ever Greek Groove– a dance event in which all of the sororities compete (fraternities are going to become involved next year). Our theme was Red Hot and the girls had an absolute blast competing. While we didn't bring home the crown next year, we're all eager to get it next year. The girls ended a long semester with finals and cannot wait to see what next year has in store.
Recently, our campus has placed an initiative to be more accepting and promoting diversity in the Greek community in terms of race, religion, and more. Potential new members have submitted an essay regarding the topic as well as attended multiple speeches about it. It is a great step in the right direction.
In addition to donating to the numerous other Greek organizations' charities, we support STAIR, "Start the Adventure in Reading." I explained STAIR's mission in the second paragraph of the 'Summary' section of this document. Literacy rates in the Greater New Orleans area are staggering with 39% of 16 year olds reading below the 5th grade level, 31% below the 8th grade level, and only 30% at level 3 or higher.
Each holiday season marks the times at which school attendance in New Orleans is at its all time lows. In order to combat this, our association hosts an annual Philanthropy Party, where alumni bring donations of small toys, toiletries, and healthy treats to support SciTech Academy, a nearby school. The gifts encourage students to attend school during the winter months. Each day that a child is in school is crucial to their chances of graduating high school. STAIR helps us organize events that facilitate schools in the area hosting these types of events. The falling children's literacy rates in New Orleans have become an epidemic. By being able to elicit a small amount of change in this is incredibly rewarding.
We meet at 1033 Audobon Street in a lovely chapter room. As this document will not allow me to attach a photo, I will describe it. It has light blue walls with seating all around the edge and
==Highlights of 2020s==
