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→Highlights of 2020s:
Epsilon Gamma was awarded the academic excellence award at convention this year for most improved academics. We were also awarded the Chapter Progress award by our Panhellenic community and a senior Emily Beaty received an Outstanding Senior Award also from our Panhellenic community.
==Highlights of 2017==
2017 was an amazing year for the Epsilon Gamma chapter filled with sisterhood, fun, and philanthropy. Our first event of the year was a "Draft a Date" sports-themed cocktail at Pantana Bob's on January 19th. This fun event was followed by an informal spring recruitment, where we welcomed 14 new members to our chapter and celebrated with a bid day dinner in the beginning of February. The next event of the semester was our annual Heartbreakers cocktail on February 11th. The Heartbreakers cocktail is an 80's rock-themed party where our sisters loved dancing to Bon Jovi and Guns N' Roses at The Strowd. We then had our first mixer of the semester on February 23rd with Pi Lambda Phi Fraternity at a brand new venue on Franklin Street called Might As Well. The theme of this event was Mardi Gras. Sisters bonded on February 25th when Kappa hosted Cheerwine and Design at the house. The local Wine and Design company came and taught a painting class where sisters painted the iconic UNC Bell Tower while munching on snacks.
March was a big month for Kappa philanthropy. On March 2nd, Kappa and UNC Pi Beta Phi partnered for the annual Read Across America Day in celebration of Dr. Seuss' birthday. In previous years, the event had consisted of handing out lollipops with literacy facts to passersby in the Pit. This year, we incorporated making bookmarks for local school children as well. The goal of this event was to help college students understand the scope of the illiteracy crisis in America today. On March 3rd, Kappa sisters sponsored a UNC Special Olympics athlete. Even though it was the same day as the UNC-Duke rivalry basketball game, many sisters turned out to the Special Olympics game armed with elaborate signs and cheers for our athlete. On March 4th, chapter members participated in a Habitat for Humanity build in a local Chapel Hill neighborhood. Sisters had fun getting their hands dirty and working hard to better their community.
Our next philanthropic event was on March 10th when we partnered with a local group called TABLE to raise money to combat food insecurity. Called Starbyx and Kappacinos, we set up a pop-up coffee stand in the Pit and partnered with BYX for their very first philanthropic event. We raised over $300 for TABLE in just 4 hours. That same night we had a mixer with Sigma Phi Epsilon. This "Music Festival and Extra-Terrestrial" themed event was at The Library, and our sisters had a great time as always. On March 24th and 25th, many sisters participated in Carolina for the Kids’ UNC Dance Marathon where Kappa had the highest attendance of any organization on campus. Towards the end of March, we had Big-Little Reveal where all of our new members were matched with the perfect big.
While the new members had loved getting to know all of the sisters in the chapter, they also had the opportunity to bond with each other at New Member Retreat. Our sisters still laugh over how at this retreat a friendly game of laser tag turned into a very competitive war simulation. Regardless, everyone had a blast. We had our last mixer of the semester on March 30th with Kappa Alpha Order. Our upperclassmen sisters loved this because we hadn't mixed with KA in 2 years. Everyone dressed as a character from their favorite TV show for this "You are what you Netflix" themed event at Pantana Bob's. The costumes were great conversation starters and our sisters had a blast dancing and enjoying the quesadillas and chicken tenders provided by Bob's.
One of our favorite moments of the year was on April 3rd when many Kappas attended the 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Game between UNC and Gonzaga, watching as UNC became the 2017 National Champions. Us UNC Kappas love our basketball as we were ecstatic that night! Our final spring philanthropic event was It’s On Us, an extension of the White House campaign against sexual assault. Along with Sigma Phi, Kappa organized a walk on April 12th to raise awareness for sexual assault. The event included speakers from the UNC faculty and the Orange County Rape Crisis Center. The centerpiece of the event was a silent walk around the Quad while reading survivor stories. Over 400 people from over 20 organizations on campus attended the event and it raised over $5,000 for Orange County Rape Crisis Center.
The event was covered by WRAL, News and Observer, Daily Tar Heel, and more. With 1 in 4 women being survivors of sexual assault, it’s an event our chapter holds dear to our hearts. We ended the semester’s festivities with our annual pre-formal and formal cocktail. Pre-formal was on Friday, April 21st at Country Fried Duck, followed by formal the next night at Top of the Hill. Everyone looked great, had an amazing time, and loved the band, The Troupers! Finally, on April 25th, many members attended a Durham Bulls Game for our final sisterhood event. While the game was slightly drizzly, members kept cozy by eating hot dogs and funnel cakes and sharing the warm bonds of sisterhood!
We kicked off the fall semester with Formal Recruitment, during which we continued our transition to a no-frills style of recruitment. Although UNC experienced multiple setbacks due to norovirus and power outages, recruitment was a success! Round 1 was held on September 7th and 8th. We showed off our chapter's personality with a fun song and dance and wore matching shirts with other Panhellenic chapters to embrace no-frills. Round 2, philanthropy round, was held on September 9th. We told the PNMs all about Reading is Fundamental and our chapter's philanthropic activities with Q for the Cause and It’s On Us. Round 3, sisterhood and house tours round, was held on September 10th. We showed off our beautiful house, played a fun video of our sisterhood and made magic carpets to donate to Thomasville Elementary School. Round 4, preference round, was held on September 11th. We updated our preference round ceremony slightly but kept the focus on our chapter's values. In order to fully embrace no-frills recruitment, we limited the decorations in the house to one banner per round and posted photos of our sisters around the house to emphasize our chapter's strong sisterhood. After all of our hard work, 50 new members ran home to us on a Rock n' Roll themed Bid Day on September 12th! After having dinner at the house, both new members and old went to play laser tag and get to know each other in an evening full of fun and festivities.
With weekly meetings on Sunday after chapter, the new members had the opportunity to learn about Epsilon Gamma chapter history, our sisterhood, and the workings of our fraternity. The new members got to experience their first sisterhood retreat with the chapter at Busch Gardens on September 16th. A total of 81 members went to enjoy a fun day of rollercoasters and other thrills. We welcomed the new members to our first social event of the year with our annual New Member Cocktail on September 22nd. The theme was My Tie, where sisters had fun getting to wear their dates’ ties for the night. On September 28th, we partnered with the fraternity BYX for the first time to host Q for the Cause. This event raised money for Earlier.org, a non-profit cancer research organization founded by an Epsilon Gamma alum. We raised over $1,500 at the event, a barbecue dinner attended by members of our campus community and neighbors alike. New members continued to get to know the active sisters by participating in fun mingle events like a dinner date, Minute to Win It games, and a football watch party. The football watch party happened on September 30th and while we lost to Miami, it was still a lot of fun. The dinner date, where new members and active sisters went to different places on Franklin Street, allowed them to get to know some of their new sisters and try out new foods at UNC! The Minute to Win It games offered for some fun competition when the new members divided into four teams and played games of cup stacking, balloon volleyball, and toilet paper mummy-making.
Our next event was an Olympics-themed mixer with Pi Lambda Phi on October 6th at Might as Well on Franklin Street. Sisters had fun making creative costumes, ranging from gold medals to rings to athletes to video game characters! On October 13th we had our annual Parents Weekend event, the Parents Cocktail. This event was at one of our favorite venues, The Strowd, and families had a great time meeting sisters and dancing through the night! Sisters also bonded on October 16th at the North Carolina State Fair, where they got a taste of some crazy carnival foods and fun rides. Towards the end of October, the new members were surprised with gifts from their bigs, culminating in Big Little Reveal on October 25th. Each new member got to meet her perfectly-matched Big and the rest of her Kappa lineage. Since Halloween is such a huge celebration in Chapel Hill, we decided to have a Halloween-themed mixer with Alpha Sigma Phi on October 26th. It was held at Pantana Bob's and seven of the new members dressed up as "Shark Week," which was a huge hit!
The final event for the new members to get to know each other before initiation was at New Member Retreat on November 2nd. They went to Wheels Fun Park for a night of rollerblading. Finally, the chapter was overjoyed to initiate them on November 4th and have them officially become sisters of Kappa Kappa Gamma. We followed this with another sisterhood event on November 7th at SkyZone, where sisters had fun jumping around and being silly with each other. Next was our annual Semi-Formal on November 11th at R&R Grill on Franklin Street, a fun night of Kappas looking sharp with their dates. Our final fundraising event of the fall was a benefit night at Purple Bowl on November 16th that raised money for Reading is Fundamental. That same night, we had a mixer with Alpha Epsilon Pi at Might as Well. The event was themed "Jarty in the USA" where everyone dressed in denim and red, white, and blue. On November 19th, a group of sisters went to NC State to cheer on an athlete at the Special Olympics tournament. We ended the fall semester with a new event, a Karaoke Cocktail at The Strowd on December 1st. Our sisters and their dates spent the night singing and dancing while dressed up in their favorite tacky holiday attire.
==Highlights of 2020s:==