Changes

'''==Highlights of 2020s:==''' Although the Fraternity at large had previously endured the hardships witnessed during the year of 2020, the sisters of Epsilon Gamma found themselves in unchartered territory. Through the series of unexpected highs and lows, Epsilon Gamma discovered the resiliency of sisterhood and the ties that bind us to one another. The distance placed between sisters led to more intentional inter-chapter contact and communication with nationals, creating a vibrant and loving sisterhood despite the miles that separated us. We began the unprecedented year on a high note, with a successful Spring recruitment. Epsilon Gamma welcomed potential new members into the chapter house for cupcakes and meals in mid January. Bids were extended and the chapter hosted their Spring bid day dinner on January 24th. At this event, sisters and new members gathered to share a meal in the dining room while sporting lovely shades of light and dark blue. This marked the beginning of their new member period, a new member period like no other. Following into February, the sisters attended the Behind Happy Faces training. This session is part of Kappas's educational initiative that prepares chapter women for success in both college life and the start of their professional journeys. Additional educational programming during the year included a visit from the Carolina Legal Services in January, Galvanize the Greeks in October, and the Carolina Institute of Politics in October.  Outside of educational initiatives, the sisters of Epsilon Gamma shared community and sisterly love both in and out of the house. Gathered in the informal living room to view the Super Bowl, sisters enjoyed delicious desserts, laughter, and the halftime show together. The next of many sisterhood events celebrated the bond of sisterhood through the creation of anonymous Valentine's to chapter members. Additional Valentines were made for donations to an assisted living home near campus. Following the craft, sisters partook in the annual HeartBreakers Social. Dressed in rock-n-roll grunge, sisters danced the evening away at Might as Well on Franklin Street. The event was certainly one of the most successful and well attended HeartBreakers to date. Following the festivities of Valentines Day, the sisters celebrated Mardi Gras with a social at Pantana Bob's. Sporting green, purple, and gold, the sisters of Epsilon Gamma partnered with the brother of Kappa Alpha to enjoy the occasion. Following our celebration of Mardi Gras, our Public Relations chair organized a winter photo shoot in which the sisters gathered inside the house, on the lawn, and around our beautiful campus to take photos and videos that celebrated our sisterhood. Dressed in denim, white, and blue, the sisters of Epsilon Gamma used props, a candy bar, and all the glitter you could imagine to take photos that captured the joy of being a KKG at UNC. The first week of March was a busy and exciting time for our chapter, starting with our spring class being placed with their big sisters and families on March 1. This occasion took place on the patio of our house and was filled with smiles as our new members celebrated one of the most exciting parts of the new member period. Following that was three days jam packed with exciting philanthropy events benefitting Reading is Fundamental. This year our chapter organized an incredibly successful benefit night hosted at Coldstone Creamery where sisters and friends lined up down Franklin Street to get ice cream benefitting RIF. Read Across America Day (March3) was celebrated by the sisters of Epsilon Gamma with a table set up in the center of campus, known as "the pit", where students were invited to make bookmarks to be donated to local elementary schools. Finally, over the three days, we collected books in a book drive to be donated to Eastway Elementary School and the Durham Book Harvest. Our sisters and their family and friends collected an impressive amount of books, totaling at 283. Soon after, KKG partnered with the brothers of Lambda Chi Alpha for a jungle themed mixer at the Library on Franklin Street. Dressed in different animal prints and safari wear, sisters celebrated the nearing beginning of spring break and dancing and fun! The following day, March 6, marked the beginning of Spring Break and unknown to us at the time, the last day we would all be together in Chapel Hill for the next 20 months and counting. Epsilon Gamma sisters left Chapel Hill to return their homes looking forward to a well deserved week off. In response to the rising number of COVID-19 cases in and around North Carolina, UNC Chapel Hill issued an announcement to the student body on March 12 announcing that spring break would be extended to March 22 and that, beginning on March 23, all classes would transition to an online format. The announcement turned all our worlds upside down and plunged the chapter into a period of many unknowns and incredible separation. In response to this announcement, the chapter house closed to members and live-in sisters were prompted to return to campus and gather their things to move out a month and a half earlier than anticipated. All chapter activities were put on hold as news of COVID-19 flooded our timelines and we began to grasp the extent of the pandemic that was raging across the United States. The weeks following Spring Break were supposed to be filled with our new member's Inspiration Period, initiation, cocktails, and our annual philanthropy event benefitting the Orange County Rape Crisis Center, It's On Us. Instead it was filled with zoom calls and adjusting plans and expectations for the end of the year and recruitment. After receiving special permission from the Fraternity Council, the 15 new members participated in the first ever virtual initiation. This ceremony was conducted by Denise Rugani, the Fraternity Ritual and History Specialist. Sisters were initiated on April 26th, 2020 with the University of Virginia and the University of Syracuse. Their initiation was followed that evening by a virtual senior send off ceremony at Epsilon Gamma's final chapter of the Spring semester. In May of 2020, the Black Lives Matter movement increased its efforts across the country following the murder of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man. by a police officer. In solidarity with this movement, members of color of the Epsilon Gamma chapter of KKG formed a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee to address the inequity found within our own chapter and our community. The committee hosted a programming chapter, educating the chapter on the phenomena of Blackfishing and hosted a panel of some of our members of color. With the support of Chapter Council, the DEI committee added a member to the Standards Committee and had a member sit in on Chapter Council meetings. Epsilon Gamma remains committed to addressing racial inequality in our community as we strive o make Kappa Kappa Gamma a place that welcomes all. Over the Summer officers prepared for a virtual fraternity experience by attending training with national representatives. Other training offered for the chapter at large included Wellness Wednesdays and career seminars. Sisters spent their summers working, completing virtual internships, or even taking courses. In July, the University announced an accelerated schedule in which classes were to begin August 10 and end on November 17. In an effort to reduce student travel to and from campus, fall break was eliminated and final exams were scheduled to take place before students returned home for Thanksgiving and the rest of the holiday season. Donned with masks and plenty of hand sanitizer, live-in sisters moved into the chapter house during the weekend of August 7-9. Living in the KKG house looked differently this semester, nevertheless, was a welcome change for many sisters returning to campus. Ahead of move-in, Chapter Council published a COVID Plan that detailed what live-in life would look like for sisters and the response plan for if a sister was diagnosed with COVID-19. In order to allow for proper social distancing in chapter rooms, the larger rooms which typically house 4 and 5 sisters were down-sized to house 3 and 4, respectively. Smaller double rooms were made to be single rooms and sisters living in larger double rooms were told to sleep with heads at opposite ends of the bunk beds. As a result, the number of live-in sisters was decreased to allow for these changes. Unfortunately , no out-of-house sisters or guests were allowed to enter the chapter house, making our usually loud and busy common rooms and dining room unusually quiet. Live-in members wore masks anytime they were not in their rooms or bathing and socially distanced when inn the common rooms. Common areas were disinfected 4 times daily baby weekly designated pairs of sisters. Hand sanitizer stations posted around the house became a part of the live-in sisters daily routines. Our wonderful house mother, house board, and live-in members worked diligently to ensure that we lived in a safe environment and were able to remain in our chapter house throughout the semester. Our amazing chef prepared the chapter lunch and dinner Monday through Thursday and lunch on Friday packaged individually in to-go packages. Out of house sisters picked up their meals by a socially distanced drive through system in our parking lot. A combination of diligent cleaning consistent mask-wearing and social distancing, and care and respect for our sisters resulted in a successful and safe semester for Epsilon Gamma. Despite the detailed precautions, the University announced a switch to fully remote learning and the closing of on campus residence halls on August 17th following a sharp spike in cases on campus. This announcement made national headlines with UNC's Sigma Nu Fraternity receiving special attention from the New York Times. A chaotic and scary start to the Fall 2020 semester was handled with grace by Epsilon Gamma as our live-in sisters remained vigilant in order to remain in the chapter house and out of house sisters worked hard to keep themselves safe. After settling back into our class routines, whether in Chapel Hill or elsewhere, the chapter began final preparations for fall recruitment. A completely virtual fall recruitment was an adjustment that our Membership Chair, recruitment team, and technology coordinator were well prepared for. Weeklyvirtual recruitment practices began soon after the start of classes and continued until the beginning of recruitment on September 7. After 4 days of virtual conversations with potential new members, Epsilon Gamma welcomed our new member class of 2020 on September 8. Despite the disappointment of not being able to have a bid day celebration with the whole chapter, sisters celebrated wearing masks with their roommates. We virtually welcomed our new members dressed in green and rainbow in accordance with the theme "Lucky to be a KKG". Regardless of whether or not we were physically together as a whole chapter, Epsilon Gamma celebrated a wonderfully successful first virtual recruitment and truly felt lucky to be KKGs. As our new member class started their new member period, sisters began to lead individual sisterhood events to help maintain our strong sisterhood despite the distance between us. Events such as yoga ad workout classes, photo editing sessions, coding demonstrations, baking tutorials, game nights, and Kappa history lessons were hosted by sisters to help the chapter feel connected. Over the course of the semester, members hosted 21 sisterhood events and Epsilon Gamma's sisterhood continued to blossom. On October 13th, the Fraternity celebrated 150 years of Kappa Kappa Gamma. Chapter members were provided with an iris to honor the Sesquicentennial and were encouraged to attend both Epsilon Gamma's virtual ceremony and the commemorative livestream hosted through Kappa headquarters. The livestream featured current and previous Fraternity presidents as well as a message from the chancellor of Monmouth College, Patrick F. Leahy. Our New Member Chair worked diligently to ensure that our new member class were educated on our chapter and the fraternity at large and were prepared to be initiated into our sisterhood. On October 24, our new members were placed with their big sisters and families in a virtual big-little reveal.Following the reveal, the chapter entered into the Inspiration Period on October 18th. I-week began with as virtual Return of the New Member Pin ceremony and contained events such as A Letter to a New Member, Mock Dining Room Dinner, and a Digital History night. On the evening of the 23rd, Epsilon Gamma welcomed 37 sisters into the fraternity with a plethora of alumnae joining us for the ceremony. On November 5th, the last new member was initiated thanks to the sisters of Gamma Kappa at Washington and Mary University. After the initiation of our new sisters, the Nominating Committee met on November 1 to create a Chapter Council slate to be presented to the chapter that evening. The following Sunday, the chapter met again to hold elections for our new Chapter Council. The women elected to hold office throughout the end of 2020 and 2021 spent the week following the elections meeting with their outgoing officers and advisors in preparation for being initiated into their new roles on November 15. On November 3, our nation participated in arguably the most consequential election of our lifetime. Epsilon Gamma sisters flooded to the polls after being educated on the candidates for both national and state offices in previous programming chapters by Galvanize the Greeks and the Carolina Institute of Politics. Sisters were proud to exercise their civic duty and have their voices heard in this all important election. November 17 marked the last day of classes for Epsilon Gamma sisters and the beginning of a week of final exams before the official end of a unique and challenging fall semester. After finishing their final exams, sisters returned home to their families in time to celebrate Thanksgiving and remained home throughout the rest of the holiday season. 2020 was certainly a year to be remembered both for Epsilon Gamma and the world at large. A year filled with uncertainty, fear, and separation tested the sisterhood of Kappa Kappa Gamma and showed sisters just how strong the bonds between us are. Despite all of the challenges this year has brought, Epsilon Gamma remains a chapter filled with love and sisterhood. We look forward to continuing into 2021 with joy and strength.  '''==Highlights of 2021=='''