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→Highlights of the 2020
Our Meetings are traditionally at the Jack Baskin Engineering on campus at UC Santa Cruz. For special occasions and bigger events, we may meet at Kresge Town Hall which is also on campus, like we do for sisterhoods and Founder's Day.
==Highlights of 2020==
Eta Mu Chapter has undergone numerous improvements and troubles this year. We began this year with a new Chapter Council that helped our chapter work on challenges, supported us through the pandemic, and made the virtual experience of meetings meaningful. At the beginning of this year, our sisters helped volunteer for our school’s Colleges Against Cancer Blood Drive and helped collect 30 units of blood! In February, we hosted a Family Day that was filled with fun and games for our sisters’ families. Following that, we celebrated our Founder’s Day at Meder Park and got to experience the VR tours of how Kappa Kappa Gamma was founded which were provided by HQ’s Minnie Stewart Van. We then raised $700for the Walnut Avenue Family and Women’s Center through our annual Kappa Kakes Fundraiser. Our PR Chair, Cesia Villa Bello, made sure to represent all our members through fun Instagram Features like Kappa Meets (Hobby a Member does), Senior Spotlights, and Kappa Krushes where sisters would make shoutouts for each other. At the end of February, we had our Semi-Formal that was planned by our Event Chair, Victoria Caballero, and our Risk chair, Avery Bowen, who made sure everyone was safe and having a fun time! Our chapter operations changed dramatically when COVID-19 hit, and we all had to go back home for our Spring Quarter and do online learning. During the Spring Quarter, we faced hardship when horrific police brutality events sparked and caused discussion within our chapter. Our BIPOC sisters stood up and spoke about the injustices they have faced being in our chapter and were supported to use their voice. These discussions continued throughout the summer and into the fall quarter which really made us reflect and listen to each other. Our chapter participated in virtual recruitment with our other panhellenic organizations and made sure the recruitment went smooth and easy for PNMs. After recruitment, we welcomed 22 New Members who have made our Chapter filled with joy and optimism for our future. We had meetings every Sunday on Zoom where New Members would do programming with our New Member Chair, Aryn Williams-Escobar. During the Fall quarter, we made T-shirts to raise money for the Norcal Fire Relief Fund, and turned out to be a huge success! And towards the end of the quarter, our new members got their big sisters through a virtual big/little reveal. I also planned our virtual initiation for our new members and it went extremely well! All members were initiated and they did an outstanding job with completing their workshops and paying their dues. At our last meeting for the year, we swore in our new officers for the 2021 year, and it was quite emotional as this was a tough year for us all and we couldn’t have done without our 2020 CC.
Our Chapter supports RIF to help under served kids discover the joy of reading and books. We also help support local organizations to give back to our Santa community.
Our chapter added a DEI officer to our Chapter Council in an effort to educate our sisters and give voices to our BIPOC members. We elected Aryn Williams-Escobar as our DEI Chairwoman and she did an outstanding job in our Fall Quarter. Every meeting we would do a spotlight on a sister who talked about her identity which helped educate our sisters about new cultures and family dynamics. For example, our Indian sisters presented an informational presentation about the Punjabi Farmers Strike happening in India and shed light on what it means to be an Indian American in the U.S. and the stereotypes it follows. Furthermore, our PR Chair has made sure to represent all sisters in our Instagram Account and made posts about what it means to be an ally, a statement supporting the Black Lives Matter Movement,informational guides on what gaslighting and microaggressions are, and many more posts and stories. We celebrated at a local park with crafts and games. Also, the Minnie Stewart Van visited and we got to tour around the van to see the historical events that led to Kappa’s Founding. Sisters also experienced a VR tour of Monmouth College and how our founding sisters founded Kappa. On October 13, our PR Chair posted a celebration picture celebrating our Founders Day as well.
