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→Highlights of 2020s
==Highlights of 2020s==
Spring 2020 was an exciting and unpredictable one. Members were able to enjoy our spring formal on February 14th and participated in exchanges before the chapter and university closed due to the pandemic. Following the closure of the University and Delta Iota, communication became even more important than before with meetings and classes being conducted virtually. The summer also proved challenging as it was unclear what the formal recruitment process would look like until the University’s Panhellenic office decided to make the shift to a totally virtual recruitment. Although many things were done differently, the spirit of Kappa remained the same this fall. Some of the major activities held included virtual recruitment, bid day, virtual initiation and ritual ceremonies, “pod” events, and the excitement of a brand new house! Despite the roadblocks put in our path, Delta Iota has worked hard to excel in academics, sisterhood, communication, and Panhellenic involvement, which we hope to continue and to put to use once we are able to return to normal. Our “pod” events were used as a replacement to larger sisterhood events due to in person limits of 10 people. These “pods” were available to all and allowed members from different member classes to interact in ways they may not have been able to before, such as, going bowling, getting manicures, carving pumpkins or just grabbing dinner and a movie! Women from all four member classes stepped up as pod leaders and organized an event each week with a given budget. These events allowed for deeper connections between different ages to be made due to the more intimate group sizes and all those who participated enjoyed attending these events! Hosting virtual events proved to be a challenge at first but was managed with grace. Chapter President, Grace Gardere ’17 and Primary Recruitment Director, Alyssa Bellelo ‘17, had the opportunity to put on Delta Iota’s first virtual recruitment and get our chapter’s largest new member class of 106 impressive new Kappa women! Our Ritual and History Director, Reese Kelso ’18 and Founders Day Coordinator, Anna Harris ‘18, worked together to host a ‘Which Kappa Founding Member Are You? Founders Day raffle and celebrate Kappa’s 150 year anniversary. The two also planned and coordinated Delta Iota’s first ever virtual initiation, successfully initiating 104 New Members in a new way, while maintaining the beauty and integrity of an in person ritual ceremony. The chapter was incredibly eager to see the new house and those that currently live in the house were anticipating move-in day all summer! The house not only meets, but exceeds the Chapter’s needs; it is spacious, elegant, functional, and Delta Iota is so grateful that we get to call it our home. Although we were not able to have large groups come to the house this year for sisterhood events or chapter meetings, we look forward to hosting these at the house in the future. Academically, the chapter continues to improve. The current chapter GPA is 3.718, which is higher than the All-Sorority and LSU All-Women GPA averages. Our members received a variety of internships and scholarships over a wide range of disciplines as well. COVID may have changed the way the chapter operates, but Delta Iota took this chaos and improved in spite of a hectic year.
Delta Iota chose to support the St. Jude’s Dream Day Foundation because the co-founder Ms. Marty, was an LSU Kappa and the Chapter enjoys supporting her Foundation. We help put on an event at her farm in Clinton, Louisiana each year for St. Jude's patients and their families called “Dream Day”.
