Changes
A review of what the chapter did in 2019
Overall Eta Eta chapter had a big year filled with success, memories, and laughter.
==Highlights of 2019==
We started the year off with our newly transitioned Chapter Council learning all about their roles on Leadership Day. The week continued with getting organized with a planner party hosted by our VP of Academic Excellence, Maribeth Graham. At the end of January, we hosted events for Spring Recruitment and on February 9th, we "struck gold" and welcomed home Alpha Beta class and spent the day bowling. We had our first Grab-A-Date of the semester at Dave and Buster's. March began with Mother/Daughter Day at the house, hosted by our Public Relations chair Julia Moore, where we enjoyed cupcakes and creating our own bouquets with Dahlia's Flower Truck. Once we returned from Spring Break, I-Week began. We began the week with Motivation Monday, house hangouts, and Fam day, then we all gathered to show off our talents with Kappa Karaoke at the house hosted by our Marshal, Molly Garboski. We sang our hearts out to some of our favorite hits, and of course included Livin' on a Prayer. The week ended with our beautiful intitation ceremony where we welcomed Alpha Beta into our sisterhood. Next, we expanded our Greek life relations on a Social with Phi Delta Theta. We ended March with Kappa's involvement with Knight Thon where we danced our hearts out for 22 hours while raising over $27,000 for the kids. We started out April strong by participating in Alpha Delta Pi's Cheers for Charity to help raise money for The Ronald McDonald house and we placed 2nd in the cheer competition. We then soaked up the sun at Universal's Cabana Bay for our Sisterhood Retreat, hosted by our Vice President of Standards, Holly Bertholf. We celebrated the semster at The Mezz for our Sapphire Ball formal by dancing, put on by our Formal Chairs, Shannon Jones and Colette Lowndes. We ended our spring semester by listening to our seniors talk about their dear kappa days at Senior Wills at the Alfond Inn, planned by our Education Chairman, Kristin Collison. We all returned before classes to prepare for Panhellenic Recruitment. We spent our Spirit Week step-clapping and bonding to get ready for the week to come, with the help of many alumni and our dedicated Membership Chair, Bree Friedhoff. After two weeks of hard work, we celebrated by welcoming home Alpha Gamma class and our rho gammas who returned home. We spent Bid Day at Seaworld and watched a water show, planned by our New Member Educator, Madeline Cox. After all the fun, Hurricane Dorian approached the Central Florida area and took us away from classes and Kappa for a week. During this time,we checked in with each member to ensure everyone had a safe hurricane ride-out plan. When we returned, Kappa hosted the first Pan of the semester, with the help of our Panhellenic Delagate, Bri Pruitt. Also, with the beginning weeks of the semester, Alpha Gamma gathered together for their New Member Retreat where they played games, sang songs, and bonded as a class. At the end of September, we opened our doors to our families for UCF's Family Weekend and watched the Knights play against UConn. In the beginning of October, we had Big/Little reveal at the house! With the bigs outside with half a puzzle piece, the Littles found their matching piece and ran into their Big's arms. The next week began I-Week, hosted by our Marshal, Molly Garboski. We ended the week with going to DEFY, where we jumped around and navigated our way through obstacle courses. We finally welcomed Alpha Gamma into our sisterhood with our beautiful Initiation ceremony. We then celebrated Founder's Day at the Alford Inn the following weekend. With the end of October approaching, the annual Trick-or-Treat on Greek Street (TOTOGS) was held and Kappa came home with 3rd place. A couple days later, Kappa helped raise money towards Zeta Tau Alpha's philantropy supporting Breast Cancer Awareness and members of Alpha Gamma participated in their dance competition, Zeta Lip Sync. November marked Kappa's participation in hosting a Girls Academy with a local school. We spent the day having fun with young girls and playing games. We celebrated the semester at Semi Formal at 1010 West where we danced the night away and took silly pictures in the photo booth. After the short Thanksgiving break, we gathered for one last time in 2019 to install our new 2020 Leadership before we left for holiday break. Describe the recent changes on campus and describe the chapter’s overall nature. 2019 was a big year for UCF. The Freshman class (Class of '23) broke the university record for the highest GPAs and test scores, which boosted UCF's National Merit enrollment. The campus broke ground on the upcoming on-campus hotel. UCF has partnered with Disney Aspire, which provides free tuition to eligible Cast Members to take classes with UCF. It was announced at the end of the semester that there would be an addition of electric scooters available on campus to make transportation to and from class easier, while helping with traffic on the roads. Eta Eta's focus has been directed towards empowering women and positivity even in hard times. The theme of our Formal Recruitment in the Fall followed the motto "Empowered Women empower Women". Chapter Philanthropy What organization does the chapter support? Eta Eta supports Reading is Fundamental (RIF), the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation, and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Why did the chapter choose this organization? Eta Eta supports our national tradition in supporting Reading is Fundamental (RIF) while also seeing the outcome of how this foundation supports children around our area, as we go to the schools in the surrounding area to read to the students. We also support the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation because of our bond as a sisterhood and helping those sisters in need. We continue our Eta Eta tradition of supporting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to honor our sister, Alison Callum who passed away from CF in 2003. Founders Day How did the chapter celebrate Founders Day? Please attach any photos. We spent our morning at the Alfond Inn in Winter Park. We had brunch and chatted with other Kappa Alumni, then celebrated the six founders who brought us all together. Sesquicentennial CelebrationHow has the chapter begun to celebrate Kappa's 150th anniversary? Share what you have done this year and are planning to do in 2020. Eta Eta is excited to have the opportunity to be active members during Kappa's 150th anniversary. We provide the chapter members with history nuggets both leading back to our Founders and our own chapter's history. For 2020, we plan to celebrate the history and years of tradition that have been set by our Founders and preceeding sisters both within Eta Eta and outside of our chapter. This year we plan on having many events throughout the year to celebrate our history, finally arriving to our 150th anniversary on Founder's Day. ==Highlights of the 2020s2020==
