Nutty News President s Letter Rhonda Dunn (85), Alumnae Chapter President Strength of Sisterhood Hello Alpha Gam Sisters! I hope 2015 is treating you well. I also hope 2014 was a successful year for everyone. It s hard to believe another year has passed and it s time to issue another newsletter. For people that stand outside the Greek community, I am sure they think we are silly women calling each other sister, still enjoying friendships from College, or still volunteering to work with the Chapter. I have always felt these people just don t get it. In my experiences with Alpha Gamma Delta, I have had the opportunity to see Sisterhood up close. It takes a variety of forms and pops up in unexpected places. The sisterhood you feel as soon as you attend your first Recruitment (or Rush) event changes each year as your role changes. You can t imagine a life without your sisters when you graduate from College but a new life emerges for you. Time passes and you run into a Sister you haven t seen in a few years and you fall right back into that Sisterhood. The years go Editor Heather Kalar Rubesch (93) Epsilon Kappa Alumnae Chapter of Alpha Gamma Delta by and many milestones are reached including marriages, babies, career success. In those moments, a Sister is usually nearby, sharing your milestone with you. She will celebrate with you or hold your hand to get your through. If you have ever served as an adviser to the Collegiate Chapter, Sisterhood takes on a whole new meaning. It s so exciting to see these young women become members and to see the Chapter we have loved for decades find new growth and success through another generation of talented, happy Sisters. It filled my heart with pride to see them succeed and made me sad to see each group graduate. The things that are so important to them now look very different from the alumnae side of the mirror. But it is fun to watch them have experiences that will bring laughter for many years to come. I enjoy seeing those women now, in wedding dresses, having babies, or buying their first homes. I admire them and am happy for their successes. The Sisterhood I joined as a collegian is very different to me as alumnae. I have such a variety of Sisters now that I made through the Alumnae Chapter. I still have my college Sisters but now I have my sisters who didn t share my college years but we are Sisters all the same. We enjoy each other, work together on projects, and fiercely protect our Chapter and want it to be successful. I love to run into Alumnae and although I am not personal friends with them, we have a nice chat and talk about Alpha Gam for a few minutes. We have that connection and are fast friends. Spirit of Epsilon Kappa Award recipients with the plaque. Laura Mortick (86), Rhonda Dunn (85), Wendy Platt Kirkpatrick (93), Maggie Costantini Ryan (67), Shannon Nichols Fletcher (94) Spring 2015 The theme of IRD 2015 is the Strength of Sisterhood. I ve seen it in action. I hope you have too. The tie that bonds us holds strong and it doesn t matter the age, the name, or the office you ve held. We are many Sisters. We are Alpha Gams. Loyally, Rhonda Dunn (85) radunn65@gmail.com
Scholarships Awarded at 2014 IRD Thank you to all the collegiate who applied for these $500 scholarships in honor of two of our EK sisters. The Jacqueline Iley Scholarship was awarded to Mary Kate Gartner, Lenexa, KS (who will graduate with an Elementary Education degree in May 2015). Serving as Vice President of Membership Development, Chapter President and Alpha Coordinator, Mary Kate demonstrated her leadership skills. Iley Scholarship recipient Mary Kate Gartner receiving her award at IRD from Alumnae Chapter President Rhonda Dunn (85) The Emajeane Shy Boone Scholarship went to Amber Marks, Melvane, KS; a December 2014 graduate with a Degree in Business Administration, Accounting. Amber has served the chapter in many leadership roles including President, Vice President of Finance and Vice President of Operations along with committee work and campus service events. Boone Scholarship recipient Amber Marks and Alumnae Chapter President Rhonda Dunn (85) at IRD 2014. IRD 2014 Group Photo Page 2
Collegiate Chapter Year in Review January: We started informal recruitment and gained members that are very active today! The chapter also made s mores at a sisterhood event in the chilly weather! February: Members of our Member Development Team as well as other executive members went to The Skilled Facilitator training at William Jewell College in Liberty, MO. We had a game night with Sigma Tau Gamma. Our mom/dot pairs bonded during a week filled with sisterhood activities. March: We had several sisterhood bonding activities such as watching The Bachelor together and making fancy friendship bracelets. Girls participated in a minute to win it themed activity with Phi Sigma Kappa. Eight girls were initiated into our lovely chapter. April: This was a busy month for us! We participated in Sigma Chi s Derby Days philanthropy, Greek Week, and the Big Event. We also had run outs with Lambda Chi Alpha and the newest fraternity on campus, Sigma Alpha Epsilon. Girls had a great time at IRD listening to the hilarious memories that all of our amazing alumnae in attendance shared, in fact many still laugh about it! We had an exciting animal kingdom themed formal and a very competitive Easter egg hunt with prizes donated from the community. A guest speaker came to meeting to talk about the importance of good social media presence. Finally, we were awarded Sorority of the Year for the second year in a row. May: Girls handed out pencils for finals in the Oval to support our fellow students, volunteered in Absolutely Alpha, and had a frozen yogurt and yoga sisterhood event to relieve stress! We had eight girls graduate. July: Amber Marks (President) of Mulvane, KS and Alli Hayes (Vice President Recruitment) of Miami, OK attended Convention with Cassandra Jarrett Cleaver (00) and Shannon Nichols Fletcher (94). Epsilon Kappa was a recipient of the Chapter Efficiency Award. August: We had a very successful rush week and pledged 38 women! We continued bonding and recruiting with a sisterhood tie-dye event. September: Another busy month! We had our first ever mixer with Sigma Tau Gamma. We handed out compliments in the oval (You look great today!) and celebrated with a scholarship banquet. We went to Quapaw, OK for a retreat and everyone had a blast! We had a BBQ with our Homecoming partners (Sigma Tau Gamma) for Family Day and hosted our annual golf tournament. October: We participated in Homecoming week, placed 2nd in Yell Like Hell, and had a pumpkin-carving event with Sigma Phi Epsilon. We also bonded through mom/dot week and angel week. Girls got into character for a murder mystery dinner. Alli Hayes and Amber Marks with Chapter Efficiency Award received at Convention 2014. November: We initiated our newest women and had 100 percent retention of our new members! We celebrated with the Feast of Roses and roller blading. We had five seniors graduate. December: We hosted an ugly sweater date party and had a blast! New officers were inducted. Thank you for your support of our chapter! We work hard to keep Alpha Gamma Delta standards high and truly love being a part of this amazing organization! Collegiate and Alumnae Delegates posing with the Chapter Flag at Convention 2014 Love always, The Women of Epsilon Kappa Page 3
IRD Epsilon Kappa Strength of Sisterhood You are cordially invited to attend Epsilon Kappa s International Reunion Day (IRD). Whether it s been a year or a decade, Alpha Gamma Delta will always welcome her members home. Let this be the year to rekindle friendships and celebrate the strength of our sisterhood. Come and reconnect with your sisters at IRD!! Sisters that were initiated in 1965 and 1990 will be recognized for being 50 and 25 Year members. The luncheon is for Alpha Gamma Delta members only and appropriate dress is smart casual/badge attire. When: April 18, 2015 Place: Pittsburg State University Weede Physical Education Building 1701 South Homer Cost: $15.00* Food: Potato Bar ~ Salad Bar Registration and Social Hour: IRD Luncheon and Program: 11:00 a.m. 12:00 p.m. Annual House Association Meeting will be held after the Luncheon and Program. *EKAC members receive a $5 discount Collegiate Chapter Capsule Campus Quota: 35 ΑΓ New Members Fall: 34 Campus Total: 102 ΑΓ Chapter Total: 93 Number in Largest NPC Group: 112 Page 4
IRD Please return this reservation form with payment no later than April 8, 2015. Checks should be made payable to Epsilon Kappa Alumnae Chapter (EKAC) and mailed to: Epsilon Kappa Alumnae Chapter PO Box 1823 Pittsburg, KS 66762 Name: Address: City, State ZIP: Phone Number: Email address (if applicable) Amount IRD Luncheon & Program $15.00 non-members $10.00 EKAC members (Please indicate if you have special dietary needs) If you have questions please contact Shannon Nichols Fletcher at (913) 909-2302 or nicholsagd@yahoo.com 25 & 50 Year Ceremonies We will be recognizing our sisters that were initiated in 1965 and 1990 during Award Ceremonies at IRD. If you were initiated in one of these two years, we would love for you to attend IRD and be honored. Page 5
Membership Update Thank you to everyone who helped make our 2014 membership drive successful once again! It is so great to know we can count on our sisters! We are excited about our membership numbers again this year! We have 92 members, nearly the same as last year! Last year at IRD, the Epsilon Kappa Alumnae Chapter was pleased to award two scholarships each in the amount of $500. These scholarships are in honor of Jacqueline Iley (75) and Emajean Shy Boone (60) and were awarded to Mary Kate Gartner (Lenexa, KS ) and Amber Marks (Mulvane, KS). In additional to awarding these two scholarships, we transferred extra money to the scholarship funds to further our goal to endow both schlarships so they will continue into the future! Money has also been allocated to send to the AGD Foundation for the Connie Yates Brown Scholarship, which is awarded to through the foundation. Last year the CYB Scholarship was awarded to Kate Stein (Salina, KS) in the amount of $1,000. Your donations helped to provide a Bid Day lunch and Recruitment Training lunch for the collegiate members as well as support other sisters in need. We thank everyone who has supported the Alumnae Chapter and made all this support possible. We will continue to hold our yearly Membership Drive during the summer. Please watch your mail for a letter explaining the details of the Membership Drive. We hope you will continue to support the Alumane Chapter. If you are unsure of whether or not you paid your membership dues or if you would like to see a list of sisters who are supporting EKAC, you can click here. Alumnae Christmas Party Heather Kalar Rubesch (93) hosted the EKAC Christmas Party this past December in her Prairie Village home. We had our strongest turn out to date with around 25 alumnae joining our celebration. We were thrilled to have women from every era including, Janice Morrison (76), Allison Fitts Schmidt (78), Theresa Wiederholt Schneider (77) from the 1970 s and Jennifer Long (07), Nicole Thomas (05), Cindy Serrano (09), Laura Sirridge (05), Rachel Hegarty (09), Ashley Rohleder (06) and Ashley Fann Shaw (09) who have just recently graduated in the past few years. Nicole Thomas was recognized for traveling the furthest, making the trip to Kansas City all the way from Arkansas. Janice Morrison, with her cute Christmas shoes, was recognized for wearing the most festive outfit. Alumnae spanning 5 decades (60 s, 70 s, 80 s, 90 s and 00 s) of initiation years attending the annual Christmas Party December 14, 2014 Not only did we enjoy some great food but we also had a scarf exchange, it was so much fun to see all the different scarves everyone brought. We also did a philanthropic collection of household consumables for The Wesley House in Pittsburg. The organization serves battered women and their children. The group decided more social gatherings in 2015 is a must so keep an eye out for additional get-togethers throughout the year. Page 6
Sisters of Epsilon Kappa Page 7
House Association Update This year has been a pretty quiet year for the House Association. Everything is in good working order and the house is in good shape overall. However, this past summer one of the air conditioners was on its last leg so we decided to put in a new unit to help cut down on energy costs. Then this past Christmas break we decided to replace the second unit along with the heating system. This allowed us to be able to install new thermostats that can be controlled by a cell phone, making it easier for us to control the temperatures during the summer while the girls are on break. The two units that were replaced were originally installed in the 1980 s. We believe the new units will last just as long or longer. In the near future we hope to remodel the bathroom off the downstairs TV room. We continue to look into future expansion of the parking lot or maybe a chapter room. We are also always looking for new House Association board members. If you are interested, please contact me at gamsister@hotmail.com This is a great board to be a part of and doesn't require a lot of time because a lot of the meetings and discussions take place through email. Loyally, Heather Shondell (01) President of House Association Honors of Epsilon Pi Arc of Epsilon Pi was awarded at Convention 2014 to: Shannon Nichols Fletcher (94) Cassie Jarrett Cleaver (00) In a local ceremony following convention the Arc of Epsilon Pi was awarded to: Rhonda Dunn (85) Laura Mortick (86) We thank all these women for their continued service and dedication to our chapter. Alpha Gamma Delta Epsilon Kappa Alumnae Chapter P.O. Box 1823 Pisburg, Kansas 66762 Very Important Information Do you have a change in name, address, or marital status? When you do, please notify International Headquarters and Epsilon Kappa Alumnae Chapter through one of these contacts: 1) Fraternity Website: www.alphagammadelta.org. Click on Login to My Alpha Gam and enter/change your information (secure section) 2) Fraternity Fax: (317) 875-5824 3) Fraternity Address: 8710 N. Meridian St., Indianapolis, IN 46260 4) Fraternity Phone: (317) 663-4200 5) Epsilon Kappa Alumnae Chapter Permanent Secretary Laura Mortick P.O. Box 1823 Pittsburg, Kansas 66762 or epsilonkappaalumnae@hotmail.com EKAC Editor: Heather Kalar Rubesch Page 8
NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING OF MEMBERS House Association of Epsilon Kappa Chapter of Alpha Gamma Delta of Pittsburg, KS, Inc. P.O. Box 2691 Olathe, KS 66063 Dear Members, Please take notice that the Annual Meeting of the general Membership of the Epsilon Kappa House Association of Alpha Gamma Delta will be held as follows: Location: Weede Physical Education Building 1701 South Homer, Pittsburg State University Pittsburg, KS 66762 Date: Saturday, April 18, 2015 Time: 1:00 pm CST approximate time (Following IRD Luncheon) For the regular election of Directors, annual reports, and for the transaction of such other matters as may come before the said meeting. If you are unable to attend in person, you may give your written PROXY for voting to a member who will be present, in accordance with Article IX, Section 2 of the Bylaws. Shirley Henderson-Fry Secretary Annual Meeting Proxy PROXY FOR ANNUAL MEETING OF MEMBERSHIP OF House Association of Epsilon Kappa Chapter of Alpha Gamma Delta of Pittsburg, KS, Inc. KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS, that I,, a member in good Standing of the House Association of Epsilon Kappa Chapter of Alpha Gamma Delta of Pittsburg, KS, Inc., do hereby appoint and constitute my true and lawful proxy and attorney-in-fact, to act and vote in my place and stead, at the Annual Meeting of said corporation to be held at Pittsburg, KS on April 18, 2015. I do hereby grant full power and authority to act on my behalf in the voting for the election of Directors at the said meeting, and in any other matters which may come before the said meeting, as full as I, myself, could do if then and there personally present. I hereby designate (Check one) Elaine Rouse Castagno P.O. Box 1204 Pittsburg, KS 66762 Laura Mortick 2182 W 162nd Terr Stillwell, KS 66085 Maggie Costantini Ryan 1005 Canterbury Road Pittsburg, KS 66762 IN WITNESS WHERE, I have executed this proxy on the date of, 2. Signed Page 9
Epsilon Kappa Alumnae Chapter of Alpha Gamma Delta PO Box 1823 Pittsburg, KS 66762 www.agdpsualum.com epsilonkappaalumnae@hotmail.com Upcoming Dates to Remember April 13-17 Greek Week 18 IRD 24 Ini"a"on May 8-Commencement October 3rd Homecoming Please check the website frequently for updates to the calendar and addi*onal informa*on on upcoming events. www.agdpsualum.com Alpha Gamma Delta International Fraternity (International) Alpha Gamma Delta - Epsilon Kappa (EK Alumnae Chapter) Alpha Gamma Delta - EK - Pitt State (Collegiate Chapter) Formal Recruitment Dates: August 10th 15th