Pledge/Inspiration Week Memories

LuvUTrulyKKG · #1 03-03-2004, 01:36 AM

Greetings to all you Lovely Kappas out there,

I am Steph from Eta Alpha (Furman) and next week (March 8-13) is my pledge class' Inspiration Week with Initiation Friday, March 12th & Saturday, March 13th. I thought we could use a little action on our Forum and for good old time's sake, how about sharing fun memories of our Pledge Period and Inspiration Week and fun things like that! (Of course, nothing that would give away any surprises in store for future sisters!

)

My Pledge Period has not been that "ordinary" (who knows what is ordinary is anyway...), as I took a COB bid in December, helped the chapter with Formal Recruitment in January (we have Deferred), and then joined with my new Pledge class mid-January. I had never been through Formal before and I absolutely adored it!! Bid day was such a mix of emotions for me -- it was my own bid day and it was the culmination of my first Formal Recruitment! (It was really the best of both worlds! I wouldn't have traded it for anything!) I have loved getting to know all the sisters and wonderful girls who I will call sisters in just a few weeks!

So please, let the good times (or memories of the good times) roll...

ISUKappa · #2 03-03-2004, 10:30 AM

I pledged before the switch to the KORE program, so I had to wait an entire semester.

Some of my favorite things of I-week were our special sessions with each class. Every night during the week my pledge class would get together with an older pledge class and just spend time together--we might all go get ice cream somewhere, we might pile into the TV room and all watch chick flicks--one class had us pass around cut-out paper hearts with our names on it and we each had to write a fond memory or a warm fuzzy about that person. They were great ways to better get to know the older members and just learn how Kappa touches everyone in the house.

Another favorite thing we did was "Secret Actives" After dinner each night we would have treats for us up in the PJ lounge (computer room) or formal liv from our secret active. These were always small, cheap ($3 or under) gifts that were fun and/or related to Kappa. It was fun trying to guess who our SA was. She then revealed herself after Initiation. (though I don't know if that's allowed anymore) It just made us feel so special!

We always did a brunch the Saturday morning after everything was over where all the advisers and alumnae were welcome to attend. Everyone was flush with Kappa after initiation and the atmosphere in the house was just great!

EEKappa · #3 03-03-2004, 02:34 PM

On the night before initiation, after Fireside, we were given letters that our big sisters had written to us the nights before their initiation. We then had to write letters to our future little sisters, which were held until the next year.

(This was long enough ago that we still had big sisters, of course!)

I'm going to go help with Dartmouth's initiation this weekend. Can't wait!

sherbertlemons · #4 03-03-2004, 05:38 PM

Most of my favorite memories regarding Initiation are ritual-ish, so this post will be short.

I am a charter member of my chapter, and so my new member program was very unconventional, due to the lack of older sisters in our chapter. I discovered GC a week or two after I went through formal pledging, and introduced myself. I quickly got a PM from Curlygirly (one of the many Kappa PM's during my new member period) introducing herself as a recently initiated member of Epsilon Phi, at the University of Florida, which was to be our key sister chapter. (I go to the University of Central Florida, btw.) We PM'ed back and forth quite a bit over the next few weeeks, and about the Friday or Saturday before I- week started, I received a PM asking for my real name, saying she couldn't say why yet and just asking me to trust her on this one. I sent it to her, and when I was introduced to my key sister after Fireside that night, she comes up, hugs me, and said "By the way, I'm Curlygirly from GC."

That whole weekend was overwhelming for me- we were initiated by the Fraternity president, Ann Truesdell, and actives from five chapters were present at our initiation ceremony, which had about 200 Kappas in attendance not counting initiates. We were also told that we were the biggest new member class the Fraternity had ever initated who all went to active status (as opposed to alumnae status) afterwards, and the second biggest new member class ever in the history of the Fraternity.

I love our ritual, and love Inspiration Week. (I'm looking forward to ours in just a couple of weeks!) I'm excited to be serving as a key sister for the first time this semester, and just know I'll cry at Initation this year. Watch and listen closely, as I'm sure you'll love our ritual and our initation. Remember though you will hopefully attend many initiation ceremonies as a Kappa, you only get to be initated once, and I hope it will be as special to you and your new member class as it was to me and mine.

LuvUTrulyKKG · #5 03-03-2004, 05:49 PM

Thank you all for sharing...

I can't wait to hear even more!

KerriMarie · #6 03-04-2004, 11:22 PM

I was at sherbetlemons' initiation too! I went to FSU, and a bunch of girls from my chapter jumped at the chance to be a part of Kappa history by going to Orlando for that initiation... it was so much fun!

I was tragically working on a show during my Inspiration Week, so I missed all the night events - it was very sad, but that's what you get for being a theatre major. Luckily, this past year when I had my twin little sisters (key sisters, but whatever, they're still my littles!!!) I was able to attend all the I-Week things with them. So much fun!

One night during I-Week, "fun night," there was an IM football game at the beginning of the activity. One of my littles was in a meeting, so the other little and I went to the IM game to cheer on the girls that were playing (everyone else was at the activity) while waiting for Kathleen to get out of her meeting. The game ends, and we head to the activity... When we get there, the VPS pulls me aside, and started asking me all these questions about where we had been, what we had been doing, etc - she thought I had been hazing my girls! When I told her where we had been, we had a good laugh about it... and my littles still think it's the funniest story, because I would be the LAST person to haze anyone... it's just so laughable!

And I have very good initiation memories... not so much my initiation, because that was very much "what is going on???" but later initiations, once I know what's going on and everything - it's so beautiful! And my all-time favorite Kappa memory was the morning my two littles got initiated - that was so exciting for me.

sherbertlemons · #7 03-04-2004, 11:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by KerriMarie
And I have very good initiation memories... not so much my initiation, because that was very much "what is going on???" but later initiations, once I know what's going on and everything - it's so beautiful!

It is. I also swear that by this point I could probably recite large portions of our Initiation ritual verbatim.

KerriMarie · #8 03-08-2004, 10:13 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by sherbertlemons
It is. I also swear that by this point I could probably recite large portions of our Initiation ritual verbatim.

You sound like a Marshall!!

Are you?

Of all the jobs on Chapter Council that I ever wanted (never was on CC, sadly... I was kind of fake asst. treasurer, but that's the closest I got!) I really love the job of Marshall.

kappaloo · #9 03-08-2004, 11:24 PM

I have very fond memories of my initation sleepover. We "watched" (aka they were on, we weren't really paying attention) a couple movies while sewing our own very first set of letters (a Zeta Omega tradition). We stayed up far too late and had our NM chair telling us to go to sleep so we'd actually be half awake during initiation!.

Of course, I agree... initiation is my very favourite part though. I loved it the first time... and while i love taking part in it since (because to be honest, we do miss a lot the first time) nothing has been the wonder and happiness I experienced during my own initiation. Initiating my key sis came close though!

sherbertlemons · #10 03-14-2004, 10:25 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by KerriMarie
You sound like a Marshall!! Are you?

Of all the jobs on Chapter Council that I ever wanted (never was on CC, sadly... I was kind of fake asst. treasurer, but that's the closest I got!) I really love the job of Marshall.

I'm actually not a Marshall, I'm just a ritual nerd.

Plus our chapter's initiations are so huge that the Marshall always gives anyone in the chapter interested the opportunity to help plan Initiation and I-week stuff.

I would love to be our Marshall, though.

MSKKG · #11 03-15-2004, 05:48 PM

Steph, what did you think? Kappa's initiation ceremony is one of the most beautiful and meaningful rituals I've ever seen. Please tell how everything went last week.

LuvUTrulyKKG · #12 03-15-2004, 06:36 PM

Eta Alpha initiated 24 wonderful girls on Saturday (the 25th had a national handball tournament this weekend, broke her arm, and will be initiated with USC soon!)....

I thought the ritual was absolutely wonderful and amazing! I look forward to all the initiations I will attend throughout my lifetime! I am truly blessed to call all the wonderful girls in my chapter (and throughout the entire kappa kappa gamma world!) sisters now!

Two of us planned Inspiration Week and it was full of bonding and fun! By Friday night, we were sooo excited! Surrendering of the Pin, Fireside, and Initiation was all and more than we expected... it was AWESOME!!

love and loyalty,

PKTKKG · #13 03-15-2004, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by LuvUTrulyKKG
Eta Alpha initiated 24 wonderful girls on Saturday (the 25th had a national handball tournament this weekend, broke her arm, and will be initiated with USC soon!)....

I thought the ritual was absolutely wonderful and amazing! I look forward to all the initiations I will attend throughout my lifetime! I am truly blessed to call all the wonderful girls in my chapter (and throughout the entire kappa kappa gamma world!) sisters now!

Two of us planned Inspiration Week and it was full of bonding and fun! By Friday night, we were sooo excited! Surrendering of the Pin, Fireside, and Initiation was all and more than we expected... it was AWESOME!!

love and loyalty,

Wonderful! Congratulations on becoming a sister of Kappa Kappa Gamma!!!

curlygirly · #14 03-18-2004, 12:05 AM

Sherbertlemons... It's so exciting reading your story about Initiation... I'm glad I could make it special!!!

I was lucky enough that only a couple of weeks after my own initiation, I had the chance to help out with Eta Eta. I think attending another initiation so close to mine helped me appreciate everything... not to mention *refresh* my memory!!! (i had the whole-- what's going on-- thing going too!!)

But I also had such a great time when it was time to initiate my little sister. The excitement leading up is just wonderful!! I felt like a proud mom the entire time!

I also like the activities leading up to initiation night. It's always extremely poignant to me when the seniors get up and talk about their initiation night, or about their experiences. You don't realize the magnitude of it all until you get to watch the little ones go through! hehe...

alright... enough of memory lane!