KAPPA DELTA BECOMES A NEW ADDITION TO MASON’S PANHELLENIC SORORITIES
By Hailey Bullis, Staff Writer
As of this fall, Kappa Delta has become the eighth sorority in Mason’s Panhellenic Council. Coincidentally, Mason’s Kappa Delta is the eighth active Chapter in Virginia as well.
The new chapter will be called Theta Rho and is currently being established by two of Kappa Delta’s Leadership Development Consultants, Alexis Soares and Jordan Webb.
Kappa Delta, established in 1897, is a sorority with more than 250,000 members, 164 active collegiate chapters and more than 200 alumnae chapters throughout the country.
Mason’s Panhellenic Council started to look into establishing a new sorority after complaints that the already established sororities were becoming too big. Membership jumped from 90 members to 130 in the last five years according to an article by Alexa Rogers on George Mason’s official site.
Kappa Delta was chosen out of 13 other applicants due to their willingness and initiative to work with the community.
The sorority describes itself as a national organization for women committed to: inspiring their full potential; preparing their members for community service, active leadership and responsible citizenship; as well as creating opportunities for lifetime involvement, and fostering the development of time-honored values, according to their official page www.kappadelta.org.
So what makes Kappa Delta different? For starters, Delta Kappa’s two main philanthropies are Prevent Child Abuse America and partners with the Girl Scouts of the USA.
For PCAA, all Kappa Delta chapters are also at liberty to decide the best way to raise money, whether it’s through holding a basketball tournament or having a carnival.
Kappa Delta’s other philanthropy, Girl Scouts of the USA, holds four different events (two each semester) and invites down Girl Scouts in the Virginia area to come build confidence, leadership and STEM programming.
Two other notable events Kappa Delta takes part in include the Confidence Coalition that the sorority founded in 2009 and the Dating Abuse Awareness Campaign.
“…Everything Kappa Delta does is built on a platform of confidence. So our tagline is building confidence and inspiring action, so we’re hoping to do that not only in our members but in the Mason community and in the panhellenic community,” said Soares.
Currently Kappa Delta is on the hunt for girls of all classes to establish their chapter. They did not take part in the official Mason rush week, September 14-18, and instead will be holding their own recruitment September 29-October 1.
“We’re looking to recruit a whole chapter rather than a new pledge class, so we want women of every class year […] we felt like participating a week and a half after would help give us a little more time to do some PR on campus and will encourage upperclassman to go through our recruitment process as well,” said Soares.
It’s currently not known how many women Kappa Delta will pledge this fall as it is just getting on its feet; however, Soares and Webb have been tabling and holding interest sessions to answer any questions any interested parties might have.
The pair also hope to have “coffee dates” with women to get to know them and inform them about Kappa Delta. “The founding members will be able to lay the foundation of a successful chapter, and they’ll be able to create traditions that will last for years and years,” said Soares.
Those interested in joining Kappa Delta should email Soares and Webb at masonkd@kappadelta.org.
Photo Courtesy of Kappa Delta
