Our chapter did several things to promote academic excellence. Here are a few:
1) For every 4.0 average, a sister was given a pearl that was added to the guard of her DZ badge. This was done every semester (actually, quarter, since we were on the quarter system at the time). I'm proud to say that we had several girls with more than one pearl on their guards!
2) The A Bag - every week, the A bag was passed around in our chapter meeting and every girl got to put her name in the bag one time for every A she received in class that week. This counted for homework A's, research paper A's and test A's. At the end of the meeting, a name was drawn from the bag and the girl was given a certificate to be used for 2 free professional pictures from our next social event.
3) The Cut Can - at the beginning of our meeting, when role was called, each girl had to answer the role by counting off how many classes she had cut that week. For example, if you missed 3 classes, you had to stand and say "One, two, three". If you missed no classes, you stood and said "Lambda Pi" (our chapter name). Missing because you were sick does not count against you. The Cut Can was passed around at that time, and you had to put in a quarter for every class you missed. The money from the Cut Can was used to buy the pearls for the 4.0 girls at the end of the semester.
4) The girls with the most improved GPA and the highest GPA were each given certificates at the end of the semester and the chapter paid one month of their dues as their reward for doing so well.
Hope this helps!!!