Ok, time for me to continue! We had our presentation from Kappa Alpha Theta the following weekend. (They were a week apart). This meeting was a lot longer and more drawn out because we met them for lunch before. We met in a beautiful room by the ocean. I'm glad we got to share another part of Santa Cruz with the Theta women. We met national representatives (including their president) as well as undergrads like ourselves. (Kappa also had undergrads with them, but I forgot to mention it in my other post.) Lunch was nice, but we were pretty nervous. I remember thinking the meal I ordered (a sandwich) wasn't very "sorority-like" because the woman next to me ordered a salad. Haha whatever!
We then hopped back in our cars and drove to campus for the presentation. Theta's president was very southern and proper - equally as awe-inspiring as Kappa's president. I remember she had a HUGE Theta kite necklace on. Major bling. I'm pretty sure Gamma Phi didn't have any representatives at this meeting. I can't remember if our campus adviser came.
Immediately after they left, my sisters and I sat down to discuss the presentations and vote on our (potential) affiliation. We were all still stunned by Theta's performance. I'm not afraid to voice my opinion, so I piped up right away. I said that Theta seemed much more put together than Kappa and they had so many programs. (or something to that effect...)
(I've read other expansion stories, and I noticed one difference I'm very happy about. Both Kappa and Theta said they would take our entire chapter if they chose to offer extension to us. Basically, they wouldn't do interviews to decide who to keep.)
However, one of my sisters pointed out that Kappa was "put together" just as well. We had seen their presentation the week before and it was the first, so we didn't know what to look for.
I've read something similar in regular recruitment threads, and I think our decision came down to this: we felt more at home with Kappa. We hugged them after they left, but this wasn't the case with Theta. The general consensus of the group was to go with Kappa, but we still voted on it. We each wrote our preference on a piece of paper and passed them in. I'm not entirely sure, but I think about 3 girls (out of 19) wrote Theta. I'm glad they still voted the way they wanted to after our group discussion.
I'm pretty sure an official letter was written up, but before it was sent out, our president called the extension director (Joanie) to tell them we had chosen Kappa. Apparently, she started screaming! (Side note: Joanie is ADORABLE. I want to visit her in Colorado someday so she can make cookies for me.) We also wrote a letter to Theta to let them know our decision. I believe that if another group choses to pursue national affiliation at UCSC, Theta has "first dibs." Joanie was already able to tell us that we would be accepted as they had voted on it a day or so after their presentation.
We became a colony at the end of February. We were inducted (what is the right verb for new member initiation??) by the international president with many alumnae in attendance. We then took on Kappa's name and symbols and held our first recruitment under their name. (Very unsuccessful, but that's another story.) We were officially installed on April 28, 2007 at the Pi Province Meeting at UC Berkeley (our Pi chapter). That weekend was AMAZING, and I am so very much in love with Kappa.
We held our first formal recruitment with Gamma Phi Beta this fall, and we took on 13 new members. We now have 28 members, which is pretty good for UCSC! Winter recruitment starts in a little over two weeks. I'm so excited!
(In case you're wondering, I'm the second from the left.)
Thanks for reading, everyone! If you have any questions about expansion that I can answer, please ask!
Kristen
P.S. Lucy is my dog's name. :-)
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