It’s more than just friendship and Instagram pictures, running a sorority takes hard work. Kappa Kappa Gamma Chapter President, Gabby Johnson, is a junior at Florida State University and works tirelessly to create a sisterhood for her fellow Kappas. She joined the sorority in the fall of 2020 and jumped into leadership less than three months after her initiation. Since then, she’s brought her sisters even closer together.
Her Campus (HC): What motivated you to go after leadership?
Gabby Johnson (GJ): I was very involved with leadership in high school and felt like I never really saw the fruit of my labor. I thought it was a really great opportunity right after COVID to really get involved. I was kind of anti-Greek life for a little bit until I got into my chapter. I was like, “Oh man, there’s more than what you see in the media.” But I’m really happy I got involved because I don’t think I could have made friends freshman year without it.
HC: What are some of your responsibilities as chapter president?
GJ: The way our structure works, it’s very different because we only have seven Vice Presidents (VP) and some director roles. The directors are the ones that actually plan the events, sisterhood events, etc. Then, the VP oversees their respective departments. I oversee it all, making sure that everything is actually happening. Last year in my role as Vice President of Operations, I did a lot of culture work, chapter culture work with leadership specifically. Now it’s just me, and I experience a little bit of everything.
HC: It sounds like it takes a lot of dedication. So what is your role specifically during recruitment as chapter president?
GJ: We’re changing it a little bit this year. After going through it on the other side as a recruitment counselor, getting a connection with potential new members and seeing what they go through, I was like, “Okay, let’s change something.” The two weeks of recruitment are the only two weeks that pretty much the entire chapter is going to be together the whole time. In my opinion, that’s the best time to work on sisterhood and growth, which is what I wanted to focus on more this year.
HC: I did Continuous Ongoing Bidding and even that was a lot.
GJ: And that’s chill compared to what formal recruitment is like. This year, I’m going to sit down with our members because for me, bid day was so overwhelming. You went through the most exhausting week of your life and now you’re running home to a ton of strangers who you’re supposed to pretend that you’re best friends with, but you’re not. If someone’s actually being truthful with you, they’ll tell you it takes time. When I came home, even as a Rho Gam, I knew people but I was like, “I need to go sit in my room for a second.” So I’m making it very clear to my chapter this year, if your Bid Day buddy seems uncomfortable or overwhelmed, bring them to a quiet space and let them relax for a second.
HC: How do you guys come up with the themes for Bid Day and other events? I saw that you just did poker chips for Bid Day.
GJ: I can’t speak for what we’ve done in the past, but this year we had them create ten themes, and the VP that oversaw that was like, “These are my top three favorite ideas. Now you choose your favorite out of these three.” I really want my team to have the most creative ability possible. For date functions and sisterhood events, we’re trying to do a similar thing where whoever that chair is, they choose ten themes and a handful are selected from that list. Then, the chapter votes on those top three choices.
HC: So what foundation is Kappa partnered with for philanthropy and what kinds of things do you do to support them?
GJ: We re-vote every year on our philanthropy because our philanthropy is mental health and wellbeing. Then the Kappa Foundation, with mental health and well-being being so broad, takes a vote every year. Nationals has a list of ten different foundations that we can vote from. We almost always choose the National Alliance on Mental Illness because there’s a Tallahassee chapter and it’s super easy to donate to them. It relates deeply to most members. It’s kind of tricky, to be honest, because it’s a little bit more taboo than other philanthropies. We’re trying to break that, obviously, and we want to be able to talk about it. Our most popular event is Kappa, Koffee and Goats, which is so much fun. You get a coffee and you get to hold a goat for 15 minutes, which brings your blood pressure down. We also get free membership to Headspace and some other really great resources. Our other philanthropy is the Kappa Foundation, which gives back to Kappas in need; we have a scholarship, need and merit-based.
HC: What are some of the activities the sorority puts on?
GJ: We do date functions, sisterhood, philanthropy and service events. From my view, the biggest impact are the small events, like a movie night at the house. Little things like games, painting and trivia nights are fun. But sisterhood, in my opinion, is the most important. That’s the core of it.
HC: Do you guys partner with frats?
GJ: We do for our philanthropy, like Dance Marathon and line dance, but our Nationals organization doesn’t really allow us to partner with any fraternity organization.
HC: You mentioned Dance Marathon. What kind of activities does the sorority do for Dance Marathon?
GJ: Dance Marathon is so cool. Participants do little things at the house, like fundraisers. For me, it’s mostly about just supporting the members who do it. People will sign up for car shifts because I know after you’re done with Dance Marathon, you’re legally not allowed to drive.
HC: What are you looking forward to most this semester?
GJ: This semester, I am looking forward to initiation. I’m really nervous for it because I have to do a lot of reading parts, but I’m still looking forward to it because it’s very special to me. It’s really cool because I’ve seen it from one way this whole time and now I see it from the President’s view. I’m very excited to get more into rituals and traditions this year, just to feel more connected with everything.
HC: What advice would you give to someone who’s thinking about joining a sorority?
GJ: Be yourself 100 percent because I really struggled with this during recruitment. I was trying to be someone I wasn’t, and actually had my hair permanently straightened and dyed blonde for recruitment. When a chapter doesn’t get back to you or you don’t get asked back, sometimes they’re doing you a favor too, because they know that you wouldn’t fit in with their sisterhood. So just be 100% yourself.
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