On March 1, the Georgia Tech Collegiate Panhellenic Council (CPC) announced that Kappa Alpha Theta (KAT) fraternity, more colloquially known as Thetas, have accepted their extension invitation to be the newest sorority at Tech.
The decision was made days after the conclusion of a week of presentations from three sororities — Kappa Delta (KD), Chi Omega (XO) and KAT.
These sororities were approached for the possibility of extension by the extension committee after the NPC community unanimously voted to open the campus for extension back in November. NPC elected not to extend in 2014 when our campus was first deemed to be able to support another sorority. The last sorority to be added to our campus was Alpha Phi back in 2008, and they officially colonized in April of 2009.
During each extension presentation, each attendee was given a rubric to be handed in at the end of the session to disclose their thoughts on the presenting sorority in the following categories: academic support, new member education, community service and philanthropy, campus involvement, international alumni support and chapter support. They ranked them on a scale from 1 to 10 on whether the sorority would be a good fit for Tech.
KD kicked off the presentations on Monday in Clery Theatre. Their representatives emphasized KD’s focus on instilling confidence in women on campus through their Confidence U program. Their presentation also heavily focused on their work with Girl Scouts of America and Child Abuse Prevention, even going as far as finding possibly beneficiaries if selected.
Tuesday in Klaus Lecture Hall, XO’s representatives shared their strong alliance with the Make-A-Wish foundation. They emphasized their pillars of friendship, personal integrity, service to others, academic excellence and intellectual pursuits, community and campus involvement and personal and career development.
At the final presentation on Thursday, representatives from KAT told attendees to “think” on a variety of topics, ranging from the past to issues around the world. KAT also discuss their Sisters Supporting Sisters mental health initiative and partnership with Talk One-2-One. There was also a great emphasis on Theta’s history of success with chapters at STEM Institutions, including many of Tech’s peer schools.
“[KAT] demonstrated how they lived their philanthropy. They also focused a lot on academic support, and I like how they set different [academic] standards for different schools, so they’re understanding to the academic rigor of [Tech] and how its different from other schools,” said Virginia Fishburn, first-year IE and Phi Mu.
All three sororities stated that they were “able and willing” to devote resources to help build a new house and introduced potential layout and integration plans and scheduling, if selected.
“The Panhellenic community is absolutely ecstatic to welcome Kappa Alpha Theta to Georgia Tech,” said McKenzie Elliott, fourth-year CM and CPC president. “We were particularly impressed by their focus on mental health and unique philanthropy endeavors with the organization named CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates). I am confident that Theta will add great value to both the Greek community and student body of Georgia Tech.”
Other members of the Greek community were equally excited about the addition of KAT.
“I am very excited to welcome Kappa Alpha Theta to our campus! I think they will be a fantastic addition to our Greek Community, and I look forward to welcoming them in the fall,” said Matteo Valles, fourth-year ME and Interfraternity Council president.