Jazmine Edmiston, Iota Gamma

Going to the centennial national convention and representing Iota Gamma was such a wonderful experience. I got to spend a week hanging out with my favorite people in the Western District and making new friends across the country. It really helped me feel like a part of something much bigger than myself, my chapter, and my university. I am a part of Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity.

Iota Gamma was nominated by the Western District for the Ken Corbett Most Improved Chapter Award. We were thrilled to be nominated and worked very hard to continue striving for the highest all the way up to the finish line. I had to travel alone to Stillwater but I had my entire chapter behind me. I stayed in an AirBnB will some of my Wagon brothers and the night before the award presentations we all sat together and proofread Iota Gammas poster, working together to make it the best it could be. Thank you to everyone in that house for checking my grammar! The presentation went well and later than the day I got a message saying that there was a banquet ticket for me in the main office. I hadn’t been able to purchase one, so this was odd. Good thing I packed formal wear just in case a miracle happened. ;)

The banquet was wonderful. One thousand band kids kept singing the transition songs after they were faded out. Sweet Caroline definitely went on for a verse more than intended. The food was tasty, the company was amazing, and at the end of the night, Jessica Lee made a speech about Iota Gamma in front of the entire fraternity and awarded the Ken Corbett Most Improved Chapter Award. It was a magical experience, I’m beyond proud of my chapter, and I’m so blessed that I was able to go to NatCon.

At the booth displaying their posters for the Corbett Most Improved Chapter Award

Michelle You

I got to spend a week... making new friends across the country. It really helped me feel like a part of something much bigger than myself, my chapter, and my university.

IOTA GAMMA CORBETT MOST IMPROVED CHAPTER AWARD

At the beginning of the Biennium, Iota Gamma was in a rough spot. We had just sent half of our chapter to their first district event and sent two Brothers to Natcon and realized how woefully behind other chapters we were. We elected new officers and believe the new Biennium was as good a time as ever to reinvent Iota Gamma.

The first chapter of the year we lost four Brothers, including our Vice President of Service. We were ineffective in our bands and community. We were cut off from our district and national Brothers. We were poor and we weren’t having any fun. Something, a lot of things needed to change.

Our first focus was increasing our service output, as well as fundraising more money to help support our bands and increase interactions at the district level. The first couple of months were a struggle. No one in the bands knew who we were so recruitment was sparse. There were a couple of fundraisers but they weren’t that successful. We elected a new VPS in September and she immediately jumped into her work. We created sign up sheets for loading and unloading the van for Cougar Marching Band rehearsals, we started brain storming free service ideas that we could accomplish while waiting for our fundraising to take off. We came up with ideas such as tightening music stands and cleaning Kimbrough Music Building, specifically the practice rooms to help prevent the spread of colds.

Things started looking up in October. The Brothers were staying after football games in a coordinated effort to clean up after the Cougar Marching Band. We bought snacks and stuffed bags for visiting marching bands. We had only raised a couple hundred dollars selling T-shirts that looked like the Cougar Marching Band Uniform. Kappa Kappa Psi was getting their name out. We were approached by a band member and were asked to help run the Spokane-area marching band competition. We decided to make a weekend out of it. We borrowed a lake cabin from a Brothers family and spent the whole weekend in Spokane bonding, playing games, and doing service for our greater community bands.

A few weeks later the Cougar Marching Band Director asked us to help run Washington State University’s marching band competition. We helped run everything as smoothly as possible. Iota Gamma also had the opportunity to sell T-shirts at the event which made enough money that we were able to donate approximately $400 to the Cougar Marching Band. That was something we had never dreamed we would be able to do.

That November we crossed two new Brothers. They were a small class but they were driven and passionate about what they do. They were ready to do whatever they could to help.

In January we paid for gas for all the Brothers and Sisters to go to District Leadership Conference. We had a huge turn out. It was a great experience for our Brothers and introduced many of them to the district for the first time. We met Brothers from other universities and realized what a great community we had at our disposal. Later that year we sent one Brother to Western District Conference, and had two Brothers apply for district officer positions.

We realized we were spending a lot of time and energy on the Cougar Marching Band and wanted to expand our service. Our Treasurer brought the idea of a swing dance to the chapter. We decided to move forward and the Big Band Bash was created. Both of the Jazz Bands agreed to perform. The Palouse Swing Devils provided professional swing dance instruction. We advertised on the local radio stations, on TV’s across campus and posters across town. The Big Band Bash was a huge hit and we were able to donate $200 to the Jazz Bands to help pay their festival fees.

Later that month we volunteered at the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival at the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho. Their volunteer coordinator said we were the best.

At the end of the spring we crossed two new Brothers and put two Honoraries through the Ritual of Third Degree. We elected new officers and started looking forward to the next year.

At the beginning of our second year we didn’t lose any Brothers. We were full steam ahead with our service projects and fundraisers. We got even more organized about loading and unloading the van. There was never a day this season that there wasn’t enough help getting prepared. We continued doing T-shirt fundraisers and began planning the Big Band Bash much earlier.

Over the summer our Executive Board took a good look at our Chapter constitution and worked with our Sergeant at Arms to update the constitution to match how we were conduct our business. This in general increased chapter knowledge of the constitution and we tried a lot harder to follow our constitution after amending it.

One of the new things this year was our website. We had a dedicated Webmaster who built us an entire website from scratch. This website is currently unavailable due to technical difficulties, but at its prime it had forms for interested personnel to get more information about Iota Gamma and a form for anyone to submit service project opportunities. We had an active calendar so Brothers and faculty could keep up with our event, as well as lots of informational reading for anyone interested in Kappa Kappa Psi. Our Secretary started posting more on social media and overall we were more active in the online communities we inhabited.

During elections the previous spring we implemented a Music Chair. We wanted to focus on our musicality more so this year and our Music Chair did an excellent job. He hosted hymn rehearsals so everyone could learn their actual parts. We learned the Fraternity Song for the first time. He implemented two new programs , Song of the Week where all the Brothers submit a song to a group Spotify playlist and then we vote on our favorites, and Band of the Week where he brought an unusual band to the chapters attention to broaden our musical horizons. Our Music Chair also taught us how to play in an African drum circle and hosted a service project where we played home made boom-wackers for a student project. To top it off he got the chapter to preform the hymn at the American Music Recital hosted by Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.

We helped at the marching band competition again, as well at the Orchestra Festival, Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, Music Major for A Day, Octoboe fest and a more put on by the School of Music. We even sent a couple Brothers up to Spokane on a day trip to their marching band competition.

Big Band Bash was bigger and bigger. Other chapters across the district reached out to us for directions on how to do their own Big Band Bash. The theme this year was the roaring twenties.

We sent brothers to District Leadership Conference, States Day, Western District Conference and Natcon this year which is the first time since 2015 we have achieved this. We approved one Brother to run for District Office this year.

For our Ritual of Third Degree this year we invited our Alumni to participate in the Ritual functions, and we had the largest Alumni turnout ever. It was wonderful having the whole family together while welcoming the new members into the fold.

Iota Gamma may be small but we are now mighty. We work hard for our bands and love what we do. Washington State University would not be the same without us. We have become widely known and are called upon to help with projects both big and small. We are more aware of our musicianship than ever before. We participate in our larger Brotherhood community, and we sincerely feel we’ve completed a 180 in the last biennium. We truly have been striving for the highest.

For the next biennium we have goals to host a DLC and potentially even a WDC. Iota Gamma has long term goals for our growth and I am so excited to see where we can go.