Written by Ariana Guillermo

    This past Halloween weekend we celebrated Halloween with our Alpha Chapter sisters from CSULB and the gentlemen of Alpha Psi Rho from SDSU and CSUN by having a joint social! Our annual Halloween social is a tradition that we have with Alpha Chapter to join together to celebrate Halloween with another Greek organization.

    For the social, all of our pledges carved pumpkins with their line-bros and line-sisses. Meanwhile, the actives of the organizations split into teams to play Halloween Taboo! As the night came to an end, the pledges were able to present short song-and-dance performances to their line-bros and line-sisses. Altogether the social was fun with being able to spend time with our sisters and meet the brothers of Alpha Psi Rho. Thank you to everyone for coming out!

Written by Tatiana Briones

“How you gon’ win, when you ain’t right within?” The words of famous recording artist Lauryn Hill resonated throughout the room. Tracy Buenavista, Department of Asian American Studies at California State University, Northridge, recited this line to emphasize the night’s theme: EmpowHERed Pinays. Each year, the sisters of Kappa Psi Epsilon organize Pinay Symposium to share the Pinay experience, which often goes overlooked. The theme of EmpowHERed Pinays focused on the different avenues which women can take to find their own inner strength.

Speakers of various backgrounds were invited to address an audience of both women and men on the night’s theme. Nenita “Tita” Domingo, lecturer in Filipino at UCLA, spoke about her experiences in community organizing in the Philippines to her story in becoming an educator. Loralei Bingamon shared how she uses her passion for art as a form of self-expression and community education through her workshops as a Certified Expressive Arts Therapy Practitioner and Soul Collage Facilitator. Darlene “Daya” Mortel narrated her journey from being the first Filipina to sit on the University of Washington’s Board of Regents to how she co-founded the Anakbayan in Honolulu, Hawaii, and how she is involved today with BAYAN-USA and Habi Arts. Last but not least, Tracy Buenavista elaborated on the importance of self-empowerment to prevent the occurrence of “battle fatigue” within both the Pinay and Pinoy community.

The sisters of Kappa Psi Epsilon find importance in learning about the struggles of the community and sharing the lessons that come with their experiences. Through this annual event, the sisters of Kappa Psi Epsilon are able to reach out to an audience of UCLA students as well as members of the greater Los Angeles community. With that said, Kappa Psi Epsilon would like to thank the brothers of Theta Delta Beta, Gamma Chapter and the sisters of Tau Theta Pi, Beta Chapter as well as members of the community based organizations: People’s Community Organization for Reform and Empowerment, Kabataang maka-Bayan, and SiGAw for attending this event. Each year, the sisters will continue to carry out Pinay Symposium in order to provide a space where Pinays and their allies can share their experiences.

Written by Vanessa Hermoso

    This past October was Pilipino American History Month (PAHM) and in order to help celebrate the contributions and the history of Pilipinos here in the United States, the sisters of Kappa Psi Epsilon, Delta Chapter organized a week’s worth of events called Pilipino American Herstory Month. The week-long celebration commemorated the past, present and future of Pilipino and Pilipino Americans.

    The events of the week included a Baybayin workshop, a Pilipino food fundraiser, and this year’s Pinay Symposium. As a means of celebrating the past, our Baybayin workshop allowed us to share the history of this ancient script that was used in the pre-colonial day of the Philippines and the techniques in writing it. The Pilipino Food fundraiser allowed us to share with others the Pilipino food that we know and love with all of campus and let us share our present as Pilipino Americans with all of campus. This year’s Pinay Symposium entitled “EmpowHERed Pinays” celebrated the fact that many Pinays that are currently working to improve the future of Pilipino Americans here in the United States. This year’s speakers included Tracy Buenavista, a Ph. D. professor from CSUN who researches how topics like race, gender and socioeconomic status affect Pilipino Americans, and Loralei Bingamon, a Pinay artist who uses her art as a means of empowering not only herself but also her community. This year’s events helped to celebrate PAHM by allowing us to “learn from the past, live in the present and work for the future” of Pilipino Americans.

On October 16th, the sisters of Kappa Psi Epsilon participated in AIDS Walk Los Angeles 2011. Marching through the streets of West Hollywood with other schools, Greek organizations, and community organizations was an amazing experience. This is sure to be an event we participate in again in the future.

Written by Danna Tamayo

KPsiE warmly welcomed UCLA and non-UCLA women during rush week, to learn more about the sisterhood and figure out if it is something they’re really interested in pursuing. As rushees, we were able to engage in fun and meaningful activities such as a cultural movie night with the Gentlemen of Chi Rho Omicron, a sisterhood bonfire, and an arts and crafts night where we got to express ourselves through art.  There were also two very inspiring info nights where the sisters of the organization testified as to how KPsiE has allowed them to grow into the motivated and passionate women they are today. During these info nights, we were able to learn more about the benefits of being in KPsiE and how it can make us grow into more empowered women. The culminating event was the Bid Dinner where thirteen of us decided to formally accept the invitation to pursue the journey in discovering our inner strength, and to use this strength to be the change in the world. 

Written by Ariana Guillermo

    This was my first rush as an active and I have to say it was extremely fun! Our theme for rush was Fly Away: Take a Chance, Spread Your Wings, Be Your Own Woman.  We wanted rush to be an opportunity for anyone to come, meet the sisters, and learn more about our organization in general. Thus, our theme was centered on taking that change to learn more about us and possibly being part of our organization. From zero week to first week we had rush events that were open for everyone to attend to just hang out and have fun together.
    We had a plethora of fun events for rush.  Our first event was with the gentlemen of Chi Rho Omicron at Cal Poly Pomona, where we watched Eric Tandoc’s documentary “Sound of New Hope” and enjoyed some yummy Pilipino food. Pomona, where we watched Eric Tandoc’s documentary “Sound of New Hope” and enjoyed some yummy Pilipino food. Even Eric Tandoc was there for the showing of the film and a discussion afterwards. Later in the week we also had an ice cream social with the gentlemen of Mu Delta Theta. My favorite event was our sisterhood bonfire! During the bonfire we cooked hotdogs, made s’mores, and played games at the beach.  It was fun getting to know everyone and bonding all together. Even some of our sisters from Alpha chapter came to hang out too so it was nice having everyone around.

From September 10-11 was the 20th annual Festival of Pilipino Arts and Culture (FPAC). Each year, the sisters of Kappa Psi Epsilon volunteer at this event. This year in particular, the Kappas of Delta Chapter volunteered at the Health and Wellness Pavilion. One of the head directors of the Health and Wellness Pavilion was our very own sister, Michelle Pasco. The pavilion included stations such as Origami Heart Folding to spread awareness about hypertension, Blood Pressure and Body Mass Index Screenings, Smoking Effects, Exercise/Stretching, Portion Sizes, and the popular station of Stress Ball Making. Other pavilions at FPAC included Babaylan, Pilipino Art, Seniors, and Youth. The two day Festival was jam packed with performances from Lea Salonga, Rex Navarette, Joe Bataan, Native Guns, and a Tinikling Battle. There were also various Pilipino food and clothing vendors. Overall, the event was a success and a weekend to celebrate Pilipino culture!

Special shout-outs go out to FilAm Arts for coordinating such a great event and our sisters Jen Santos and Missy Austria who are head coordinators of FPAC!

On August 6-7, the sisters of Kappa Psi Epsilon  met for our annual conference, Summer Summit. Held at UC Davis, the home of Gamma Chapter, sisters from all chapters - Long Beach, San Francisco, Davis, Los Angeles, and Sacramento - had the chance to catch up on our lives and become inspired for the upcoming Kappa year. This year's theme "BA-Bold Ambitions" left us all excited to accomplish our dreams with the help of our sisterhood behind us.