Recently, Kappa Delta sorority has made efforts in encouraging women on WKU’s campus to follow their dreams through the Confidence Coalition.

On Tuesday, WKU Greek Affairs received a $1,000 grant from the Coalition, allowing for Greek Affairs to spread even more encouragement next semester.

Led by the national Kappa Delta sorority, the Coalition’s purpose is to assemble organizations, companies and individuals that promote high self-esteem and confidence in women, according to the Coalition’s website. Since the Coalition’s creation in 2009, more than 40 organizations have become members.

The Coalition encourages awareness projects, such as the “You Make Me Smile” balloon campaign, which WKU’s Kappa Delta chapter participated in during October, Kappa Delta President Caitlin Pike said.

Pike, a junior from La Grange, said the campaign included handing out blue balloons that contained confidence-boosting messages and was very successful.

“This was something simple to introduce the Confidence Coalition to campus,” Pike said.

After attending KD’s national convention this summer, Pike said she and the other attendees decided to spread the movement to WKU.

She said the movement has been successful so far.

“Inside our chapter, we use the word ‘confidence’ a lot more on a day-to-day basis,” Pike said. “Now that we see how important it is to be confident, we’re trying to convey that message to the Bowling Green and campus community.”

At the convention, the KDs learned that WKU Greek Affairs could apply for a $5,000 grant from the Coalition to help spread this message, Pike said.

While Greek Affairs didn’t receive the $5,000 grant, they received the $1,000 as a special “surprise” grant, Pike said.

Gary Wiser, coordinator of Student Activities, said receiving the grant should be a great opportunity.

“We are going to create a women’s empowerment week, which will hopefully become a tradition across campus every spring,” Wiser said.

The empowerment week, scheduled for March 21-26, will be open to the entire WKU community, Pike said.

Greek Affairs hopes to bring in speakers to talk about confidence, but it also hopes to bring a community service aspect to it, Pike said.

“We want to do this with domestic violence issues,” Pike said. “We hope to have women volunteer at women’s shelters, have a speaker and conclude with ‘Walk a Mile in Her Shoes’ event, where men will walk a mile in heels.”

Overall, Pike said the grant will help celebrate the confidence of women year-long.

“This has been a major focus for the KDs this semester, and so getting this grant is even more exciting because of that,” Pike said. “And now it’s not just our chapter but our campus that will be more aware of the Confidence Coalition.”