Kappa Delta Zeta believes that confidence is an important topic and aspect in students’ lives that often gets overlooked, which was a driving factor for their annual Kappa Confidence Campaign.

The event held Wednesday attracted a variety of Sonoma State students to listen to the various speakers and performers who exemplified who they are and what makes them confident at Kappa Delta Zeta’s sixth annual Kappa Confidence Campaign. 

    The campaign is Kappa Delta Zeta’s annual philanthropy event that raises money and awareness to the Living Room, Sonoma County’s only day center that provides services to the homeless and at-risk women and their children. 

    “The Living Room strives to provide these women with a sense of safety, security and confidence,” said Mara Patino, a sophomore liberal studies major and Kappa Delta Zeta’s public relations vice president. “We take that mission along with our sorority’s and strive to bring confidence to college students.”

Performances throughout the night ranged from acoustic singing to poetry. However, there were many empowering student speakers at the event who spoke fearlessly, sharing their personal stories with the audience about what makes them confident.  

Rio Jones, a sophomore studio art major, stood tall and proud while sharing her story of how she found her confidence through pageantry after struggling with it for years. 

“Even though I feel confident in myself, certain things can be hard to talk about,” Jones said. “It took me a long time to accept my sexuality, so getting on stage and admitting it still makes my heartbeat in my throat. 

“I’m happy that I got to share my personal journey, and I loved hearing what people had to say after they heard my story,” Jones said.

Besides the many sisters of Kappa Delta Zeta, the audience was mostly filled with students and some faculty there to support not just KDZ, but the student performers as well. It gave students in attendance the ability to come together as a university by combining various backgrounds and organizations together. 

“The Kappa Confidence Campaign was truly an inspiring event,” said Carina Reyes, a sophomore pre-nursing major. “It really left an impact on those who attended and all of the presentations left me with an impactful message and truly inspired me to be the best version of myself.” 

Many of the speakers were brave enough to tell their story about what made them confident. It gave the students who were able to relate to the speakers a chance to listen to how they were able to overcome their own insecurities and become confident in themselves.

“The event really brought me to tears because I was able to see how brave all the speakers were to share their personal stories with us while being in such a vulnerable state,” Reyes said. “The event made me reflect on myself and how I see confidence within myself, and it’s allowed me to take a step back and realize how much confidence I do have.”