As a alumnus of Fresno State Sigma Chi, can you remember yourself as a rushee? We were told that half of our education from college would be academic and the other half would be social. Each would be of equal importance to our success in life and business. Look back, and you will agree that this turned out to be true.

Choosing to attend a college or university gave us the opportunity for a good academic education. Choosing to become a fraternity member gave us the opportunity for a good social education giving us a significant advantage over young men who did not choose to join the Greek system.

We alumni often tell our undergraduate brothers that the years we lived in the Chapter House were the best years of our lives, and that because of our interaction with live-in brothers, we were able to obtain leadership and social skills not attainable otherwise. How important are these leadership and social skills? Are they really 50%?

Headline on the CNBC News website on October 2, 2022 “Tim Cook says there are 4 traits he looks for in Apple employees: ‘It’s been a very good formula for us”

Apple is the most valuable company on Planet Earth with Tim Cook its CEO for the last ten years. At the University of Naples Federico II’s commencement ceremony this week, Cook told graduates from the Naples, Italy, university that Apple’s success depends on its culture and who it hires. For instance, the company typically seeks out employees with four shared skills: the ability to collaborate, creativity, curiosity and expertise. As he spoke, he appeared to rank the skill sets in that order. He said the reason collaboration is so important is because it combines all three of the other skills. “We look for wicked smart people … [but] there are a lot of wicked smart people,” he said at the conference. “We look for people that are very collaborative because nobody — even somebody who has … a cape on their back — can do everything alone.”

Today’s college and university students have spent their entire lives texting instead of having face-to-face human interaction where they could learn leadership and social skills, ie, the ability to collaborate. Greek life changes that, but especially for those who live in the Chapter House. What we learned in our academic classes were important, the fun of Greek life was fantastic, the life-long bonds of brotherhood and the social skills we learned from those brothers were priceless. by Mike Patton 63-S

To read the entire article click on this link: CNBC October 2, 2022

Those of you who have not tried the fine wines produced by brother Mark Pasculli 81-F, you are missing out on a great opportunity. Idaho is an up-and-coming wine region, and Mark and wife Lori are producing some of the best from their estate vineyard in Eagle, Idaho. Past Consul Shannon Patrick 03-S lives near the winery and is all set to taste with Mark. I personally tasted six different varietals and they were all world class.

You may have the opportunity to visit the winery, Rolling Hills Vineyard, in Eagle, but if not, visit Mark’s website and have some shipped. You can find him at https://www.rollinghillsvineyard.com.  

Cheers and in hoc brother Pasculli,

Mike Patton 63-S

The White Rose Memorial Scholarship Fund was created through the Fresno State Alumni Association (FSAA) on June 29, 1993.  The FSAA uses a fund manager, currently Charles Schwab, to manage the funds of dozens of endowments like ours in a manner that guarantees continuous annual income in perpetuity.

The idea for the White Rose came from the Fresno Sigma Chi House Corporation board members.  The original goals were to “encourage academic excellence,” and by including only in-house brothers for the funding pool, to “create long-term financial stability for the House Corporation.”  As we all know, the House Corporation is charged with maintaining our most important icon at Fresno State Sigma Chi, the Chapter House.

On December 27, 2016, the Fresno Sigma Chi Endowment was created, also through the FSAA.  It had the same goals as the White Rose, and although the university will not  allow us to combine the two endowments, our Endowment Board treats them as one.

Our scholarship program began to reach critical mass in 2018 when we were able to award a total of $12,000 to six in-house brothers.  Brothers continued to donate to our Endowment, and this year we had enough income to award a total of $40,000.

The Chapter House was built for 41 brothers to live in, all in two-man rooms with the exception of the Consul’s room.  Nowadays it is uncommon for siblings to share bedrooms, and the same is true for our live-in brothers.  Although the real capacity is reduced to 20, the House Corporation is strong financially and the House is in pristine condition.  Also, for the last several years Fresno Sigma Chi has had the highest GPA of all fraternities on campus, and has exceeded the all-men’s average.  We accomplished our two original goals.

But there were unintended consequences.  During the last four years, the percentage of live-in brothers who were scholarship awardees has grown to be 75% which means brothers who are serious about academics are occupying the House and influencing the behavior of other brothers.  Also, word about Sigma Chi’s scholarship program has spread to the local high schools, and it is being used as a rush tool.  Our investment in our undergraduate brothers through scholarships has paid off handsomely.

Our Celebration of Brotherhood was a tremendous success on Saturday April 30, 2022.

Thank you to our Celebration of Brotherhood (coined by Ron LaRocca 61-F) Committee. Also, Don Beauregard 62-S, Norm Bishop 77-F, Jim Calandra 60-S, Brandon Cohrs 98-F, Chris Cole 82-F, Brad Fischer 78-S, Tony Flores 56-S, Marc Jason 81-F, Rich Klopfstein 74-F, Tom Kusaka 79-F, Dusty Lacefield 12-F, Ron LaRocca 61-F, Sam Mann 91-S, Dan O’Brien 61-F, Mike Patton 63-S, Bill Robinson 70-F, Mark Scott 69-F, Bill Van Skike 78-F and Zack Worden 11-F.

1960s Era

The short program featured a welcome by Tony Flores and a letter of congratulations from 72^nd Grand Consul Tim Sanderson, WESTERN 1985. Proclamations presented by Norm Bishop from the State Legislature, County of Fresno and City of Fresno. Presentation of the Significant Sig Award to Bill Smittcamp, 73-F by Significant Sig Jeff Burnside, Associate Director of Development of the Sigma Chi Foundation.

1970s Era

Brad Fischer presented Semi Century Sig certificates to David Arakelian 72-F, Bruce Quan 72-F & Kyle Stephenson 72-F. A new alumni chapter award, Pinnacle Award for the highest achievement was presented to Mike Patton. A letter of memories of Sigma Tau by Rodger Jensen 52-T was read. We closed the program with the singing of the Sweetheart of Sigma Chi to the Sweethearts and other women in the audience.

1980s Era