On Friday, April 8, the University of New Haven’s Sigma Chi chapter held their SigFest concert to celebrate the end of Derby Days. Fire Science Club and Men’s Rugby helped co-sponsor the event.
The goal was to raise $20,000, and Sigma Chi exceeded expectations by raising a total of $27,589 during the week. All proceeds go to the Huntsman Cancer Foundation, an institute focused on research, education, and care for patients with cancer.
Sigma Chi decided to wrap up Derby Days by bringing a different music genre to the University’s campus. Rather than the usual rap, pop, or hip hop concert, SigFest was a country concert featuring Carter Winter and Joel Crouse.
Carter Winter is an up-and-coming artist from small town Ohio. He performed a mixture of his own original songs and cover songs. “It was really cool; it was a vibe I didn’t really expect from Connecticut, because you don’t really expect a lot of really cool country music fans in Connecticut. It was a good time for sure,” Winter said after his performance.
SigFest replaced Sigma Chi’s SigGlow event from last year. Due to weather problems, SigFest was moved from the quad to the German Club. It was about double the size of SigGlow and proved to be the best year so far for fundraising for the event.
The money raised from the week places the UNH chapter as fourth out of 242 chapters around the nation. This was the biggest fundraising organization, behind St. Jude’s Up Till Dawn, on UNH’s campus.
“I want to give back…and this is the perfect way to do that,” said Michael Swift, a sophomore at UNH and member of Sigma Chi.
Planning SigFest was no easy task. Dale Eriksen, Joe Delayo, and Mark Sylvester were in charge of coordinating the event. They started in October by seeking the help and funding from USGA. Sylvester said “It’s a good way to end the week.” According to Sylvester, Sigma Chi “pulled at heartstrings,” because almost all brothers have known someone with cancer.
The first place winner of Derby Days was also announced at the end of SigFest. Team Mary Had A Little Lamb-Da Epsilon took first with a combination of accumulated points and fundraising throughout the week.
