Scholarship Chairman Brother Christian Reta, (18-F), held a scholarship workshop on February 24, 2020 to help Active Chapter brothers apply online for the (21) $2,000 scholarships available for the fall 2020/spring 2021 school year.  The deadline for applications is March 1.

For the first time pledges were allowed to apply also.  The total monies available from our five endowments is a record $38,000.  In addition many brothers successfully applied for the Dante Simi scholarship which awards a total of $10,000 annually, and Sigma Chi brothers have preference along with graduates of Dante’s Learn for Life charter schools.

Many of our undergraduate brothers at Fresno State achieve academic excellence.  The seven brothers with the highest chapter GPAs for the fall 2019 semester are: Consul Gio Primavera (4.0), Scholarship Chairman and Smittcamp Scholar Christian Reta (4.0), Leo Reyes (4.0), Arvin Sihota (4.0), Johnathan Zamora (4.0), Chapter Editor and Smittcamp Scholar Micah Gross (3.8) and Derby Daddy Christian DeFendis (3.75).  The White Cross has gained luster by their academic excellence.  It is this kind of performance that encourages alumni to continue supporting our endowments.

The monies raised for the endowments are from contributions received from alumni members over the years. As of January 1, 2020, five separate endowments have raised a total of $821,467. The scholarship funds are from the interest earned by the endowments in 2019.  The endowments were created because alumni wanted a way to recognize, encourage and reward academic excellence and leadership as well as contributions to the brotherhood of Sigma Chi.

Founded on June 28, 1855 by seven undergraduates at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, Sigma Chi’s core values are “Friendship, Justice & Learning.” There now are 242 Sigma Chi Active Chapters at Colleges and Universities across North America. In 2021, the Fresno State Active & Alumni Chapters will celebrate their 100th Anniversary at the University.

On Tuesday February 11, 2020, George L. Hooper, KANSAS STATE 1960, Chair Warden, Sigma Chi Monuments and Memorials Commission conducted the White Rose Ceremony at the memorial to Harry St. John Dixon, VIRGINIA CONSTANTINE CHAPTER, 1961.

Pictured Brothers in attendance (l to r): Sam Mann (91-S), Warden, Dixon Memorial; Bill Robinson (70-F), Secretary of the Alumni Chapter of Fresno; Order of Constantine, Tom Downing (62-F), ; Brad Fischer (78-S), President, Alumni Chapter of Fresno; George L. Hooper, Warden, Monuments and Memorials Commission; Dusty Lacefield (12-F), Epsilon Eta Chapter Advisor; Julian Ramos (09-S); Charles Kent; Bruce Edmonston, President, Alumni Association of Kern County; Donald P. Copeland, Warden of the Bell Monument and President of the San Francisco Chapter and Rod Gavorian (76-S).

The monument dedicated by the Order of Constantine Sigs of the Epsilon Eta Chapter is located in the Mountain View Cemetery in Fresno California. Harry St John Dixon founded the Constantine Chapter with a small band of dedicated Sigs outside of Atlanta Georgia on September 17. 1864.

In the years that followed the war, he settled in Fresno County where he became the fifth County Clerk and later served as the City of Fresno’s first City Attorney. He also was the first President of the Fresno County Bar Association. He passed away on August 27, 1899.

As a delegate to the 1860 Grand Chapter, he was elected the 1st Grand Chi or Grand Pro-Consul, was the 1st Grand Historian, re-worked the Sigma Chi Ritual, founded Alpha Beta (Berkeley) Chapter in 1886 and installed the Stanford and U.S.C. Chapters.