Despite unusually cool and windy weather and the threat of rain, the 8th Annual Wine Tasting went off without a hitch. With 99 registrations, brother T.A. Heckel (82-F) wasagain pouring his personal wines quickly and efficiently in order to keep up with thecrowd.
Many brothers and guest took advantage of the photographer to have photos taken with some of their bothers and guests.
Colonel Joel Armstrong (87-F) and wife, Katie, attend the 8th Annual Sigma Chi Wine Tasting on April 26, 2025. Brother Armstrong was awarded Epsilon Eta’s Alumni President’s Citation by Alumni President Brad Fischer (78-S) in recognition of outstanding service to the Fresno Sigma Chi Endowment and Epsilon Eta Chapter through service to our country in the Middle East. In addition, Joel was presented with the Sigma Chi Military Service Recognition Pin.
Brother Armstrong has been Commander of Camp Roberts since May 2021 in SLO. He is also Director of Grizzly Youth Challenge Academy at Camp San Luis Obispo. He and his spouse, Katie, live in Los Osos. Their daughter lives here in Fresno.
Since October 7, 2023 his Area of Operations saw significant threat activities. He was originally deployed to Jordan as Officer in Charge for the DIV and then in Kuwait working weekly his usual 100-hours.He serves the Army National Guard and the US Army. He returned from deployment in the Middle East in April 2024 where he served the 40th Infantry Division as Chief of Staff.
The 40ID had control and authority over 4,600 services members from across all three compositions of the army spread across the Middle East. Unfortunately, an attack occurred in Jordan which caused the death of three services members from the 411th Engineers (Army Reserve) located in Georgia. Despite those events, they continued their current mission to set and prepare for other on-coming attacks. At the same time, they prepared for re-deployment home and integration of their replacements.
Thank you, brother Joel, for protecting our freedom and defending democracy across the globe.
While we were enjoying tasting of premium wines selected by T.A. Heckel (82-F), Brian Stout (63-S) and Marv Broderson (63-S) were enjoying a reunion in Mechanicsville. Marv and his wife, Jonnie flew from Prescott, AZ to visit Brian and wife Harriet.
Sigma Chi Derby Days began at Fresno State in 1966 when Gary Renner (62-S) proposed starting it at an Inter-Fraternity Council meeting, and it has been a tradition ever since. Joe Pressutti (64-F) was the first Derby Daddy.
Contributed by Gary Renner – Yes, Joe was the first Derby Daddy. Once I got Derby Day approved, I worked on details of Derby Day but asked Joe if he would be the Derby Daddy and he agreed. Joe and I planned out what we wanted to do and where. Then I did the behind the scenes organizing, as well as working with the university administration to make sure we had approvals for all we wanted to do. And Joe worked with the sororities – he got the tough duty, ha!
The Epsilon Eta chapter has just qualified for the prestigious Bell Endowed Chapter Fund this month thanks to several Epsilon Eta alumni., as reported by Mike Patton (63-S). So far they have committed $625,000 with 1/2 going to EH scholarships and 1/2 going to on-site transformational leadership training for the Active Chapter brothers. We need just one or two more brothers for the final $125,000 payable over multiple years, if desired, to get us to the critically important on-site training level.
While the additional scholarships supplement our scholarship program, the leadership training is a game changer for our undergraduate brothers, and for us. From brother Jeff Burnside, Beta Upsilon 1980, “Epsilon Eta will get former Grand Consul, Mike Greenberg, Alpha Iota 1982, to run the inaugural training. He may have one or two other trainers with him. There are several categories of leadership you can select. Generally speaking, the $750,000 endowment gets the “Leadership Journey” described as a mini-Horizons for the entire chapter.”
Past Grand Consul – Mike Greenberg
The training modules are accredited and will allow participating undergraduates to differentiate themselves from other job applicants.
From Jeff Burnside: “Half of the annual payout funds tuition scholarships for a number of your chapter’s undergraduates (they apply through the Sigma Chi scholarship online portal). If you’d like, local alums can recommend the recipients. The size of the tuition scholarships depends on the level of endowment (see below).
The other half of the annual payout covers what we call Leadership Development Scholarships. The most notable benefit for endowments at $750,000 and above is our Leadership Journey program that sends trainers to the chapter house so everyone in the chapter can participate. They’re usually held over a weekend. The chapter or its alumni leaders must request the on-site training visit a year in advance. Gallup research shows chapters that do this training have a 76% better chance of staying out of serious trouble.
The other Leadership Development Scholarship benefits include online or in-person courses offered to all undergraduate brothers by the Sigma Chi Leadership Institute that teach them not just “leadership” but several different kinds of leadership. Each certificate comes with a LinkedIn badge. The curriculum is so well done that it is accredited under the U.S. Department of Education accreditation system – an incredible achievement that no other fraternity or sorority has accomplished. Other opportunities include teaching the undergraduates “Mission 365”, “Officer Training Academy” and other leadership guidance. And at annual Province Conferences, the Bell endowments enhance the training for all chapters present. You can see the options here.
Bell endowment perpetual benefits are exponentially larger at each level, these are annual payouts:
$250,000 Blue – $5,000 tuition scholarships, $5,000 value leadership development
$500,000 Gold – $10,000 tuition scholarships, $10,000 value leadership development
$750,000 Platinum – $15,000 tuition scholarships, $15,000 value leadership development
$1M Founders – $20,000 tuition scholarships, $20,000 value leadership development
$1.5M Constantine – $30,000 tuition scholarships, $30,000 value leadership development
Director of Development, Sigma Chi Foundation – Jeff Burnside
