Students raised $58,000 during the massively successful Steve Carter Memorial Derby Days fundraiser earlier this month. The event was hosted by the Sigma Chi fraternity and involved all 12 of LSU’s sorority chapters in a week-long competition to raise money for charity, according to Sigma Chi officers.
The fundraiser took place March 28th through April 3rd and benefitted the Huntsman Cancer Institute, a National Cancer Institute designated Comprehensive Cancer Center. Kappa Delta, as the overall winner of the competition, won $5,000 through their own philanthropy work.
Last year, Sigma Chi held the first Steve Carter Memorial Derby Days and raised $6,000. The chapter was reinstated in 2019 after being temporarily suspended in 2015, according to the Reveille.
Sigma Chi Chapter President and Political Science and Economics junior, Miles McLendon, explained the success of the fundraiser.
“I really just think it’s hard work,” McLendon said. “During rush, when kids asked me what makes [Sigma Chi] different, it’s always the same answer. I just think we work so much harder than other fraternities.”
McLendon said that some of the success of the fundraiser could be attributed to the competitive nature of the event.
This success came just before LSU fraternities would be in need of good publicity. Sigma Alpha Epsilon was suspended by LSU for three semesters following the release of a report by the Division of Student Affairs that found the chapter guilty of hazing earlier this month, according to the Reveille.
McLendon said the event was an opportunity for the community to see what Greek life can be when done correctly.
Zeta Tau Alpha Sorority President and Coastal and Environmental Science junior, Hannah Orff, spoke about the importance of the event to the Greek life community.
“Being a sorority president… It’s important to me that there are some good frats out there making good decisions and actually doing good for the community,” Orff said.
Orff said that seeing Sigma Chi’s passion for philanthropy work during Derby Days inspired members of her sorority to work harder and put more focus towards their own philanthropic projects.
Accounting senior, Oscar Scruggins, a previous president of Sigma Chi, acted as Derby Days chairman and was in charge of planning the event. He explained the opening ceremony for the week-long event.
Derby Days kicked off on Monday, March 28th, when participants cheered from the lawn of the Sigma Chi house as chapter leaders rode onto the scene atop horses wearing old-fashioned yellow and blue jockey outfits.
“Maybe the highlight of my college career, man,” Scruggins said.
Scruggins attributed the success of the event to the fact that planning and organization began a year in advance. This time allowed Sigma Chi to involve all 12 sororities and to get permission from LSU officials for aspects of the fundraiser, such as using horses rented from Angels Grove Ranch and Horse Rescue.
The organizational foresight also allowed Scruggins and his team to iron out details of the competition itself, like how the scoring was based on the Mario Kart scoring system, Scruggins said.
Scruggins spoke about how the chapter was motivated to have the success that it did with Derby Days.
“I think a lot of it was us wanting to prove to people how great we could be if we just put our minds to something and did it,” Scruggins said.
