January 2022 Newsletter

Brothers,

Sigma Pi Holiday PhotoWe hope all of you have been continuing to stay safe and healthy.

With Covid restrictions easing up in the past few months in Charlottesville, Sigma Pi has been able to hold more social events, allowing the active brotherhood (and many alumni) to make good use of our house. Even with the restrictions from last year making rush more difficult than prior years, the brotherhood was able to adapt and keep the house filled.

We are excited and optimistic for rush this upcoming spring and hope to attract a large pledge class with Covid being less of a concern due to high vaccination rates among the student body.

Elections for executive positions took place in late October and early November. The new positions are as follows:

Sage: Dylan Cole (PC ʼ20)
Herald: Emil Baggs (PC ʼ20)
Social Chairmen: Aidan Fleming (PC ʼ21) and James Kimbrough V (PC ʼ21)
1st Counselor: Gray Goss (PC ʼ21)
2nd Counselor: Will Mathews (PC ʼ21)
3rd Counselor: Andrew Holzwarth (PC ʼ21)
4th Counselor: Matt Gemmill (PC ʼ21)
Philanthropy Chairman: Lachlan Flatin (PC ʼ20)
Intramural Chairman: Ryan Heming (PC ʼ21)
Kitchen Manager: Charlie Brennan (PC ʼ19)

Sean Inturias (PC ʼ20) and member of UVA's Cheer TeamIn December, we were able to celebrate the winter season by decorating the house with lights and having both a winter formal and our traditional Brotherhood Christmas.

With UVA sporting events opening back up to the general student population, Sean Inturias (PC ʼ20, left) represented his school as a member of the UVA Cheer Team.

Sean, a dedicated student in the McIntire School of Commerce, is also going to spend the spring semester studying abroad in Madrid.

Newly initiated brother Pete Grieg (PC ʼ21) has had a very productive and successful fall semester. Pete co-founded and is the vice president of SOCKS (Supporting Oncologic Communities, Kids, and Students), a new CIO at UVA. SOCKS raised over $2000 this past semester, providing 50 packages for nurses and 25 packages for children with cancer at the Battle Hospital.

SOCKS packages for nurses SOCKS Fundraiser

Pete also finished in first place with Will Mathews (PC ʼ21) in the ML4VA Machine Learning Contest. Their project aimed to better predict the severity of car accidents based on different factors. Their model aims to help the Charlottesville Police Department and other public service organizations to have better responses to accidents, better allocate resources, and decrease the use of tax-funded resources.

Despite our chapter’s recent increase in social events and other brotherhood activities, we are still suffering from effects caused by the pandemic. With over a third of the active brotherhood graduating this past spring semester, each brother has had to embrace a greater financial burden, as operating costs have remained constant. We would greatly appreciate any financial support you may be able to offer, as it enables us to keep all of our brothers engaged with our incredible fraternity, improves the physical condition of our house, and provides opportunities for our Chapter to have positive impacts on the Charlottesville community. Our alumni are critical to the strength of our brotherhood, and we are especially grateful for the support you have provided us throughout these last two challenging years.

Once more, we are very optimistic and excited for the upcoming spring semester, rush, and initiating new brothers. We hope all of you continue to stay safe and healthy with the recent spike in Covid cases, and we encourage you to keep in contact with the active brotherhood and each other. Have a great 2022!