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Printer-Friendly ModeSigma Pi accepting registrations for annual competition
March 27, 2006 —
The International fraternity Sigma Pi is now accepting registration forms for teams wishing to participate in its 11th Annual Pi Games on Sunday, April 9.
The Games, which President Matt Wingblad describes as "an Olympics-style competition," will be held at and around the Ryder Center from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Wingblad says the Games feature 10 different events, including basketball, volleyball, Gatorade pong, underwear trot, and a tug of war. Each team participating gets points for each competition and is awarded prizes according to their point totals.
Each team must have 10 people, but Wingblad says that anyone wishing to participate can be put on a team.
The cost per person is $10, which will go towards the Salvation Army and expenses for the event. Registration for the event begins today, and Wingblad says registration forms are available on Sigma Pi's Web site, www.sigmapisvsu.com.
Last year's event had 11 teams, but Wingblad says this year's goal is the maximum of 16.
"At $100 per team, that's about $1,600 right there that goes straight to the Salvation Army," he says.
While the fraternity looks at the event as a way to both culminate a year's worth of fund-raisers and have fun, Wingblad emphasizes that the event is mainly a fund-raiser.
"The main goal is to get as much money as possible to the Salvation Army," he says. "That is what our success is based on. We are not really concerned with much else."
The brothers of the fraternity get donations up to three months beforehand; as Wingblad says, they "hit up every business in Saginaw trying to raise money for Salvation Army." He estimates that the event has raised about $20,000 in ten years.
Last year's Pi Games won the Outstanding Philanthropic Event award from Student Life.
"We're trying to do as much community service as we can, trying to rebuild our image on campus," Wingblad says. "It's a slow, slow process. It's our focus. We don't just want to be the fraternity that had the house on Tittabawassee. That's all we were for a while."
Wingblad says Pi Games helps achieves this goal.
"We're just trying to rebuild through campus events and philanthropy," he adds. "This is the big shot in the arm right here."