Sigma Chi’s Derby Days Fundraiser Sets Record

Each year, Sigma Chi chapters across the country participate in “Derby Days,” a weeklong philanthropic tradition designed to raise funds and awareness for the Huntsman Cancer Institute, one of the nation’s leading centers for cancer research and treatment. At the University of New Haven, this event has become a cornerstone of our chapter’s commitment to service and impact.

In 2025, that commitment reached a historic new height.

Thanks to the leadership of Matthew Muriel ’26 and the support of the broader Charger community, the University’s Sigma Chi chapter raised more than $32,000 in just one week. It marks the largest amount the chapter has ever raised during a Derby Days program and pushes their chapter’s lifetime total past an incredible $200,000. With creative programming, campus-wide collaboration, and a shared dedication to giving back, Muriel and his brothers proved that when a community comes together, they can truly be the generation to end cancer. Mattew shares his reflections on the experience below.

I'm Matt but everyone calls me Machu here on campus. This past year I was lucky enough to be chosen as Sigma Chi’s philanthropy chair. I got appointed in May 2024 and immediately got to work, making plans for what I want to do and how I wanted to achieve my goals. Growing up and seeing less fortunate people humbled me for a lifetime, and I vowed to always give back when possible. This position has allowed me to achieve my goals and even break records.

Throughout the course of the fall semester, I had countless meetings with staff here at the University of New Haven. With their help, and alongside several of my peers in Sigma Chi, we were able to have a week planned out for Derby Days, and we started booking what we could. I wanted to change the game for Sigma Chi and planned to host two events a day instead of one, and to use social media as an outreach tool. Not only did I want the Greek community to work together, but I wanted the whole campus to be able to participate in this great cause.

We hosted traditional events such as our annual ‘pie a chi’ and our poster board night, and we also brought back old events such as our pasta night. This event was the turning point for me and was when I saw my vision coming to reality. We started out with only about 15 pasta orders and were scared that the event wouldn’t do well, but within the hour of delivery, we jumped and ended up serving more than 75 people, which was truly a blessing. Throughout the week we made sure to make vlogs that gained attention, and we were getting attention from schools all over the country. We even got support from other countries.

Being able to give back in such a large way has been absolutely amazing, I’m beyond proud of what Sigma Chi here has accomplished, being able to not only break the school record but absolutely smash it. My goal was to simply do better than the year before, which was about $18k, but we were able to reach $32k. I am honored to be able to say that we ended up in the top 30 out of over 230 chapters in the whole country, and I couldn't have done it without the guys around me and our amazing campus community who showed out. Our motto is to be “The Generation to End Cancer,” and I truly believe that can be achieved.

Matthew Muriel ’26 is an Exercise Science major within the University’s School of Health Sciences.