Why Rush PIKE at Sacramento State?

College is about earning a degree but it can be much more than that.

Your years at Sacramento State are an opportunity to discover who you are, meet people who will change your life, challenge yourself, become a leader, and create friendships and memories that continue long after graduation.

That is what fraternity can offer.

And that is what Pi Kappa Alpha is about.

More Than Four Years

When you rush PIKE, you're not simply looking for something to do on weekends. You're choosing the people who may become some of your closest friends, teammates, roommates, mentors, business connections, and eventually lifelong brothers.

You'll study together, compete together, organize events, serve the community, celebrate successes, work through challenges, and probably create more than a few stories you'll still be telling twenty years from now.

College lasts a few years.

Brotherhood can last a lifetime.

Find Your Place at Sacramento State

A university can be a surprisingly easy place to feel anonymous.

You can drive to campus, attend class, go home, and repeat the process without ever really feeling like Sacramento State is your school.

PIKE gives you a community within that larger university.

You suddenly have brothers to meet between classes. People to attend games and campus events with. Teams to compete on. Events to organize. Causes to support. Alumni to meet. Leadership positions to pursue.

Instead of simply attending Sacramento State, you become part of it.

Become Part of a Real Brotherhood

Brotherhood isn't just wearing the same letters.

It's knowing there are people in your corner.

It's the brother who helps you study before an exam, picks you up when your car breaks down, introduces you to someone who can help with your career, celebrates when you succeed, and tells you the truth when you need to hear it.

Some friendships last a semester.

Some last through college.

The goal of PIKE brotherhood is to build friendships that last long after everyone has graduated and gone their separate ways.

Scholars. Leaders. Athletes. Gentlemen.

Pi Kappa Alpha has traditionally described the qualities it seeks to develop in its members with four words:

Scholars

You're at Sacramento State to earn an education.

PIKE expects its members to take academics seriously and encourages an environment where brothers help one another succeed.

Being a Scholar doesn't mean you have to be the smartest person in every classroom. It means understanding why you're here, taking responsibility for your education, and continually working to improve yourself.

Leaders

You don't have to arrive at Sacramento State knowing how to lead.

You learn by doing it.

A fraternity is essentially a student-run organization. Members have opportunities to manage budgets, organize events, recruit members, coordinate philanthropy, communicate with alumni, lead committees, resolve disagreements, manage projects, and make decisions that affect an entire organization.

Those experiences teach skills that extend far beyond fraternity.

PIKE also provides members access to leadership and personal-development programs through PIKE University and the True PIKE Experience, covering subjects ranging from leadership and time management to mentoring, networking, negotiation, career development, and problem solving.

Athletes

You don't have to be a varsity athlete to be a Pike.

In PIKE, being an Athlete is also about having a competitive spirit, the desire to improve, compete, work as a team, and give your best effort.

That might happen on an intramural field, in the classroom, at the gym, in your career, or while working toward a personal goal.

It's about refusing to simply coast through life.

Gentlemen

How you treat people matters.

A Pike should strive to be someone others can respect: a man of character who treats people with dignity, keeps his word, takes responsibility for his actions, and does the right thing even when nobody is watching.

You won't be perfect.

Neither will your brothers.

The expectation is that you continue challenging one another to become better men.

Learn Leadership by Actually Leading

There is a big difference between reading about leadership and being responsible for something.

As a Pike, you can eventually find yourself responsible for hundreds or thousands of dollars, planning an event for hundreds of people, managing a committee, recruiting a pledge class, coordinating community service, working with university administrators, communicating with alumni, or helping determine the direction of the chapter.

Sometimes you'll succeed.

Sometimes you'll make mistakes.

Both teach you something.

College gives you a rare opportunity to develop those skills in an environment where you're surrounded by brothers and alumni who want to see you succeed.

Build a Network That Goes Beyond Sacramento State

The people standing next to you today won't always be college students.

Someday they'll be engineers, teachers, entrepreneurs, firefighters, developers, attorneys, executives, coaches, business owners, healthcare professionals, public servants, sales professionals, and leaders throughout their communities.

Pi Kappa Alpha reports more than 310,000 initiated members throughout its history.

Then there is Theta Tau's own network of Sacramento State alumni spanning generations.

Those connections can mean mentorship, career advice, internships, introductions, business opportunities, or simply having a brother you can call years after graduation.

Your network begins with the guys standing beside you.

It grows for the rest of your life.

Give Something Back

A fraternity should contribute to more than itself.

PIKE chapters participate in philanthropy and community service throughout the country. Nationally, Pi Kappa Alpha reports that its chapters collectively raise millions of dollars for philanthropic causes and contribute hundreds of thousands of community-service hours.

At Sacramento State, you have an opportunity to help decide what our chapter contributes to the university and the Sacramento community.

Don't just ask what PIKE can give you.

Eventually, ask what you can help PIKE give to others.

Be Part of the Next Chapter of Theta Tau

There is another reason this is a unique time to consider PIKE at Sacramento State.

You have an opportunity to build something.

Theta Tau has a history at Sacramento State stretching back to 1980, with generations of men who have worn the Garnet and Gold.

There are stories, traditions, friendships, pledge classes, chapter presidents, alumni, successes, failures, and decades of history behind these letters.

But fraternity isn't supposed to exist only in old photographs and stories.

Every generation gets its turn.

The next generation of Sac State Pikes will decide what Theta Tau becomes next: what traditions continue, what new traditions begin, what reputation the chapter earns, and what kind of organization future students inherit.

You don't often get the opportunity to join something with decades of history while also helping shape what comes next.

That's an opportunity worth considering.

Build Something You'll Be Proud to Leave Behind

Someday you're going to graduate.

When that happens, what will you leave behind?

Maybe you'll have recruited the brother who eventually becomes chapter president.

Maybe you'll create an event that becomes a tradition.

Maybe you'll help build a philanthropy that continues for decades.

Maybe you'll mentor a younger brother who eventually mentors someone else.

Maybe your name will appear on the chapter's officer list, pledge-class history, or alumni directory long after you've left Sacramento State.

The goal isn't simply to join PIKE.

It's to leave it better than you found it.

Challenge Yourself

PIKE isn't about finding a room full of people exactly like you.

It's about finding people who can challenge you.

To study harder.

To become more confident.

To get involved.

To compete.

To lead.

To meet people outside your comfort zone.

To take responsibility when you make a mistake.

To become someone other people can depend on.

You don't have to walk into your first rush event already representing everything a Pike strives to be.

You just need to be willing to grow.

Make College Something You'll Remember

Years from now, you probably won't remember every lecture you attended or every assignment you submitted.

You'll remember people.

You'll remember road trips.

You'll remember games.

You'll remember late-night conversations.

You'll remember ridiculous stories nobody outside your pledge class completely understands.

You'll remember the challenges.

You'll remember the victories.

You'll remember your brothers standing beside you at graduation.

And years later, you may find yourself at a PIKE golf tournament, tailgate, reunion, or alumni event telling those same stories again.

College goes by quickly.

Make something out of it.

Rush Is a Conversation, Not a Commitment

You don't have to know whether fraternity life is right for you before coming to a rush event.

That's what rush is for.

Come meet us.

Talk to the members.

Talk to our alumni.

Ask difficult questions.

Learn about PIKE.

Learn about Theta Tau.

See how you're treated and whether these are people you want beside you during your time at Sacramento State.

Don't join a fraternity because of a stereotype, a reputation, a movie, or because somebody tells you where you're supposed to belong.

Meet the people.

Ask what they stand for.

Decide for yourself.

If PIKE isn't right for you, that's okay.

But you won't know until you walk through the door.

What Will You Do With Your Time at Sac State?

You can go to class, earn your degree, and move on.

Or you can use these years to build something more.

Friendships. Leadership. Experiences. Connections. Traditions. Brotherhood.

Pi Kappa Alpha has been developing those relationships since 1868.

Theta Tau has been part of Sacramento State for generations.

Now it's time for the next generation.