Sigma Pi fraternity holds annual “Hope Rising” concert
Suicide prevention and awareness is a prevelant topic in the San Luis Obispo community. One campus organization at Cal Poly doesn’t want to just raise awareness around suicide prevention, they want to make a notable difference.
Every year the Sigma Pi fraternity at Cal Poly puts on the “Hope Rising” concert, a local event with live music to support mental health and suicide prevention.
The Hope Rising concert invites Cal Poly students and other community members to enjoy live music with friends, and most importantly, to gather for a meaningful cause. This year’s Hope Rising concert was on Nov. 7.
The concert is the conclusion of Sigma Pi’s “ACE” philanthropy week, which stands for “Altruistic Campus Experience.”
Mechanical engineering senior Cade Veljovich is the philanthropy chair for Sigma Pi and is passionate about putting on a memorable event every year that continues to raise awareness around mental health.
“In all, you know, we’re hoping that our ACE week and this concert and everything together just has a positive impact on the SLO community and Cal Poly students in general,” he said. “We just want to raise awareness for mental health and destigmatize it and let people know that it’s okay to not be okay, and that they can talk to their friends about, you know, how they feel, and not be scared to do so.”
The ACE project is a national philanthropic effort that Sigma Pi chapters participate in around the world, but the Cal Poly chapter chooses to focus on mental health. They raise money for the Jed Foundation, which is a foundation that provides resources to high schools and colleges to create support systems for students, reduce the risk of drug overdose and destigmatize the overall conversation around mental health.
Raising awareness around mental health has always been the spotlight of philanthropic efforts for Sigma Pi at Cal Poly, but the Hope Rising concert was introduced to the community just a few years ago.
“So the concert has been around for four years, it was just the idea of one of the philanthropy chairs back in 2021 now, and yeah every year it’s been great, we’ve had rising attendance each year,” Veljovich said.
For the past few years, the Hope Rising concert has featured local bands, such as the Honeyboys. This year, a new local band called Huge Ape opened, and another band called Madeye Moody came all the way from Los Angeles to headline the concert.
Sigma Pi brother and former philanthropy chair Rob Vermulen wanted to continue to stay involved in the concert and help out with the execution as much as he could, because of personal passion around mental health that runs deeper than his fraternity.
“Before I was even a member of Sigma Pi, before I came to Cal Poly, suicide prevention and mental health awareness was always on the forefront of my free time, and something I’ve really cared about,” he said. “In high school I lost two teammates and friends to suicide, and to have that happen to us at such a young age, is just heartbreaking, shocking and something really nobody saw coming.
After losing two friends to suicide, Vermulen knew he wanted to be involved in changing the stigma around mental health and suicide awareness. He carried that mindset into helping with the success of the Hope Rising concert.
“Having that kind of experience, I went into college knowing that I wanted to be a part of mental health awareness going forward,” Vermulen said. “And so when I was rushing fraternities and I heard that Sigma Pi’s main philanthropy is the Jed Foundation, which specializes in mental health awareness and suicide prevention, I knew that this chapter would be right for me.”
The Hope Rising concert is an effort from Sigma Pi to raise awareness for suicide prevention and mental health awareness, as well as a way to remind people in the SLO community that there’s always someone to talk to, if you are struggling with your mental health.
“I guarantee you that the people in your life want to hear if you’re not doing well, I know I sure as hell do,” Vermulen said.
