What SUM stands for
Sigma Upsilon Mu (SUM) is the co-ed business and entrepreneurship fraternity at Cal State Fullerton, founded on campus in March 2014. Our motto is Facta Non Verba: deeds, not words. Everything else on this page is detail.
The phoenix
Rebirth. Fail, iterate, rise stronger: nobody builds anything real without burning a version of it down first.
Crimson and gold
The fire every entrepreneur walks through, and what walking through it refines you into.
Black
The ashes we rise from: never giving up, and seeing a new beginning where others see defeat.
Facta Non Verba
Mission and vision
Written down in 2014. Still the standard every semester is measured against.
The mission
We believe that human potential is limitless, never settling for a mediocre life, and that actions speak louder than words. Through a continuous cycle of high achievement, brotherhood, leadership, and entrepreneurship principles, we create great members that build or join great companies that redefine the limits of what's possible. Through deeds and not words, together, our sole mission is to continuously cultivate an ecosystem that develops the highest achievers in the world.
The vision
The leading collegiate organization for having and developing the highest achieving individuals in the world through entrepreneurship principles.
Four pillars, all load-bearing
Achievement, Brotherhood, Leadership, Entrepreneurship. Each one is trained on real work: semesters run on deliverables, the mentors have shipped, and the standard is what you did.
The four pillars
Achievement
Turn discipline into results.
Progress gets measured. Milestones get named out loud. The standard does not move because the semester got busy.
Brotherhood
Grow together. Win together.
Co-ed, with a family line and a Big who is responsible for you. Competitive at heart, cooperative in practice, giving before receiving.
Leadership
Lead with action, not titles.
Members run programs, events, and budgets in their first year. You lead here by doing the work in front of everyone, not by being appointed.
Entrepreneurship
Build boldly. Rise stronger.
Calculated risk, real ventures, real customers. Failure is treated as tuition, and what it teaches you goes into the next attempt.
What we value
- Skill development
- Every semester should end with abilities you did not have in August: pitching, selling, running things.
- Lifelong learning
- Graduation is a checkpoint, not a finish line; the habit of getting better does not stop there.
- Diversity
- Every background belongs here: gender, ethnicity, faith, major, and story. Co-ed since 2014, and stronger for every perspective in the room.
- Communication
- Say it clearly, say it early, say it to the person it concerns.
- Community building
- We give first: on campus, in Fullerton, and across Orange County.
- Positivity
- When something fails, take the lesson, adjust, and go again.
A semester built around doing
Three mechanisms do the heavy lifting: peer accountability, mentorship grounded in reality, and real projects with real users. The calendar exists to serve them.
Peer accountability
You commit to your class, out loud. The people beside you notice whether you delivered, and that pressure is the point.
Mentorship grounded in reality
Bigs and Littles: every new member is paired with an active who has already walked the semester and tells you the truth about it.
Real projects, real users
Not classroom hypotheticals. You ship things people outside the fraternity actually use, and you learn from how they respond.
The semester, in order
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01
Info sessions
Meet the chapter in person, ask anything, and see how the semester runs.
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02
Bid Dinner
Candidates who stand out are invited to hear exactly what the semester asks, and what it gives back.
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03
Workshops
Weekly workshops for the pledge class. From the first session, something real in your hands.
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04
Alumni Night
Meet the people who did this before you, and see where it took them.
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05
Interviews
A straight conversation about what you want to build and whether SUM is the place to build it.
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06
Big and Little mentorship
You are paired with your Big. From here on, someone is personally invested in your progress.
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07
Retreat
A weekend away that turns a pledge class into a unit.
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08
Induction
You have done the work. The letters become yours.
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09
Banquet
The semester's results, celebrated in one room: actives, alumni, and the newest class.
What you build as a member
Companies and projects with real users, not classroom hypotheticals. Leadership through actual responsibility, from day one. Execution habits that carry into every job, venture, and room you enter.
Skills and readiness
Workshops plus real roles compound fast. Members leave with working ability in:
- Pitching and public speaking
- Sales and outreach
- Marketing
- Event and operations execution
- Budget ownership
- Team leadership
Standards and brotherhood
The standard never drops, and nobody holds it alone. SUM has been co-ed since 2014: brothers and sisters, with Bigs and Littles who stay in your corner long after graduation.
A network that answers
Actives and alumni pick up the phone for each other. Placements run from member-founded ventures to established firms and the Fortune 500.
- Baker Tilly
- KBS Commercial Realty
- Melissa's
- Fortune 500 placements
Who should apply
SUM is not a casual group, and pretending otherwise would waste your semester and ours. If you are working through the list of CSUF clubs to join this fall, read this honestly first.
Apply if
- You finish what you start, or want to become someone who does.
- You are any major with a builder's itch: engineering, design, science, arts, business.
- You want accountability, not an audience.
- You can give the semester real hours, not leftovers.
What people get wrong about SUM
What does "execution-focused" actually mean?
Deliverables, not discussion. A club that meets to talk about ideas is a different club.
Is SUM co-ed?
Yes. Co-ed since 2014.
Where do you meet?
On the CSUF campus, with recruiting at DiscoverFest on the Intramural Field. Open to CSUF students only.
You've read the words. Time for deeds.
You know what SUM is now. The only question left is whether you want to do the work. The application starts with a two-minute quiz.