Four International Balfour Award Finalists Announced

Sigma Chi’s international governing body announced last month the four finalists for the Fraternity’s International Balfour Award, which recognizes the top graduating senior from Sigma Chi’s membership in the United States and Canada. The finalists are Andrew Esstman, INDIANA 2013; Hunter Curtis, ARIZONA 2013; Jason Liang, WASHINGTON (ST. LOUIS) 2013; and C. Alex Wiles, SOUTH ALABAMA 2013. The winner will be announced Aug. 3 at the closing ceremony of the Balfour Leadership Training Workshop at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.
Esstman is a double major in marketing and operations management with a 3.95 GPA, and was president of the university’s Interfraternity Council in 2012. He served his chapter as Consul from December 2010 through November 2011, and spent his senior year as one of the chapter’s live-in advisors. He received the university’s 2013 Interfraternity Council Greek Man of the Year award, and was one of five Indiana University seniors in 2013 to be recognized with the Elvis J. Stahr Distinguished Senior Award.
Curtis is a finance and entrepreneurship major who served as his chapter’s Consul during his senior year. He carries a 3.98 GPA, and was inducted into the Bobcats Senior Honorary as one of the university’s top 13 graduating seniors. Curtis chaired his school’s Homecoming committee in 2010, and has been the head of his chapter’s Beta Phi mentorship program since May 2011. In the summer of 2012, he worked with Wells Fargo on a team that underwrote a $235 million loan to acquire properties in seven states.
Liang is a double major in finance and mathematics who earned a 4.0 GPA, and served his chapter as Consul. In addition, he is the conductor and music director of the campus orchestra, WU Pops, and was the charter president of a community service group called Beat Therapy, which works with local non-profit organizations and medical centers to explore how music can improve or maintain one’s health, according to the group’s website. He holds a Bachelor of Science in business administration.
Wiles is a psychology major and chemistry minor with a 4.0 GPA who has been featured on the president’s and dean’s lists every semester that he has been in college. In 2011, he was named Greek Man of the Year, and has served the university’s Student Government Association as a senator, associate justice, recruitment chairman and student-at-large member. Wiles has served his chapter as Consul, Magister and chapter editor.
Past winners of the International Balfour Award include noted philanthropist Jon Huntsman Sr., PENNSYLVANIA 1959, and Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Merlin Olsen, UTAH STATE 1962. The Fraternity has recognized both men as Significant Sigs and Order of Constantine Sigs.