Students at USC share how they dealt with major damage left by Hurricane Helene.
University President Michael Amiridis in his annual speech discusses the new master plan and other campus growth.
Student Government receives budget increase to help prevent it from running out of money too soon.
Students experience poor crowd control at Gamecock Park ahead of a highly-anticipated ESPN live show.
The Daily Gamecock surveys its Instagram followers to see where people buy clothes for game day.
Experts and students describe how styles and trends for sporting events have changed across the decades.
34 VEGAN BAKERY
Local business owner Alissa Ayers sells her vegan goods across Columbia to give people more options.
Old Skool Outfitters sees renewed interest from younger generations in buying vintage clothing.
Sophomore Maurice Brown II plays vital role in South Carolina football’s offense at the start of the 2024 season.
The
freshman finds his own rhythm as the team’s leading quarterback at the start of the season.
Fifth-year Kyle
leads South Carolina’s defense in sacks in his first season with the Gamecocks.
Business owners and Gamecock
for the city.
Take a look back at notable moments in South Carolina sports history during October.
The Daily Gamecock highlights key moments through some of its most memorable pictures from September.
26 ‘DO WHAT MAKES YOUR BODY FEEL GOOD’
Women across Columbia strive to break gender stereotypes in the fitness world.
29 CAMPUS GHOST STORIES
University Ambassadors hosts tour dedicated to educating the public on myths and legends at USC.
30 FALL FASHION TRENDS
Campus leaders in fashion share what they think will be the most popular styles in the coming months.
32 HOW TO REGISTER TO VOTE
The 2024 election is approaching fast. Learn more about what steps you need to take to vote.
Students need to educate themselves on what prevents people from being able to afford and buy groceries.
Media outlets and colleges across the country need to do a better job of bringing more attention to women’s sports.
42
CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
Students need to stay informed and educate themselves on the specific policies of the 2024 presidential candidates.
redshirt
Kennard
Athletics share what the Liverpool against Manchester United match did
Members of Gamecock Badminton Club see increased interest in the organization after returning to campus.
It’s ‘surreal’: USC community faces aftermath of Hurricane Helene
hayden davis | NEWS WRITER
At 8 a.m. on Sept. 27, Veta Mapes was awoken by a thunderous impact.
“And then all of a sudden, I hear a big crash, big, big crash,” she said. “And I woke up, it was one of those, like, either lightning just hit the house or something happened.”
The fourth-year engineering student discovered the true source of the sound seconds later.
“I look out my window, and I see that a tree fell on my car,” Mapes said.
Mapes’ situation is one of many cases of damages from Hurricane Helene. People across South Carolina dealt with fallen trees, debris, power outages, flooding and more from the storm.
The Category 4 hurricane swept across the Southeast early on Sept. 27, delivering high winds and torrential rain. Gusts of more than 60 miles per hour were recorded at Columbia Metropolitan Airport.
Flooding
A flash flood warning was issued for Columbia on Sept. 26 due to heavy rainfall from Helene’s outer bands.
Cary Mock, a professor of climatology and hurricane researcher in USC’s geography department, explained how outer bands can be dangerous.
“The outer bands actually usually can get more rain, because what happens is that the humid moisture interacts with a relatively colder air next to it, and that kind of generates that thunderstorm type of atmosphere,” Mock said. “Well, around in the eye, don’t get me wrong, you can rain a lot, but it may not be as heavy.”
The university issued a warning by email for students to avoid low-lying areas of Columbia. In the same email, USC moved classes online.
The intersection of Whaley and Main streets, as well as Blossom and Huger streets, flooded. The Blossom Street bridge was temporarily closed to traffic.
Cars were submerged in flood waters behind the Mills apartment complex on Sept. 26 and the afternoon of Sept. 30.
Matthew Kliber, a second-year information science student and resident of the Mills, said his car was totaled by water in the flooding.
“I’m not used to flooding,” he said. “Everywhere I live, I’m not used to flooding. And apparently, Columbia floods easily. I had no idea, and if I would have known, I would have moved it. My car was one of, like, two cars that flooded, so I probably should have known, but no, I didn’t, and now it’s totaled.”
Arun Roopani, a first-year economics student, said his dorm room in Maxcy College experienced minor flooding.
“So when I woke up, I was going to class, I think, and I went to the bathroom, and there’s, like, a lot of water in there,” he said.
“And I thought it was just my roommate who took a shower, but then I stepped out and then there was a puddle in front of my closet, and then a puddle in front of my sink as well.”
The Congaree River reached major flood levels just short of those experienced in Columbia’s infamous 2015 flood. The situation prompted a voluntary evacuation for some Cayce residents.
Addie Bennett, a third-year meteorology student and resident of student apartment Cayce Cove, said the flooding was “surreal.” Bennett left the complex to avoid potential flooding.
“I was here in 2015 when we had the previous 100 year flood, which that was also really surreal, it’s really scary just seeing your local community be flooded, be so far underwater,” she said. “It’s just, we live a short, short distance from the river, and we can just see it rising day after day. And it’s just it’s very scary, very surreal to see it happen.”
Most residents of Cayce Cove stayed in the building during the flooding, Bennett said.
Fallen trees
Multiple trees fell in the vicinity of USC’s campus, including one on the Horseshoe.
A large oak tree fell towards DeSaussure College, a student residence hall, but did not hit the building.
One student interviewed at the scene said he was shocked and saddened by the tree’s fall.
“Right now, I’m sort of just shocked it did fall down, because, like, these are old, old trees, and obviously the fact that it fell down is causing damages,” fourthyear biology student Andrew Juhn said. “But the more important thing is, we’re not going to have that tree anymore. And
that tree’s probably been here since the campus opened.”
At 1642 Enoree, a student apartment complex, a tree fell onto multiple cars. Mapes’ car was one of them.
“This tree was massive, and it was so loud because it hit my car,” Mapes said. “It bounced off of it and also hit, I think, like four other cars all at once.”
She’s unsure if the car can be repaired, but her insurance company will provide a rental car for her to drive, she said.
The impact around the state
Upstate South Carolina was hit hard by Helene as fallen trees and power outages were widespread. In Anderson, Aiken, Cherokee, Greenville, Greenwood, Pickens, Oconee and Spartanburg counties, more than 75% of people lost power on Sept. 27. In Oconee, the number was at 100% on that morning.
USC Upstate canceled its classes through Oct. 2, and USC Aiken canceled through Oct. 1.
USC Upstate in Spartanburg suffered significant damage. Fiona Kessler, a fourthyear psychology student at USC Upstate, described the situation there.
“About every street had a tree down. You know, power lines obviously are affected,” she said. “And obviously with that, it caused chaos in Spartanburg. So, you know, we had no food, electricity at my own apartment. The water went out for some reason, so it was just a highly stressful situation. So we went over to my parent’s house, me, my sister and my roommate. And even there, it was bad.”
Finding gas for cars was a difficult process, Kessler said. There were only a few places in Spartanburg that had gas. Kessler decided to travel to Columbia to get supplies.
“I couldn’t find anything locally you have to wait in the line outside the building, and it wrapped around the building to get into any sort of like hardware store,” she said. “So I had the idea of, ‘I have gas in my car. Why not drive down to Columbia or somewhere close to it, see if I could get something?’”
A man with a chainsaw cuts branches off a tree that fell in front of DeSaussure Hall on Sept. 27, 2024. The tree fell after Hurricane Helene came through Columbia.
Photo: alicia caracciolo
USC president Amiridis addresses state of university
EMMY RIBERO | NEWS EDITOR
President Michael Amiridis gave his State of the University address Sept. 11, discussing advancements the university has made over the past year.
Amiridis talked about the approved master plan, advancements in research and overall growth with the theme of “Momentum at USC.”
“During the past year, we have invested our energy in taking up momentum to even higher levels,” Amiridis said. “And this morning, I will remind you of some of our many accomplishments from the past year and will also look ahead to where we go next.”
Amiridis addressed the new approved university master plan, including the plans already in the works and ones to come.
“(The master plan) includes a farreaching and ambitious set of projects. It is filled with big ideas, that they are aspirational and that aim to address a dynamic future over the next 10 years, align with our strategic priorities and the needs of our community,” Amiridis said.
Projects, such as the renovation of Thomas Cooper Library to add more study areas, are intended to better meet students needs. Amiridis also brought up the expansion of dining as a part of the first step towards a new student union.
More details concerning the Russell House expansion project will be coming in the next few months, said university spokesperson Jeff Stensland.
Many of the projects in the master plan discuss accommodating the growth of the university. Amiridis said that in the midst of institutions nationwide facing challenges in enrollment, public trust and financing, USC is thriving.
“Our strengths are evident across the board in student application and enrollment, in research, in legislative and donor support and in our $7.4 billion impact across the entire state,” Amiridis said.
Amiridis said the university received 52,000 applications for the 2024-2025 academic year, and after recovering from the pandemic, enrollment may exceed 40,000 students within the next few years. The high numbers of enrollment
are a reflection of the confidence students and their families have in USC, he said.
Amiridis said the retention rate of students who come back for the second year has increased from 91% to 92%. He praised the Office of the Provost for making improvements to advising and addressing financial challenges that students may face.
Automatic admission for students who are in the top 10% of their high school class in South Carolina was announced last year and implemented for the 20242025 academic year. They also launched a USC commitment grant again for South Carolina students that guarantees that USC will cover tuition and academic fees for the top 10% students whose family’s income is below $80,000, he said.
“This is part of our ongoing commitment to access and affordability for all South Carolinians,” Amiridis said. “At the same time, we’re continuing our efforts to minimize the cost of college education for in-state students.”
And because of general assembly funding, USC has been able to freeze in-
state tuition for the sixth year in a row, Amiridis said.
Amiridis also talked about achievements of students and faculty, as well as academic achievements concerning large donations to two programs on campus.
“Last November, we had a great celebration for the naming of the Joseph F. Rice School of Law, following a $30 million gift to the law school, and in June of this year, we announced the naming of the Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing, recognizing another $30 million gift,” Amiridis said. “Together, these two gifts have given me the unusual opportunity to observe that we doubled the number of our named colleges in one year.”
Funding for research hit its record high in 2024, reaching $309 million in sponsored awards.
“These awards reflect the quality and hard work of our faculty and their great stride in critical areas such as health, cutting edge technologies and energy innovation,” Amiridis said.
He mentioned many specific achievements in research and
innovation including SC Nexus, Brain Health Hub and a $3.5 million project focused on Fragile X syndrome, led by public health professor Abigail Hogan. Amiridis also mentioned smaller achievements around campus, including projects they are working on around campus that they were inspired from his Imagine Carolina event the university held when Amiridis started in July 2022.
USC just implemented “Park USC,” a new parking app that helps users to locate available parking spaces in campus.
They are also making improvements to advisement and now fully implemented a four-year advising model to all of the colleges and schools at USC.
Overall, Amiridis said the university is headed in a good direction.
“Whenever I’m asked about the University of South Carolina, you will hear me saying that I’m confident we are moving forward to a stronger future,” Amiridis said. “And we are increasing our forward momentum with purpose driven energy.”
President Michael Amiridis delivers his State of the University Address in the Russell House Ballroom on Sept. 11, 2024. Faculty, students and staff gathered to hear Amirdis reflect on the university’s accomplishments.
Student Government now has a different way for students to request and receive funding for student organizations after USC’s student senate implemented new finance codes and had its budget increased by $154,000 for the 2024-2025 fiscal year.
The recent changes include clearer language in the financial codes, improvements to the treasurers’ workshop and clearer roles for the finance committee. New guidelines were also established for travel, including hotel bookings and travel rate limits, and sports organizations received more support for acquiring items for their meetings.
The new finance codes and increased student budget are due to combined efforts from Student Body Treasurer Jacob Vaught, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee Camden Kaye, Chairman of the Finance Committee William Wenzel, Former Speaker of the student senate Cameron Eubanks, the 116th senate and the ad hoc committee.
Student Government has run out of funding for the past two years, and funds for last spring ran out before the first semester ended. But now the goal is to run out of funds closer to the end of the school year, Vaught said.
“If our budget doesn’t get used, it gets reabsorbed into the university, so students orgs don’t get to use it, Student Government doesn’t get to use it — it just disappears basically,” Vaught said. “We really want to make sure we use that to its entirety, but we want to make sure we’re not using it so quickly that orgs can’t get the funding for events.”
‘There were a lot of gray areas’ Kaye said there was no immediate explanation for why Student Government ran out of funds for two years in a row but only guesses. The organization wanted to get to the heart of the problem and go on from there.
“What we came up with was there were two major issues — one being ... the student activity fund was incredibly small, despite its size,” Kaye said. “For most people ... when you’re looking at $180,000, you think that’s a lot of money, but when you’re funding 300 organizations, that’s not nearly that much.” Some events, such as Tiger burn, could cost up to $20,000, Kaye said.
The other major issue is that some organizations were consuming large amounts of the budget. There were a lot of organizations asking for money, and Student Government could not give it all out. A few organizations were asking for significantly more than others, Kaye said.
“We did a giant analysis. We kind of began to notice these patterns. ... This is not just an issue of there’s too many hands reaching into the pot. Some people are double dipping,” Kaye said. “We need to go build out a system that can kind of fix that or bring light to it when it happens, just to avoid in the future, to make it more equitably distributed.”
The codes are also now in a more readable format and easier to understand, Wenzel said. He said it was very easy to get lost while reading the old codes, especially for student organizations trying to understand the instructions.
“There were a lot of gray areas, I’d say, that we wanted to specify within the codes and ensure they were accounted for, things that the finance committee just had to make a judgment call on,” Wenzel said.
“We wanted to actually have something written in the codes that could address
it. So that was a big thing (the ad hoc committee) worked on was trying to make sure the situations we were encountering were being accounted for in the codes as well.”
Addressing the need for more money
The ad hoc committee reviewed lots of data during its investigation. It looked at inflation, average cost per org, enrollment numbers and number of student orgs and then put those together to come up with a general estimate. This led to the financial budget increase.
Kaye said Eubanks played a crucial role in initiating discussions about the financial budget increase. He said the group engaged with Vice President for Student Affairs and Academic Support Rex Tolliver and other budget stakeholders, including Anna Edwards, the Chief of Staff for Student Affairs and Academic Support, to explain their position.
Kaye said Student Government had to present statistical evidence to the administration to show that their funds were insufficient. One claim was that if the funding requests remained constant throughout the year, they would need just over $300,000.
Ultimately, Student Government secured a budget of $340,000.
“The ad hoc committee was formed last term to get the data behind the code writing, which was a big group effort across many people in senate last term,” Wenzel said. “From there, a lot of input was thrown in from a lot of different individuals, even that weren’t from that committee, to make sure that the code changes were good.”
Additional things changed in the codes include specifics on traveling, specifics on hotels, what the limit was for the travel rate, storage and being able to get usable items for sports organizations for recurring meetings.
Vaught and Kaye rewrote most of the codes. The previous student body treasurer and the previous student body president looked over the new codes, as well as Edwards and a few senators.
“We’re still continuing to advocate for more funding from administrators because we think it’s very important for student organizations to have as much funding as possible,” Vaught said. “We don’t really want to limit what funds they have, but because we have a limited budget, we do have to consider those things.”
FILE — Student Body Treasurer Jacob Vaught speaks to members of the student senate about raising the campus activity fee to support the student activities during a session in the Russell House Theater on Jan. 31, 2024. During the 116th senate term, USC’s student senate increased the student budget and implemented new finance codes.
Photo: Jatin Patel
‘They were screaming for help’: USC students say College GameDay crowds were unsafe, out of control
Kate Robins | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF SYDNEY DUNLAP | OUTREACH DIRECTOR
Jillian Hanley arrived at Gamecock Park at 2:15 a.m. on Sept. 14 with three portable chargers, a cheap blanket and some posters.
She and hundreds of other students were prepared to camp through the night, ready to cheer on South Carolina as ESPN’s College GameDay broadcast live in Columbia for the first time in 10 years.
But the second-year marketing and management student never made it to the show when it aired live at 9 a.m. Instead, Hanley ended up at the hospital with a sprained leg after students crowded the entrance to the park’s entry gates.
“We were so pushed together. I had never realized how people died before in situations like that — being squeezed,” Hanley said. “But in that situation, my lungs were being pressed, like everyone was so close together, I couldn’t move one part of my body, and my arm got stuck in between two people in front of me, so I physically could not get my arm back.”
Hanley fell when the gates to Gamecock Park opened a little after 5 a.m. She said she was screaming for the crowd to stop as people rushed over her, pushing her head, stomach and body to the ground.
And Hanley is not the only one who was concerned about the events of the night. Several students told The Daily Gamecock they felt unsafe and frustrated after a confusing and hectic queuing process for College GameDay. While many arrived excited, some people said they left needing medical attention and felt frustrated by the lack of information from ESPN and the university.
A crowd forms
A few groups arrived as early as 4 p.m. on Sept. 13 to secure their spot for GameDay.
First-year sports management student Diego Hess set up at Gamecock Park at 5 or 6 p.m. At first, there was a line, he said. But as more people started joining, a crowd began to form.
“It was super friendly, everyone was really connected trying to get to know as many people as possible,” he said.
“But as the night went on and people just got more restless … it became a freefor-all.”
The park was set to open at 6 a.m., with the GameDay pit opening at 6:30 a.m.
But three hours before, many students said people began pushing up against the gates, creating a tightly-packed crowd for multiple hours.
Members of the crowd also started throwing objects, such as chairs, pillows and footballs, several students told The Daily Gamecock. Many students stood shoulder to shoulder with limited ability to move throughout the crowd.
What happened next was unclear, resulting in a series of rumors that spread throughout the morning. Some students reported that event staff told them the gates were supposed to open at 3:30 a.m., causing people to move closer to the gate.
“Everyone was just so crowded, and people were throwing things,” Hess said. “Someone was throwing their mattress topper or something, and a kid got hit in the back of the head.”
When the gates finally opened an hour early — around 5 a.m. — students speculated that either someone broke the lock or police opened the gate. But attendees agreed: One of the two gates was opened, students began pushing through and
some people reached the GameDay pit while others were injured or left behind.
Third-year psychology student Madelyn Munshower was in the center of the crowd pushing through the gate. When it opened, she was “swept off her feet.” Two police officers stood on the other side of the gate, telling students to “stop pushing,” she said.
Munshower’s arms were stuck up in the air, holding a sign she had made for GameDay, and she couldn’t breathe, she said.
“I was stuck, suspended like that for two, three minutes, and I was gripping the shoulder of the guy in front of me at one point because we were getting pushed so hard,” Munshower said. “It was like I
Garbage consisting of beer cans, water jugs, signs and students’ belongings line the entrance of Gamecock Park where people gathered ahead of ESPN’s College GameDay’s live show on Sept. 14, 2024. This was the first time in 10 years GameDay has come to Columbia, bringing large crowds.
Photo: Alicia Caracciolo
was getting crushed, and people started panicking. They were screaming for help.”
Munshower finally made it through the gate, but the rush didn’t stop there. She and other students started sprinting towards the GameDay pit while checking in with their friends to make sure they were okay. She was shaking the entire time, she said.
“A lot of people, including me, started calling our loved ones just to say, ‘I love you,’ because it was that terrifying,” Munshower said.
ESPN declined to comment on students’ safety concerns. A university spokesperson told The Daily Gamecock three people were treated for minor injuries.
But students told The Daily Gamecock a different story.
Hanley went to the hospital and is on crutches. Hess helped a person who banged his head against a fence and cut his eye. And other students reported multiple people fainting before and after the gates were opened. Hess, who was among some of the first people to arrive at Gamecock Park, said he
was in the GameDay pit for five minutes before it got so packed that he felt like he “couldn’t breathe.”
“We were there for 12 hours (before) those gates open, and obviously us — the ones that were there all night — are like, ‘Oh, well, what are we doing?’” Hess said. “What was the point of all this that there’s people right next to us that just got there an hour before?”
‘No one knew anything’
Some students told The Daily Gamecock they felt like there wasn’t enough communication from the university, which contributed to the issues at the gate.
College GameDay often draws large crowds with hundreds of students fighting for a spot in the coveted “pit.” In the past, several schools have provided instructions for how students should camp.
Ahead of College GameDay in November 2017, Auburn University told students they could start lining up starting at 12 a.m. on Saturday and said students were not allowed to bring coolers to ESPN-controlled areas.
James Madison University told students they could not start lining up until 10 p.m. Friday when College GameDay came to Harrisonburg, Virginia, in 2023. JMU also told students they would be required to have a wristband to enter the pit area, and several other universities planned access to restrooms or porta-potties.
Gamecock Athletics sent out a press release Sept. 9, giving instructions for College GameDay. USC provided a schedule for an early morning shuttle starting at 5:45 p.m. but didn’t release any information about if or how students could line up for the pit or where they could access bathrooms. Some students said they relied on either Bojangles, Waffle House or a nearby gas station to use the restroom.
“It’s just ridiculous,” Hess said. “We asked so many people, they told us, at first, the gates were going to open at 3:30. No one knew anything. All the workers were clueless. It was horrible.”
Fourth-year operation supply chain student Caleb Shackford said students were spilling out into the street from the number of people camping, and they didn’t have many resources.
“It just seems like maybe that could have been done a little bit better,” Shackford said. “But then, on the other hand, you also shouldn’t be trying to push a gate down. I think that’s pretty clear etiquette for students, and I think it does give the university a bad look. I don’t know how this plays out at other universities, but it definitely seems out of the ordinary and definitely not something that I’m proud of.”
The first 600 students to arrive were also promised a free t-shirt and Bojangles food, but since the gate opened earlier, the items weren’t given out until later. Munshower said she felt like she was given false information.
“I was told I was going to get food and water because I was one of the first 600 people in front of that line,” Munshower said. “I was told that we were going to have numbered wristbands, and there was going to be a security check in and they were going to check what we were bringing in. That was not the case, so that really could have been bad, like anything could have made it in there.”
Editor’s note: Emmy Ribero, Jenna Swenson and Sebastian Godun contributed reporting.
Tight end Maurice Brown II makes immediate impact on team after earning South Carolina scholarship
AJ MANN | SPORTS WRITER
South Carolina head football coach Shane Beamer told sophomore tight end Maurice Brown II he “better run 22 miles per hour to the bursar’s office” after practice on Sept. 10.
The reason? Brown was becoming the third member of the Gamecocks to be put on scholarship in September.
Brown has played youth football since he was 7 years old. As a quarterback, he led the Bowie Bulldogs to a Maryland State Championship win in 2018 before entering high school. “Moe,” as his friends and teammates call him, played football for Riverdale Baptist School until transferring to C.H. Flowers High School to live out his aspirations for a chance to play college football. C.H. Flowers head coach Dameon Powell encouraged Brown to switch from quarterback to tight end.
Brown’s continued development and determination with South Carolina may help bolster the Gamecocks’ play on game days on both sides of the ball as the season progresses further in a top-heavy, dominant Southeastern Conference.
The tight end played a vital role in the Gamecocks’ loss against No. 16 LSU. Brown, who has been consistently featured on special teams throughout his time as a Gamecock, leaped over three LSU players to get the block on LSU redshirt junior punter Peyton Todd. This would eventually set up South Carolina’s offense and senior running back Raheim Sanders to punch in a 10-yard touchdown, taking a 17-0 lead over the Tigers in the second quarter.
Before the season, the sophomore showcased his run-after-the-catch ability in the Garnet and Black Spring Game. Freshman quarterback Dante Reno connected with Brown on a 15yard touchdown pass with seven minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. Team Garnet would prevail in the contest, defeating Team Black, 17-0.
Until then, it was uncertain whether or not the Maryland native would be an
integral part of the Gamecocks’ offense this season. Still, Brown has not let his scarce snaps on the offensive side of the ball affect his play on special teams, leading the Gamecocks with 51 special teams snaps as of Sept. 18.
Brown suited up in 11 of 12 games for the Gamecocks during his freshman season.
“I definitely had the mentality to play so I was working hard,” Brown said told reporters on Aug. 13. “All my hard work paid off.”
Brown’s blocked punt was even complimented by ABC’s Kirk Herbstreit on air during South Carolina’s matchup against LSU.
“I mean, that is an all-time performance right there and an effort by Brown II to be able to come up with that,” Herbstreit said.
“Beamer Ball” has been the mantra since coach Beamer took the job as the Gamecocks’ 36th head coach on Dec. 6, 2020. The term stems from Beamer’s father, Frank Beamer, and his tenure at
Virginia Tech when a team scores a nonoffensive touchdown.
“Beamer Ball is an attacking style of play that you feel like no matter which unit is on the field, whether it be offense, defense or special teams, you have the ability to score,” Shane Beamer said on The Millers Edge podcast back in 2023.
Brown has had a share of opportunities ever since he arrived in Columbia, honing in on his hard work and determination even before registering his first career tackle against Texas A&M last year.
FILE — Sophomore tight end Maurice Brown II defends against Louisiana State University players at Williams-Brice Stadium on Sept. 14, 2024. Brown is the third member of the Gamecocks football team to be put on scholarship in the month of September.
PHOTO: DELANY KRAL
LaNorris Sellers settles in, becomes more confident in role after starting as South Carolina’s quarterback
MINGO MARTIN | ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
South Carolina’s football program entered the 2024 season with a new starting quarterback in redshirt freshman LaNorris Sellers.
The quarterback, masked by his googles, is settling in at the position and has his lenses focused on improvement.
Sellers, who was rated a three-star prospect by 247Sports’ composite rankings, joined the Gamecocks before the 2023 season. He had signed with the team on Dec. 23, 2022, after flipping his commitment from Syracuse to South Carolina on National Signing Day.
During the 2023 football season, the young quarterback spent his time behind former Gamecock quarterback Spencer Rattler, who now is the thirdstring quarterback for the New Orleans Saints. During Sellers’ true freshman season, he completed all four of his pass attempts, including a 50-yard touchdown pass against the Furman Paladins on Sept. 9, 2023.
Sellers earned the Gamecocks’ starting quarterback campaign ahead of senior Robby Ashford, who transferred into the program from the Auburn Tigers during the offseason. His familiarity with the offense helped him win the job, head coach Shane Beamer said.
“LaNorris was our starting quarterback coming out of spring,” Beamer said after announcing Sellers as the starter. “I think he continues to get better each week, his poise, his consistency, his understanding of what we’re trying to do. You know, he’s done what we’ve asked him to do coming out of spring practice.”
A new era begins
Before taking the field against Old Dominion on Aug. 31, Sellers compared his first start for the Gamecocks to something you would dream about. But the game would not go according to plan, both for Sellers and South Carolina.
A flurry of dropped passes, overthrown passes and a fourth quarter deficit to the Sun Belt Conference school, Sellers would end his first career start completing just 10 of his 23 pass attempts for 114 yards.
Though he struggled through the air, his running ability was on full display. Sellers ran for 68 yards and scored one touchdown on 22 carries, the most rushing attempts for a South Carolina quarterback since Connor Shaw ran the ball 22 times in a November 2013 matchup against Clemson.
Despite his rushing performance, the 6-foot-3 quarterback knew he had to be a better passer heading on the road for his first SEC start.
“You just gotta prepare the right way,” Sellers said after the Old Dominion game. “I need to get better, I’ll say, just, being more patient, being myself, being confident.”
Sellers said during a press conference on Sept. 3 that he played “timid” and was “scared to make a mistake.”
“As I went through the film, I could just tell I wasn’t myself,” Sellers said. “I was kind of jumpy, I was kind of fast, going through my reads fast, probably skipping some reads here and there, but I just need to be more patient.”
Offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains agreed in his assessment of Sellers’ first start.
“In the process of playing that game, I think that he looked like a guy that was getting his first start and played for 15 plays up until that point,” Loggains said. “He knows that the burden of that job, what it entails, but you really don’t feel it until you have to go do it for the first time … It’s an awesome opportunity to grow, and he’ll get better every week.”
Sellers said he knew South Carolina’s game against Kentucky would not be easy, but he aimed to make sure his slow start would not continue in the second week.
“It’s frustrating,” Sellers said. “But you know, first game ... you can only get better from there. Still young, still got time, but I just need to get better faster.”
Taking on the wildcats
The young quarterback would have his first career SEC start in enemy territory.
After leading a scoreless drive to start the game, he would help put South Carolina on the board by throwing a touchdown pass to freshman wide receiver Mazeo
Bennett Jr. The touchdown was Bennett’s first in his collegiate career. It’s a play they practiced for a while, Sellers said following the game.
“We had high-lowed that defender right there,” Sellers said. “If he took the flat, we’d have that. If he dropped back, we have the under on the down flat or whatever so just practice all week while they executed.”
Shortly afterward, Sellers would suffer a minor hip injury early and miss the majority of the second quarter.
“I knew I was going back in,” Sellers said. “It was never my decision to sit out at all so ... I’m not really sure what happened it was just kind of sore.”
Sellers would go on to complete 11 of his 15 pass attempts for 159 yards, along with two touchdowns, against the Wildcats.
He would experience some struggles during the game, though.
Despite showing improvement as a passer, the quarterback threw one interception.
Sellers also put the ball on the ground twice against Kentucky, both fumbles coming on back-to-back plays, where the Gamecocks retained possession. Sellers now has three fumbles through the first two games of the season, but he said he isn’t worried about his ability to take care of the football.
“It wasn’t really a ball security thing,” Sellers said. “I take that very seriously, like last week I fumbled too so I always take it serious, but they just caught me when I was breaking my hands going to throw the ball … both times”
Lenses focused on the future
Sellers credited his success in passing the ball against Kentucky to feeling more comfortable and getting the timing and chemistry down with his receivers. But Beamer said he wants to make sure Sellers doesn’t get too high or low mentally, even after an improved performance.
“Sometimes I wonder, ‘What’s really going on inside his head,’” Beamer said. “But his teammates have his back ... when something bad happens … it wasn’t like coming off the field wide eyes and rattled. He’s just very poised, knew what he did wrong and just play the next play.”
Beamer said he has full confidence in Sellers as things move along in the 2024 season.
“There were some lazy narratives out there this week about this team,” Beamer told ABC in his on-field post-game interview. “LaNorris is gritty, he’s gonna continue to learn.”
FILE — Redshirt freshman quarterback LaNorris Sellers calls for the snap during South Carolina’s home opener against Old Dominion on Aug. 31, 2024. Sellers started for the Gamecocks in the team’s first two games of the 2024 season, throwing for a total of 273 yards and achieving a completion rate of 55%.
PHOTO: SEBASTIAN GODUN
Transfer edge rusher Kyle Kennard’s impact felt on defensive line
Emilie Vigliotta | SPORTS WRITER
When fifth-year edge rusher Kyle Kennard transferred to South Carolina in his last year of eligibility, he joined a team that was looking to improve its pass rush during the Gamecocks’ preseason.
Two games in, Kennard has started to cement his status on South Carolina’s defense. Following his performance in South Carolina’s game against Old Dominion, Kennard was named SEC Co-Defensive Lineman of the Week. He also leads the Gamecocks’ defense with 5.5 sacks as of Oct. 7.
“That was somewhere as a team that we lacked last year, and that’s something that we definitely are trying to hone in on this year,” Kennard said. “Turn pressures into sacks, and turn hits into sacks and do different things that will get us closer to the quarterback.”
Kennard joined the Gamecocks from Georgia Tech, where he provided consistent pressure off the edge and was the team leader in sacks in 2023. During Kennard’s four seasons with the Yellow
Jackets, he appeared in 42 contests, 20 of which he started, and was credited with 115 career tackles, 21.5 tackles for loss and 12.5 sacks.
Kennard was honored as an ACC Defensive Lineman of the Week during his senior year at Georgia Tech and had four sacks when Georgia Tech played Wake Forest in September 2023. Kennard’s single-game sack total was the highest by an FBS player in 2023 and the most by a Yellow Jacket in 10 years.
After joining the Gamecocks, Kennard showed out in preseason, earning himself the 2024 South Carolina Spirit Award for defense in the spring. He provided insight into the difficulties of the pass rush and his position in a preseason interview. With modern offensive strategies, it’s become much harder to get close, pressure the quarterback and get the sack, Kennard said.
Kennard recorded 3.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks and one forced fumble in his South Carolina debut against Old Dominion. The fumble came on a strip sack on the second play of the game, and the Gamecocks’
excited about their process of getting ready for the football game and how they approach the week.”
White said Kennard has excelled in translating his practice into game situations.
“I’ve seen those guys pass rush for six months, I’ve seen those moves,” White said. “I’ve seen those guys get to those launch points, but it was nice to see it in the game and showcase it to our folks.”
Kennard’s success in the season opener raised expectations for his performance in the Gamecocks’ first conference game against Kentucky, but he said he did not feel much pressure heading into the game. Instead, he felt excited.
Kennard would play a pivotal part in South Carolina’s blowout 31-6 win against the Wildcats on Sept. 7, which vaulted the Gamecocks to a 2-0 record on the season. With Stewart on one side and Kennard on the other, Kentucky struggled to stop South Carolina’s pass rush.
South Carolina racked up five sacks and held Kentucky to just 44 passing yards, disrupting any passing momentum the Wildcats tried to sustain.
offense scored its first touchdown of the season on the ensuing drive.
“It was just very cool seeing the work I put out there in the offseason manifest onto the field,” Kennard said after the game. “Work doesn’t always guarantee you anything, so for things to fall into my hands, it was a pretty good feeling.”
Kennard’s success on the field is bolstered by the formidable edge rushing duo he has formed with freshman edge Dylan Stewart. The two have quickly made their mark, sharing the SEC Co-Defensive Linesman of the Week accolade. Together, the players have combined for four tackles each, six sacks and four forced fumbles in their first two games of the season.
Defensive coordinator Clayton White said he was impressed with Kennard and Stewart, not only for their performances but also for their mindsets going into the game.
“Obviously, you’re excited when that kind of production is on your team and the way (Kennard and Stewart) played on Saturday,” White said. “We were more
Junior defensive back Nick Emmanwori said the Gamecocks’ pass rush, which consisted of Kennard, Stewart, redshirt junior defensive tackle T.J. Sanders and fifth-year defensive tackle Tonka Hemingway, helped make the team’s secondary feel more comfortable.
“It makes it extremely easy (to play) when you got guys like T.J., Tonka, Kyle Kennard and Dylan Stewart up there, rushing a passer,” Emmanwori said. “You’re back there chilling. I mean, almost like you don’t even need us back there to play.”
The Gamecocks’ pass rush and defensive line was effective enough that it forced the Wildcats to change quarterbacks, Sanders said. Kentucky’s starting quarterback, junior Brock Vandagriff, was eventually taken out of the game, with junior Gavin Wimsatt taking his place.
“(Kentucky) started subbing in the backup quarterback a lot, the guy who likes to run more than he wants to sit back there and pass,” Sanders said. “Once we saw that, we knew we really had the advantage on those guys, taking away the one thing that they can do.”
FILE — Fifth-year edge Kyle Kennard attempts to sack Old Dominion’s quarterback during South Carolina’s home opener on Aug. 31, 2024. Kennard has contributed 5.5 sacks and two forced fumbles in the Gamecocks’ first five games of the 2024 season.
PHOTO: SEBASTIAN GODUN
2 months have passed since last stop of Rivals in Red tour. But how did the highly-anticipated match affect Columbia, local businesses?
Griffin Goodwyn | SPORTS EDITOR
Liverpool midfielder Harvey Elliott stood near the halfway line as fans around Williams-Brice Stadium counted down the seconds until kickoff. At approximately 7:42 p.m., the referee blew his whistle and Elliott passed the ball backward to his teammate.
Elliott’s backward pass officially kicked off the third and final stop of the Rivals in Red Tour, which was a match on Aug. 3 between two English Premier League clubs — Liverpool and Manchester United.
Two months after the event, personnel from Gamecock Athletics and other sectors of the Columbia community discussed the positive and negative aspects of the event and its influence on the city as a whole. The entities revealed the game’s economic impact on the city and some areas they aim to approach differently, should more large sporting events come to the area.
Excitement surrounding the match had been brewing for months after tickets for the event were sold out. While some tickets were purchased within a 24-hour pre-sale window, all remaining tickets were bought within six hours of them being made available to the general public.
The spike in ticket sales led to a subsequent increase in hotel room and flight bookings.
Raven Yonemura, the marketing manager of Hotel Trundle, a boutique hotel in downtown Columbia, said the 41room property saw all its available rooms booked shortly after Gamecock Athletics announced the match on Feb. 23.
Kim Crafton, the Columbia Metropolitan Airport’s vice president of marketing and air service development, said she also saw an uptick in the number of people flying in and out of the airport. While she could not confirm the exact number of bookings directly tied to the soccer match, she said the airport saw around 5,100 more passengers during August 2024 than it did in August 2023.
The increase in traffic benefited both the airport and the City of Columbia, Crafton said.
“We’re such a significant economic engine for the region, so to see an uptick in passenger traffic — may it be for this game, or just in general — it’s always a benefit for the airport from a revenue perspective,” Crafton said. “But we can say that we played a role in such a noteworthy event for the region, and that makes us proud.”
INTEREST LEADS TO ENGAGEMENT, HIGH ECONOMIC IMPACT
Executive Director of Experience Columbia SC Sports Scott Powers knew expectations for the match were high. Those standards were mirrored by interest among soccer fans in Columbia and other major markets in the Southeast.
“I knew right from the very beginning with the type of soccer fans that are in the Midlands, and I knew that wasn’t enough,” Powers said. “Being located halfway between Atlanta and Raleigh, which are two huge soccer bases, and basically just in the backyard of Charlotte — another huge metro population that soccer has a huge following — I knew that ticket sales was not going to be an issue.”
More than 77,500 people attended the match — a record for a soccer game held at Williams-Brice Stadium. The game also drew an audience of more than two million viewers and was broadcast in the U.S. on ESPN, ESPN+ and ESPN Deportes, said Megan Kennington, the associate athletics director for event operations for Gamecock Athletics.
“There was just a lot of excitement and people coming into town and seeing the ‘welcome soccer fan’ signage and bar coasters and things like that,” Kennington said. ”We couldn’t have been more thrilled with the number of people that were committed to being here, and the way that we presented it to those who
weren’t here in Columbia and helped kind of open their eyes to who we are and what we can do.”
Crowd involvement in the city’s match day festivities was not limited to just the game itself though.
Stands selling officially licensed Manchester United and Liverpool merchandise were set up around Williams-Brice Stadium and in the Gamecock Park Fan Zone, where thousands of fans participated in a variety of pregame festivities, Kennington said.
Powers said attendance at the Soda City Market on Main Street, which featured a soccer shootout-themed event, increased from around 7,000 during a regular week to “well over 10,000” on the day of the match.
The Rivals in Red Match generated $13.1 million for Columbia, marking the greatest economic impact a sporting event had on the city in its history, Powers said. He also said the revenue came at a favorable time for Columbia, which typically experiences a lull in business during late August.
“It would have been a huge event for restaurants, our hoteliers (and) our attractions no matter when it came. But because it came that first weekend in August, which is one of the slower weekends in our community — it’s the last week before kids go back to middle, elementary or high school, and a couple of weeks before USC students move back in — so it’s really a down time,” Powers said. “It couldn’t have fallen on a more opportune weekend to have the most impact.”
TRAFFIC, THUNDERSTORMS DAMPEN EXPERIENCE
Leaving the stadium after the game proved difficult for some fans, as they spent over an hour in standstill traffic or took just as long to leave the South Carolina State Fairgrounds.
South Carolina Highway Patrol Master Trooper William Bennett said outbound
traffic stemmed from a greater number of fans not leaving Williams-Brice Stadium until the final whistle, rather than leaving early.
“I think everybody stayed in the stadium pretty much the whole game,” Bennett said. “With the football games, you kind of get people trickling out maybe at halftime (or the) third quarter, so we did have a lot of people — probably more than we do
“With the football crowd, they usually get there kind of early and tailgate. It seemed to me that people coming to the soccer game kind of all waited until closer to game time to show up,” Bennett said. “I don’t know if it was because of the weather that day, because it was rainy ... (but) there was a lot of people showing up at the last minute.”
Kennington said traffic is one specific area Gamecock Athletics and other entities around Columbia will have to reevaluate should the city host another event of that magnitude again.
“Nothing’s going to go perfect in any event that we do — there’s always going to be something,” Kennington said. “So, if nothing else, it was a learning experience of the need of the infrastructure of the traffic plan and really being thoughtful in the way that we’re messaging to fans.”
with the football games — trying to come across those streets to the parking areas at the end of the game, which might have called a little bit of a delay.”
He added that a malfunctioning rail crossing arm located in the Olympia company could have led to even more traffic as attendees left the match.
Weather conditions and the presence of a different crowd from that of Gamecock football games — which made its way to Williams-Brice Stadium at an atypical time — created issues related to transportation to the match.
Kennington said soccer fans typically do not tailgate for hours before matches, which contradicts the tendencies of football fans in the Southeast. Thunderstorms that afternoon also deterred attendees from arriving early at Williams-Brice Stadium and attending fan events at Gamecock Park.
This created traffic congestion in the direction of the stadium, Bennett said.
teams and had three March Madness games played at Colonial Life Arena. Powers said the tournament generated $11.3 million in economic impact for the city, the previous record for a sporting event before the Rivals in Red Tour.
Since then, South Carolina’s athletics department has held discussions about events outside of Gamecock football games that could be hosted within Williams-Brice Stadium, Powers said.
“There’s an innumerable number of events that could potentially be hosted there that’s not even football, soccer or lacrosse-related that you would think that an SEC-quality football stadium would be able to host,” Powers said. “They’re willing to look outside the box as we’re going to the future of what could be, between eSports and those types of things. That opens the possibility of what we can do in the future.”
Kennington said she also received positive feedback from both Liverpool and Manchester representatives, whether it be about the makeshift grass pitch and home-like feel at the stadium or fan engagement at outdoor events.
“Working with these big teams who had said, ‘Oh, when we went to Abu Dhabi,’ and ‘We went to Shanghai,’ and all these things — how the heck do we compete with that?” Kennington said. “It was really all about being hospitable and friendly and kind to them, and I know that we hit home on that 1,000 times over, and they were just thrilled with the way we could take care of them.”
LOOKING FORWARD
Powers, when he first joined Experience Columbia SC in 2004, wanted to bring an NCAA basketball tournament regional — an event he said was “like the Super Bowl for what I saw Columbia could host” — to the city.
And he achieved that goal in 2019, when Columbia hosted four men’s basketball
She said both clubs and TEG Sport expressed interest in visiting the city, which could set the stage for more large sporting events in the future.
“We’re hoping that word spreads that, while Columbia, South Carolina, maybe sounds small, we can give you this big experience,” Kennington said. “We can get a lot of people excited about it and pull off a game of this magnitude.”
This month in Gamecock sports history
MINGO MARTIN| ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
The fall sports season hits full swing as the calendar turns to October. It’s the time of year when the football season picks up, and programs across the country start working toward their goals for that season.
The month of October brought the Gamecocks not only the debut of its home football stadium but also moments that have shaken up the school record books in football and other sports like soccer and volleyball. Here’s a list of notable events in the history of South Carolina sports that happened in the month of October.
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1934 South Carolina football played its first game at Columbia Municipal Stadium on Oct. 6. The stadium name would be changed to Carolina Stadium in 1941 and then again to Williams-Brice Stadium in 1972.
1959 The South Carolina and Clemson football teams played their final “Big Thursday” football game on Oct. 27. Big Thursday was the original rendition of the Palmetto State’s rivalry on the gridiron, where the two schools would meet at the State Fairgrounds in Columbia on a Thursday each season from 1896 to 1959.
1986 The South Carolina men’s soccer team picked up the program’s first-ever home win against in-state rival Clemson in a 4-3 victory over the Tigers on Oct. 12.
2010 Senior midfielder Brooke Jacobs tied South Carolina women’s soccer
single-match points record (7) in a match against Mississippi State on Oct. 3. Jacobs scored two goals and had an assist in the 7-0 victory.
2010 South Carolina football defeated a No. 1-ranked opponent for the first time in school history on Oct. 9, knocking off Alabama 35-21 at Williams-Brice Stadium. The Gamecocks’ offense was led by wide receiver Alshon Jeffery, who had seven receptions for 127 yards and two touchdowns, and running back Marcus Lattimore, who had 23 carries for 93 yards and two touchdowns.
2012 The South Carolina football team defeated No. 5 Georgia for the third straight year, in front of a single-game record crowd of 85,199 fans at Williams-Brice Stadium. South Carolina held the Bulldogs to just 224 yards of offense while gaining 230 yards on the ground. The Gamecocks won the game 35-7.
2016 The South Carolina women’s soccer team picked up its highest ranking in program history as it was listed as the No. 2 team in the country in United Soccer Coaches Top 25 poll after a 14-0-1 start to the season. The Gamecocks would go on win to the SEC Championship and reach the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals.
2022 Head football coach Shane Beamer picked up his first win over a ranked opponent at South Carolina on Oct. 8 in a 24-14 victory over No. 13 Kentucky. Beamer and the Gamecocks went on to defeat two more ranked opponents — No. 5 Tennessee and No. 7 Clemson by 63-38 and 31-30 scores, respectively — later in the regular season.
PROFESSIONALLY YOU!
Professionally You! Professionally Ready
Wed., Nov. 6 | 5:30 - 6:30 p.m. | Career Center Conference Room
Learn to successfully prepare for and navigate a career fair, to prepare for an interview, and best practices for professional dress.
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Professionally You! Professionally Connected Mon., Nov. 11 | 5:30 - 6:30 p.m. | Career Center Conference Room
Gamecock Badminton Club looks to expand club through member inclusivity, regardless of skill level
WILL MILLER | CLUB SPORTS BEAT WRITER
As the fall semester continues, returning and incoming students are finding ways to settle in at the University of South Carolina.
Some choose to join Greek Life, while others decide to find an organization that interests them. But some Gamecocks have joined a club that offers the ability to play a new, or familiar, sport — badminton.
The Gamecock Badminton Club offers students the ability to compete at different levels. They can play in casual intrasquad tournaments or try out for the competitive team.
Whether the student is a seasoned veteran or someone picking up the game for the first time, club president and second-year public health student Quan Nguyen said he wants to create an inclusive environment for students.
“My current goal right now is to make a space for everyone just to come and enjoy
badminton,” Nguyen said. “A lot of people tend to say that they’re bad at badminton … but that’s the thing, that’s why we’re here. We’re here for you to come play even if you’re ‘bad’ or whatever, or you’re new. You come here to play and have fun.”
Nguyen said he hopes to grow the club. By creating a positive atmosphere for the students, second-year accounting and marketing student Andrew Martin said he hopes it will encourage students to return and build their numbers.
“Our main goal in the leadership has just been to get people playing, get people having fun,” Martin said. “The more people we can get, the better.”
Martin, as the marketing head of the organization, said his main responsibilities include running the team’s social media, helping recruit new players and planning tournaments.
And the club has seen the results of the executive board’s work. They now
average around 40 to 50 people attending meetings this year, while last year the club would average 20 to 30 people, Nguyen said.
As the club continues to grow, Nguyen believes the recreational facilities on campus don’t recognize badminton as a priority.
“The number one challenge right now is that Blatt and Strom and even USC as a whole don’t recognize us as ‘an important club,’” Nguyen said. “I feel like Blatt (doesn’t) take us very seriously, even though we’re a very fast growing club … We really need space.”
One thing Nguyen said he thinks will help is having tournaments against other universities.
By playing against other collegiate teams, the organization would qualify as a sports program. A club must pursue and compete in three competitions against other schools per year to qualify, according to the Sport Club Officer Manual.
Once the club becomes an official sports program, the organization can receive funding from the Sport Club Executive Board.
Membership dues play a big part in purchasing things like equipment and entry fees for tournaments. Nguyen estimates that membership dues will be under $20. The dues and allocated funds make up a majority of an organization’s revenue.
The club has been in contact with other schools from around the South, including Clemson and Georgia. Martin said, likely, the club will host other teams since the club does not yet have travel funds.
Even though these tournaments are still being planned, there are other opportunities for tournaments with club members.
In the past, the club hosted events, such as “Anything but a Racquet,” a tournament where participants use any item but a racket, and Halloween tournaments, where members were encouraged to wear their Halloween costumes. The club also finished the 2024 spring semester with its Wall Of Fame tournament, its final intrasquad tournament of the semester.
The organization not only plans to host this event at the end of each semester to wrap up everything but to do tournaments around major holidays, such as Halloween and Christmas, Martin said.
Second-year biology student Anuvarshini Rajaji Sivaranjani said she used to play badminton several years ago, and when she attended the club meeting on Sept. 5, she said the experience was nostalgic and not intimidating.
“I definitely feel it’s welcoming and not too intimidating,” Sivaranjani said. “They mentioned they have competitions and stuff, so I was kind of nervous, but then after I came here I saw people who are pros and people who are learning.”
Student experiences such as Sivaranjani’s show the main goal set by Nguyen of creating a friendly, openarmed atmosphere is being accomplished. Martin said these positive interactions with the club go for all students who attend its meetings.
“Everybody who comes to this club leaves with a smile on their face, wanting to come back,” Martin said. “It’s still just so fun to hit around, and you meet so many new people doing it, it’s just really amazing.”
The club meets on Wednesdays and Thursdays in the Blatt PEC in Room 307 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Fourth-year public health student Dylan Dang prepares to return the birdie during Gamecock Badminton Club’s practice on Sept. 11, 2024. The team practices on Wednesday and Thursday nights at Blatt Public Education Center.
Members of Gamecock Badminton Club scrimmage at practice on Sept. 11, 2024. The team restarted in the fall of 2023.
PHOTO: ALICIA CARACCIOLO
PHOTO: ALICIA CARACCIOLO
ARTS & CULTURE 20
Student poll:
Where is your favorite place to find clothes for game day?
The Daily Gamecock reached out to its Instagram followers to ask them where their favorite places are to shop for South Carolina game days. Respondents gave a variety of answers, including both online and in-person store fronts. Here are a few of the most popular.
Illustration: Olivia Abner
‘Let’s dress up’: The history, evolution of Southern game day fashion
CJ Leathers| fashion beat writer
College football has become ingrained into every American’s routine on Saturdays, but in Southern states, the culture around the game is just as crucial, down to styling and school spirit.
Saturdays in the South have always been culturally defining for college students, from the community’s atmosphere and excitement to the weekly choice of apparel that creates a sense of belonging for students, said blogger Nikki Lo, who wrote about the modern trends within game day fashion.
The typical styles seen today at a college football game are country and westerninspired, such as polo shirts, denim
The shift of Southern game day style
As the years pass by, younger generations’ fashion choices are moving towards sustainability and individualism in outfits while moving away from formal attire, fashion stylist and USC alumna Ashley Jenkins said.
Students and fans wore formal and professional-looking skirts, dresses, suits and bow ties to games through the early 20th century, according to an article written by University of Alabama New’s Cathy Butler-Burnette.
The late 1970s and 1980s brought a more
outfit they’re wearing. Jenkins said when she attended USC, students and fans wore more fashionable pieces during important games throughout the season, such as night games, bowl games and rivalry games.
“If it was a night game, then sometimes they would dress up a little more. But by dressing up, it’s like you wear your black dress or your black cute top, shorts and your cowgirl boots,” Jenkins said. “Daytime games were a bit more casual, like denim shorts, a USC shirt or something that was garnet and black.”
Jenkins attended USC from 2006 to 2010 where she gained many experiences in the fashion industry, such as working with Fashion Board USC, organizing fashion shows around USC and doing style workshops through her sorority, Theta Gamma.
Modern game day attire was more upscale and formal than older fashion options, however. Guys would wear blazers, jeans and dress shirts, while girls would wear pencil skirts and chunkier heels out on weekends, Jenkins said.
“Clubs and nightlife were centered around dressing your best and looking your best, and I think some of that probably transitioned to game days and the way we dressed in the evenings for game days,” Jenkins said.
Student styles have transitioned from a mix of casual and formal wear to primarily casual, comfortable wear, Jenkins said.
accommodate the weather and the upward trend of blue jeans and traditional t-shirt sales.
In the past 15 years, social media has played a role in attire for students and fans alike, as users want to capture a moment and recognize it through the
Photos: Sydney Dunlap
“When I was at USC, it had ... (and) still does, has an athleisure element to it,” Jenkins said. “And so the trend was dressier for evening games but a little bit sportier overall. The transition now (is based around) sports prep and more casual.”
Time and effort behind each game day outfit
Recently, there’s been a difference in how students typically purchase and
wear their clothing for game days, said second-year retail management student Ella Brooks.
“I feel like, for a majority of girls, they go to look for a unique, game day outfit, whereas guys will go to Addam’s (University Bookstore) to buy a t-shirt or a polo and just wear that and recycle through it,” Brooks said. “Girls will be like, ‘No, I have to have a specific outfit for every game,’ and they’ll hit My Kim (Collection), they’ll hit Miss Cocky ... and (Urban Outfitters) in the Vista.”
Game day outfits leave students with first impressions and the opportunity to get to know each other, said second-year pre-nursing student Eucharia Ogbuewu.
“I feel like not everybody has the chance ... (to talk) to me, so they get to see and feel who I am by what I’m wearing before I actually open my mouth,” Ogbuewu said.
Game day fashion has taken a twist of western and country themes, including a variety of team-colored polos, skirts and cowboy boots, said first-year nursing student Amaya Garrett.
Throughout Columbia, there’s nearly endless demand around local USC shops, especially during football season and in the fall. The line on one game day was out the door with parents from Family Weekend, said first-year retailing student Lizzie Duce.
“I was at Miss Cocky today, and there was a line outside the door, and there were so many people in there,” Duce said. “I think they get a lot of business, especially due to parents that are here right now too (for Family Weekend).”
Excitement around USC fashion culture Brooks comes from Virginia, where people normally dress down for game days, she said. Brooks noticed a cultural shift around football games when she came to South Carolina, she said.
“A lot of my friends who go to school at (the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech), it’s just their (game day culture) is definitely so much more casual than ours,” Brooks said. “It’s just, ‘Oh, we have a game today, let’s dress up, let’s wear a jersey and some sneakers and let’s go
South Carolina fans walk into Williams-Brice Stadium before the Gamecocks game against Ole Miss on Oct. 5, 2024. People supporting South Carolina were instructed to wear garnet, and attendees wore various outfits and accessories ranging from jerseys to cowboy boots.
watch the game. Let’s have a good time at the games.’”
For students at USC and other SEC schools such as Ole Miss, Arkansas and LSU, the entire Saturday is based around the game, double-checking their looks, outfits and hair for near-perfection, all in preparation for a long and strenuous day on the town, Brooks said.
“For us, it’s like, I need to wake up at 9 a.m. and make sure that my hair is completely ready and make sure that I am completely ready for the day,” Brooks said. Outfits have also become dependent on the time of the game as well, as she decides whether to change into a different outfit or not, Brooks said.
“If it’s a 12 or three o’clock game, I’ll probably dedicate a certain amount of time to getting ready for the game, hanging out my outfit, all those things and then coming back and changing, I’ll just redo what I did earlier and maybe throw on a much more
From left to right, South Carolina fans Karsen Sturkey, Ally Spradlin and Kennedy Sturkey hold hands and look towards Gamecock Park outside of Williams Brice Stadium on Sept. 21, 2024. The group bought pieces of their outfits from a mix of local and online stores, wanting to feel good for game day and support the Gamecocks with garnet and black colors.
Photos: Sebastian Godun
From left to right, Kennedi Drumwright, Eucharia Ogbuewu, Courtney Fulmore and Amaya Garrett look up towards Williams Brice Stadium and hold up a ‘spurs up’ hand motion on Sept. 21, 2024. The group dressed up for South Carolina’s Family Weekend football matchup against Akron University.
The Daily Gamecock’s featured photos of the month
photo: Kiley Wagner
A University of South Carolina student reads “Let Us Descend” by Jesmyn Ward on Sept. 24, 2023. Authors such as Ward participated in the free Fall Literacy Festival where there were book signings and other events.
Photo: Delany Kral
The University of South Carolina’s mascot Cocky engages with fans at ESPN’s College GameDay on Sept. 14, 2024. Some fans waited for 12 hours outside of Gamecock Park to be the first into the pit for the live broadcast.
Photo: Taylor Kitchens
Sophomore tight end Connor Cox leaps over the pylon to score a touchdown during South Carolina’s game against Akron on Sept. 21, 2024, at Williams-Brice Stadium. Cox carried the ball nine yards to score in the Gamecocks’ 50-7 win over the Zips.
Photo:Delany Kral
Fifth-year edge Kyle Kennard tackles a Louisiana State University player on Sept. 14, 2024. Kennard has made 5.5 sacks so far in the 2024 season.
Photo: Sebastian Godun
Families gather around the pool outside of the Strom Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center during the “Rock the Roost” event on Sept. 20, 2024. The event, which was part of USC’s Family Weekend, featured a live band, food and drinks and pictures with Cocky.
Photo: Jack Bradshaw
Students Makenzie Smallman and Sofia Montoya perform backflips in a bouncy castle at Blatt Bonanza on Sept. 18, 2024, on Blatt Field. Some students said they saw the event as a way to protest the Uncensored America “roast.”
Photo: Nickolas Hill
A demonstrator sits at the “Hate is not welcomed” rally before its start on Sept. 18, 2024. People from the South Carolina community gathered at the Statehouse to protest Uncensored America’s “roast” of Vice President Kamala Harris.
Photo: Jack Bradshaw
Sophomore defensive specialist Elizabeth McElveen prepares to receive an incoming serve during South Carolina’s match against East Carolina on Sept. 17, 2024. McElveen has made 79 digs since the start of the season.
‘Do what makes your body feel good’: Columbia, USC women find place in male-dominated world of fitness
When third-year biomedical engineering student Alexa Cash walks into a weight room, she is sometimes the only girl there. At first, Cash said she was afraid of being watched in the gym. But after continued perseverance, she said her confidence grew.
Cash is not alone in her experience. Powerlifter and 1994 USC alumna Toinette Reed, owner of Brickhouse Gym in Columbia, said some women are just beginning to feel like they belong in the weight section of the gym.
When Reed opened Brickhouse in 2000, she said 90% of the clientele she saw were men. Now, Reed estimates Brickhouse has a 60% to 40% ratio of men to women.
In the 25 years since Reed opened Brickhouse, she has seen more and more women step onto the weight floor.
“Women that want to come in here, they want to train, and they want to train hard,” Reed said. “And they’re not intimidated by the guy next to them.”
Fitness beginnings
Reed said she noticed during COVID-19 that many women sought out health and fitness as a way to maintain sanity. With so much being shut down, training was accessible to people both in their home and outside, Reed said.
Fourth-year neuroscience student Eden Wellons began doing workouts to YouTube videos posted during the COVID-19 pandemic, she said.
“I felt like I was doing nothing with my life,” Wellons said. “I started getting into (fitness), and it became my coping mechanism. And it still is to this day.”
A strategy that worked for Cash to maintain her well-being was spending hours on her mom’s Peloton, a stationary bike that streams cycling classes, she said.
The second her gym opened back up, Cash’s dad, who used to be a bodybuilder, taught her how to lift, she said. Six years of gym experience have increased Cash’s confidence at the gym, she said.
Cash is the event coordinator for USC’s chapter of women’s fitness club Changing Health, Attitudes, and Actions to Recreate Girls. The group’s mission is to help girls feel more comfortable working out, Cash said.
They take CrossFit, yoga and pilates classes together, Cash said.
Girl Gains is a club for female lifters of any skill level, said fourthyear visual communications student Sidra Blackwelder. The club creates a community for girls seeking friends with similar interests, Blackwelder said.
“I think the biggest thing that Girl Gains wants to do is just make sure that girls feel comfortable in a male-dominated space,” Blackwelder said. “So just having a supportive community of women around you.”
Blackwelder is the secretary of Girl Gains. In her two years in the club, she said she found there was a larger population of female weightlifters than she thought.
“Female weightlifting is a relatively new thing, and we tend to shy back from being as loud and … taking up as much space as we could,” Blackwelder said. “And so we just sometimes shrink ourselves down.”
Breaking stereotypes
Reed said that historically lifting heavy weights was something that people
Members of the University of South Carolina Girl Gains club pose for a photo in Blatt Gym on Oct. 1, 2024. The group meets on multiple occasions throughout the school year to work out together.
Photos: Delany Kral
Bottom left to bottom right; Second-year psychology student Lexi Bennett and second-year exercise science student Jess Dianda show off their skill during a training session.
simone Meyer | Assistant Arts & Culture Editor
thought only men enjoyed. She found that women were looked down upon for wanting to get into heavy lifting, she said.
“It goes for anything in society,” Reed said. “If you look all the way back, females have had to work harder at whatever they wanted to get to close that gap and prove themselves.”
Cash said some women may be afraid to gain muscle mass because society will think of them differently.
“Girls aren’t pushed to be these big, muscular people,” Cash said. “There definitely is a connotation that you
have to be a big, strong guy, not a big, strong woman.”
Reed picked a male partner to lift with when she trained for a 2001 South Carolina State Bodybuilding show, she said. He was stronger than her at the start of their training, but by the time they stopped working together, Reed said she was stronger than him.
“The first thought when a female walks into anything competition-wise, (is) that they’re not on the same level as the male,” Reed said. “I figured, ‘Okay if he thinks he’s going to work at that level, I’m going to work at that level.’”
Reed won the heavyweight division of the competition, and then she went back to powerlifting training. While powerlifting and bodybuilding are similar in their training regimens, Reed said the dieting necessary for bodybuilding was one of the most unhealthy things she’d ever done. By the time she’d finished her bodybuilding training, Reed’s body fat went from 18% to 6%. She had striations on her chest, and she lost her menstrual cycle.
Wellons said it’s easier for men to look more “fit” than women, since they have a lower level of body fat. According to Healthline, a healthy woman has between 10% to 13% essential body fat, while a healthy man has 2% to 5% essential body fat.
“For women, it’s a lot healthier to hold on to some of that body fat because if you restrict yourself too much, that’s dangerous,” she said. “You can have all kinds of health problems that men aren’t going to have.”
Wellons said that 20 years ago, the beauty standard was for women to look extremely thin. Now, Wellons said she hopes women feel more comfortable appearing more muscular or strong.
At the gym, Cash said some girls could still be afraid of lifting because it could make them look bulky.
“I’ve never been like a tiny little skinny girl,” Cash said. “And you sometimes feel like, ‘Well yes I am lifting more than them, but is it worth looking more muscular?’”
Blackwelder said people shouldn’t be afraid to exercise for fear of how it’s going to make them look.
“I feel like it’s just better to be fit and be healthy,” she said. “How you look should kind of come second, so do what makes your body feel good.”
A need for representation
Everyone’s body is different, so women shouldn’t compare their bodies to other women or men, Wellons said.
Clinical Assistant Professor Amy Fraley, who works USC’s exercise science department, said it is a common misconception to assume women are just smaller versions of their male counterparts.
Fraley said injury prevention protocols, rehabilitation protocols, muscle strengthening practices and flexibility are specifically drawn from male studies and that physical trainers often generalize this research and hope it works the same for women. If physical trainers obtained more female studies, they could do better work, Fraley said.
A 2021 study that found that while 31% of sports and exercise scientific studies were performed on only males, just 6% of studies were performed on only females.
Ashley Lamb, the owner of Pvolve gym in Columbia, said the lack of female representation in these exercise studies could be dangerous and lead to women working out in a way that injures them.
”When I was younger, I thought I had to push myself so so hard in order to get a good workout,” Lamb said. “I was doing so many things that I thought I needed to do because those workouts were built for men, but there was nothing specific for women.”
The lack of research and attention to female bodies in the fitness world is something that Pvolve is working to change, Lamb said.
“Pvolve is changing the name and changing the game on a male-dominated fitness industry,” Lamb said. “We are focusing right now on females, which I think is amazing.”
The forward momentum of women showing up in the world of fitness is not going to stop, Reed said. Health is not a fad.
”You might have different gyms,” Reed said. “Those kinds of things could change … but you will always have people who want to train now and stay healthy.”
Reed said that especially with female athletes, women’s drive and passion are getting more and more attention from society. Muscle on women is beautiful, and they shouldn’t be ashamed to show it off, she said.
“These females train hard to get where they are,” Reed said. “So (in) that maledriven society, there’s not that gap that there used to be.”
Members of the University of South Carolina Girl Gains club pose for a photo in Blatt Gym on Oct. 1, 2024. The group meets on multiple occasions throughout the school year to work out together.
Bottom left to bottom right; Third-year public relations student Alannah Murphy and fourthyear criminal justice student and Girl Gains President Sam Schneider show off their skill during a training session.
USC’s haunted side is told on University Ambassadors’ ghost tour
Caroline Nix | arts and culture writer
Moaning and wailing, creaking and tapping: The University of South Carolina’s campus is host to many sounds, people and potentially the supernatural.
Spooky season is approaching, but the spookier aspects of USC can be found year-round if you know where to look. On Oct. 30, scarers, guides and greeters await at McKissick Museum, where the University Ambassadors have organized a walking haunted tour that tells the darker story of USC.
Creaking, suspicious tapping and moving coffee cups are normal experiences in the McKissick Museum, said Mark Smith, the collections manager and facilities manager.
Smith, a long-time employee of McKissick Museum, helps the University Ambassador Ghost Tour. He is the first greeter of the tour, dressed up as a funeral home director. Smith said he started working on the ghost tours to clear up some confusion surrounding one of the legends.
“I got involved with it five or six years ago, because (University Ambassadors) were calling our spirit here in the building the janitor, which he’s not, he’s the colonel,” Smith said. “He’s J. Rion McKissick, who the building’s named after. So I started to sort of get that corrected. I started becoming one of the hosts, and I do it every year.”
Smith said he has had several encounters with one of the ghosts mentioned on the tour and has survived to tell the tale. The most well-accepted legend, Smith said, is that the spirit of former university president, J.R. McKissick, resides in the McKissick Museum and keeps watch over its inhabitants.
“When I first heard footsteps ... in the ‘80s, I was studying here on my masters. And I heard somebody walking in our stack area,” Smith said. “This is at night. Just like a cheap horror movie, I go, ‘Oh, let’s see who it is.’ I walk down the steps, and there’s nobody there. I go upstairs. Then I started thinking about it. I said, ‘I’m leaving.’”
There are many legends and sightings surrounding McKissick Museum, Smith said. He said many people have had similar encounters that they’ve shared over the years. The ghost tour tells many of these
stories and the different locations where they have sprouted from.
While McKissick Museum is the starting point of the tour, spooky legends have also originated from Longstreet Theatre, the previous location of a Civil War hospital.
Legends say part of the theatre was used as a morgue and that it became the resting place for soldiers and their spirits, Smith said.
University historian Evan Faulkenbury said he thinks the many legends shared over the years help to remind the students about McKissick.
“It’s a big building, and I think there’s lots of parts of it that are inaccessible to the public,” Faulkenbury said. “Who knows what lurks in those hallways, right? All that old stuff ... McKissick, he’s the only person who’s buried on the campus as well, over there in front of the South Caroliniana
(Library). I think whether his ghost is real or not, he’s just important to talk about because he was just such an influential and important person in university history here.”
Brianna Hughey, a student University Ambassador, has worked the ghost tour for the past three years. While the ghost tour is not a large or multi-night function, it is still a fully-staffed operation, she said. The tour stops along the Horseshoe, describing the spooky stories of the buildings and the legends of the people who may have lived there, Hughey said.
“You can either be a scarer. So, we’ll come down here and do some makeup. You’ll hide in the bushes to scare people as they’re walking by,” Hughey said. “You can be a reader. Those characters are also dressed up at their stop, and they are reading the ghost story to you, or
you can be a guide, so you’re not really that scary. You’re just there to guide the group around.”
For those who are more wary of the supernatural or are feeling less inclined to pay for a haunted house, the university ghost tour is a great alternative, Hughey said. It is also a unique way to learn more about the university’s campus and the people who came before, she said.
“It’s a great alternative for a haunted house or a haunted trail,” Hughey said. “You could still feel a lot safer, but you could still get that little fright or thrill that you’re looking for ... I would encourage you to come with your friends. It’s a very great opportunity for that beyond-theclassroom bonding ... It would be a cool experience for literally anybody, families, friends, couples.”
Illustration: Abby Smith
Tall boots and chunky jewelry: USC students predict fall fashion trends
Gabi Roder | ARTs & Culture Writer
As the weather cools, students will begin putting on chunkier jewelry and taller boots, students involved in fashion culture at USC said.
Going to school in the South affects the way students dress for the colder seasons, said Emma Sweeney, a first-year fashion merchandising student. Each new season, students use different trends to look good and dress for the weather.
“Obviously, a lot of people are gonna be wearing garnet here, but I feel like that’s gonna be a good fall color this year,” Sweeney said. “I know last year it was a bright red. That was a fun pop of color.”
Cherry red was a common theme in 2023, said Riley Mills, a second-year hospitality student and member of USC’s Fashion Board. This year, colors have shifted to more muted tones, such as browns and greens, Mills said.
Madalyn McLaughlin, a second-year fashion merchandising student, said she has been observing more brown in stores.
“I’m really excited to get into browns,” McLaughlin said. “I never really wore it but I’m just excited to see what it would look like, obviously, on me and other people. Brown, burgundy too, you can really go either way with it.”
Fashion students use platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and Pinterest to forecast which trends are going to be more popular this season.
“I think this fall definitely I can see mesh and sheer stuff really coming in, like lace,” McLaughlin said. “I’ve seen more girls starting to wear that like the TikTok influencers.”
Influencers and celebrity creators, such as Sophia Richie, Lionel Richie’s daughter, have created subtle trends in their lifestyles. Richie recently rose in popularity for her sophisticated fashion and lifestyle choices, according to Vanity Fair.
“The simple elegance look I feel like is still pulling really strong since Sophia Richie came in and had her whole rebrand,” McLaughlin said. “I want to try a classic brown with a more chunky necklace.”
In prior years, the “coquette aesthetic,” a feminine style consisting of bows, lace and pastel colors has taken over, according to Vogue. Eliana Gross, a second-year
student and member of the Fashion Board, said people are transitioning to a different aesthetic.
“I think all that coquette thing is probably going to start to fade away and people are probably going to start to go more for that old money, classic look, even when looking for those lighter aesthetics like linens,” Gross said.
for literally 18 years of my life. Look through there and look for differentlength necklaces,” Gross said. “It’s kind of great ... because you can upgrade any outfit by adding a jacket and then so many bracelets.”
Students often put their own twist on outfits they see celebrities wearing. Mills said some current fall trends for going out
When looking for going-out clothes, mixing loud and fun with classic pieces has become a common theme, Sweeney said.
“Even going out I’ve seen a lot of people wearing really cool, crazy tops with a simple bottom, or vice versa,” Sweeney said. “Or a fun pair of pants with a really simple top.”
Mills said dressing up an outfit with chunky statement jewelry has recently become popular.
Finding jewelry doesn’t have to be expensive, Gross said. She said she recently gained a new interest in accessorizing through thrifting.
“Just work on accessorizing ... I skipped over the accessory section of thrift stores
probably stay throughout the fall and winter season.”
Sweeney said certain trends are more popular on a Southern campus because of the large Greek Life presence.
“Of course, everyone here wears Lululemon and Hokas and stuff so I think really cool athleisure, free people movement outfits, those are cool,” Sweeney said. “And matching sets. Especially with the Greek Life here, I think at this campus specifically. I see a lot of people wearing boutique dresses, baby doll dresses and things like that. It’s very different from up North, where people are wearing more street-style clothes.”
The heat can limit the way students dress in South Carolina, which means there is a difference between how students dress here and how they dress on a more northern campus, Mills said.
“I feel like talking to people who come from up north and then talking to people who are obviously from the South, they have very different perceptions of the way that people dress here,” Gross said. “A lot of people wear kind of similar things. A lot of athleisure wear throughout the year and then just add a hoodie on top of it, like leggings and a hoodie is generally what most people wear to class, which I feel like is totally understandable.”
Sweeney said layering can be a student’s best friend on campus. Living in Columbia, it can be difficult to navigate the hotter weather, she said.
“I mean just layers,” Sweeney said. “I love layers, I love fall fashion so much more than spring or summer just because you can literally pile on clothes.”
have been influenced by musical artists such as Sabrina Carpenter.
“I mean Sabrina (Carpenter) really doesn’t have her stomach out ever,” Mills said. “She does a lot of like, bodysuits and mini skirts. That’s kind of becoming a lot more of a thing. I feel like a lot of people are doing mini skirts, mini shorts with boots.”
Mills said thigh-high boots, which used to be viewed as something a mom would wear, has come back in a new way.
“Tall boots I think are coming back,” McLaughlin said. “Everyone is right now doing a mini skirt with the tall black boots. I think that those are gonna
Layering adds practicality for students walking in and out of classes, Gross said. Dressing intentionally can help students avoid getting too hot when sitting in class, whether it’s wearing a chunky sweater or a fun jacket.
“I like to wear a tank top with a bulky jacket,” Gross said. “Whether that be a NASCAR zip-up or a leather jacket that looks a little bit too big. I feel like messing with layers is something I’m kind of looking forward to.”
Dressing with trends isn’t the end-all beall, but Sweeney said that simply observing other students on campus can help create new outfit inspiration.
Illustration: Olivia abner
How to register to vote in this presidential election
How to register
In South Carolina, you can register to vote online with a driver’s license or DMV ID. You can also download a form to send by email, mail or fax from the South Carolina Election Commission’s website.
You can also register in person by visiting your county board of voter registration.
According to the South Carolina Election Commission, students from out of state may register to vote in South Carolina while attending college. If you are planning to register in South Carolina, you must use the address of
your dorm, not P.O. box, but students can specify where to receive mail later in the application. More information about that can be found on the election commission website. You do not have to register by party in South Carolina.
In-state voters
The first step is to find out where to vote. This is called a precinct. If you are already registered, you can find where to vote by searching your information on scvotes.gov.
Polling places are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Anyone in line at 7 p.m. can still cast their vote.
You will be asked to show a current and valid photo ID at the polls. This includes a driver’s license, voter registration card or a passport, among others.
Plan your trip home ahead of time. USC does not have classes on election day on Nov. 5.
Out-of-state
Deadlines for requesting absentee ballots vary by state. Make sure to request your ballot as soon as possible.
Illustrations: Olivia Abner
Emmy Ribero | News Editor
Flour Child Bakery provides vegan options for Columbia businesses
Who needs milk and eggs? Vegan baking is on the rise, and it has convinced one baker to ditch traditional ingredients.
Local baker Alissa Ayers, who uses she/they pronouns, said she hopes to provide more vegan options to the community with her business “Flour Child Bakery.” She began selling pastries to local markets in June 2023 and has since been providing Columbia patrons an opportunity to try vegan twists on classic treats.
Ayers is the manager at Azalea Coffee Bar, a coffee shop that emphasizes supporting women and minority-owned small businesses. The cafe started out selling non-vegan baked goods, but Ayers took it as an opportunity to share her take.
“We have just been getting desserts from different local bakers over time, and we just didn’t have any vegan options, so we decided to try it out,” Ayers said.
For Azalea Coffee Bar, she focuses on more breakfast foods, such as
banana bread loaves and cookie “sammies.”
Customers have been surprised when they found out the baked goods are vegan, said Jenna Burton, a barista at Azalea.
“I feel like a lot of the time people think that vegan pastries or vegan desserts are not good or they’re going to be bland or boring, but Alissa’s are never like that,” Burton said.
Ayers started baking at a young age with her mom but later got more professional experience at two local bakeries. She then started baking for her friends, who always encouraged her to sell her goods.
Ayers stopped baking when she started working at Azalea in 2021. But she restarted her passion in 2023 when she did her first market in Lexington called Flora and Fauna.
“I applied to do that last minute not really expecting anything, and I got picked,” Ayers said.
There is plenty of room to experiment in baking, Ayers said, so she usually chooses to make treats she wants to try out.
“Sometimes I get inspiration from friends. I’ll ask what they want to do,” Ayers said. “One of my last desserts was a peach oatmeal cream pie because one of my friends was just really wanting an oatmeal cream pie.”
Over time, Ayers’ love for baking unintentionally combined with her active involvement with the LGBTQIA+ community, whether it’s attending local events or baking for different businesses.
“I am a big part of the queer community, locally. I go to a lot of the local shows ... I feel like I just kind of incorporated that in (my branding),” Ayers said. “I did a raffle for a cake one time for a local performer who needed some medical bills paid.”
Queer Haven Books, a local queer bookstore in Columbia, has worked with Ayers since the opening party for its brickand-mortar store. Matti Kourtney, the coowner of the bookstore, said it got involved when Ayers came to a pop-up event.
“(Ayers is) amazing, and they’re vegan, which is really good because a lot of people are into that now,” Kourtney said.
Ayers comes from a queer and indigenous background, which is major part of Queer Haven’s mission.
“Everything we carry, we try to either for it to be minority-owned, or queerowned or women-owned because we want to support that,” Kourtney said.
Even though Ayers started small, she has come to be a strong part of the Columbia community. Burton said customers come to Azalea are well aware of Flour Child.
“The amount of people we have coming in here, specifically having tried her treats at other places, they get so excited when they realize that they’re the Flour Child ones,” Burton said.
Flour Child can be found at Azalea Coffee Bar and on The Hoot menu in Columbia.
Gabi Roder | Arts and Culture Writer
An oatmeal cookie sandwich from Flour Child Bakery sits on a plate on Sept. 12, 2024. Ayers sells her baked goods at Azalea Coffee Bar, where she also works.
Photo: Destini Simon
Cookies from Flour Child Bakery sit on a plate inside Azalea Coffee Bar on Sept. 12, 2024. Flour Child, owned by Alissa Ayers, began in June 2023 and provides customers with a vegan take on classic baked goods.
Photo: Destini Simon
New vintage store wants to provide unique experience to USC students
As customers open the doors to Old Skool Outfitter, they are greeted by walls covered with doodles, minimalist art and racks filled with vintage color-coded sweaters.
Old Skool Outfitter opened on Gervais Street on Aug. 24. It was a dream come true, said owners Cy’ree Clarke and Zach Justice. The store is a buy-sell-trade store specializing in vintage clothing.
“When I first started, I also did Soda City, and the goal was always to open up our first door in Columbia. That was always my big dream, even when that kind of seemed impossible like that would never really happen,” Clarke said.
The pair met in Columbia at a popup event, and after becoming friends, decided to merge their companies. Both were focused on reselling clothing. They opened their first store in Greenville in 2021, Justice’s hometown.
“We knew that Greenville is an up-andcoming city, and we had lots of resources here in Greenville already. And so we also saw that there’s a real hunger for this kind of stuff in Greenville, and not really someone to provide it,” Justice said. But their main goal was Columbia, Clarke’s hometown.
“It’s kind of cool that we’re almost essentially bringing it back home, and so the people that have shot with us and supported us from years ago are now able to kind of experience the fruit from all the hard work we’ve put in,” Clarke said. Seeing customers get excited over the racks of vintage sweaters, jackets and hats is what inspires Clarke and Justice, Clarke said.
“For me ... giving other people the opportunity to take part in what we love and what means a lot to us,” Clarke said. “My favorite part of opening up the store ... is just sitting down and seeing people walk in and seeing their faces just get so excited and light up whenever they come inside and see kind of like what we’ve done.”
Clarke said he loves the uncertainty of vintage shopping and the thrill of never knowing what he might stumble across.
“Sometimes you could go, and you could end up dry and not get anything, or you could go and find that piece that’ll stay in your wardrobe for forever,” Clarke said.
As a vintage store, Clarke and Justice said their target audience is USC students. One of their main ways they have been reaching out to students has been handing out free tote bags, Clarke said.
“I think the majority of people who really like to shop with us are that collegeage demographic, and then slightly older from that. But we really want to reach the college students and provide a cool spot for them to be able to shop for South Carolina gear or just really anything for their wardrobe,” Clarke said.
First-year linguistics student and thrifting enthusiast Austin Chariker received a tote bag outside of Gambrell, which encouraged him to check out the store.
“I think (older pieces) looks better. It’s higher quality. Generally, if it’s held up this long, it’ll probably hold up a lot longer. Fast fashion is just kind of super cheaply made,” Chariker said.
The sentiment of wanting to find sustainable, better quality clothes through
secondhand shops is shared by store employee and fourth-year marketing student Kyndra Patterson.
“I feel like clothes have so much life left to them. There’s no need to go buy fast fashion. I feel like thrifting is the perfect way to shop sustainable ... and there’s more unique pieces,” Patterson said.
Many students enjoy vintage products, Patterson said, and they will only grow in popularity.
“Columbia doesn’t have a lot of vintage, pre-loved stores I would say, so I think we’re in a good market right now, and I feel like the store will do really well,” Patterson said.
Clarke said he wants to build a community beyond students as well and share his love for vintage fashion with city residents.
“We want to just reach the community of Columbia and the people who live there, and really provide something cool that people from Columbia can be proud of,” Clarke said.
Old
is located at 929 Gervais St. The shop is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays.
Skool Outfitters
Suha Ayub | Arts and Culture Writer
A mural on the outside of Old Skool Outfitter’s entrance on Sept. 8, 2024. Old Skool Outfitter is a thrift store that aims to bring old-school items to younger generations.
Photo: Nickolas hill
A variety of colorful t-shirts hang on racks in Old Skool Outfitter on Gervais Street on Sept. 8, 2024. The thrift store located in the Vista is “making yesterday’s most treasured merchandise available to the next generation of standout individuals.”
Photo: Nickolas hill
Column: Conversations around food insecurity start with students
Kara Rottmann| Assistant opinion editor
When a person’s stomach growls in the morning, the first thing they may do is head to the pantry to find something to eat. Something that seems simple, such as a bowl of oatmeal, cereal or even a banana, could be a luxury to someone else. And they may not even realize it.
According to Feeding America, food insecurity is described as when “people can’t access the food they need to live their fullest lives.” In the state of South Carolina, one in eight people face hunger. More than 670,000 people in South Carolina deal with food insecurity, according to Feeding America.
Food insecurity is prevalent in the Columbia community. Students should be more aware of these areas and educate themselves on the specific issues that cause food insecurity to diminish their own biases, reducing the stigma that surrounds the issue in the process.
Fourth-year public health student Charlotte Bostick is the executive director of the Gamecock CommUnity Shop, an on-campus shop where students can get free clothes, food and other items they may need.
“Bringing awareness to it oftentimes brings a negative light towards it because then people feel insecure,” Bostick said. This stigma exists due to several social and structural causes, including policies relating to food and even school lunch environments. A vital example of this is neighborhood infrastructure, which is what type of grocery stores and restaurants are in a given community.
According to a study by the National Library of Medicine, low-income areas are more likely to have more fast food restaurants and fewer chain grocery stores, resulting in limited food resources since getting affordable and nutritious food may be more difficult.
Some people may think that needing extra assistance when getting nutritious and affordable food is a bad thing, causing those dealing with food insecurity to be more embarrassed of their situation.
more than 10 of these deserts in the surrounding area.
According to Harvest Hope, travel to a grocery store is difficult due to distance.
Even after finding transportation to the store, people may be limited on what they
$53,000 to the university each year. Some students might be paying for college on their own. Inflated groceries add another variable cost to a student who is already paying tens of thousands of dollars.
Meal plans are also costly. The cheapest meal plan at USC is a little over $5,000 yearly. According to Move for Hunger, students who face food insecurity may have to make financial decisions that may lead to setbacks in achieving their
In the spring of 2019, USC’s Student Government partnered with Aramark to create the program Swipe Out Hunger. The initiative aids its participants by giving them meal swipes that were donated by other students. This is a great way for students to give back to the campus community. Donating one or two meal swipes means feeding another student.
USC’s Student Government also established the CommUnity Shop, which houses the Carolina Pantry, in the Carolina Colosseum. Bostick said the pantry was brought to campus in 2014 when Student Government realized that there was a need for food on campus for
According to Bostick, one of the best ways to support the shop is to be open-minded. Bringing awareness to the shop itself is important, and getting involved may be able to aid that fact. If more people on campus know about it, then more people may use it. This will help break the stigma that lies behind food security. If a student is initially scared or embarrassed to use the shop but sees other students going, then they may be more likely to go themselves.
Another way to keep the CommUnity shop going is by donating unused, unopened and unexpired food items.
“There’s really not so much that an individual student can do obviously, but one donation can make a difference in another student’s life,” Bostick said.
A donation bin sits outside the shop, and volunteers can accept donations during all hours. Donating is important. These are the foods that students may be using to feed themselves.
Donations are available online through the shop’s Amazon Wish List. If one can’t donate food, financial gifts are also accepted.
When donating, one should give a wide variety of food items. One of the most commonly donated items at the pantry is soup, Bostick said.
Eating the same thing over and over again can get repetitive. For some, the shop may be their only way of getting groceries consistently. Having a variety of items can make their experience better since they won’t have to rely on eating cans of soup for every meal.
If a student chooses to donate, it is important to consider nonperishable items they would typically want to eat in a day. This includes boxed macaroni and cheese, instant mashed potatoes and even popular snack foods such as crackers. Students interested in volunteering at the shop can do so through the Leadership and Service Center. This is a great way to get involved and give back to the community. It is a great opportunity for students to see how hunger affects our campus.
“Think about if you were a student and you were hungry, you wouldn’t want to eat soup and green beans for every meal,” Bostick said.
Food insecurity is prevalent in the Columbia area and so is the stigma around it. It is deeply rooted in our society and even our campus. By placing an emphasis on the issues that cause hunger and by better understanding how to support initiatives designed to combat food insecurity at USC, students can change this stigma.
The CommUnity Shop is open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Fridays. The shop is available to all students, faculty and staff with a CarolinaCard.
College can be hard, and it’s okay for students to need a little extra help.
Illustration: Abby Short
Column: More work needs to be done in the media to lessen the wage gap between collegiate coaches
MORGAN DUNN | OPINION EDITOR
The athletic world has failed female coaches, and it’s time for change. Despite producing championshipwinning teams, female university coaches earn less than their male counterparts, according to a 2017 study done by the University of Northern Colorado. This persistent wage gap between male and female university coaches reinforces the deep-rooted gender biases that exist in sports. Women have been failed by the lack of exposure given to them that is needed for them to make more money. Addressing these disparities is crucial for fostering an environment that values all coaches equally.
Women’s sports require more attention to help bring in fans and revenue. Media outlets and the teams’ own university can play a major role in brining more viewership to the players and coaches.
Women deserve an equal experience and the ability to find their place in the world of sports. This should be reflected in how many women are seen holding positions and most importantly — their pay.
landmark piece of legislation that aimed to level the playing field by prohibiting
programs have grown in prominence, the problem of fair pay for female coaches remains.
According to the Department of Education’s Equity in Athletics data, more men are employed in collegiatelevel coaching positions than women. In this study, only 6,879 out of 27,615 head coaches were women.
The University of Central Florida’s Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport conducted a gender and racial report. This report classified the National Collegiate Athletic Association with a level “C” for its gender hiring practices. This report underscores the imbalance in hiring practices in numerous institutions, revealing that men dominate collegiate coaching positions.
Even when women are given these positions in sports, they are not adequately rewarded compared to their male colleagues. An example is head women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley, who is arguably the most successful coach at South Carolina and is paid less than a few of her male counterparts, such as head football coach Shane Beamer and defense coordinator Clayton White.
The gap, despite Staley’s success and national recognition, is one example of the nature of gendered pay inequities in university sports.
The financial disparity between men’s and women’s sports is a pressing issue. The gap is intensified by unequal access to resources and media coverage for women’s sports. The lack of visibility affects funding for women’s programs and limits opportunities for female athletes to showcase their talents.
More media coverage leads to increased visibility, which attracts more fans and generates higher revenue. This is shown not only in coaches but with their players too. Without the same level of investment in women’s sports, female athletes are
agreed to equalize pay between the men’s and women’s national team.
In 2024, the LSU vs South Carolina women’s basketball game tracked 1.5 million viewers, making it the most viewed regular season game. This was a groundbreaking game and an amazing achievement for women-dominated sports. Last year’s term also sold out of season tickets for the first time in program history.
Without adequate media representation, women’s sports often struggle to attract sponsors and fan engagement. If women’s sports were given the same attention and resources, they could generate comparable interest and financial returns.
But what causes people to be less interested in women’s sports?
Historically, women’s participation in sports has been frowned upon. Until the 1900s, women couldn’t participate in sports because it was seen as too masculine. Athletics have long been characterized as a domain reserved for men, perpetuating the idea that women should either refrain from participating or be relegated to secondary roles. This shaped public perception, creating a narrative that women’s sports are less valuable or less deserving of attention. While gender equality in sports have come a long way over the years, lingering bias
fosters greater appreciation for their achievements. This visibility promotes a more inclusive environment that celebrates women in sports.
Media outlets play a pivotal role in shaping public perception and engagement with sports. By increasing coverage of women’s sports, they highlight the talent and accomplishments of female athletes and foster a more inclusive sporting culture.
Beamer and White earn roughly $1,175,000 and $1,133,000, respectively. Staley earns $1,030,000. Both Beamer and White have experienced success in their respective positions, but they have not seen as much success as Staley. The women’s basketball team has won three national championships under Staley’s tenure as head coach.
Cup titles and finishing in the top three seven times, the U.S. women’s national soccer team became one of the nation’s most beloved sports teams. But despite their success and popularity, the male team earned twice as much for winning fewer games and generating less revenue. This disparity stemmed from an outdated collective bargaining agreement negotiated in 2017 between the Soccer Federation and the Players’ Union.
It took six years for the women’s team to be compensated when in 2022, several former and current players settled with U.S. soccer. In the agreement, the organization
To improve this, it is essential to challenge these harmful ideas at all levels. But there’s a way to improve this problem that includes supporting
This should be done by allocating more airtime for women’s games, giving them more viewership and visibility. Greater visibility can attract larger audiences, which is essential for building a sustainable fan base.
When women’s sports receive more attention, they become more appealing to sponsors. As sponsorships grow, so does the financial support available for women’s sports programs.
Universities should work to end this disparity and make improvements. Taking accountability is the first step in fostering positive change within athletic programs. This should include work to fix the existing wage gap and make significant efforts to improve hiring practices.
Some ways colleges should go about this could include more marketing initiatives for women’s sports and bringing more people to the games. They should start campaigns to raise awareness about the importance of diversity in athletics. Lastly, they should regularly assess policies related to hiring, promotion and compensation to help eliminate any biases.
When female coaches do not receive the same pay and recognition, it may send a message that their contributions are inherently less valuable. Addressing these issues will help pave the way for a more inclusive and equitable landscape in sports, allowing women to find their rightful place and thrive in athletic roles.
Column: Educated voting is important as election season grows closer
WDunn | opinion editor
Kara Rottmann | Assistant opinion editor
ith the 2024 presidential election around the corner, USC students have varying perspectives about presidential nominees and the future of our nation. Through these differences, one thing remains the same: It is evident that students are not educated on the specific policies of the presidential candidates and what their plan of action is for their administration in office.
The Daily Gamecock recently interviewed 40 students about their opinions on Vice President Kamala Harris entering the presidential race in place of President Joe Biden.
Students generally support Harris’ campaign, The Daily Gamecock reported, but are uncertain about her stance on many policies and are concerned by the lack of clarity and specifics she has provided on various issues.
88% of college students plan to vote in the election in November, according to a study done by BestColleges.com. However, the findings from The Daily Gamecock’s article demonstrate that out of these numbers, many of those voters may not even know exactly what they’re voting for.
Many students are not worried about Harris’ potential. Instead, their focus remains on the potential backlash Harris could receive. Being a woman, especially a Black woman, in the maledominated political sphere is no easy task. But students should continue to educate themselves on Harris’ political agenda, regardless of the public’s varying opinions on her candidacy.
College students are the future of our country. The decisions made at the polls will determine the unprecedented political sphere, which affects almost everything in our lives. Civic engagement will lead this country to a brighter future, decided by a true democracy. There is no democracy without informed voting and high civic participation.
The right as a citizen of the United States is a fair and true democracy. This term is defined as “government by the people.”
The people decide who serves in government, and the government regulates their lives.
The ability of citizens to control who is allowed into government is a privilege that should not be taken for granted. By educating themselves about candidates and their policies, citizens can make informed decisions, helping democracy function as intended and shaping the future of the government.
After being properly educated, students must go to the polls to have their voices heard. If college students do not vote
are more likely to be educated on political policies, but students outside of these majors may not receive a comprehensive education on politics. Students whose fields of study do not relate to these subjects should be doing more outside research.
Students performing their own research is key for a well-educated electorate and is essential for a functioning democracy. This research should distinguish between factual and non-factual information. As a voter, it is important to find accurate and authentic sources.
To properly be educated and politically aware, one must educate oneself by using unbiased information. And this has become increasingly difficult with the polarization of media.
Unbiased sources are the most effective way of receiving information. Staying objective is the best way to learn. To form an opinion on a candidate or policy, it is imperative to hear the other side’s version. This gives the voter the ability to think critically about their voting
For many students, this is the first election they are eligible to participate in. Students researching and educating themselves on potential presidential candidates is vital. Since many students are new to politics, research will lead them to find their own paths.
difficult. When looking at a news source, reference the media bias chart to fully grasp the outlet’s political leanings and biases. Students should find a candidate who has policies that align with their own views. It is paramount for the younger generation to vote on what they think a party stands for, rather than what is being said on social media and the news media in general.
The 2024 presidential election presents a critical moment where USC students should make their voices heard. As voters, it’s not just about showing up at the polls, it’s about being informed. By making educated voting decisions, students can help ensure a proper democracy. Now is the time for students to embrace their civic responsibility and vote with confidence, knowledge and purpose. To register to vote in this upcoming election for South Carolina residents, scan this
Morgan
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CONGRATS, GRADS! FALL GRAD FAIR
DATE: Tuesday, October 15
TIME: 9am-5pm
LOCATION: Bookstore Literary Cafe
REGALIA ORDER DEADLINE: November 14
Oak Hall, Jostens, and USC Alumni will be on site for any and all of your questions! Enter our raffle to win a diploma frame!
If you’re unable to attend, please scan here to place your regalia order or visit www.usc.shopoakhalli.com