dailygamecock.com UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
MONDAY, AUGUST 27, 2018
VOL. 111, NO. 02 l SINCE 1908
Student overcomes violence for fellowship Meghan Crum @megcrum24 Eduardo Romero was st ud y i ng computer s c ience a nd law at t he Un iversidad C e nt r o c c i d e nt a l L i s a n d r o A lvarado (UCLA) in Venezuela when nat ionw ide protests broke out against the government, many of which often ended in violent conflict. The university closed, and he decided to leave his home in Caracas to study elsewhere. “I had the army shoot at my house, I had friends who were kidnapped, we would protest w it h f l ag s a nd s i n g i n t he st reet, and t hen t hey would bring the war tanks,” Romero said. “And I was like, ‘Okay, I need out.’” He came to Columbia in the summer of 2014, and started at USC in the spring of 2015 as an internat ional st udent. He soon rea l ized, however, that he would not be able to af ford internat ional t uit ion, and asked for advice on where to apply to scholarships. The Honors College could not tell h im where to f i nd one, but found room in their budget to give him the opportunit y to stay at USC. “The Honors College decided to give me a scholarship t hat allowed me to pay for school. I got a job there, and they f unded most of my studies,” Romero said. “And really, even after I was a permanent resident of the U.S. ... I wouldn’t have considered going anywhere else.” Romero worked as a student assistant for Thomas Holmes, t he director of infor mat ion technolog y, and remained in that position for the entirety of his undergraduate career. “W hen I t hink about him I t h i n k about what it t a kes to really succeed from a very adverse background. He really def i ne s what it t a ke s to be successful in trying to go after your dreams,” Holmes said. “And then at the same time he does it with a smile.” R o m e r o g r a d u at e d f r o m U S C i n M a y 2 018 w i t h a degree in computer science, a nd h a s si nce re ceived t he GEM Consortium Fellowship ( National Consortium f o r G r a d u at e D e g r e e s f o r M i nor it ie s i n E ng i neer i ng and Science, Inc.), an honor that included an internship at Adobe this past summer and will fund his Ph.D. studies at the Ohio State University. “I was t h is l it t le k id t hat c a me f rom a t h i rd-world c ou nt r y t h at s udden ly wa s ex posed to all of t h is a nd I really liked it,” Romero said. Holmes was elated when he heard of Romero won the GEM Fel lowsh ip a nd emphasized how hard Romero worked to get where he is today. “He’s always willing to do the little things that ... separate him from his peers,” Holmes said. “He just came in driven every day.” Romero is t hank f ul to e v e r y o n e w h o h e lp e d h i m throughout his undergraduate career, and looks for ward to t he next four to six years at Ohio State University. H is achievements are a sou rce of pr ide for h is professors at USC , like Duncan Buell. “ He’s r e a l l y s m a r t ... he t h i n k s , he a n a ly z e s t h i ng s really well,” he said. “He’s one of our success stories.”
ZACH MCKINLEY // THE GAMECOCK College Panhellenic Association sororities gather in Colonial Life Arena to welcome their new sorority sisters for Bid Day.
Sororities welcome new sisters Joseph Leonard @JSCLeonard USC’s 13 sororities hosted Bid Day, t he f i nal st age of recruitment, at Colonial Life Arena, to welcome their new sisters after almost two weeks of recruitment events. All the sororities marched and chanted down Lincoln Street towards Colonial Life A rena while parents and friends waited for them. The sisters continued their cheers as they packed into the arena. Pi C h i leader s who have helped the soon-to-be sorority sisters throughout the process lined the two tunnels to help cheer on their newest sisters. The potential new members emerged in waves and ran to their respective sororities who promptly embraced them. “It feels like you’re running home to your family. You just feel so loved and they just take
you right in,” said Ha ley Hof stet ter, f irst-year nu rsi ng st udent and newly welcomed A lpha Gamma Delta member. “I literally just thought I was blacked out. I had no idea where I was g o i n g b u t it w a s l iterally just pu re excitement.” T he ne w l y welcomed members joined their soror it ies i n t h e st a nds a nd participated in their first cheers with t heir new sisters.
ZACH MCKINLEY // THE GAMECOCK
SEE BID PAGE 4
ZACH MCKINLEY // THE GAMECOCK
Greek communities embrace diversity Hannah Dear @HannahCDear
The rich tradition of sororities and fraternities on USC’s campus continues as over a quarter of the student population finds a home in a Greek organization and many more become involved in the recruitment process. The 19 soror it ies a nd 28 fraternities on USC’s campus are divided among four Greek orga n izat ions — Col lege Panhellenic Association (CPA), Interfraternity Council (IFC), National Pan-hellenic Council ( N PHC) a nd Mu lt ic u lt u ral Greek Council (MGC). CPA a nd I FC a re t he on ly t wo orga n izat ions whose homes are in Greek Village, and they are the larger of the four, with approximately 4,275 female students and 2,134 male students. “Currently, Fraternit y & Sororit y Life offers that experience for close to 27% of undergraduate students at USC inclusive of a multitude of backgrounds and experiences,” said Anna Edwards, associate vice president for Student Life. “We encourage students of all backgrounds to learn about and participate in various
cont i nue to d raw you ng women i n, regard less of backgrounds or race. Firstyear business student Nikita A nand is the first person in her family to pursue an u nderg raduate deg ree in America. In order to make the growing campus of USC smaller, she chose to rush a CPA. Anand hopes to find her home in Pi Beta Phi or Alpha Gamma Delta at Bid Day. “I think I follow a couple of the chapters on Instagram and I saw their recruitment was starting and I was like ‘these girls look like they’re loving this chapter and they’re having so much fun and doing it for a good cause’,” Anand said. ZACH MCKINLEY// THE GAMECOCK The MGC and N PHC recr u it ment & membersh ip i nt a ke sororities and fraternities opportunities should they be interested.” are considerably smaller than many For people like second-year middle-level individual chapters in CPA and IFC. education student Janee Wright, Greek life NPHC is known to be the home of “nine is a way to find a home on campus historically Black Greek-letter fraternities “I wanted to do something different and sororities” according to the Guide to and get involved more with the campus and just Greek life had everything that SEE DIVERSITY I was looking for — community service, PAGE 4 community, all types of aspects,” she said. The reputat ions of CPA chapters