See online: B.o.B makes an appearance at SpringFest
Zach McKinley / THE DAILY GAMECOCK
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
VOL. 110, NO. 18 ● SINCE 1908
THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 2018
Lordo wraps up student body presidency Larissa Johnson @LALARISSAJ
Ross Lordo gave his last formal address as st udent body president Wednesday afternoon after a year of growth and accomplishment at the helm of Student Government. “It has been the honor of my life to serve as your student body president,” Lordo said. The annual State of the Student Body Address was attended by administrators, St udent G over n ment members and alum ni — a testament to t he relationships Lordo built as president. “Ross, you’ve walked t he walk,” Pastides said in special remarks at the event. “You’re a valued partner in helping us address some of the greatest challenges that we’ve had in our modern history.” Under Lordo, SG delivered on almost all of the promises of the Momentum campaign. The university has hired a rch itec t s for renovat ions of t he Carolina Coliseum into a new student union, and Student Life has formed a steering committee to provide student
input. Digital CarolinaCards brought successful term.” The day after he was elected, Lordo students the ability to buy food and deposit Carolina Cash with their phones. immediately sat down and emailed USC Lordo and his governmental relations administrators asking to meet. For the next t wo weeks, secretary testified he went to lunch for a student vote meet i ng s w it h o n t he b o a rd of university leaders. trustees. A summit “Our university brought the student really does care leaders of 18 South about the student Carolina colleges v o i c e ,” L o r d o toget her. A nd to said. “Oftentimes, cap it off, a record it’s just get t i ng number of students yourself into voted in the 2018 t he room when executive elections. decisions are “Ross is pre-med, made.” so I k new that he A nd it wa sn’t cou ld work w it h just administrators p e ople , but how t hat he reached good he is at dealing with administration Courtesy of Kathryn Stoudemire o u t t o — a t a n d p e o p l e i n Student Body President Ross Lordo’s or ie nt at ion , he positions of power parents came to USC to see him deliver gave out his phone number to every really is awesome,” the State of the Student Body. single incoming president ial chief freshman, a of st af f K at h r y n Stoudemire said. “I think that’s the decision he said he perhaps regretted. “Ross is very personable, he’s very biggest reason that we had a pretty
bright,” board of trustees member Thomas Cofield. “He was very involved with the board of trustees meetings. He was very willing to express his opinions and make sure the interests of the students were known and represented.” President-elect Taylor Wright went with Lordo to the March 16 board of trustees meeting and was impressed with how close Lordo seemed with the group. “They’re all kind of making jokes and just very casual with him, which is how I knew they had a natural relationship,” Wright said. “So I believe they trust him.” Lordo will have fewer emails to answer and fewer events to go to this fall at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville. While he’s leaving office April 3 and graduating in May, his legacy will continue on in his fellow public health and pre-med successor. “He’s someone I’ve always looked up to,” Wright said. “We have similar futures in that we both want to be doctors, and I think he really did kind of pave the way for me.” See dailygamecock.com for more on Lordo’s term
March for Our Lives USC to protest gun violence Meghan Crum @THEGAMECOCK
Shreyas Saboo / THE DAILY GAMECOCK
Students enjoyed Snoballs, a magic show and crafts on Greene Street during the 2018 SpringFest on Wednesday.
SpringFest 2018 kicks off with activities, ‘FreakShow & Tell’ Joseph Leonard @THEGAMECOCK
USC’s third annual SpringFest came to Greene St reet on Wed nesday, w it h a car n ivall i ke at mosphere a nd ma ny different activities for students to participate in. Drew Pieranu nzi, who is a st af f member w it h Ca rol i na Productions as well as a secondy e a r r i s k m a n a g e m e nt a n d insurance student, was working at the inflatables, which included a blow-up course that requires t wo participants to race each other and another with swinging bars that required contestants to balance on platforms to avoid them. “SpringFest is a collection of events that happen simultaneously throughout the day,” Pieranunzi said. That collection included the inflatables, an obstacle course, a
magic show, a henna tattoo table, photo booth, a DJ, street sign making and a stage for the B.o.B performance. There were quite a few students whose attention was caught by the “FreakShow & Tell,” hosted by Thom Britton, who drew a crowd throughout his performances.
The show is explained as science, history and insanity according to Britton. Britton is known for fire eating, nailing nails through his nostrils and playing with more than 100,000 volts of electricity on stage. SEEFESTPAGE4
Ethan Lam / THE DAILY GAMECOCK
El l ie Boa n was on t he phone w it h her mother when she heard her dog start barking at helicopters flying over her house, helicopters on their way to the high school five minutes from her house. There was active shooter at that high school. She opened her laptop to the news and watched as teenagers from her hometown of Parkland, Florida, emerged from their high school covered in blood. “I watched men with enormous guns swarm the high school I pass every time I leave my house to go anywhere,” the first-year international business student said. Boan went to middle school with the shooter who walked into the high school her older brother graduated from and killed 17 people on Valentine’s Day. “He took my beautiful, quiet, safe home and turned it into the site of the deadliest high school shooting in American history,” Boan said. The shooting has changed the way Boan sees life and has even prompted her to start doing things she had been wanting to do for a long time, like registering to become a certified Zumba instructor. “I really appreciate every single day so much more,” Boan said. On Saturday, survivors of that same shooting a nd st udent s all arou nd t he cou nt r y w ill participate in the March For Our Lives in Washington D.C. and in their own communities to prote st g u n v iolence. Boa n h a s b een coordinating student efforts to organize the March For Our Lives at USC. “It felt like the only way that I could really process what had happen,” she said. “It was how I was channeling my grief and everything.” The march will begin at 10 a.m. on the corner of Calhoun and Sumter Street, and head 10 blocks to the Statehouse, where activists and high school students will speak. “With the March For Our Lives, what we’re seeing is the face of people who would be targeted in school shootings speaking out on behalf of some sort of solution to the gun control/gun violence issue,” said Robert Greene, a doctoral candidate of history at USC. More than 3,500 people on Facebook are marked as going or interested in the event. “If these 15-year-olds that live down the street from me can do this, then we can do it too,” said Boan. “There’s really nothing stopping you from making a difference if you want to make one.”