dailygamecock.com UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
MONDAY, AUGUST 28, 2017
VOL. 109, NO. 40 ● SINCE 1908
BID DAY 2017 1,497 RECEIVE BIDS AT COLONIAL LIFE ARENA Larissa Johnson @LALARISSAJ
“IS EVERYBODY READY FOR BID DAY?” Thousands of voices, raised together, respond in an unintelligible roar, filling Colonial Life Arena and echoing into the holding area where 150 women wait silently. Bid day is the culmination of more than a week of sorority recruitment — whole days of visiting houses, talking to new people and watching videos about sisterhood. As the potential new members wait to pull their reveal shirts from behind their backs — with dancing, chanting recruitment guides, or Pi Chis, all around — their faces show a combination of anxiety and excitement. “I’m really nervous,” one girl says to her neighbor. They’ve been waiting for hours, first at Greek Village and then outside in a line reaching from behind Colonial Life to the intersection of Dawn Staley Way and Greene Street. With 1,497 women receiving bids Sunday after the largest number registered for recruitment ever, Sarah Jane Lowe was just happy to get through the week. “It really shows the growth that our campus is showing and the interest in the Greek community,” said Lowe, the vice president of recruitment for USC’s Panhellenic Council. SEEBIDSPAGE4
Claire Albrecht / THE DAILY GAMECOCK
Alum looks to bring startup to U.S. Faculty breaks 2016 grant money record
Mike Woodel
@GETHISDOGONETOO
T he f ut u re of food supply will soon be on its way to the Northeastern states, cou r tesy of t he ingenuit y of USC alumnus Jordan Markus. Or ig i na l ly a spor t s m a n a g e m e n t m a j o r, Mark us graduated f r o m US C i n 2015 with a degree in supply chain and operations management af terbeing inspired
by a management s c ie nc e c ou r s e a s a n underclassman.Over the summer, he took part in Birthright Israel, a tenweek program for Jewish col lege st udent s who plan to pursue graduate degrees in business or technolog y. As part of t he prog ram, Mark us spent ten weeks in Tel Aviv working alongside Israeli businesspeople. He also fou nded a u n iq u e f o o d s t a r t u p
which he hopes to soon ex pa nd to t he Un ited States. Mark us came across Birthright Israel while seeking a “career reboot” after two years working for Lockheed Martin. “It was a great experience,” Markus said of his time at the D.C.area defense contractor. “I learned a lot, but I was ready to dive into t he entrepreneurial world, and this was a perfect
blend of t he socia l, Jewish aspect plus the ent repreneu r ia l a nd business aspect.” SEESTARTUPPAGE4
Mary Ramsey @MCOLLEEN1996
Gonzalez, Service Saturdays serve two purposes. “For me, you need a certain amount of hours for grad school ... but also too it gives back,” he said. Students who participate in Service Saturdays can use those hours to fulfi ll community service requirements for academic and ext racurricular act iv it ies. Oncampus organizat ions can also
USC has broken its record for sponsored resea rch awa rd money, w it h fac u lt y bringing in $253.6 million in grant money for the 2017 fiscal year. The previous record was $250.1 million, set in 2016. This is the third year in a row that funding has increased. Aw a rd s i nc lude e v e r y t h i n g f r o m $8.3 million from the Office of Naval Research for improving energy systems on naval ships to $3.1 million for exploring techniques to treat HIV/AIDS in South Carolina. Vice President for Research Prakash Nagarkatti lauded the positive impacts of of the money on the university and the state. Every dollar spent on research creates $3 worth of economic impact, according to Nagarkatti. This adds up to “about three quarters of a billion dollars” in economic impact each year. The g row ing pool of g rant money also provides opportunities for “several hundred students and faculty to participate in sponsored research.”
SEESERVICEPAGE4
SEEGRANTSPAGE4
Courtesy of Jordan Markus
Students give back with first Service Saturday of semester Mary Ramsey @MCOLLEEN1996
More than 100 students spent their Sat urday morning giving back to the community as part of the inaugural Service Saturday of the new semester. From daycare facilities to thrift stores to arboret u ms, t he 14 0 volunteers were bused around the city in groups of six to 12 people as part of the monthly event put on by the Leadership and Service
Center. For students like fourth-year pre -ph a r m ac y s t udent Ju l ia n
Mary Ramsey / THE DAILY GAMECOCK