 "Photo: Aaron Hark")
Connie Tingin's second family — the USC Marching Band — is now dealing with her loss.
Tingin, third-year student and member of the USC marching band's flag team, died Thursday from bleeding in the brain.
Band director David O'Shields said many members of the band were close to Tingin. "We have a family atmosphere. Many of these students are in band together for three or four years, and that's really what gets us through things like this."
Tingin had shown no signs of illness until Oct. 20, the Saturday before her death. After she performed in the pre-game show of the USC-Vanderbilt football game, she fainted in the stands.
Band member Lisa Hoopes said, "We were worried about her, but by Tuesday, we heard things were hopeful."
But, band members received news of Tingin's death at practice on Thursday.
O'Shields said, "It was a real shock. Especially because she wasn't showing any signs." He said he had never had a student die in his 21 years of teaching.
O'Shields said it was difficult to tell the band the news. "They were geared up for the Tennessee game, and they weren't expecting it," he said.
Hoopes said she had "never heard the practice field so quiet." She said she guessed what happened when she saw Rev. Tim Lijewski, the Catholic campus priest, on the way to practice. Lijewski was among several campus ministers and counselors helping band members deal with the news.
O'Shields said, "It was made much easier by having them there, talking to students."
He described Tingin as enthusiastic and positive. "She was a real hard worker. She stood out as dependable and dedicated." He recounted Tingin's desire to be in the flag corps her sophomore year, even though it was against her parents' wishes.
"Connie's parents were worried about the time commitment, that her grades would suffer," he said. "So, she came to me and asked if there was any way she could be in band without it showing on her record. It ended up that her parents let her be in it once they realized how much she wanted to be there. She was just that dedicated."
Tingin, a native of Goose Creek, was a retailing major and a member of Tau Beta Sigma band sorority.
After the initial shock, band members tried to handle the situation while preparing for the Tennessee game.
Hoopes said: "It was hard to know what to do. It used to be that the band and the flag team were two separate groups, but this has brought us closer together."
At the USC-Tennessee football game on Saturday in Knoxville, band members wore green ribbons and black armbands in Tingin's memory. A group of them held a prayer service for her on the Horseshoe earlier in the week, and the Friday mass at the St. Thomas More Center was dedicated to her.
According to O'Shields, many members of the USC band family visited Tingin in the hospital and have tried to help each other during their time of loss.
"It's a tough situation, but we'll work through it," O'Shields said. "All we can do now is pray and hope for the best."
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