This year’s Homecoming court was crowned Tuesday night at the annual Homecoming Showcase. The Daily Gamecock sat down with Homecoming Princess Catherine Davenport and Homecoming Prince Thomas Landzert to talk USC, Homecoming and school spirit.
DG: Why do you love USC?
CD: Well, USC has actually become a real family to me over the past year. After losing my dad last year, it was incredible to see how this entire university came around me, and it was incredible to go to my dad’s funeral and to look back in the church and see the pews lined with professors and my sisters from Chi Omega and know that they were there to support me.
TL: I’d say I love USC because there are so many opportunities for students to be successful here and so many great traditions and I’m so proud to represent it well. It’s really just great to be a Gamecock. I love being a part of the whole community.
DG: Why do you think it’s important to have school spirit?
CD: Well, I think school spirit is your spirit, too, and when you celebrate what your school does you celebrate what you and all the people before you have done. Especially at USC, which is such an old university, you’re celebrating the past and everything that people have done to make your experience what it is now.
TL: I think when everyone is excited about the school it brings the energy up and make us perform better on the field and in the classroom.
DG: What organization do you identify with most, and why?
CD: I identify with Chi Omega, my sorority, because I developed these incredible relationships that leave me speechless since I had such a negative perception of sororities coming into college before I realized what a sorority really is and the bonds you make with sisters, and seeing all these women stepping in to become the sisters I never had is incredible to me.
TL: I identified with Capstone Scholars most for my freshman and sophomore years, but I’ve been a member of Lambda Chi Alpha all my years here and it’s been a great experience and given me the opportunity to grow as a leader and as a person from being a member of the fraternity experience.
DG: What do you think most qualifies you to represent USC as Homecoming Prince and Princess?
CD: Probably the fact that USC has expanded my heart and my mind. Mostly, it has expanded my heart and has allowed me to bring in so many people close to me, because so many people are so caring here. It’s developed me into a better person and I think the way I live my life, my goal is to represent the university and all the people who have helped me as well as possible.
TL: Well, I’m committed to studies and being a leader, I’m recognizable and visible in the community, and I feel that those are some qualities that the Homecoming court ought to have. They should be goal setters and embracers of diversity and definitely somebody that you can see on campus and recognize and identify with, and I feel that I represent that as well as all the good things USC has to offer.
DG: What would you do to improve Homecoming?
CD: It would be great to get everyone, not just Greek organizations, involved. It would be awesome to pull in everyone and to find ways that maybe cater to smaller organizations or to let them know that their voice is really important and that they’re so valued at the USC for their spirit, too.
TL: I think what we have is great, but maybe we could build it up a bit more so that underclassmen know a bit more about what Homecoming is, because there’s a lot more alumni around than they’re used to with high school Homecoming, so maybe we can help the freshmen understand some of the traditions and what Homecoming means to everyone here. But other than that, we have a great Homecoming experience, one that a lot of people work really hard to put together, and I’m glad to be a part of it.
— Compiled by Davis Klabo, News Writer