Following the opening to Homecoming Week with Carnival Kickoff, the Homecoming Commission hosted Color Your Carolina on Greene Street. During the T event, participants showed off their creativity by making banners and flags to be be hung around campus and in nearby businesses.
“It's another activity that just brings the university together. The organizations bring at least twenty people, so it's just another thing on Greene Street that gets people excited for homecoming week,” said third-year international studies student Mariah Barley, the Homecoming Commission’s General Commission Lead.
Color Your Carolina gave participating organizations the opportunity to raise points in competition for the Homecoming Cup.
“We have divisions: large organizations, small organizations, and residence halls,” said third-year public health student Anna Book. “There will be a competition within each of those, so there will be a winner from each ... Those points go toward your overall points and the Homecoming Cup.”
The Homecoming Commission has seen high participation rates with its events so far, including a record number of attendees at Monday night’s Spurs and Struts event. The organization expects continual excitement from the student body as the week progresses.
“Last night we had Spurs and Struts ... and we had about 3,000 people check in ... which is the largest amount we’ve had at Spurs and Struts in USC’s history,” said Barley.
While Color Your Carolina furthered the Homecoming Commission’s success and sparked more competition between teams, it also gave artistic students a creative outlet.
“I expect to see a lot of banners that reflect USC and our theme ... which is Sweet Home Carolina ... and also representing their organizations as well, since they are proud to be part of those organizations,” Barley said.
Emilie Parsons, a first-year history student and member of hall government, worked on and completed the banner for Preston Residential College. Inspired by the poem “Welcome to Williams Brice” played before every football game, Parsons combined her love of handwriting with splatter paint to create an intimidating and artistic banner.
“My favorite part is when they say, ‘Where your wake up call is our battle cry,’ because I think back to all the big teams like Alabama that we beat in 2010 that sleep on us and then they lose,” says Parsons.
Amidst the many Homecoming events happening this week, Color Your Carolina gave students a creative artistic outlet to spread the theme of "Sweet Home Carolina."
“Color Your Carolina is a really great refresher in homecoming ... it’s a way for organizations who have lots of creative talent to really show that," Book said. "At homecoming there are so many events that show different types of talent and this is really our visual arts component.”