Anna Bialkowski
Staff Writer
For the first time in FSC history, Convocation was student-led with campus organizations sharing announcements regarding student life and events.
The most notable announcement of Convocation, which took place on Sept. 13, was the Association of Campus Entertainment (ACE) announcing the headliner for Southern Takeover, the annual school concert held on Mr. George’s Green.
This year, the concert will be held on Nov. 11. Opening the show is student-led SoCo Productions followed by Nashivlle-based pop singer Brooke Alexx. The headlining act: rock band The Scarlet Opera, hailing from Los Angeles.
Katherine Sarte, Southern Sound Director, explained that the process for choosing the headliner was intentional and thoughtful, and said that they “want students to be more involved in what we’re doing” to plan events for the entire campus to enjoy.
“Within the process of choosing an artist this year, we wanted to emphasize getting the student’s opinion, and a lot of them focused on polls that we took last year for our end of year elections,” Sartre said.
Alongside the musical announcements, other student organizations, Student Government Association (SGA) and the Multicultural Student Council were the faces of Convocation. The organizations went introduced members, their positions and the functions of the organizations.
These organizations also took the time to promote the Interfraternity Council (IFC) and Panhellenic Council, the two student organizations that are responsible for overseeing fraternity and sorority life, respectively.
Gretchen Faraci, President of SGA presented two student life announcements: the Mocs After Dark and the Mocs Ride Home programs.
The Mocs After Dark program allows student spaces to be open for longer hours to ensure that students have the ability to study on campus and be social. According to the graphic shown by SGA, TuTu’s Cyber Cafe will be open 24/7 (except for Food Services, which closes at 8 p.m.), the Rogers Building first floor and Wynee’s Lakeside Room will be open until 2 a.m., and the Snakepit until midnight.
The Mocs Ride Home system is a continued partnership with the driving program, Lyft, to ensure that students can arrive at their destinations safely. There was also a QR code provided for students to scan and receive a discount through the school.
Following these announcements, Executive Vice President of SGA, Ruby Silver, and Administrative Vice President of SGA, Zion Virgil, released dates surrounding fall and spring recruitment. While informal recruitment has already finished, formal IFC recruitment will be held from Feb. 12-16, and formal Panhellenic recruitment will be from Jan. 31-Feb 4.
The Multicultural Student Council made a prominent appearance, as introduced by Rachel Williams, the Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for SGA. Williams went into detail about MSC and how her vision is to develop the council and “celebrate what makes us different.”
Branches of this Council — such as the Black Student Union (BSU), Fempowered, Allies, etc – were also given the time to introduce themselves and talk about what they do and events that they have planned for the semester.
Finally, following the announcement of Southern Takeover, Faraci and ACE President Tommy Anderson ran on the stage one last time to reinforce Red Friday — an SGA initiative to increase school spirit by encouraging students to wear red on Fridays, which includes SGA tabling during convo hour.
Faraci and Anderson announced a new event, “Really” Red Friday. They explained that Red Fridays are meant to “increase a sense of belonging,” as Anderson said.
To end off Convocation, Anderson revealed one last surprise: a “really red” costume contest with a prize: the Marvel Spider-Man 2 game witha Spider-Man themed-PlayStation 5 gaming console. This contest will be at Really Red Friday, taking place on Oct. 6 from 11 to 12 p.m.
