For many people, April 7, 2024 holds no significance—it was a Sunday just like any other. For USC students, it was a ball drop, the blow of a whistle and a thrilling triumph for the school’s women’s basketball team at the NCAA Championships. With an incredible victory for the Lady Gamecocks, students swarmed the fountain in front of Thomas Cooper Library, commemorating one of USC’s most popular traditions.
Every time the Gamecocks win a national championship, it’s customary for students to rush from their dorms and pile in and around the Thomas Cooper fountain. For Amelia Judge, a sophomore at USC, it was a tradition she swore she’d one day experience firsthand.
During a tour at USC, Judge’s tour guide described her own experience with the tradition. She was able to participate when the women’s basketball team won her freshman year, making it one of her favorite memories.
“Ever since then, I promised myself that if we won a national championship, I would rush to the fountain, so I would get to experience that memory that she thinks of so fondly,” Judge explained. And she’s not the only one: according to Judge, there was an abundance of students in and around the fountain—more than she could count.
“None of the water in the fountain was visible,” she recounted. “And there were also people along all the sides of the fountain that weren't even in the water.”
The sheer number of people is not surprising—traditions are integral to USC’s student life. They bring people together, united under one feeling, one shared experience. While Judge is only one person out of thousands, her story most likely resembles that of the students next to, behind and across the fountain from her.
One organization at USC dedicated to preserving student traditions and fostering connections between current and former Gamecocks is Garnet Circle, which governs the Student Alumni Association. The President of Garnet Circle, Kyra Fowler, detailed a number of the organization’s responsibilities, such as the University’s end of term Ring Ceremony and events like Future Alumni Week. Both mark a monumental point in a student’s academic journey, spotlighting those who are halfway done with their degree or at the end of the road.
Fowler described how joining Garnet Circle taught her the importance of these traditions, something she didn't understand much her freshman year. “Getting involved in Garnet Circle really showed me that traditions bridge the gap between a first-year student, a junior and then an alumnus,” Fowler explained. It shows that everyone at USC has the opportunity to get to know one another, that being a part of USC is a connection in and of itself.
Traditions contribute to the unification and school spirit essential to student life. Every university has its own traditions, the kinds that make their school special. USC has a plethora of events, songs and places woven into its history.
The university's Alma Mater is a cherished tradition with deep roots embedded in USC’s soil. This seed was planted by English professor George A. Wauchope, who wrote the song for a school-wide competition back in 1911. Ultimately, it was selected as the official Alma Mater, winning Wauchope $50. Over a century later, this song remains a vital aspect of USC’s culture.
Another tradition that has blossomed and continues to thrive in Columbia is the rivalry between Gamecocks and Tigers. While it’s mostly fun and games now, USC and Clemson once had a much rockier relationship. After a 1902 football upset, the celebratory USC parade featured a drawing depicting Clemson’s defeat, which caused a riot to break out between the two schools. The conflict ended with police intervention and a mutual burning of the drawing. Out of the ashes rose a new tradition, one that’s been transformed into something far greater: Tiger Burn. Every year before the big game against Clemson, a giant tiger statue is burned to commemorate the two schools' long-standing rivalry—one that now builds each team up with a little friendly competition.
But not all of USC’s beloved traditions have this much history. Even so, they still stand at the forefront of the university’s image. "Sandstorm," the towel-twirling hype-up song played at sporting events, was only recently introduced back in 2006. Despite its late entrance, it’s one of the school’s most popular traditions.
This is only a small sub-section of a much larger selection. Everyone’s tastes are different, and it’s okay to pick and choose what traditions you might enjoy.
Fowler herself has a few personal favorites like First Night Carolina, an event she worked on with Gamecock Entertainment. Almost all of the freshman class gathers together on Greene Street to celebrate this new transition the night before the first day of classes, something Fowler finds truly special. And the same goes for its springtime equivalent: Flick on the Field. On the last day of classes, students gather at Williams-Brice Stadium to watch a movie together, once again uniting the student body.
The unification of USC students is its own kind of celebration, one that Fowler sees in events like the Ring Ceremony, another one of her personal favorite traditions. Introduced by Garnet Circle in the 1990s, the Ring Ceremony celebrates the halfway point of a student’s academic career and serves as a physical reminder of their time at USC. After purchasing a class ring, students gather on the Horseshoe to be presented their ring by the University’s president.
“It makes all of those nights in the library, the studying, the tests and all those things worth it to see what you can do and what you can accomplish,” Fowler explained. It’s proof of the hard work and dedication these students go through during their time at Carolina, and it shows the bond all students share because of it.
One day spent at the fountain by Thomas Cooper Library or in the stands of Williams-Brice Stadium may become 10, 20, 30 stories told to friends and family in the future. That’s why the Oral History Project is such an important development. Working alongside Publishing Concepts Inc., USC has launched a project to collect, document and print unique stories and experiences from various alumni. Laura Bundrick from the Alumni Association worked directly with PCI during the production of this project. The company handled most of the outreach and collection, while Bundrick helped proofread several of the specific stories.
“It was kind of fun to read a lot of the different stories and just hear different experiences that alums had had while they were on campus,” Bundrick said. And there were a lot of stories—over 17,000 of them, to be exact—with one of the oldest dating back to the 1930s. “It was a wide variety of ages and stories and experiences, and it was just really interesting to be able to hear all that and learn all that.”
Projects like these not only highlight the importance of traditions across all university campuses, but they foster an understanding and connection between students and alumni on a wider scale.
“Traditions are important because they are a way for students to stay connected no matter how far away they are from the Horseshoe,” Bundrick continued. “So, whether you see a video of students jumping in the fountain in 2024 or you were part of it in 2017, you know that you can understand what that experience means and why that's an important tradition."
With a project that stretches from the 1930s to today, there’s bound to be variety, though some locations and events specific to Columbia are likely mentioned in many stories. Places like Five Points and the Horseshoe have major ties to student life. Five Points hosts a slew of late-night college students and is home to events such as Paint the Town Garnet and the Black Block Party, while the Horseshoe is also a prime location for celebrations like the Ring Ceremony and First Night Carolina.
Bundrick specifically noticed a deep connection between alumni and school sports. She found it interesting how there were a lot of stories from every generation about special moments and wins for the Gamecocks.
But, not everyone has a typical college experience. It was the nontraditional stories that stood out to Bundrick the most—the ones from students who lived in married housing, had children or were veterans drafted into war before attending USC and earning their degrees. Bundrick noted how they weren’t as focused on student life or activities; they were solely set on getting a degree. “They talked a lot about how their experience with the university was maybe not the same experience that other people had, but they recognize all the traditions nonetheless,” Bundrick explained. Traditions can be unifying no matter what a student’s specific circumstances are, and this theme of inclusivity highlights their importance and prevalence.
An alumnus who graduated in 1977 is still connected with a student graduating in 2025. Even when the distance seems far, there are university organizations and projects like Garnet Circle and the Oral History Project that help bridge the gap between students and alumni.
“Through these stories, students can learn what types of experiences alumni have had in the past with the university,” Bundrick said. “It can be kind of eye-opening to know that those experiences maybe looked different than their experience.” Another goal of this project is to publish many of these stories, and, due to the high volume of submissions, stories that do not make it into the book will be published digitally. This will be an opportunity for students and alumni to learn more about USC’s history and traditions through the experiences of others and simultaneously glimpse into the past and future.
Garnet Circle also facilitates face-to-face discussion between students and alumni. They hold different networking events, such as Future Alumni Week, for students on the verge of graduation who may be looking for advice from their predecessors.
“I think our alumni are able to kind of come back and give them that perspective of how they did it, their personal experiences, things they would and wouldn't do and even find alumni that are in the same regions and same parts of the world that they're going to end up being post-grad,” Fowler said. Alumni are an important resource for students, and students are also an important resource for alumni. They keep one another connected to the university and remind them of a shared history intrinsic to USC.
Traditions are what make us Gamecocks. Whether it be jumping in the Thomas Cooper fountain, celebrating on Greene Street the night before the first round of classes or cheering on the annual Tiger Burn before the rivalry match against Clemson, these customs, these shared experiences, will be fond memories for years to come.
"You're not just a Gamecock for four years,” Fowler stated. “You're a Gamecock for a lifetime."
