By Devin Rodriguez, Tamiracle Williams & Jonah Hinebaugh
MONDAY The homecoming celebrations kicked off with The Herd Step Team’s performance inside the 
reef at noon. The team surprised students and faculty with a step routine to Fat Joe’s “All the Way Up” that hyped the crowd up. Later that evening, Harborside Activities Board (HAB) announced it relocated the “Night at the Bay” event into the USC Ballrooms, instead of the Harbor Lawn. Students lined up for fried Oreos near the entrance of the USC. Upstairs, Bulls raced through an inflatable obstacle course and challenged each other to bungee basketball. Music and dancing dominated most of the evening and around 247 students registered with OrgSync at the event. Fireworks were originally planned to end the night, but were instead rescheduled for a later date. A zip line was placed in the parking lot adjacent to the bull statue, but sat unused until the next day due to rain.
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© Photos By Devin Rodriguez | TCN
TUESDAY Out in the USF St. Petersburg courtyard, over 40 students designed masquerade masks to
wear for the ball later that night. Feathers, glitter and rhinestones donned the small masks to be worn with formal attire.
That evening, the ballroom was dark and refreshments lined the back walls. Bulls danced until midnight wearing glittering dresses and suits. The homecoming court was also announced. Last year’s king and queen, Jared Bolton and Cynthia Wyre, crowned the 2016 court, Juan Salazar and Justice Thornton. The South Florida All Stars also performed a dance routine for those attending. Salazar said the crowning was a highlight of the week and as a senior it was a great achievement for the end of his four years.
“I started at this school very shy. I couldn’t talk to many people,” Salazar said. “So, to be crowned homecoming king before I leave, I mean it’s a big change.”
He said that the tradition of homecoming excites students, that it is a chance to connect to something bigger.
“I mean the tradition acts as nostalgia,” Salazar said. “It reminds you of how things change from years before and what they’ll be like in the future.”
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© Photos By Tamiracle Williams | TCN
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WEDNESDAY Student organizations, staff and faculty gathered on the Harbors Lawn. Sodexo provided a
seafood boil, and lawn games littered the grass, like big-block Jenga and cornhole. Students were able to decorate sailor hats waiting for the race to begin. The boats were prominently displayed for visitors to see before casting their votes for a number of categories. The decorations varied from the eccentric to the practical and all of the boats were hand-made At 5 p.m., the race started and participants took cardboard boats out for their maiden, and for many, only voyage out to sea. Student Government’s S.S. Harambe came in first place, followed by the Reef’s The Reef, with SG’s S.S. Zookeeper in third. Surprisingly, many of the boats were not lost at sea; over half of the rickety sea crafts that entered the race made it to back to shore. Students and staff voted on superlatives for the boats. The Loan Shark, Financial Aid’s boat, was awarded most original design, best construction, best decorated and the student’s choice award. Most likely to sink was awarded to the Black Student Association. There were 25 boats in the race, with some racers not getting to the event until just minutes before take-off.
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© Photos By Tamiracle Williams & Jonah Hinebaugh | TCN
THURSDAY At the Tampa campus, Atlanta rapper 2 Chainz performed at a free concert for students
inside the Sun Dome Arena. The crowd collected on the floor in front of the stage around 8 p.m. The opening act, an upcoming Chicago rapper named Dreezy, began around 9:30 p.m. and the main act didn’t take to the stage until 10:50 p.m. 2 Chainz per- formed until 11:30 p.m. Between the two performances, Bulls Radio entertained the crowd with hits new and old. 2 Chainz was reported to have been paid around $100,000 for his performance, which was less than an hour long. Many artists, before performing, will ask for certain amenities, some reaching to the absurd. When 2 Chainz says he’s different, he really means it. He asked for 2 liters of vodka, strawberry Pepperidge Farm cookies, two bottles of Rose Moet Rose champagne and a platter of chicken wings, according to the Oracle, the USF Tampa campus news- paper. The university negotiated many of these requests down. The rapper performed some of his most well-known songs such as “The Birthday Song,” “I’m Different,” “Spend It” and “No Problem.”
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© Photos By Jonah Hinebaugh | TCN
FRIDAY At 1:30 p.m., HAB announced that it would need to change the scheduled foam party into a glow
party held in the USC Ballrooms. HAB cited weather as the reason for the change. Around 175 students attended the party, according to OrgSync numbers, but friends and family that do not attend the school are not included in the total. The party lasted until 10 p.m. Attendants helped themselves to pan-made ice cream while they danced in the dark.
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© Photos By Jonah Hinebaugh | TCN
SATURDAY Saturday was the final day of homecoming. The Bulls played the East Carolina University Pirates. USF started the game off with a strong offensive showing, but the Pirates refused to go down without a fight. The Bulls held a 17-6 lead going into halftime. The Pirates answered with an offensive surge of its own to come within 2 points. The USF offense demonstrated its ability to score in a hurry. The Bulls scored two quick touchdowns to seal a comfortable 38-22 win over ECU.
TRADITION For many of the students, tradition was a recurring theme throughout the week. Homecoming has been a tradition at USF for the past 20 years. The St. Petersburg campus can often go unnoticed in the shadow of its bigger sister campus. Homecoming has its own personality. Kayley Klein is a freshman and says she struggled with her decision to stay at this school in her first semester. The school’s sense of community is building for her. “I was actually going to transfer out after my first year,” Klein said. “Then I just started getting involved and doing things, now there’s no way I’m leaving.” That’s what HAB hopes for each year: To convince students that they are apart of a community and culminate a bond between them and their peers. Taylor Singleton, a junior education major, said it best. “Homecoming is essentially the pride and spirit of our university.”
