Southern Wing Company hosted its first event on its third floor Tuesday evening, where all types of Southern Miss students got a chance to sing their favorite songs.
Eagle Dining, the main operators of the Southern Wing Company, prepared and hosted its very first Karaoke Night. The invite, posted on Eagle Dining’s official social media, called for all kinds of Southern Miss students to attend.
“You don’t have to have a meal plan. You can be a commuter. You can live on campus, off campus. You can just come,” Lauren Brescher, the Marketing Manager for Eagle Dining, said.
The Karaoke Night was largely an experiment for Eagle Dining, as they wanted to see how people would react to the possibility.
“We want to see how the engagement goes,” Brescher said. “It just depends on how the students come out for them.”
And students came out in droves. A large crowd formed to watch several students sing the lyrics to their favorite hits. The third floor of the Southern Wing Company itself was filled to capacity. The turn out by the end of the event even surprised Brescher. In between songs, she told a student that the turnout might lead to a permanent event.
Sophomore Raven Day and three other friends were among the crowd at the Southern Wing Company. Day had not planned to put herself out the way she did.
“Honestly, my friend kind of dragged me into it [performing],” Day said.
However, Day felt better about the performance about halfway through the group’s rendition of Destiny’s Child’s “Survivor”.
“After getting on stage, it turned out to be pretty fun, and having the crowd to hype everyone up was nice even if we didn’t know how to actually sing,” Day said.
Not every student sang at the event, though. Most students attended karaoke night solely to watch or cheer on the performers. Senior Andru Catchings sat front and center as performers would come and go on and off the stage. He said enjoyed the experience of the karaoke night overall.
“It was very fun,” said Catchings, “and while I didn’t personally get up and sing, it was very fun to sing along with everyone.”
Catchings also heard about the karaoke night’s possible expansion into a permanent event, and he was pleased with the possibility.
“That’s great news,” Catchings said. “If my schedule allows it, I’ll definitely attend.”
Along with Karaoke Night, Brescher said that Eagle Dining plans to host many different events at the Southern Wing Company and its courtyard.
“On October 12, we’re going to have the Ruby City Band play out here in the courtyard, so we’re just trying to do [some fun things] for the students,” Brescher said.
This event, like the Karaoke Night, would also be held on a Tuesday evening.
“We know Tuesday nights not many things are going on in the community, so we thought, ‘Okay, Tuesdays would be good for students to have something to do,’” Brescher explained.
Though there was no formal “winner” of the night, as the event was not a competition, every student that came to the event left with a Southern Wing Company baseball t-shirt and koozie.
