Last year, as many of you know, looked a lot different than most school years; NSI was a completely different experience for freshmen. Thankfully, campus is opening back up, which means getting things back to normal. While Southern Supper took place outside on campus last year, this year the students were back at the Oklahoma City Farmer’s Market.
Southern Supper is an NSI tradition that freshmen participate in every year before classes start. It includes dancing, community, and Swadley’s Bar-B-Q. This year the dance floor was packed with eager freshmen as well as NSI mentors and members of SGA.
One of the incoming freshmen, Hannah Morales, gave me some insight into Southern Supper from her point of view. “My favorite part of southern supper was by far doing all the line dances!” She explained that she loved how she got to know her family group throughout NSI and knew she would be in class with people she knew. Morales explained that at Southern Supper she “…met a ton of amazing people outside of my family group! Southern Supper made it super easy to get to know more people!”
It is a great opportunity for freshmen to break out of their family groups and meet other students in their class, as well as a few upperclassmen. This end-of-NSI celebration is loved and cherished by many. The energy in the building is unmatched. As freshmen come up the stairs of the OKC Famer’s Market they are met with ecstatic SGA members clapping, cheering, and celebrating these new faces.
A senior NSI mentor, Jackson Rothwell, elaborated on what he enjoyed about Southern Supper. “I loved seeing everyone dance whether they knew it or not. Everyone had a smile on their face which is something we missed last year.” Rothwell decided to be an NSI mentor because he wanted to give the new students everything that he wished he had known his freshman year. Rothwell said, “My favorite thing about my family group was that with so many different personalities, they were still able to open up to each other and find new friends.”
Southern Supper brings together all of the new students beginning their journey into college and gives them a space to meet new people and open up. The bright eyes and shining smiles coming from new and old students is one of the reasons Southern Supper is a campus-favorite tradition.
Photos by: Breyanna Brice