One of my favorite traditions at USC has been the week leading up to the football game against UCLA. The rivalry brings out some entertaining events, such as wrapping up all of the statues, such as tommy trojan, and having the Trojan Nights and USC Helene’s stand guard of Tommy in the center of campus and Hecuba in the USC Village respectively. The Trojan Nights even built a doghouse to put over Tirebiter, our first official mascot at USC.
The Thursday before the game, the USC Concert Committee organizes Conquest, which is an annual concert USC holds to get students hyped for the game. The event has food trucks, booths with merch, as well as the trojan marching band and song girls coming to play the fight song before the performers come out!
This year, USC was able to book a USC alum Saweetie to perform at Conquest and many students were excited. One of the best parts of the night was when she brought out her partner Quavo to rap a few songs for the crowd. It was a very unexpected surprise and was a great duo to end off the night.
As someone who loves rivalries in sports, the USC X UCLA game is the one I look forward to the most. As someone who grew up rooting for the Bruins since my mother is an Alumna of UCLA, it is always a fun rivalry in the family. It also brings many friends together as I don’t get to see my friends that go to UCLA all that often. This year USC claimed back the victory bell in a 52 – 35 win, as we rightfully should. All in all, I love conquest week because it livens up the campus with festivities and makes me proud to be a Trojan!
