Jagapoolza: Week Recap

Jagapalooza: Springfest 2023
The Jag Activities Board hosted a week of packed events last week. These included: The Black Market Pop-Up Shop hosted by Southern students and their businesses, the annual Student Choice Awards, the Bounce Fest, Carnival, and Crawfest.
The Black Market Pop-Up Shop
Jagapalooza started with The Black Market Pop-Up Shop. It gave student entrepreneurs a chance to show up and show their business to the Southern community. These student entrepreneurs started their businesses from the ground up. Their growth increases as they continue on their journey.
First up is a junior nursing major Taylor Lacoste who owns “Twisted Melanin.” She started doing hair in the seventh grade and took it seriously when she started her business in 2021. She hopes to learn valuable lessons that will help her grow in the future.
Next, sophomore and therapeutic registration major Jazmine Eugene, owner of “Pretty Protection Gear” started her business randomly. One day she was on Twitter and saw a video of a young woman being harassed outside a gas station. In the comments of the video, Eugene noticed that other young women recommended carrying pepper spray as proactive gear. Eugene made a list of everything the young women said and made a keychain out of it. She posted it on Twitter and it accidentally became viral. That’s how Engene started “Pretty Protection Gear ”.
A recent graduate of the animal science program Nickolas Muse is the owner of “Muse 3 Farm”. Muse says he and his family are black farmers and they started the business in 2018 in Greensburg, Louisiana with a small cattle operation. Now they not only do cattle, but they also have a garden. In the future, he hopes to not only sell produce but to educate people on homegrown items and how they can sell their own.
Student Choice Awards
Wednesday’s event, the Student Choice Awards had slight difficulties due to unforeseen rain and a lack of student attendance.
Originally scheduled, the awards ceremony would take place at 12 p.m. but be postponed to 1:30 in the union due to a delay. By this point, student attendance had peaked and the rain had stopped.
Student Choice Awards had 12 categories. The first category was “Best Dancer”. It had four student participants: Arielle Brooks, Jeremiah Howard, Hassan Howard, and Ashlyn Woods. The announced award winner was Arielle Brooks.
The next award “Best Dressed” was announced and the nominees were Kennedy Clark, Terrance Turnage, Miquel Miles, and Jamarr Felder. Ultimately, the winner of the award was Miquel Miles.
“Best Photographer” was announced next. The contestants Tristian Holiday, Cierra Campfield, Christian Phillips, Kharis Taylor, and Douglas Taylor were all named for the title. The award was given to Tristian Holiday.
The next category was the best organization on campus. The nominees were the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, JAB, Sisters in Christ, and the Mental Milestones Association. The NAACP took the award.
“Mr. Twitter” was the next category. The nominees were Tristan Holiday, Jamarr Felder, and Devin Hooker. Jamarr Field was the winner, winning the title of “Mr. Twitter” award.
The announcer presented the award for Mr. and Miss Social Media. They then list the nominees for the guys: Devin Wilson, Devin Sowell, Emanuel Burns, and Gerald Broussard. They also list the lady nominees Karah Rainwater, Jehvana White, Macy Vessel, and Jazmon DeRouselle.
The Mr. Social Media title was given to Devin Sowell and the Miss Social Media title was given to Macy Vessel.
“The Best D9” award winners were announced, as the “Alpha Tau chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated” received the award.
The award for “Best Independent Organization” was then announced. Its nominees were Code Blue, The Mental Milestone Association, On This Bluff, and Runaway Mayhem. Code Blue took home the award.
Again the host announces two awards simultaneously, namely “Miss Tiktok” and “Mr. Tiktok”. The female candidates for the award Jhevana White, Autumn Austin, Ariuna Johnson, and Donna are announced. Shortly after, the candidates were revealed: Devin Sowell, Devin Wilson, Jaylen Wilson, and Mitch Easley. Shortly after Jhevana White was crowned “Miss Tiktok” and Devin Sowell was crowned “Mr. Tiktok”.
Next, the candidates for “Entrepreneur of the Year” was announced: Karah Rainwater, Jazz Eugene, Amari Johnson, and Chyra Washington. The award was won by Karah Rainwater.
The award for “Jaguar Pride” was announced with Ja’mon Gracin, Kelsey Harris, Amina Mitchell, and Daria Carter as nominees. In the end, Daria Carter won the award for “Jaguar Pride”.
Finally to conclude the ceremony the announcer called out three more awards, including “Miss Twitter”, “Mr. Flirt”, and “Miss Flirt”. The winners of these awards were Ashanti Lemons who won “Miss Twitter”, Kevon Hamilton who won “Mr. Flirt”, and Kelsey Harris who won “Miss Flirt”.
Bounce fest
Thursday students walked to the A. W. Mumford Stadium parking lot to attend the Carnival, which started at 3 p.m. and Bounce Fest started at 8 p.m.
The carnival consisted of rides, food trucks, and prizes. The Bounce Fest had special guests Supahbadd, Hasizzle, SubtweetShawn, Elmboypeg, and surprise guests Freshxreckless.
During the carnival, students shared their opinions on the festivities. Senior psychology major, Ashley Carter said, “I had a really fun time at the silent party so far. The carnival worked well, however, they could have provided more rides.”
Senior Political Science major, Courtney Gilbert shared her thoughts. “This is my first event. It went pretty well. The only problem is the heat. We have food, activities, and music,” Gilbert declared.
Crawfest
Ending the week-long festivities was the annual Crawfest. The Crawfest was held on Mayberry’s lawn. Festivities, crawfish, and novelty items characterized the event.
The Crawfest had mechanical bull students could ride, food trucks, opportunities for face drawings, personalized street names, and Henna.
The Crawfest also had performances by Sweet Southern Heat Raylon and The flat TWN Zydeco Band.
Freshman consumer science major, Averi Austin shared her views on the Crawfest. She said, “ I love how everyone is family-oriented. This event felt like a big family reunion.” Senior mass communication major, Anston Broadway said, “This was another great way to bring everyone together here at Southern. We had a lot of festivities going on, it’s a pleasure to see everyone coming together. This is also an opportunity for everyone to get to know people that attend Southern.”