By Kaitlin Sides | Broadcast Reporter
Kappa Omega Tau took home first place in the 2022 All-University Sing competition in February, but this time last year the fraternity was watching from the audience for the first time in 13 years. They did not make Pigskin in 2007 and 2020, but they have participated in it over 46 times.
The Sing performance, “It’s a Gnome’s World”, featured six different songs ranging from “Rapper’s Delight” by The Sugarhill Gang, to “This Is How We Roll” by The Jonas Brothers.
Leawood, Kan. senior Carter Schuchardt, a KOT Sing chair said the 2020 loss was difficult for the fraternity.
“A bitter taste, for sure, as a club, especially a club that prides itself on excellence and wanting to do well,” Schuchardt said. “So that was a chip on our shoulder going into Sing, and obviously, it was a lot of motivation, which led us to getting first place.“
Coppell senior Tanner Woodby, a KOT co-Sing chair, said it felt rewarding when the hard work paid off. Even if they didn’t win, they would all still be proud of their act.
“It was just the most adrenaline rush I’ve ever had,” Woodby said. “So seeing their experience, it is gonna be really fun for me, fun for everybody that has already done it and to see the younger guys do it for the first time.”
Pigskin features the newly initiated sophomores, who just last year were finding out what this homecoming tradition was.
It has been a rewarding experience getting to see his friends and roommates, who didn’t enjoy Pigskin at first, thrive according to Highland Park sophomore Luke Martin, a KOT co-Sing chair.
“I’m just most excited for them to go on stage and do the real thing, and just fall in love with it even more,” Martin said. “Just because a lot of us have been looking forward to it since we got initiated last year.”
Growing up hearing about Pigskin through his father who was also a KOT Sing chair, Lantana senior Ben Ward, KOT co-Sing chair, said the group has had a long tradition of success, and it is meaningful to be a part of it.
“I think the tradition just comes, because there’s so much bonding. Because we have everybody in the club in one place for five nights a week, two hours a day,” Ward said. “So, that’s kind of what drives us all with it.”
Oklahoma City, Okla. senior Jackson McWilliams, KOT co-Sing chair, said he is grateful for the new friends he has made through helping produce this Sing act.
“This has been overall so good and so much fun, and the relationships just grew. Like you’re dancing next to guys that you may not know super well,” McWilliams said. “So you get to have a shared experience with them and therefore like you grow closer.”
Schuchardt said it was important that everyone felt included during the performance.
“On top of that our prayer, like as a group of Sing chairs, was that it wouldn’t just be like our act, like us five,” Schuchardt said. “And then the rest of the club are just pieces to fit the mold of what we want, like just cogs in a machine. We wanted it to be our act, like as KOT, and that was vocalized by the guys throughout it.”
