After the death of freshman Ty Osman on Sunday, March 4, Zeta Rho and TNT have pulled together and dedicated themselves to perfecting their Spring Sing show in honor of Osman.

Spring Sing director sophomore Ben Whisenant said when he heard the news, the first thing he could think of was how he and the other directors needed to stay strong and try to show the group that God is still good.

“It’s been really difficult for us,” show member sophomore Alexis Samuel said. “He was the person to go see at Spring Sing every time, but his loss has also given us a huge motivation.”

Samuel said since Osman’s passing, the large parts in their group have endeavored to do things with the same enthusiasm Osman always had.

“Every day they go into practice they ask themselves, ‘What would Ty do today?’ and so then they just start acting crazy, which is fun,” Samuel said.

Sophomore Tyler Gentry has also played a role in the recovery of the group by stepping in to take Osman’s place onstage in the choreography and formations.

“I knew I didn’t have the words to comfort,” Gentry said. “It was just the fact that I wanted to help out and I knew I could do so by my actions.”

Gentry said it was incredible how much support and help the group gave him after he stepped in. He said he was fearful people may think he had wrong intentions, but the group welcomed him during this time of grief.

“The main thing I wanted to get across was that I am not here to replace Ty by any means,” Gentry said. “We are all there to honor him through our performance.”

Samuel said Gentry is taking the place of Osman without taking Osman’s place. According to Samuel, Gentry is trying to fill shoes that they all know can never be filled.

Gentry offered to help with only three weeks of practice left before the shows began. Samuel said within a few practices, Gentry had learned the entire show.

For the peformance on jersey night, TNT, Zeta Rho and friends broke tradition and wore spray-painted T-shirts with Osman’s name on the back and “Proud T.O. be a Geek” on the front. Their show closed with the members pointing to Osman’s name.

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