USC's PRETTY GIRLS SWEAT chapter is part of a national organization that focuses on encouraging women and young girls to establish a healthy lifestyle through exercise.
Ashley Simpson, the president and a fourth-year sport and entertainment management student, started the organization's USC chapter in 2019 after finding out about it in high school.
Simpson said she wanted to create an environment that would allow anyone, of any fitness level, to feel comfortable getting back into working out.
Simpson also noticed a lack of diversity in fitness classes on campus and wanted more people to take advantage of the benefits of the university's gyms.
"At the end of the day, there's just not a lot of diversity in the classes," Simpson said. "I'm a person of color. I wanted more people who look like me to be in my classes, and to feel like coming to the gym and exercising was a safe space and something that they can also take advantage of, because our tuition pays for this multi-million dollar gym."
The organization offers workout classes, which are often on Sunday nights at 8 p.m., that range from Zumba to heels dance. Additional times and classes can be found on its Instagram, @prettygirlssweatusc.
Group X fitness instructors, which include Simpson herself, teach the classes. Even some professors have taught classes to the organization.
“We have had one professor that teaches the self-defense class at school. She came in and she did our self-defense class last school year,” Kayla Crawford, event coordinator and fourth-year marketing student, said.
The national focus of the organization is to fight childhood obesity, specifically in girls. Every fall, the USC chapter holds a fundraiser to help kids be active and healthy, Simpson said.
“The point of the college campuses is for us, as the next generation of parents … to instill healthy habits in ourselves now, and pass the healthy habits on to our kids,” Simpson said.
Crawford said another point of the organization is to make working out seem fun — not like a chore.
"I think that's why we try to have such fun events because we almost forget that we're working out. Obviously if you're doing a heels dance class or if you're doing a yoga class ... you're not really thinking about the fact that, 'Oh my gosh, like, I'm getting a workout in,'" Crawford said.
PRETTY GIRLS SWEAT was forced to move its classes outside to Bluff Road Fields at the beginning of the pandemic, but the organization has since been able to move back into the Strom Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center, according to Averi McNeil, the public relations coordinator.
Anyone can register to join the organization on the first of every month. Registration stays open for 24 hours and costs $30.
The dues include access to all workout classes, and with additional registration on its national website, participants can get a package with stickers and a shirt.
However, McNeil said registration is not required to join its classes.
“The cool thing about us is that you don’t even have to be a member to come workout with us, you just have to RSVP on Garnet Gate,” McNeil, a fourth-year sport and entertainment management student, said.
Overall, Crawford said the organization has become "a huge family."
"We've had the same [executive] board this whole entire time, and we're super close," Crawford said.
Simpson said the mission of the organization was for people to join and have fun.
"The ultimate goal is just to make fitness fun on campus here at the University of South Carolina," Simpson said.