On the last day of class before Thanksgiving break, students began to congregate at the Russell House Underground. As music played from a speaker in the background, they sat and talked to each other in the midst of a wide variety of catered food and beverages. The main attraction: a $631, 23-pound wheel of gouda cheese.
The Jesse Pinkman Conglomerate, the student organization hosting the Nov 22. "Cheese Wheel Event," purchased the wheel from the Gourmet Shop in Five Points, club President Ash Jacobson said. The event also featured a catered buffet and homemade bread.
The club is named after a character from the show “Breaking Bad,” which follows a high school chemistry teacher and his former student, Jesse Pinkman, as they create and distribute methamphetamine, an addictive stimulant.
“The mission of our club is to spread the joy of Jesse Pinkman,” Jacobson said.
Planning for the cheese wheel event began with a discussion between Jacobson and co-president Kyle Long.
“We were discussing what would be the most expensive thing we could buy that the student government would fund us for,” Jacobson said. “His first thought was maybe a cheese wheel, and that was where it started.”
Jacobson and Long sampled several cheeses at the Gourmet Shop. They originally wanted parmesan since it is a general go-to, but were recommended against it because it would be too hard to cut.
Cutting the wheel of gouda cheese went better than anticipated, Jacobson said. He came prepared with a hammer in case he had to break the cheese apart.
The wheel, along with the rest of the event, was paid for by the student government, Jacobson said.
The group received an exemption from a regulation requiring Aramark, USC's contracted catering company, to handle the food since the company was unable to provide a wheel of cheese. They were also exempted from the normal $500 limit, Jacobson said.
The event was free and attended by both members and non-members.
First-year civil engineering student Isabella Lefew found the club while scrolling through Garnet Gate with her roommate. The pair had originally bonded through a mutual fondness for “Breaking Bad.”
“Everybody here’s really nice. It’s very welcoming,” she said.
A University of South Carolina student stands ready to serve pieces of cheese to event attendees during a "Cheese Wheel" event held in Russell Underground on Nov. 22, 2024. The event was held by the Jesse Pinkman Conglomerate and offered attendees the opportunity to partake in a 28-pound wheel of gouda cheese.
Third-year middle-level education student Ehud Melmik was invited to join the conglomerate by Jacobson. He said the club is a great way to meet new people who enjoy “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul."
“For me, being a part of a bunch of clubs and (organizations), it’s just good to have extra clubs where you can just go and meet a bunch of people on campus and get out of that comfort zone,” Melmik said.
First-year music education student Joe Wheeler saw flyers around his residence hall, with arrows pointing in several places before leading students to a poster for the event. He is not a member of the club but had an athletic reason for attending.
“I’m running my first marathon tomorrow. I needed calories, so I came here," Wheeler said. "Cheese sounds like a healthy thing to eat before a race."
Also available at the event was the group’s rock candy. It is an imitation of methamphetamine, the drug manufactured by the organization’s namesake character.
“According to the student government, it is ‘Alex’s Famous Heisenberg Rock Candy,’” Jacobson said. “It is actually famous. There are a lot of people who have a bit of an addiction to it. It is just sugar.”
The group received $700 from Student Government for creating this semester’s batch of the candy, Jacobson said, which included $300 for ingredients and $400 for labor. This money was paid to the organization’s founder, Alex Hale, who came up with the idea and continues to produce the candy. Previously, he had to pay the cost of production himself.
“We do have to legally give it all away for free… we’re not allowed to sell it,” Jacobson said. “Which is fine with us. We just are glad we are no longer losing money on it whenever we make it.”
Hale, a biochemistry student who graduated last spring, started the club because he felt there was a lack of fun clubs on campus, he said. He was surprised the club was approved and scrambled to get seven people he knew to sign up for the group's Garnet Gate. The group held its first event during the fall semester of his junior year. Now, the conglomerate’s GroupMe has just under 350 members.
“There is strong potential in the leadership," Hale said. "As we get new people to join the club and its leadership, we will continue to grow."
When Jacobson became president this semester, he had a goal of attaining student government funding for the club’s activities. Since then, they have received about $5,800 of funding, he said.
According to Hale, only about 30% of clubs at USC use funding and many do not know how.
“We’ve dipped our hands into the student government, which has really lifted us up," Hale said. "I encourage other clubs to reach out and take advantage of the funding.”
The club continues to plan for the future with goals such as housing in Greek Village and to start chapters at other college campuses.