For many Washington University students, hosting the presidential debate on campus meant engaging in political action and discourse. But for others, it was all about the cameras.

Scores of students took to campus with flashy costumes and witty signage, hoping to catch their fifteen seconds of fame in the background shots of Fox News, MSNBC and CNN as the major networks filmed live broadcasts from campus during the debate weekend.

Freshman Sam Fisher

“I showed up earlier today and didn’t have anything fun on and i was like, ‘you know I should come back,’ and so I left and went and got my cow costume. I threw on my cow costume, got on my bike, just flew down Forsyth and boom I was there, and for the last 6 hours I just danced. I just danced on CNN and it’s been really great.”

Senior Alex Weigand

“We wanted something that didn’t have a huge political lean one way or the other, but you was still fun, people would laugh at it…We were on CNN yesterday, it was pretty cool. We started at Fox, then went to CNN, then MSNBC for a few hours. [Our parents] were excited to see us on TV.”

Sophomore Greer Gurewitz

“I’m just hoping that it would make somebody laugh or smile, because this election is kind of depressing on all sides, so I hope I could make someone smile tonight.”

Sophomore Scott Solomon

“I feel like a lot of the media people are saying [Trump’s] comments are really demeaning to women and they’re like he’s talking like a pig and it locker room talk which is true, like he is being demeaning to women, but he’s also talking about grabbing woman’s private parts and kissing them against their will because he can because he is famous—which is sexual assault. If you don’t label it like it is, then that’s what perpetuates rape culture. Especially from someone who is really famous.”

Senior Ted Sorota

“I wanted to do something funny, because I think that’s the kind of person I am. I’m a little more lighthearted. I was thinking about doing a non sequitur…but I don’t know something about the punch of ‘Trump can’t read’; I liked it. It’s snappy, it’s kind of funny, its simple.”

Sophomore Ben Dobmeier

“We just really hate Donald Trump, and we wanted to find a clever way of expressing that. Because he’s an ass…We held it up at first, they were like ‘We get fined if you hold up that sign because it says ass,’ so we crossed it out with one of our sharpies then held it up again they didn’t say anything so we assumed it was fine.”

Junior Devin Patel (right to left, Andres Fernandez, junior, John Stepakoff, junior in eagle head, Devin Patel junior, Ryan Hoopes junior)

“The inspiration behind the poster is essentially is you know we don’t really get to do this often, we don’t have a huge college football team where you typically raise posters for College Gameday, but this is the debate so we figured if we’re going to have one opportunity in our 4 years this might as well be it.”

Freshman Natalia Oledzka

“It just came to me. I was making posters with my friends on my floor…I have no idea how I came up with this.”

“Amy Schumer Instagrammed this poster. It’s so cool, probably the peak of my life so far.”

Junior Rashi Narayan

“Why am I dressed up like a dinosaur? Because I’m a 20 year old college student, and I could be…it’s a stressful time with midterms and the media circus on campus so I thought I would wear my dinosaur onesie to kind of break down some of that emotion and stress and barriers a little bit. It’s comfortable and I like it.”

Senior Esteban Recht

“I just want to have some fun.”

Sophomore Jackson Kleeman

“Its only to poke fun. We know that [Clinton is] the right choice. Me and my friends have some signs, this is only to poke fun, there’s no way we’d ever vote for Trump.”

Sophomore Logan Groneck

“We’re not really a fan of the Donald, he’s a bit of a cartoon, kind of larger than life in a lot of unbelievable ways. So I think to represent him as a pinata is very fitting. I think the people of MSNBC will really get a kick out of it.”

Sophomore Mike

“I just wanted to provide some much needed lightening to the tense political atmosphere…It makes a lot of people smile and that’s really needed. I like it and the kids really like it, lots of high fives.”