As students embark upon their Unofficial weekend plans, the streets fill with groups dressed in festive green outfits. Although it isn’t uncommon to see a few people protesting the all-green dress code, most participants are showing their spirit. It seems as though most members of the campus community wish to get in on the action, including graduate students who attended other universities for their undergraduate degrees.

Kristen Miller, graduate student studying food science, said the culture at her undergraduate alma mater, the University of Mississippi, was very different from the culture here.

“The U of I goes hard every weekend, but there’s something special about Unofficial,” Miller said. “I never really dartied at Ole Miss, but on Unofficial, it’s like, ‘OK, you must be drinking at brunch, and you must be going to a party immediately afterward.’”

Miller said she experiences college differently from undergraduate University students, but she and her friends choose not to let that stop them from participating in traditions like this one.

“We pregamed at an apartment party, and now we’re going to KAMS for funsies,” Miller said. “We are going to KAMS ‘ironically,’ we like to say.”

Claire Warsek, another graduate student studying food science, said Unofficial reminds her of her experience at the University of Wisconsin.

“I went to Wisconsin for Undergrad, and they had (Mifflin Street Block Party), which happens on the last weekend of April,” Warsek said. “It’s kind of like the equivalent of Unofficial, so this doesn’t confuse me. It’s just a different time of year, but it’s like, equivalently going hard.”

Some students waited in line for a seemingly unexpected reason — lunch at the freshly opened Raising Cane’s at the corner of Green and Fifth streets.

Parker Johnson, student in ACES, came to Raising Cane’s in a full Leprechaun costume in order to show Unofficial spirit.

“Unofficial is a good opportunity to spend time with friends,” Johnson said. “It’s a time to go out into the community and make some memories. Embrace people from other places in the United States who come here and celebrate with us.”

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