Homecoming at University of Mississipi Gives Muskie Fellows an Opportunity to Share Their Cultures with the Community

On the 6th of October, the University of Mississippi held its annual Homecoming weekend and football game. Since 1924, Ole Miss has always hosted a Homecoming weekend and football game. Homecoming is a special time for Ole Miss because this is a time when graduates, alumna, and current students build floats and participate in a very colorful parade, marching slowly from the University Circle down University Avenue to the main historic square in Oxford, MS. The parade is a kickoff to the annual event at Ole Miss, which is not only an opportunity for alumni and the university to get reacquainted, but also a weekend steeped in tradition.

This year the parade had 37 participants, ranging from student organizations to campus departments. We Muskie Fellows represented the International Programs Organization and each of us held the flag of our home country while touring the city and the campus on the float. We designed the float by ourselves. We painted a huge globe surrounded by an “Ole Miss is our Home” paper ribbon and we got really creative about painting every continent and ocean on the globe. At the end of the day, there was blue, green, and white paint all over our clothes, but we were so proud of being offered the opportunity to write another line in the history book of our University and the city of Oxford!

The best part about the parade was touring The Square, which is the central part of Oxford city. The Oxford community was so supportive: thousands of men and women, students and alumna, young and old ones came to cheer and enjoy the procession. The happiest ones were, of course, our little spectators, as they were trying to catch the candy we were throwing to them. Our float was really unique: every student represented a whole country and we all got to work together and participate in the parade. Our multicultural float made people approach us and ask where we came from and what we were studying at Ole Miss. Some people didn’t even know that there are so many international students in Mississippi. We really enjoyed telling them about our countries and cultures, while they were approaching our float trying to guess the country by the flags we were carrying.

It’s amazing how one event could tell so much about our mission here; for one hour we were more than just international students at Ole Miss. The Homecoming parade was a perfect opportunity to become ambassadors of our countries and integrate into the American culture. It meant so much more for us than the $500 we earned for the International Programs Office for “enthusiasm and dedication”. It made us feel at home in USA.