Growing up in Oxford

By: Maggie McDaniel

Ole Miss locals tell their opinions on Oxford as a college town. 

Many see Oxford, Ms as a college football town with many college students who come to Ole Miss to study multiple degrees. Students come from all over the United States. But many never think that there are families that live in Oxford and make up a big portion of it. There are also many students that were born and raised in Oxford with their families.  You may think why did they choose Ole Miss?

Photo By: Maggie McDaniel

Local Oxford native currently a senior at Ole Miss Susanna Rychlak chose to go to Ole Miss her senior year for many reasons. Rychlak is an International study major who is currently studying abroad in Perugia, Italy. She had many other options for college as the graduating class senior body president. What really drove Rychlak to Ole Miss was the Croft Institute, which recruited her. For Rychlak growing up in Oxford was special to her because it’s always changing and she can always discover something new. According to Rychlak there is so much history to appreciate including the University, Faulkner, the Blues, and many more, but at the same time it is an incredibly modern community.  People constantly are producing new, innovative art, music, cuisine, and an audience of citizens to appreciate it.  

“It has been more than a college experience; going to Ole Miss has given me life experience,” says Rychlak. 

For Sam Moffett, also an Oxford native and a senior at Auburn University chose to not stay in Oxford for college. Moffett is currently studying architecture and design, which was his main reason for attending Auburn. According to Moffett most of his graduating high school class attended Ole Miss and maybe 10-20 percent went off to college. After living in Oxford his whole life it became exhausting and Auburn gave him the chance to put himself out there and meet so many people. 

“It’s freeing to leave all the things that are comfortable or familiar for something better.  I also love my parents very much and even though I miss seeing them, being just 5 hours away has been great and makes the trips home really special,” says Moffett.

Senior at Oxford high school, Mary Randall Ivy is going to attend Ole Miss next fall.  Ivy hopes to major in Speech Pathology and minor in music. She has known since she was little that she was going to attend Ole Miss. Living in such a big college town has never really phased Ivy. According to Ivy when she was little many of her babysitters were college students. The only bad thing about Oxford to Ivy is the traffic and she thinks Oxford just needs to expand more. Ivy cannot wait to attend Ole Miss and knows she will probably still go home to do laundry and eat a nice home cooked meal every once and awhile. 

For Oxford local Meta Ginn, mother of two, who graduated from Ole Miss decided to stay in Oxford after graduating. Ginn and her husband stayed in Oxford, because that is where they got jobs right out of college. According to Ginn she wants her children to both attend Ole Miss, because it is a family tradition and a great University. Sometimes she wishes she lived in a bigger city, but the biggest benefit to her is she can go anywhere in Oxford and always run into someone she knows. 

“We love that it is safe and small, but provides so much opportunity to see and do things. It is such an incredible community,” says Ginn.

 

Katie Krouse Local Oxford Native tells about her memories when she was a little girl and why she chose Ole Miss.