Maroon and white and everything nice?

Izzie Odom - Reporter

Photos from Pinterest

Walking up to the Dyersburg tailgate in Starkville, I see maroon and orange crowding the tent. This is when I wonder, “How many students from Dyersburg and Dyer County choose Mississippi State University, and what is so great about it?”

   Why do students from Dyersburg and Dyer County High School flock to Mississippi State University for college? Mississippi State is located in Starkville, Mississippi. You may know it as Starkvegas. MSU is an SEC school, but it is the second smallest.

   “It is a smaller SEC school, so you get the SEC experience without the campus being too big,” MSU senior and DHS alumni Blakely MacArthur said. When driving around Starkville, it almost feels like Dyersburg. You don't have to learn a new big town on top of learning the campus. 

   “State gives the same small town feeling while still getting the chance to meet lots of new people,” her sister Alexa MacArthur, an MSU freshman and DHS alumni said. Both Blakley and Alexa are in the sorority Chi Omega. Sororities and fraternities offer huge opportunities to meet new people and form lifelong friendships. Those are not the only ways to meet new people. You can volunteer, create a group study, and also find people in your residence hall. 

   “The drive is not bad and not too far from home,” the younger MacArthur said. The drive from Dyersburg to Starkville is three hours and forty minutes. Compared to the drive to Knoxville, it is a five-hour and ten-minute drive. Traffic on the way to Knoxville includes more eighteen-wheelers and, in general, more cars.