Writing Sample 3
The Writing Sample Below is a class assignment on writing feature stories … Note that it is not an actually story of mines.
Rooted in Time- The Magnolia That Watched Southern Miss Grow
Just beyond the University of Southern Mississippi’s Hardy Street sign, a web of `branches stretches out like open arms. The magnolia leaves shimmer in the sunlight. Dark green on top, rusty brown underneath and the ground below is soft with decades of fallen foliage. To stand under it is to feel time slow down.
No marker is needed to tell you this tree has been here longer than almost anything else on campus. Its trunk twists with age, its bark rough and ridged like a well-earned scar. Students rush past it every day, earbuds in and backpacks heavy, unaware that the ground beneath their feet has been watching for nearly a century and a half.
The magnolia is believed to be about 150 years old, the oldest on campus and one of its quietest witnesses. It has shaded tearful goodbyes, sparked whispered legends, and stood watch through two world wars. In a place that constantly grows and changes, the tree remains Southern Miss’s oldest storyteller.
“The university used to hire students to do odd jobs,” said Dr. Marcus Maxwell, professor of history and the university’s historian. “We think those students planted this tree. No one knows their names, but their work still stands.”
And it’s stood through everything like storms, droughts and even a lightning strike a decade ago. “We’ve cared for that tree like an old friend,” said Tom Ruiz, a university groundskeeper for nearly three decades. “You learn to respect something that’s lasted that long.”
That same resilience has carried the magnolia through some of the university’s most defining moments. Its branches have seen both joy and heartbreak. In the spring of 1917, young men preparing to fight in World War I gathered beneath its canopy. “It was hot as blazes that day,” remembers Elmer Hinton, a retired bicycle repairman who was one of those soldiers. “I was just thankful for the shade and wishing the speeches had been shorter.”
Two decades later, during World War II, students again assembled under the tree’s wide branches. This time, the mood was quieter, more solemn. “It wasn’t such a festive occasion then,” Maxwell said. “But the tree was still there, standing like a guardian.”
Over time, legends have grown like vines around the tree’s roots. In the 1930s, students believed that a girl who walked under the lowest branch during a full moon before homecoming would win the crown. The tradition faded with time, but the story remains, whispered between generations of Golden Eagles.
There’s another legend too darker and harder to trace. A century-old newspaper article told of a lynching near campus, though no record proves it happened here. The uncertainty only deepens the mystery of the magnolia’s past.
“The tree is in remarkable shape for its age,” said biology professor Dr. Flora Handle. “Usually trees that old lose balance in their branches or rot at the core, but this one’s thriving. With proper care, it could live another seventy-five years.”
For sophomore environmental science major Jordan Lee, the tree offers something more personal. “It’s kind of amazing to think something this old is still alive right in the middle of campus,” he said. “It makes you slow down and appreciate where you are.”
When the afternoon wind moves through its branches, the magnolia hums softly, like it’s whispering the stories it’s kept for more than a century. And if you stand there long enough, you might just feel it breathing reminding you that history isn’t only written in books. Sometimes, it’s still alive, growing right in front of you.