The University contains storied landmarks and buildings, but some of the people who grace the campus on a daily basis are just as unique.
Some students have offbeat hobbies.
In February, The Daily Reveille wove a colorful story about students on campus with a passion for yarn.
The student organization Yarn-aholics Anonymous went so far as to knit an entire 8-by-7-foot banner for the University’s homecoming week.
Other students chose to get their eyes off the pages of their textbooks and turn them instead toward the sky in search of rare and unique birds.
The Daily Reveille reported in March about a group of students and Baton Rouge residents who showed passion for the increasingly uncommon hobby of birding.
“If I’m seeing this, what else am I missing?” said Jane Patterson, teacher of a bird-watching leisure class, in March. “Then you start noticing there’s birds everywhere that are different sizes and different colors.”
It’s not just University students who bring color to campus, but faculty members as well.
Jeremy Bernard and David Perault, Facility Services’ animal catchers, handle the University’s opossums, squirrels and bats. They have even seen alligators in the campus lakes.
The University has also seen both famous, infamous and unknown visitors visit the campus, no one more colorful than another.
Former Republican presidential candidate hopeful Newt Gingrich stopped by Dodson Auditorium in March to give students his vision for energy policy and gas prices.
Rick Santorum also stopped by an LSU baseball game in March to meet fans, voters and devotees to America’s greatest pastime.
In February, Loren Ketcherside, a California man biking across the entire country, pedaled onto campus grounds to share the joys and frustrations of his historic trip.
Ketcherside, who was 280 days into his 22-month trip, was on his way to New Orleans to experience Mardi Gras firsthand.
“I want to know that I did something that only a few people in history have even dared to accomplish,” Ketcherside said.  
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Contact Kevin Thibodeaux at [email protected]