Superstitions affect many cultures, people, and societies. However, in college, numerous superstitions and traditions are simply accepted. Mostly surrounding final grades and exam results, plenty of universities across the nation have their own version of celebrating that time of year while keeping your wits about you. CollegeExpress lists some of these institutions and even lists one of the most widespread superstitions at the University of Central Florida: stepping on or walking across the Pegasus seal.
On orientation day, one of the first things incoming students hear is how they should never step on the UCF Pegasus seal in the center of the Student Union until they have graduated and have their diploma in possession. Why did this start? Is it really that deep if you do step on the seal? Or is it all just superstition?
Back in 1999, about three years after the UCF Student Union was built, ropes were put up around the seal. Some say it was to maintain respect for a school mascot by roping it off, while others say it was to make cleaning easier. It didn’t take long for the story to arise: what happens if you walk across it? Apparently, it is the most prominent symbol of bad luck throughout UCF. Legend says that if you set foot on the seal at any point during your enrollment at the university, you will either fail your final exams, have trouble academically, or fail to graduate on time.
What some people may not know is that another reason the ropes were put up around the seal was to avoid damage and cracking in the design. The UCF Student Union YouTube channel released a video 6 years ago about Annemarie Kaczmarczyk, a triple-Knight with her Bachelor’s, Master’s, and PhD degrees from UCF, whose family had a lineage at the institution. In this video, she tells the story of her father helping her grandfather work on creating the seal.
“When they put it in, I remember you could walk, and there was no rope. [My grandfather] had told me, whether this is true or not, that the reason the rope actually went up was because it started to crack in certain places, and so they wanted to decrease foot traffic, which is why the rope was put up,” Kaczmarczyk said. “Which is why I think then people are like, ‘well, they don’t want us stepping on it because we won’t graduate if we do.'”
I remember Spring 2024, my first time walking into the Student Union, during my Admitted Students Orientation tour. I was there alone, my parents standing behind me, and not a clue about anything Knight-related. Though I grew up in Central Florida, my family was not from here and didn’t have any emotional connection to the colleges around the state. You could imagine my surprise when I arrived on that fateful day and realized what I had done: I had walked across the seal, and my first-year schedule wasn’t even a thought in my head yet. Soon after my mistake, the student leader of my group explained the story behind it.
From that day forward, I was keen on understanding and respecting the seal. Whenever it gets close to the end of the semester, I keep my eyes peeled as I take the long way around the rotunda of the Student Union. Spring 2025, actually, a friend of mine almost made the same mistake I did. She was confused when I grabbed her hand and wistfully tugged her away from the gleaming Pegasus seal.
Homecoming week at UCF is another experience that is no joke. Every year during the week, people “charge on” into the school’s Reflecting Pond, a usually relaxing place to study or read a book, for specialized rubber ducks. With fierce cleaning and a lower water level, students are encouraged to enter the pond and attempt to catch a duck that members of the UCF Homecoming organization toss to them.
This tradition is said to have begun when 1995 Student Government Association President Miguel Torregrossa was pushed into the pond by members of his cabinet (with love, of course). Students wanting to indulge in the fun decided to follow suit, thus soft-launching a tradition that has continued to this day called Spirit Splash.
When Spirit Splash began, the SGA and members of UCF Homecoming would throw prizes to students to catch, until one year, when supplies ran low. The cabinet members decided that a good idea would be to toss rubber ducks at the students instead.
Now, Spirit Splash is one of UCF’s most beloved events, with a turnout unlike any other, having been awarded the best campus tradition by the National Association for Campus Activities in 2011. In fact, there is a mural in the library of the specialized ducks that are released for each Homecoming week, and there are even ways to buy them to guarantee that you receive a duck on the day of Spirit Splash.
The ducks aren’t just cute reminders of a fun memory. Catching a duck symbolizes that you will pass all your classes for the semester.
Personally, I haven’t participated in Spirit Splash because of my fear of falling on my face and not even receiving a duck. However, the tradition is something many students look forward to each year, wearing duck-inspired attire to go along with it. Perhaps someday I will muster up the courage to try and obtain one of those captivating rubber ducks.
Although Spirit Splash isn’t nearly as feared as stepping on the Pegasus seal, both traditions have a superstitious background woven into their roots. Inevitably, it is up to the student whether they want to believe in it or pass their classes.