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‘Worth the sip’

Decades-old tradition says a drink from the Old Well before a student’s first class of the semester can bring good luck in the form of good grades.

Students drink from the Old Well.
Throughout the day, thousands of Carolina students will take a sip from Old Well. (Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill)

For the past three years, Corbin Phifer has made a habit of stopping by the Old Well on the first day of classes in hopes that the legend of the first sip comes true and she receives a 4.0 grade point average for the semester.

It hasn’t worked yet, but she decided the start of her senior year was not the time to stop trying.

“We’re hoping it will work this year,” Phifer said Tuesday. “It’s just a huge tradition that everybody has to take part in. Whether it works or not, it’s worth the sip.”

Decades-old tradition says a drink from the Old Well before a student’s first class of the semester can bring good luck in the form of good grades, even a 4.0. Throughout the day, thousands of Carolina students will take a sip from Old Well.

By the time Phifer had arrived around 8 a.m., dozens of students were already waiting in a line that stretched to the cornerstone of Old East.

Some students arrive at the Old Well at 12:01 a.m. to make sure they’ve had their drink before their morning classes.

Others, like Ankith Rao, set their alarm extra early on the first day of classes to account for the extra stop on McCorkle Place.

Rao’s first class was at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, but the first-year student left his residence hall on South Campus at 6:30 a.m. to line up at the Old Well.

“It’s tradition,” he said. “And I need the good grades.”