{"id":205359,"date":"2026-03-25T11:53:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T11:53:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/205359\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T11:53:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T11:53:07","slug":"the-campus-wizard-brings-confidence-and-self-expression-to-um","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/205359\/","title":{"rendered":"The campus Wizard brings confidence and self expression to UM"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Brian Mulvey Photo Editor \/\/ The Campus Wizard looks out on Lake Osceola on March 17, 2026.<\/p>\n

Chances are, over the past few months, you have seen a wizard walking around campus. Whether he\u2019s by the lake, heading to his next class or even sitting in one, the self-described \u201cwizard\u201d is hard to miss.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like some people are really excited to see someone that looks unique on this campus,\u201d\u00a0 the Wizard, who wished to keep his name unpublished, said. \u201cPeople always ask me if I play D&D, or what I\u2019m dressing up as, and I always say \u2018myself.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of the time, you\u2019ll find the Wizard wearing a green, flowy outfit accompanied by a pointy green hat.<\/p>\n

The Wizard, a freshman at UM, didn\u2019t always get to dress so creatively. Before arriving on campus, most of his schools had strict uniform policies. Because of that, he looked forward to any chance to dress up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always loved doing costumes and dressing up for Halloween,\u201d the Wizard said. \u201cEven during school spirit days, I would wear the most complex costume I could.\u201d<\/p>\n

He started at UM with a newfound freedom over his clothing choices. The Wizard decided to fully embrace it. After buying the iconic hat at the start of this spring semester, it quickly became a daily staple.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really [wanted] to wear this hat as much as possible, so I just started wearing it,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think since I got it there\u2019s been a day that I haven\u2019t worn it to campus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since then, he has had many positive interactions with students and said he has not experienced negative reactions.<\/p>\n

His outfit has largely become his identity on campus. Many students who recognize him \u2014 and even some of his close friends \u2014 don\u2019t know his name at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people will walk by me and say, \u2018Hey, campus wizard,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think a lot of people that I\u2019m friends with know my name. They just call me \u2018the Wizard,\u2019 which is funny.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

For the Wizard, wearing his daily outfits is not just about standing out, it\u2019s a conscious decision to be an example for anyone else who is hesitant to dress differently.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He describes this as \u201ca fight against anti-individuality.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI really hope that people understand that I\u2019m trying to normalize this,\u201d the Wizard said. \u201cI hope that people see me and think, \u2018Okay, I can do that, too,\u2019 because I think anyone can do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

His inspiration often comes from creative spaces like video games and cosplay, where character design plays a major role in how characters are presented.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When deciding what to wear each day, the Wizard approaches the process more like designing a character than choosing an outfit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just try to think about it in a character design frame, because I like video games a lot,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Instead of following fashion trends, he focuses on wearing pieces that feel expressive and unique.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know anything about fashion,\u201d he said. \u201cI just went shopping and picked things that I liked, and that\u2019s what I wear.\u201d<\/p>\n

That perspective leads him to choose pieces that create a specific silhouette, such as flowing layers that resemble cloaks or capes. He said he often thinks about the overall shape of the outfit rather than individual items when getting dressed.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the Wizard hopes that students who see him around campus feel encouraged to express themselves however they want \u2014 even if that means wearing something unconventional.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brian Mulvey Photo Editor \/\/ The Campus Wizard looks out on Lake Osceola on March 17, 2026. Chances…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":205360,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-205359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}