Senior year, for those graduating in May of 2024, is coming to a close. For those of us graduating, the culmination of our college years is wrapped up in a mix of bittersweet emotions. Just four years ago, we entered into our final month of ‘normal’ high school, and what I personally feel was the last month before the world changed forever. This is dramatic, sure, and we’ve heard it a million times, of course, but it couldn’t feel more true as we inch closer to this sentimental time. For this class, every single moment of the last four years has felt like a steep climb up a mountain with no peak.
I’ve found myself sitting down with friends recently, talking about what these past years have been like at Bucknell. We usually ask, “which year was the best?”, and run through the same conversation. Some of my friends will say that the coziness of freshman year, being in our dorms most hours of the day and creating close bonds with hallmates was their most memorable. Others say the changes of sophomore year, meeting new people through Greek life and other social circles, experiencing new parts of Bucknell that Covid hid from us for a year – these were the best moments. Junior year meant going abroad for a lot of people; an experience like that is so incomparable and beyond even the imagination of so many people who aren’t fortunate enough to experience it. And now, senior year, the excitement of going to the bar, of hanging out with friends in their downtown houses, of entering into a more adult-like way of experiencing college and living life.
There wasn’t a single semester that felt the same, there wasn’t a semester that I could forget. I don’t know if it’s the nature of Bucknell, but the people around me and the person I am, have developed more than I could’ve ever drawn up for myself. I can partly attribute this to the changes that occur from the ages of 18 to 22, which are more drastic than my 18 year-old self had pictured. The close-knit community at Bucknell, though, and the routine of school and life are what make the time move and change us the way it does. There was a time when I resented the small class size, the redundant cycle of events and outings, the isolation that can come with living in central PA. And yet, when I walk around campus I am greeted by people I know, when I’m bored I walk to a friend’s house, when I go out, I am never alone. It’s a way of life that we are unlikely to experience again, or at least for a while. Growing up in a city, it’s the life that led me to choose a small school in a rural town. It has its negatives, like everything in life does, but it has left me with an overwhelming sense of gratitude as I get closer to losing it.
For the next few months, it won’t be the challenges I’ve had here or the dislikes of the school that will lead me through my time. It will be the parts and people I took for granted, the moments of peacefulness and even boredom that may never be at my disposal again, that I will hold up and cherish.