Community is an amazing part of university. Everyone is nice, and kind and you really just feel connected to the campus. University of Guelph is a community that I think is best described as one that symbolizes your favourite pair of jeans. I’m sure we’ve all had a pair of jeans, acid wash, skinny, black, ripped, they are all unique to us. These jeans, as fluffy as one might think, have been with us through everything. Break ups, coffee stains, weight loss, the perfect sunset on a summer night. These jeans, our sacred jeans, have become a part of us. They make you look and feel amazing, they pop with every top. These jeans, are like some of our best friends. These jeans are like the friends who’ve helped us build our community here at UofG. These friends are kind, and forgiving, they too make us look and feel good.
These friends, this community, allows us to be ourselves. Similar to our favourite pair of jeans. It is so nice to think that our jeans and our friends can hold us together. In good times and bad. There’s something refreshing about that. I recently saw a quilt made of several pairs of someone’s favourite jeans. Pockets, zippers, patches and all. This quilt was whole from each member contributing to their piece. This really stuck with me. How are our favourite jeans could connect us to other people, in more ways than one, that’s really something you know? And if we had the opportunity to connect that little coffee stain, or that acid wash colour, maybe we’d be able to find someone, like our jeans, who was able to stand with us. To become a part of our community. To add another colour or zipper to our quilt, maybe that’s UofG. Maybe we are all just little pieces of our favourite comfortable jeans.
I think that’s really cool about our campus. We are able to be diverse yet so similar. We are able to make connections with others by sharing our story, by lending a hand, or simply by holding the door open for the person behind us. These little things reassure us, like our favourite jeans – they keep us safe and comfortable and feeling our best. There’s really nothing like a good pair of jeans and a community to hold you up.