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SBU | Life

My Bonaventure

Riley Connors Student Contributor, St. Bonaventure University
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at SBU chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

As everyone around me seems to be entering a state of nostalgic goodbyes and bittersweet endings, I can’t help but feel like a little bit of a fraud claiming that graduation is the “end” of my St. Bonaventure experience. 

For those of you who do not know, I will be returning to work as a Graduate Assistant in the fall while I pursue a Master’s degree. That means that (hopefully) a year from now, I will graduate with my second diploma from this university, which is awesome!

However, that also means that while (almost) everyone else in the world is moving on from college and entering new stages of their lives, I will be here without them all.

Now, I am not going to lie, if you have read up on any of my most recent articles, you’ll see that I love to be in college and am in no rush to leave this place that I have had the privilege to call home the last four years.

So why do I feel so upset that my senior year is coming to an end when I have a whole year left here?

This phenomenon exists because Bonaventure is much more than a physical location. 

Don’t get me wrong – I love the beautiful landscapes and the quiet countryside and the fact that Bonaventure truly is the college town of all college towns. 

But my Bonaventure consists of my roommates, two of whom I have known since my first steps on this campus. My Bonaventure is the dingy basement where my team has evolved and grown into a conglomeration of people that I will never forget. My Bonaventure is the sharing of the same bag of Nerd’s Gummy Clusters at every College Democrats meeting with people that hugged me a little longer after the election. My Bonaventure is the random run-ins in the Hickey on a Tuesday afternoon with people you will probably never see after May but won’t hesitate to split a slice of chocolate cake with.

While St. Bonaventure University may be a picnic basket with brown and yellow checkered lining, my Bonaventure is everything you can see inside when you open up the flaps. 

So, as everyone around me prepares to say goodbye to this school that they have grown to call their own home, I am left with a feeling of guilty hollowness. 

I shouldn’t really feel that sad because I’ll be back to St. Bonaventure in August. 

But that’s just it. 

I’ll be back to St. Bonaventure. 

While my Bonaventure, everything I have come to love about this place that does not include its physical location, will be gone. 

And so I mourn with everyone, because in the blink of an eye, my Bonaventure will just be a collection of memories that I think back on as I retrace my steps on the same campus pavement in the fall.

Riley Connors

SBU '25

Riley Connors is a member of the St. Bonaventure chapter of Her Campus and plans to write about college, careers, movies and just about anything that comes to her mind that week.

She is a senior Adolescent Education and English double major. Outside of Her Campus, Riley is a member of the SBU Dance Team and is a part of SBU College Democrats. She also has a radio show with her roommates on St. Bonaventure's radio station, WSBU-FM.

In her free time, Riley enjoys hanging out with her friends and girlfriend, spending time outside in the sun and listening to any song by Boygenius, Hozier or Lizzy McAlpine. She cherishes her time spent at home with her family and dog but loves her St. Bonaventure family that she has created in her three years of college.