Her Campus Logo Her Campus Logo
Numerous gold trophies
Numerous gold trophies
Photo by analogicus from Pixabay
SBU | Life

The Winner Takes It All

Rebecca Schneider 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.

It’s me. I am the winner. 

Now in my 22 years of life I have never actually been the winner. I have never won any special academic award, excellence in sports, leadership, and the list could go on and on. I am never the physical winner. But I am a winner. 

After years of not winning, you learn that winning isn’t everything, and honestly, any award I could have won the past 22 years probably would not mean anything to me now, and it definitely will not 10 years from now. 

I am a winner. 

I am a winner because I am kind, I have amazing relationships, I am hard working, and I am a winner because I say so. 

I am a winner because of my character. Nothing anybody says to me will ever affect how I view myself. Every friendship breakup I’ve gone through, every argument I have walked away a bigger and better person. 

I am a winner because I support other winners. There is no point in either unnecessary or one-sided competition. The world is big enough for everyone to exist and for everyone to win. 

When you think about the phrase “the winner takes it all,” it can go two ways. I can be a perspective of someone victimizing themself and saying, because they are the winner, they have to “take it all.” Meaning they have to take all the hate, pressure, criticism, etc. Or you have the winner who walks away from something and walks towards something better. 

I have always walked towards something better. 

I am no longer trying to fit into various different friend groups or grasping onto one-sided friendships. I am a winner because I now have relationships that I value and also feel valued in. 

I am no longer dreading going to school every day or at a university that makes me feel sick and isolated. I am a winner because I transferred colleges and attended a university that supported me academically and socially. 

Everyone can be a winner. You do not have to wait for some fancy plaque or a certificate to declare you a winner. As I get ready to walk across the stage at graduation next week (ahhhhh), that diploma does not make me a winner. I am a winner because of my education, because of the people I met and left behind along the way, and because I want to be a winner. 

Her Campus, I love you and thank you for an amazing two years. 

xoxo,

Bacca

Rebecca Schneider

SBU '25

Rebecca is a senior communication, social justice & advocacy major at SBU. This is her second year writing for Her Campus. This year, Rebecca is looking forward getting to know all the new members. She is excited to write about pop culture, books, trends and just her life overall.

Besides Her Campus, Rebecca is the senior leader for the Campus Conservationists club and the social media manager for Jandoli Women in Communications club. She has had the opportunity to have an on-campus internship in the department of university advancement and write for TAP into Greater Olean, an online news source for the St. Bonaventure area.

During her free time, Rebecca enjoys reading, going to the gym and being outside. Rebecca also loves music and will always engage in a conversation about Taylor Swift, Gracie Abrams or Noah Kahan.