By KYLE PRATT
Managing Editor
The time has come for seniors to reflect on their Saint Rose experience. This seemingly obligatory process, especially for seniors at The Chronicle, is also among the most important.
They say this time is supposed to be bittersweet, but I find myself filled with more sadness than joy. In a weird way, this sadness is a good thing. It signifies the amazing relationships and immensely strong bonds I have formed since August of 2014. The sadness is here because those relationships and bonds may no longer be.
During my time here, the community has hit some low points. We’ve experienced (or produced) negative press coverage. We’ve seen protests, and we’ve seen some of our beloved friends pass, but through these struggles we’ve also witnessed an already inseparable community come even closer together.
I only applied to one college and committed to coming to Saint Rose before I ever visited the school. My first experience on campus was during my summer orientation. I remember being mesmerized. As my mother and I were walking on the quad, I turned to her and said, “I think I made the right choice,” and to this day, I know I did.
Many schools offer a great education, and many for less money, but very few have such a sense of community as Saint Rose. I commuted to campus for all of my eight semesters and although I didn’t keep a tally, there is a good chance I spent a healthy majority of that time on campus. There were many nights when I didn’t want to leave and a few when I didn’t.
I almost preferred to stay here, especially when performing with Crate of Apes. Few experiences build comradery like being laughed at by large groups of people, but we did it regularly, and it will be tough knowing we’ll never do it again.
Although I began college with no declared major, I quickly realized I wanted to be a Communications student, or as we say it, a member of the “COMmUNITY.” I can honestly say now that the communication department is less of a community and more of a family. Those bonds mentioned earlier, they are the strongest within the walls of the Hearst Center. This is why the sadness is here.
I’ve spent so much time alongside my colleagues learning, bickering, and creating content. I’ve wasted countless hours of my own and my professors’ time by invading their offices just to chat, which I know I appreciated and I hope they did too. The professors at Saint Rose, across all majors, are second to none. They challenged us to think, and to work hard, but most importantly, they cared so deeply about us and our futures.
Even closer to me are the friends who made it possible to produce this newspaper every week. I’m not sure how a crazy bunch like us pulled it off, but we did, and in the process, we’ve become a family. I am truly thankful for that.
The goal of going to college is to get an education. I believe I succeeded in that, but to be honest, it’s not what I value most from my time at Saint Rose. The learning and the skill development were great and important, but it was the people that made my college experience so enjoyable and so difficult to move on from. The sadness is here, because I no longer will be.
