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The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at SBU chapter.

A lot of things on campus have begun to seem very bittersweet to me. I never really know when it will be my last time stepping foot somewhere on campus. 

This week, while sitting in the University Ministry building for our Her Campus meeting with the other almost 50 members, I reminisced on my first-ever Her Campus meeting. Only about six of us sat in a circle in the same building, in the exact same chairs. 

Thinking of how much this club has grown throughout my time at Bonaventure made me a little emotional. 

Weirdly, a lot of my fondest college memories bring me back to the Great Room. 

Throughout my college experience, my friends and I have used the UMin for its amazing and fully stocked kitchen. Recently, making pumpkin spice cookies has been a weekly occurrence. 

Weekend dinners were also pretty popular. I was most often given the task of making the chicken wing dip while my friends prepared a variety of meals from homemade crunchwraps to pasta. 

We found this was fun way to avoid the hickey from time to time and it also created a more “family dinner” feel. 

We would then gather in the Great Room and put a movie on the giant projector. It always felt like we had rented out an entire movie theatre just for the few of us. 

Other times, we would push all the chairs away and hook up someone’s Nintendo Switch. We would then stand in the middle of the room and franticly flail our arms around in an attempt to play tennis, volleyball or badminton. I can’t imagine what we looked like in our giant fishbowl in the middle of campus to those walking by.  

Of course, when I think of the UMin, one thing that immediately comes to mind is my first time being inside the building. 

On the first day of orientation the summer before my freshman year, we were randomly divided into groups. Anyone who attended Bonaventure freshman orientation knows how this works. After a couple different stations throughout the day, we traveled to the Umin for Sneeches. My friends and I still joke about how strange and awkward this was, but I do believe this activity is what sealed one of my greatest friendships. 

After reading the iconic Dr. Suess book, the Orientation Leaders repeated a statement aloud and we were to take a step into the circle if they applied to us. 

At the very end, we were asked to point to someone we wanted to get to know better. I pointed to a girl with curly, blonde hair who loved astrology that I had spent the day getting to know (she didn’t point to me, awkward). 

To this day, Cassidy is one of my best friends, and meeting her at orientation and feeling comfortable enough to approach her in the hickey on our first day of school led to her introducing me to many of the friends I still have today. 

Even though I probably haven’t used the UMin for its intended purposes, it still holds a special place in my heart and is an important part of my Bonaventure story. 

Delaney Chase is the co-campus correspondent for the St. Bonaventure University Her Campus chapter. She works with the other campus correspondent and various board members to communicate with the rest of the Her Campus community as well as edit articles and lead weekly meetings. Delaney is a junior and is currently studying journalism and political science. She also is a writer for TAP into Greater Olean, an online news platform in the St. Bonaventure area, as well as a captain of the St. Bonaventure Women's Club Basketball team and Vice President of SBU for Equality. She enjoys hearing and sharing experiences with those of similar interests and enjoys being involved in different activities across the SBU campus. She finds this a great way to gain connections with those at her university and in nearby areas. She is enjoys the ability to gain experience and further her knowledge of the communications field. Outside of her time in school, Delaney loves listening to Taylor Swift and will take absolutely any opportunity to bring her up in conversation. She can often be found at the campus Starbucks with her friends ordering a pumpkin spice latte or brown sugar oat milk shaken espresso. She enjoys reading classic novels but also loves watching the trashiest reality TV shows.