The Bucknell Male: can he be classified? We all know the stereotypes–fratty, wealthy and attractive. There’s certainly some truth to those characteristics, but do they fully encompass what it means to be a guy at Bucknell? As with most things, I’m assured that there is more to the average “bro” than we might be willing to believe.
An investigation by class year …
The Freshmen Boy: He’s brand new, he has a wealth of freedom and he’s literally surrounded by girls–they might live on either side of him. For the most part, he’s relatively inexperienced and innocent, not yet tainted by the Bucknell hook-up culture. Remember those freshmen year friendships with boys? Meals together in the Caf, late-night chats on the hall, weekend attempts to get them into parties? Those friendships certainly evolve as we get older, but there’s a sweetness to freshmen boys that seems to disappear as we go through our years together.
The Sophomore Boy: For many guys, sophomore year brings the advent of fraternities, and with it, endless opportunities to party. Bring on the beer belly and missed 8 a.m. classes. The Sophomore Boy’s absence at meals does not go unnoticed as the fraternity meal plan takes effect, and our interactions with him tend to occur at parties in between games of pong. Let’s face it; most of us girls are too wrapped up in our own blossoming Greek lives to mind.
The Junior Boy: At this point, the Junior Boy is more experienced. In some cases, he’s less enamored with fraternity life, in some cases more so. He might be going abroad, or he might be the one who isn’t. He might have a girlfriend now. The Junior Boy tends to be elusive–maybe he’s more academically focused this year, after a drop in GPA he may have suffered his sophomore year. In any case, junior year is a little weird for everyone.
The Senior Boy: He’s the big man on campus now–get ready, ladies–he’s preparing to venture out into the real world. We notice that the Senior Boy is very different from the freshman year version of himself. He has filled out more, and he carries himself with more confidence than in the past. Suddenly, we begin to see him in a social setting again–we’re all 21 now, and the bar is one big unaffiliated mixer. We have real chats again, we start to rebuild the close-knit freshmen year friendship. In some cases, we observe his growing infatuation with freshmen and sophomore girls and sigh. The Senior Boy is interviewing for a big job in the city, or maybe he’s applying to grad school. Or, he might not have a clue, but he’s certainly more of a grown-up than he was four years ago.
Let’s face it–we change, too, but our evolution as Bucknell women isn’t as noticeable to us. Either way, as we watch these boys grow into themselves before our eyes, we still remember what they were like when we first met them. Bucknell guys are smart, and often very talented. You might have to prompt them, but they will engage you in an interesting conversation if you let them. These guys have a strong allegiance to their groups of friends, their teams and their frats, but they have an allegiance to us, too, though they don’t always show it. As my time at Bucknell comes to a close, I’m realizing that I’ll miss these guys just as much as I’ll miss my girlfriends–they’re funny and fun-loving, and though they act like boneheads sometimes, they usually mean well. After all, we’re not perfect either. The next time you’re ready to give up on Bucknell boys (and that might be this weekend), remember that even though they’ve grown up a lot, they’re still boys–like us, they’re just trying to figure themselves out. We have the rest of our lives to be mature adults, and I know I’m not the only one trying to avoid reality as long as possible.