When people talk about Bonaventure, one of its biggest draws is our small and intimate classes where students and professors really get to know each other. I have heard this phrase used over and over again, but I never really knew how true this statement could be until this year.
Since our freshman year here, I have been taking classes with a conglomeration of the same 16 people who are also adolescent education majors. While some have come and gone throughout the semesters (who we love and also miss very dearly), the cohort that arrived at my junior year this year has grown to have a very special place in my heart.
This semester specifically, pushed me to my limits; however, if I had academic issues, stress issues, or any issues at all, I knew that I could lean on the people in my ADED cohort.
We were all going through clinical experience at the same time. Though it ended up being a fantastic endeavor that I was eternally lucky to have participated in, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t scary at times. The fact that I could always have someone to turn to and talk about how scary it was and have that feeling be understood and validated meant the world to me and still does.
We are done with clinical now, and are moving on to student teaching… but we won’t all be together. Some of us are teaching in the fall, and some of us are teaching in the spring. Some of us are teaching around Bonaventure, and some of us are teaching at home. All this to say, after a semester of being together almost every single day for clinical, and 4 (and a half with discipline-oriented courses) classes throughout the week, the fact that we will not all be together again, consistently, in an educational setting for the rest of our Bonaventure careers with our professors, hasn’t really hit yet.
In true Leah Her Campus article fashion, this has turned into a letter to each and every one of my ADED cohort members. You all have taken such a large space in my heart and I couldn’t be happier. Whether we are all trudging to class at 8:15 in the morning (or maybe a little later for some of us), or ambushing the other concentrations with water balloons, you are all individually so special. You are all going to be fantastic teachers who do right by their kids, without just trying to BE right all the time. You are going down the right path even if it gets hard. I am so lucky to have been able to go through all of these crazy ups and downs with all of you. In the words of Cassy Coyne “I am grateful that I know in 20 years, I can still talk to all of you”. Now, go be the alpha with the grade book that I know you all can be.