When I was a freshman, I lived on Old Campus in Farnam Hall with nine girls from all walks of life. As one of the newest members of Jonathan Edwards College, I was decked in green and dubbed a ‘Spider’ and that was the beginning of my freshman year. Now, as I finish my first semester as a Yale senior, I have come to realize how much of my college experience has come full circle.
My first day of senior year was spent dressed in green, back at Farnam Hall. As a Freshman Counselor for Jonathan Edwards College, I have the privilege of living with freshmen and continuing the traditions of our college and celebrating the unique contributions each new freshmen brings to Yale. I cheered them all in as they arrived on campus for the first time. I carried their belongings up to their rooms and talked with their families about the coming days, weeks, months and years. It has been incredibly exciting to see the freshmen grow from that first day, and it’s been a joy to see them settle into the Yale community.
But in addition to those excitements, it’s been wonderful to get a chance to reflect on my own freshmen year and relive some of my own favorite moments from my very first days. Cindy, one of those original nine suitemates, is a Freshman Counselor with me, and this past week we celebrated her 21st birthday together. I remember picking up the cake for her 17th birthday four years earlier.
Many things have changed since we arrived freshmen year, but it is refreshing to know that there are things that stay the same. I still get to hear Cindy play the violin in her room before she goes to Yale Symphony Orchestra rehearsals, and there are Yale Daily News articles with my byline on our wall. She is still trying to convince me to learn how to knit, and I’m still stuck on my late-night food habits.
At graduation in the spring, we will stand together to sing the school song, where we sing “But time and change shall naught avail, to break the friendships formed at Yale.” I’ll get to look at her, and some of my other earliest friends at Yale, and know that the words of our school song couldn’t be more true.
