Fresh Eyes

“Excuse me, where is Campion?” “Do you know which direction Bapst is in?” “How can I find McElroy?”

A new school year brings with it a brand new freshman class. Yes, these questions do seem to raise a big, maroon and gold flag to upperclassmen, telling us that the person we are talking with is most likely a first year student. However, these are also completely understandable questions.  There is always that desire to never seem like a freshman, even when one is a freshman! 

As a freshman RA this year, I am beginning to realize how much one grows in just two years at BC. You learn a lot here! And not just about how to analyze historical documents, talk about philosophy, and write a research paper in a couple weeks. You also learn how to introduce yourself to dozens of new people everyday, navigate your way and your schedule around classes, clubs, and friends (or try to), and also how to be yourself. All of these skills do not even fully develop freshman year. In fact, much of the time, I forget names, struggle organizing my responsibilities, and being myself feels like a journey I will be on for quite some time.

We all struggle with these aspects of ourselves (at least I know I do), yet there is still this urge to seem like we have it all together. However, one of the most rewarding parts of being an RA, for me, is being able to hear people’s stories and about all of the new clubs, classes, friends, and professors!

Being an upperclassman, there can be such a great feeling of knowing: knowing how to choose classes, how to introduce yourself to a professor, how to get to Campion from Edmonds as quickly as possible. And yet, something else can be lost so easily – wonder! For first year students, everything is new and worthy of awe! Yes, we can look at this idea of not knowing as negative, but at the same time, when you look at the world with awe and wonder, you truly see God. God exists in the everyday things, and when we overlook the everyday, we can overlook God. A talk with a first year student can be so eye opening and refreshing. Like drinking a nice, cold glass of lemonade on BC move-in day, talking with someone who has these “fresh” views of BC reinvigorates the soul! In a way, it reminds us of whom we all were just a few years ago, or less.

We are all “freshmen” in some aspect of our lives. Whether it is our first day on the job, first time living off-campus, or even first day of our senior year classes, there are always those moments of not knowing. And from what I have seen, that can make for an amazing day. Imagine walking up to Gasson, looking up at its stone tower, and hearing its bells echo down Linden Lane, as if for the first time, every day you pass it. Fresh eyes are usually the ones that see wonder in all things, and thus God in all things. In that way, I would not mind living life as a freshman everyday.