CSB alumna on maintaining strong connections
This is the opinion of Adeline Marquart, CSB ‘02
Editor’s note: This question prompt was asked by the CSB Alumnae Board for inclusion in this column.
Q: Once you graduated from St. Ben’s, how connected did you still feel to the community?
Human connection is something that is very important to me.
When you are in college, and particularly at St. Ben’s, you are living in a bubble.
Not quite the “real world” and not quite “kids under our parents’ roof” world.
My college friends often joked about not wanting our bubble life to end because of the safety of “practicing” adulthood.
As most good things do, college life comes to an end. Some friends leave the area, state or country altogether.
In my case, that is what happened, and I wasn’t ready for it.
I got married in the summer between my junior year and senior year and graduated that following winter because I had completed my credits early.
Although I was excited about being a newlywed, I felt a sense of loss.
My friends, safety net and confidants over the last three and a half years were at St. Ben’s, but I was not.
That was a tough pill to swallow.
By the time spring graduation came in May, I was beyond excited to be back on campus!
It was what had been missing in my life since December.
What I learned was that the community that I had been so fortunate to be a part of wasn’t by happenstance.
It was created and cultivated by relationships, vulnerabilities, laughter, tears and so much more!
In the 23 plus years since I graduated from St. Ben’s, I have been deliberate to stay as connected to the community as my life has allowed me to be.
There were years when that was a harder ask than others, however what was consistent was the knowledge that I had to be intentional about the commitment to stay connected.
I am a proud Bennie who does not regret her decision to have attended St. Ben’s.
I love being on the Alum Board and serving on the Alumnae Development Committee.
I have been able to stay connected to the school and have met some amazing Bennies along the way.