Heather Monahan
Features Editor
Students will help to expand the Bona Bubble the next few days as parents and siblings visit campus and celebrate Family Weekend. While we get to share with our parents where we live, learn and grow, some students reflected on how our parents helped us get to this point.
Sophomore education major Brianna Wilson said the best advice her parents ever gave her was to be herself, a message she’s carried with her as she’s been away from home.
“My parents telling me to always be true to myself has definitely helped me while at college,” Wilson said. “Whether it be with academics, extracurriculars or friends, remembering their advice helps guide me into making the right decisions for me.”
Thanks to the advice and support her parents provided her, Wilson said she’s been able to become who she is today and find her main values in life.
“They gave me support when I needed help and gave me space when I needed to grow,” she said. “They have helped me realize the importance of honesty by having open lines of communication with me while I was growing up.”
According to Wilson, her parents’ lessons and the examples they set for her have helped during her time so far at St. Bonaventure.
“Because of their example, I’m able to have honest and open lines of communication in my relationships on campus, whether it be with a roommate, friend, professor, boss or friar.”
Senior journalism and mass communication and theater major Frederick Alvarez said his parents’ guidance early on in life has helped him while away at school.
One of the values Alvarez’s mother instilled in him at a young age was self-sufficiency.
“She took care of me and my little brother but made sure that at a certain age, I figured everything else out by myself,” Alvarez said. “She did it at such an early age that I was able to come to college ready without feeling sad or angry about not having help and was already prepared.”
While Alvarez may not have realized it as a child, his mother’s lesson paid off in the long run.
“Things happen out of habit now,” he said. “My room is clean most of the time, bed always made, laundry done at a certain time of the week, and overall organization is always there. I hated it as a kid, but love it now.”
His organization and good habits aren’t the only thing Alvarez got from his mom.
“My mom has everything to do with the person I am today,” Alvarez said. “She is why I continue this crazy life of stress in college. She has supported me with anything I wanted to do and never thought twice about asking why I do the things I do. She gave me the freedom to take my life in the direction I wanted and has given me the role as the leader.”
Even throughout his struggles, Alvarez has found a source of comfort through his mother.
“Hearing her voice when I was having the most horrible of days was the thing that gave me light and allowed me to continue forward,” Alvarez said. “All in all, she gave me a role in where I had to figure out how I was going to go through with it.”
Senior sports studies major Kevin Corley said his parents helped him to grow up and become the man he is today with their advice to never give up, do his best and have fun.
“They raised me to be independent and to be a kind and generous person, which I try to be today,” Corley said. “It’s helped me stay focused and be the best I can be.”
With Wilson’s parents coming to attend Family Weekend, the sophomore expressed her gratitude for them. Her parents will also be able to witness her induction into Phi Eta Sigma, the national freshman honor society.
“Thank you for supporting me in all that I do and in all that I aspire to become,” Wilson said. “And especially thank you for being here this weekend to celebrate my induction.”
While Alvarez said his parents won’t be in attendance this weekend, the senior still had a message of thanks and appreciation for them.
“Mom, I know you said to do this for myself, but I’m going to need to disagree with you for once and say that I do this for myself but also primarily for you,” Alvarez said. “Dad, we may have had our differences, but I’m now a grown man and we can put those things behind us. It all happened, but for a reason.”
