BY: JULIA BABCOCK, STAFF WRITER
St. Bonaventure welcomed past graduates back to the school for a weekend full of activities this past weekend. Feb. 16 marked the beginning of both 80’s weekend and homecoming weekend.
Alumni came from many different areas to gather at Bonaventure for the weekend festivities.
Michael Fenn, a Bonaventure alumnus and executive director for Mt. Irenaeus, said that it is important to host these events so old friends can see each other despite living miles apart.
“You leave Bonaventure and you’ve made friends for life, but we don’t live in the same zip code anymore, we live all around the country,” said Fenn.
Fenn said that the friendships formed at Bonaventure are special and events like this give people a chance to reconnect after being apart for so long.
“Homecoming Weekend once a year was a great opportunity to get us all back together,” said Fenn. “These friendships are so tight and they circle around St. Bonaventure so much that it’s just natural to come back together for a great weekend.”
These events are based around a men’s basketball game. This year’s game was against Davidson on Feb. 17.
The Rathskeller hosted a pre-game party before the game where members from WSBU 88.3 FM The Buzz, the campus radio station, were able to DJ.
Homecoming weekend is a time for past graduates to come together and celebrate Bonaventure. However, 80’s weekend celebrates graduates from the 80’s.
Fenn said that the reason Bonaventure has an 80’s weekend is because there was something special in the spirit of those classes.
“They are fervent about their being a Bonaventure alum and their friendships and it just seems like a very very strong group and at some point they just had the idea, let’s do an 80’s weekend,” said Fenn.
This year marked the 12th 80’s weekend hosted by Bonaventure. Alumni have created traditions such as going to the Four Mile Brewery in Olean NY, as well as a prayer service on Saturday morning.
“It started 12 years ago and it would typically revolve around coming in on Friday night, and now they go out to Four Mile Brewery, and on Saturday morning we typically have a prayer service,” said Fenn. “That’s 30 years out now, there’s quite a few alumni who have passed away, so it really started as a time to remember those that we love who we’ve lost.”
This was the 49th annual Homecoming Weekend. There have been many traditions formed by those who participate in the Homecoming Weekend as well, such as going to a basketball game, which Homecoming Weekend is typically formed around.
“Typically there’s an afternoon ball game, of course time in the ‘Skeller, and it really is that opportunity to remember your past, those formative years for all of us, see friends that we might not have seen for some time,” said Fenn.
Fenn said that Homecoming Weekend gives Bonaventure alumni the perfect chance to interact with past friends, once a year.
“Homecoming Weekend once a year, was a great opportunity to get us all back together,” said Fenn, “These friendships are so tight and they do circle around St. Bonaventure so much that it’s just natural to come back together for a great weekend,” said Fenn.
For many alumni such as Fenn, Bonaventure is where they met their closest friends and made some of their best memories.
“It’s like the center of the universe for us in many ways of our life, that’s where we found our friends, that’s where I found my wife. It’s where we were all formed,” said Fenn.
babcocjl23@bonaventure.edu
