My freshman year was during 2020, amid the pandemic. At the time, acting classes on Zoom and dance concerts on the football field seemed like a nightmare. But I quickly found that I was not alone in these struggles. Oddly enough, the bonds I built during my freshman year were some of the strongest bonds I have to this day.

During a time of rampant loneliness and uncertainty, it was comforting to know I wasn’t alone. Slowly, things began to return to normal, but the community I found during the pandemic persisted.

One of my favorite memories was the very first MuleFest, formerly known as Mulechella. It was the end of the 2020-21 school year, so morale was at an all-time low due to the pandemic.

The Student Activities Committee did not give away hundreds of tye-dye shirts as they do now. Instead, they made only a few (I believe 25) that they hid around campus. One shirt was hidden every hour and every hour they would release a hint on Instagram as to where it was located.

My friend group created a giant group chat and we stationed ourselves across different locations on campus as we waited for the hint. We weren’t the only ones who did this. People turned on their notifications for the Student Activities account. Teams and alliances formed. Almost every community had representation – frats, sororities, theater students, church groups and anyone else who wanted a shirt. I remember standing by my post outside the Student Recreation and Wellness Center, waiting for the hint. Once the notification went off, people sprinted to that location like it was life or death. When someone found the shirt, you would’ve thought they found the first water bottle in the desert.

This particular memory encapsulates what is so special about college to me.

At its core, college is a group of people, all with different career paths and interests, taking a moment to be a kid again in the midst of their transition to adulthood. There have been many times that I have been frustrated or angry at this school, but every time, I find myself overcoming difficult situations through community.