Things only JMU seniors will understand

A lot has changed since we were baby freshmen. Back in the day, success in Candy Crush meant the difference between a good day and a bad day, we hadn’t heard of Ebola or Zika, and Trump was only a reality TV star on Celebrity Apprentice.

Today, PokemonGo has overtaken the Candy Crush craze, and that orange reality TV star is our president elect. As the world gets crazier, we are about to graduate and I can’t help but reflect how much JMU has grown up alongside me the past four years.

Where is Gibbons?

Where is Gibbons? This was the hallmark question differentiating JMU freshmen from the more seasoned JMU upperclassmen. Upperclassmen would shake their heads and explain that Gibbons was D-Hall and that they never wanted to hear you say Gibbons again. Those were the days. What’s that you say – DHub is the same? It’s just not true. That elongated Hershey’s-kiss is nasty. I gave it a chance, I really did. But after my visit, I was sick for a week. Turns out the DHub dash is much worse than the once-dreaded DHall dash.

The Student Success Center

When we were freshmen, there were two places to get coffee on campus – Carrier and ECL (Rose). Now you’ve got your newfangled Dunkin Donuts at SSC (as well as Top Dog’s Dunkin and the Starbucks food trucks). SSC brings much more than coffee – it ushered in an age of quinoa and pizza you actually want to eat. You can also now actually find the tutoring centers, and you can even relax on massage chairs or make a painting in the Counseling Center.

Tunnel drawings

Back during freshman year, the tunnel from Forbes to the quad was a place for self-expression with chalk drawings. It was pretty controversial when they painted over the chalk walls and opted for purple paint and a nice pull quote – “Knowledge will forever govern ignorance.” We preferred the chalk wall.

The frustrating school website

When I first got to JMU, my greatest source of frustration was the terrible website. It was impossible to navigate. Virtually no JMU operations were carried out online, and those that were could be exceedingly frustrating to figure out. Now, information is easily accessible online, and while it’s frustrating that a lot of school forms still need to be submitted in person, the university has made a lot of progress.

URec to NewRec

The coolest thing in URec used to be the rock climbing wall. The weight lifting room seemed designated for men and the cardio room for women. There were a few group classes, but no one was really sure how to sign up for them.

Enter: NewRec. The bigger and better version of our “impressive” URec. There are classes for pretty much anything you could want at a gym. For the first time, I’m open to using the weights and I take yoga classes once a week. We used to think our gym was impressive, but we didn’t know what we were missing before NewRec!

All in all, even though we miss DHall and the chalk-wall tunnels, JMU has been improving itself and getting better and better each year. Some of us seniors feel sad we’re missing out on a lot of the upcoming renovations and things the school has to offer, but the bottom line is that JMU is going places! The school is gaining national notice every day, and that impressive reputation can only benefit us. So let’s cheer on this school and the progress it’s making because wherever we go after this year, we’ll always be Dukes.