By: Sophia Loehr (‘30)
As a first-year college student, there are countless new goals, hopes, fears, emotions, and experiences to tackle. Many first-years are concerned about balancing school, sports, work, and extracurriculars. Many are worried about finding a fun group of friends whom they can really relate to. At St. Norbert College, the idea of communio is “a community united as one, grounded in the Christian understanding of God as Trinity…we live out communio through mutual esteem, trust, sincerity, faith and responsibility.” Students, staff, and faculty all strive to embody this core value, and there is evidence of communio all across campus.
For many members of the 2030 class, communio has been especially present in Bergstrom Hall. Significantly smaller than the other two first-year residence halls, Bergstrom is home to fifty-eight students. This smaller group size has allowed the Bergstrom community to get to know each other in a very short period of time. Michelle Pauwels, a first-year majoring in Business Administration with a Pre-law certificate, shares, “I feel like I know everybody in Bergstrom by name.” Knowing the names of everyone in their residence hall is not a typical accomplishment for students in their first month of college. “Communio” has been turned into a greeting, and it is common to hear students saying or shouting this word to each other in friendly acknowledgment around the residence hall.
Bergstrom students have been busy. Alongside welcome week, classes, athletics, and clubs, they have planned and participated in game nights, sand volleyball, “cookie o’clock,” movie nights, nail painting, poker lessons, group study sessions, and a pickleball tournament. They have organized excursions off campus, including bowling, watching the Badgers and Packers games, spending several evenings at the beach, and going shopping. Pauwels remarks, “We’re very active. There’s hardly a night when you can’t find someone doing something.” Bergstrom students have also spent plentiful time talking with one another and participating in campus events, such as Knight Mass and the Movie on the Lawn. Another fun idea Bergstrom students have acted on is purchasing a dorm fish. Dolly the betta fish is now a member of the Bergstrom community, taking her name from the late and great Dolly Parton. Lorenzo Cuesta, a first-year majoring in Exercise Science, says that his favorite activities with fellow Bergstrom residents include playing basketball in the campus center gym and talking on the third-floor Bergstrom lounge. Lorenzo views communio as “building fellowship with others.” He is looking forward to more fellowship with friends from Bergstrom, saying, “Get ready for the Bergstrom intramural basketball team. You’re not ready for it.” In general, Bergstrom students have connected very well with each other and their classmates.
Pauwels reflects on why she joined the honors program, stating, “I felt like being a part of a community of people who are similarly focused on academics would be good for me,” and several weeks in, she has not been disappointed. “In Bergstrom, we are all very responsible. We push each other to be better, we don’t pull each other down, and collectively we make pretty good choices, which I really like…we are very focused on inclusion; we’re welcoming to people in our dorm and other res halls.” It is certainly common to see new faces around Bergstrom, as the students have built friendships with students from other dorms and grades.
Bergstrom’s year is off to a great start. Here’s to hoping the sense of communio continues to grow and flourish as the year progresses, contributing to positivity and success for the whole campus.
