By Rachel Aretakis | Editor-in-Chief

The eight women embraced as they smiled for their picture in front of Jewell Hall on Saturday, where they lived together as college freshmen 48 years ago.

Affectionately known as the Jewell Gems, the ladies traveled from all over the country to see their dorm once more before it is demolished this summer. As a champagne bottle was cracked open, the women shared photos and stories of pranks and rule breaking from their days in the dorm.

Earlier this year, Kathy Arnold Holland had called the newsroom wondering  when Jewell Hall would be demolished. We began a conversation as Holland explained that she had lived in Jewell and wanted to see it one last time before it went down.

Holland and her memories were the main focus of a story I wrote in February about the residence hall. She had mentioned the women were gathering in April to celebrate, and I was excited about the chance to meet them.

Some of the eight ladies were original Jewell Gems; some were adopted from other halls like Keeneland, which is also coming down to make way for two new dorms. They came from Louisville, New York, New Hampshire, Colorado, Georgia and Ohio, among other places, to have a reunion.

It wasn’t until I met the Jewell Gems this weekend that I began to understand the nostalgia they feel for their dorm. Though I don’t think I will ever be so sad to see Blanding (where I lived freshman year) go down, the Kernel newsroom is my Jewell Hall.

So on Saturday, I did some reminiscing of my own. As my friend and I chatted with the women, we realized it would be us in 40 years outside of Grehan popping a bottle of champagne and telling old stories.

College seems so big when we are freshmen. It is the goal for so many years that it is almost shocking when it arrives. It is like that as a senior, too. Real life seems so far off until you start checking off your last tests and research papers.

For anyone graduating and moving on, it is a weird time.

For the first time since I was a freshman, I’ve checked out books from Willy T just so I have to go back once more as a student. Every time I walk into a campus building (or even Charlie Brown’s), I wonder if it will be the last.

And I’m finally passing the Kernel reins to the new generation of editors, and sometimes I feel like I can’t let go.

I could never have imagined where these four years would take me. It all started at the Kernel and it all ends at the Kernel. And now I understand the nostalgia the Jewell Gems felt when they came back together 48 years later.

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