At exactly 10:03 p.m. on the last night of final exams, four senior men, friends since freshman year, opened a can of beer apiece, which they savored, and then they walked out of Bapst Library’s Gargan Hall together.

That same night, May 11, 2008, just outside on Bapst Lawn, six senior women prepared to sleep under the stars. Lit by the lamps of Linden Lane, an illuminated statue of Mary, and a not-quite-half moon, they settled on top of a plastic blue tarp, beneath piles of blankets. They drank Hi-C juice boxes and ate from a tub of trail mix that held down the tarp at one corner. They laughed. They talked about the flowers on the trees surrounding the lawn. They lamented graduation. They recounted stories from freshman year, when they had lived together on Newton Campus, and from senior year when they had lived together in Ignacio Hall. They talked about guys. They searched for constellations memorized in grade school. They debated the pros and cons of climbing Gasson Tower.

“Milo’s afraid of heights,” said Jennifer Bickford ’08, mocking a fellow camper.

“I’d do it,” retorted Milo Bernabo ’08. “I just don’t want to get caught.”

A BCPD cruiser stopped and then slowly circled the lawn. Perhaps understanding that the night marked the beginning of the women’s final week of college, and possibly impressed that they were braving the 42-degree temperature with sweatshirt hoods pulled tight around their faces, the officer drove off. Later in the night, a facilities truck paused 15 feet from the students before pulling away, leaving them to their drowsy talk. At 5 a.m., dawn over Boston, the women broke camp.

These were some of the many seniors who spent their final weeks in Chestnut Hill checking items off “bucket lists,” committed to paper or kept in mind. Though the term became popular after the 2007 release of the Hollywood film The Bucket List (with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson), BC students have for years been keeping track of what it is they want to do before they “kick the bucket”—or, in their case, leave Boston College. The following inventory is drawn from bucket lists compiled by members of the Class of 2008.

• Pose for pictures with the St. Ignatius statue
• Eat dinner at the table we always ate at freshman year in Stuart Dining Hall
• Ride a tandem bike around campus
• Swim in the Tree of Life Fountain
• Wear my hair in an afro while presenting on a student admissions panel
• Make sandwiches for the homeless guys near Cleveland Circle
• Actually have fun at Mary Ann’s
• Have a conversation with Angel, the custodian in my building, in Spanish
• Use the campus mail system for the first time, to send letters to my crushes
• Kiss on the 50-yard line of Alumni Stadium
• Have a drink with School of Education dean John Cawthorne
• Eat a New England Classic at Hillside Café
• Go to a lacrosse game
• Have a water gun fight in the Dustbowl
• Have lunch with Fr. Jack Butler, Fr. Tony Penna, and Fr. Jim Fleming
• Go inside Gabelli Hall, for the first time in four years
• Have a scavenger hunt around campus
• Mud wrestle in the Mods
• Take a duck tour of Boston
• Take a tour of the Sam Adams Brewery
• Attend a freshman admissions tour and ask ridiculous questions
• Finally remember to bring money for the collection at Mass
• Eat the Eagle’s Challenge (five-pound burger and five pounds of fries) at Eagle’s Deli
• Tell everyone who made an impact on me, thanks

Reeves Wiedeman spent the summer as an intern at Sports Illustrated.

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