I felt like Bridgewater really prepared you to go out into the real world. It’s one of the reasons I wanted 凯尔西 to go to Bridgewater.
凯尔西 和 伊丽莎白•斯威尼’s earliest memories of Bridgewater State come from family car rides when their parents drove through campus to reminisce about their meeting in Shea-Durgin Residence Hall.
The Sweeney twins didn’t realize they would one day also call Shea-Durgin home, but they knew there was something special about Bridgewater.
“I always say, ‘I was born to be a Bear,’凯尔西说.
The Sweeney family’s connection to BSU began in the late 1980s, when parents 米歇尔， 1991年，和 拉里 met through friends on campus. Three decades later, their daughters are on the verge of earning their own BSU degrees next month.
“I’m so proud of them 和 what they’ve accomplished,” 米歇尔 said. “It’s been really nice to go through this all over again. You wish you were back in college.”
米歇尔 和 拉里’s relationship grew 和 persisted even when 拉里 left school to serve in the military 和 later work in IT.
“One of the most important things that you learn in college, especially living there, is how to get along with people who are different than you,” 拉里 said of what he took away from Bridgewater.
米歇尔赢得了 社会工作 degree 和 pursued a varied career that included human resources work 和 numerous roles within the Marshfield Public Schools. No matter the job title, she relied on her ability to help others, a skill honed in 社会工作 classes.
“I felt like Bridgewater really prepared you to go out into the real world,” she said. “It’s one of the reasons I wanted 凯尔西 to go to Bridgewater.”
凯尔西 discovered that benefit as a 社会工作 major herself. Having excelled at an internship at the Boys 和 Girls Club in Brockton, she l和ed a post-graduation job running a mental health program at the club’s Marshfield location. She’s also going to pursue a master’s degree in 社会工作 from BSU.
Outside of the classroom, 凯尔西 followed her mom into Greek life: 米歇尔 helped found Bridgewater’s Phi Sigma Sigma chapter while 凯尔西 joined Gamma Phi Beta.
“You can find a community anywhere in Bridgewater, 和 that instantly created a new home for me,凯尔西说. “The sense of community on campus is what draws me here.”
It also attracted her sister to BSU as a transfer student. Elisabeth initially went to school in Boston, but she had to live alone in a dorm room due to the p和emic. Seeking companionship, Elisabeth often FaceTimed 凯尔西, who had a roommate at BSU 和 introduced her sister to her college friends.
“We tried to go our own different paths, but we love doing things together,” said Elisabeth, a communication studies major minoring in film 和 digital media. “We both push each other to strive to be our best every day.”
Elisabeth, who is on the cross country 和 track teams, is also a member of Gamma Phi Beta. Like her sister, she studied abroad multiple times in Europe.
Elisabeth is moving to Italy after graduation to work in marketing for a travel agency – a connection built through a semester abroad in the country.
While an ocean will soon separate the twins, there’s one place that will always bring the Sweeney family together: BSU.
“It’s nice to have a second home for all of us,凯尔西说.
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