Hailing from North Carolina, senior Benae Beamon did not know what to expect during her first upstate New York winter. She recalled “flipping out and yelling at her roommate,” but now as a senior, the winters are among her favorite things about Colgate University.

Beamon’s love for Colgate extends beyond its winters. As an active member of the Colgate community, Beamon is the Vice President of Konosioni, a leader of Kuumba and Black and Blue (the tap group on campus) and a Residential Manager for East, West and Gate House. One of her most time consuming commitments this year has been working for the Office of Residential Life as a Residential Manager, but she says it’s well worth it.

“It’s been really nice getting to know people in 2014.They want to do everything, and it’s a really good feeling for me as a senior knowing people coming in want to do everything and really get involved and do stuff at Colgate,” she said.

However, Beamon admits that dancing is definitely the biggest part of her life. She has been dancing ever since she was three years old when her parents took her first dance show. She carried that interest with her to Colgate and has been involved in dance since her first year. And as a junior, she was in charge of organizing Dancefest for both semesters.

“It’s been by far one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. It’s such an adrenaline rush, and everybody should go to Dancefest. Everybody who is a Colgate student should go to Dancefest!” Beamon said.

Despite being so involved in dance and in her other commitments, Beamon is very focused on her academics. She is set to complete a major in religion and a minor in philosophy, but religion was not the field she first intended to pursue. As a first-year, she was adamant on being a neuroscience major until she just fell in love with the Religion Department. Beamon is currently in the process of applying to graduate school and religion programs and she says that she will definitely incorporate dancing into her future one way or another, but she hasn’t quite reached that point yet.

“I haven’t gotten that far. I’m taking it a step at a time,” she explained.

As she looks back on her time at Colgate, Beamon has one piece of advice for current students: “Make the most of your experience here. There’s so much stuff to do. If there’s something on campus that you see that’s missing that you want to do and you want to start, then do it. You have people to support you. Students have so much power and can do so much on this campus. So, go for it.”