Hey, alumni. Welcome back. If you’re reading this, it means you found a parking spot on campus. That’s amazing. As you enjoy your Homecoming Weekend, you might notice that some big things have changed at your alma mater — and some things that have stayed exactly the same.

Take a walk around campus and a stroll through the Nature Preserve. Enjoy that familiar fall foliage covering the places you did not go to smoke weed. You may have worried that the construction would be gone by the time you came back. Never fear, it isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

We’ve got some favorite new haunts for you to check out. Take a peek at the new University Union, housing communities and admissions center. Old Dickinson definitely does not resemble the familiar community you remember from your freshman year. For the scenic route, take the brand new campus shuttle around the Brain.

If you head Downtown, you’ll see that there have been some favorable additions and updates. Stop by the Colonial, a new bar and restaurant that caters to a more adult crowd with craft beers, great food and an atmosphere that does not involve sweating and awkward dancing. Check out some of the new gallery exhibits on State Street that are the remains of the October First Friday. Do a drive-by of your old house — that broken porch step is probably still very much in pieces.

You’ll also be happy to know some things never change. The C4 and Appalachian dining halls look great but the food is probably just as bad as you left it. There is still no room to park your car, and there is never a free computer in the Pods. Your favorite all-nighter study spot in Bartle probably still has evidence of your coffee stains.

While there is definitely comfort in some lackluster familiarity, change and improvement is valuable. We realize that a lot of you are still pretty young — in fact, we probably know most of you. Maybe you’re a few years out from having kids of your own. Or maybe you’re older, and you have young kids for who you will dream of sending to the best public university in New York state. Either way, you will have noticed how quickly universities change. Binghamton University is in a state of transition. We’re moving in the right direction, but we still need your help. As you look at BU, picture it not as what it once was, but instead as what it can be.