For those seniors who are graduating, four years, for some people five, have managed to come to an end. Some will argue the time went too fast, others too slow. As seniors get ready for graduation, find real jobs and say goodbye to friends, there are some moments at GW they will never forget.
Senior Leslie Schillat had her defining moment at GW within her second week of her freshman year. Although most freshmen usually live in Thurston, Lafayette and Mitchell halls, when Schillat received her room assignment it was for the State Plaza Hotel. There were no rooms left on campus.
Schillat was told that the administration would find a place for her in Thurston as soon as they could, and midway through her second week of school freshman year Schillat was notified that a space opened up in room 610 of Thurston Hall. She would be moving into a six-person room.
I was nervous because I was going to be the new girl and I didn’t know anyone, said Schillat.
Schillat moved all her stuff the two blocks from the State Plaza Hotel to her new room by herself. Although nervous, to Schillat’s surprise her room and floor mates were eagerly awaiting her arrival.
The whole floor was so nice to me and excited to meet me, said Schillat. They invited me to go out with them that night and made me feel at home. Granted I got the worst place to live in the room because I was the last one to move in, because of my great experience I recommend living in Thurston to everyone.
Senior Erica Lavallee cherishes her memories of Thurston Hall as well. Lavallee lived on the seventh floor of Thurston and although she does not have a specific memory, Lavallee remembers the atmosphere and how much she loved it.
You never needed to have plans, said Lavallee. All you had to do was just walk around and something was going on.
Another great thing about living in Thurston was the open door policy where you could just bounce around from room to room and everyone worked together on homework projects she said.
We all had this political science two assignment that was a paper with five questions, Lavallee said. The whole floor was out of control with people running around to see what answers everyone else was putting down. It was crazy.
Although Lavallee never had to write the dreaded Weimar paper, she remembers a countdown on the floor’s bulletin board for when it was due and Lavallee will never forget the guys down her hall who religiously had Thursday night porn nights.
Brian Eddy’s most memorable moment is a little more unique. Eddy lived in a four-person room and one of his roommates had decided to move out. The night the fourth roommate moved out, Eddy and his other two roommates went out to Tequila Grill.
We had a great time, said Eddy. We laughed at each other because we couldn’t dance and all of our good friends from our floor were there.
The next morning as the three roommates of room 833 woke up and started talking they realized that they all hooked up that previous night.
It was the complete bonding moment, said Eddy. Each one of us woke up with a smile and we shared our glory stories. We were all making fun of each other, but it was just great.
Greg Schiller, a senior and brother of Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity will never forget the time his whole house defended themselves and their property from the International Monetary Fund/World Bank protestors. According to Schiller, the fraternity had a beach party at their house on 21st and F streets on the Saturday night of the weekend protests. All the brothers were supposed to come back at noon on Sunday to help clean up. When Schiller woke up the next morning, he noticed many protestors sitting on the fraternity house property.
The entire brotherhood defended the house with brooms, rakes, and tiki torches so people wouldn’t come in and use the bathroom and stuff, said Schiller.
At a police officer’s request to drain out the protestors, the Phi Sigma Kappa brothers started blasting some Led Zeppelin music from a stereo within the house.
Everyone started dancing, said Schiller. We were the party of the protest.
Tabith Awal said it is the little things he remembers most vividly. Awal’s freshman year, he was walking home from a night out with some of his friends and one of them, a little inebriated, swore that the hippo statue on the corner of 21st and H streets moves.
The next thing I remember my friend climbs up on the hippo and starts riding it and slapping the hippo’s ass, Awal said. And the next day when he sobered up, he still said the hippo moves.
Other memorable moments for some seniors include dressing in drag on Halloween and going up to Dupont Circle, falling down in front of large groups of people while roller blading and having sex in various classrooms around campus.
Whatever one’s particular memory might be, there is one thing that all of these seniors can agree on. Something really does happen here.
