The suite life
By Joanne Fox Journal staff writer | Posted: Sunday, October 28, 2007
Nick McGraw welcomes Briar Cliff University roommates Nicole Hoogeveen and Rikole Santin to his suite at Lags Hall on the Morningside College campus. (Staff photo by Jim Lee)
For the past few months, the lifestyles and challenges of a being a college roommate at two Sioux City institutions of higher learning have been examined. On this overcast, Sunday afternoon, the two Briar Cliff University roommates got the chance to see how the other half lives.
Sitting in the shared common space of the guys' suite at Morningside College's Lags Hall, the girl roommates voiced their approval.
"I am so impressed by your decorating scheme!" raved Nicole Hoogeveen. "Everything matches! The curtains, the rug, the pillows."
"This is as nice, if not better, than a hotel room," Rikole Santin added.
As it should be.
Brand-new Lags Hall cost $3.4 million and just opened this school year. The facility houses 60 students in 15 suites and is home to Morningside's Leadership Academy, an organization recently developed to enhance students' skills by attending seminars led by Siouxland business leaders and conducting community-service learning projects.
The girls got the grand tour of the space shared by Brady Helmink, Nick McGraw, Derek Nolan and Troy Weber. The suite includes a kitchen, a bathroom, separate sink and separate restroom, a common area and hallways to four bedrooms.
The girls oohed and aahed as the guys -- minus Weber who hadn't returned from fall break yet -- showed off the amenities of the suite, which they had cleaned just for the visit. As everyone's comfort level grew, the guys became more honest about their digs.
"At first, I felt disconnected to the college," McGraw said. "It's different than living in a dorm where you meet everyone on every floor and if you want to run to the store or play a video game or whatever, you've got 350 to 400 kids to choose from."
"I agree," said Nolan, who serves as one of two apartment managers. "Even as an R.A., it's a more fun living arrangement in the dorms because there's such a wide diversity of people to interact with."
Full disclosure
Then the kid gloves came off.
"I don't think the girls below like us," McGraw said. "Troy stomps around here in a kind of shuffle, jumping walk and they will bang on the ceiling with God knows what, a broom or something."
At that point, McGraw demonstrated the walk, which elicited gales of laughter.
"And above us," continued McGraw, clearly on a roll, "I think they move the furniture around."
"It sounds like they move it around once a day," Nolan added, but clarified the guys take it in stride, choosing not to bang on the ceiling ... yet.
There's an issue with cleaning up after one's self and Weber, the one missing roommate, doesn't seem to do a good job at that, all three guys pointed out.
"He makes these protein shakes," McGraw said, pulling out of a cabinet, what appeared to be a eight-pound drum of shake powder. "And this powder -- the chocolate is the worst -- gets everywhere and it's awful to try and clean-up."
Then, looking to the girls for sympathy, McGraw added, "And I spent most of fall break trying to clean up the sink."
(Reporter's note: In Weber's defense, in the first roommate article when asked what each guy does that might annoy the others, Weber admitted that the others were "going to get sick of these sitting around," gesturing to a plastic tumbler half-full of a protein drink.)
As the girls shook their heads and the guys laughed, McGraw opened the freezer section of the refrigerator to display half-eaten, half-gallons of ice cream.
"He (Troy) eats out of the container and sometimes leaves the spoon in it," McGraw said, displaying one with the lid off.
"Do you yell at him?" Santin asked, between laughing out loud.
"You can't," McGraw replied. "Troy is such a good-natured guy, that you just can't get angry with him."
"If he was here, he'd just be nodding and smiling," Helmink said, then interjected, "but Troy doesn't do his dishes."
"After homecoming," Nolan interrupted the laughter, "there were dishes in the sink because Troy is always eating cereal and we kind of got behind in doing the dishes. The milk had curdled and it was so gross, we had to get some air freshener."
"Really, really, Troy's a good kid," McGraw rose to Weber's defense. "We've got to stop raggin' on him."
"He knew this (the girls' visit) was happening for a week," Nolan pointed out. "It's his own fault."
The positives of privacy
The plus of the suite life is a private space, McGraw felt.
"We had a popular room last year and people were always coming in," he explained. "That's great, unless you have to study. I found myself going over to Eppley Auditorium to find a place to do homework."
"The dorms can be hectic and this space is like a home away from home," Nolan reflected. "And this is a good place to vent. If you have problems, we can tell each other and it stays here."
"We definitely have each other's backs," McGraw said. "We are there for each other."
Santin wondered with this mutual admiration society and "nice living space," if the guys took part in activities together as well.
"Oh, yeah," McGraw said. "We have volleyball girls in this building, so we go to all the games to support them."
"All four of us work in the admission office and there's other activities that we'll all try to attend," Nolan said.
"Sweet," Santin mused.
"Maybe you should've come to Morningside," Helmink piped up amidst groans, laughter, and "nice one!"
Monday: Discover what the guys find out about life in the Briar Cliff University dorm where the girls are.
Sitting in the shared common space of the guys' suite at Morningside College's Lags Hall, the girl roommates voiced their approval.
"I am so impressed by your decorating scheme!" raved Nicole Hoogeveen. "Everything matches! The curtains, the rug, the pillows."
"This is as nice, if not better, than a hotel room," Rikole Santin added.
As it should be.
Brand-new Lags Hall cost $3.4 million and just opened this school year. The facility houses 60 students in 15 suites and is home to Morningside's Leadership Academy, an organization recently developed to enhance students' skills by attending seminars led by Siouxland business leaders and conducting community-service learning projects.
The girls got the grand tour of the space shared by Brady Helmink, Nick McGraw, Derek Nolan and Troy Weber. The suite includes a kitchen, a bathroom, separate sink and separate restroom, a common area and hallways to four bedrooms.
The girls oohed and aahed as the guys -- minus Weber who hadn't returned from fall break yet -- showed off the amenities of the suite, which they had cleaned just for the visit. As everyone's comfort level grew, the guys became more honest about their digs.
"At first, I felt disconnected to the college," McGraw said. "It's different than living in a dorm where you meet everyone on every floor and if you want to run to the store or play a video game or whatever, you've got 350 to 400 kids to choose from."
"I agree," said Nolan, who serves as one of two apartment managers. "Even as an R.A., it's a more fun living arrangement in the dorms because there's such a wide diversity of people to interact with."
Full disclosure
Then the kid gloves came off.
"I don't think the girls below like us," McGraw said. "Troy stomps around here in a kind of shuffle, jumping walk and they will bang on the ceiling with God knows what, a broom or something."
At that point, McGraw demonstrated the walk, which elicited gales of laughter.
"And above us," continued McGraw, clearly on a roll, "I think they move the furniture around."
"It sounds like they move it around once a day," Nolan added, but clarified the guys take it in stride, choosing not to bang on the ceiling ... yet.
There's an issue with cleaning up after one's self and Weber, the one missing roommate, doesn't seem to do a good job at that, all three guys pointed out.
"He makes these protein shakes," McGraw said, pulling out of a cabinet, what appeared to be a eight-pound drum of shake powder. "And this powder -- the chocolate is the worst -- gets everywhere and it's awful to try and clean-up."
Then, looking to the girls for sympathy, McGraw added, "And I spent most of fall break trying to clean up the sink."
(Reporter's note: In Weber's defense, in the first roommate article when asked what each guy does that might annoy the others, Weber admitted that the others were "going to get sick of these sitting around," gesturing to a plastic tumbler half-full of a protein drink.)
As the girls shook their heads and the guys laughed, McGraw opened the freezer section of the refrigerator to display half-eaten, half-gallons of ice cream.
"He (Troy) eats out of the container and sometimes leaves the spoon in it," McGraw said, displaying one with the lid off.
"Do you yell at him?" Santin asked, between laughing out loud.
"You can't," McGraw replied. "Troy is such a good-natured guy, that you just can't get angry with him."
"If he was here, he'd just be nodding and smiling," Helmink said, then interjected, "but Troy doesn't do his dishes."
"After homecoming," Nolan interrupted the laughter, "there were dishes in the sink because Troy is always eating cereal and we kind of got behind in doing the dishes. The milk had curdled and it was so gross, we had to get some air freshener."
"Really, really, Troy's a good kid," McGraw rose to Weber's defense. "We've got to stop raggin' on him."
"He knew this (the girls' visit) was happening for a week," Nolan pointed out. "It's his own fault."
The positives of privacy
The plus of the suite life is a private space, McGraw felt.
"We had a popular room last year and people were always coming in," he explained. "That's great, unless you have to study. I found myself going over to Eppley Auditorium to find a place to do homework."
"The dorms can be hectic and this space is like a home away from home," Nolan reflected. "And this is a good place to vent. If you have problems, we can tell each other and it stays here."
"We definitely have each other's backs," McGraw said. "We are there for each other."
Santin wondered with this mutual admiration society and "nice living space," if the guys took part in activities together as well.
"Oh, yeah," McGraw said. "We have volleyball girls in this building, so we go to all the games to support them."
"All four of us work in the admission office and there's other activities that we'll all try to attend," Nolan said.
"Sweet," Santin mused.
"Maybe you should've come to Morningside," Helmink piped up amidst groans, laughter, and "nice one!"
Monday: Discover what the guys find out about life in the Briar Cliff University dorm where the girls are.
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