Students look to family members for support

Some students cringe at the thought of having their big brother or sister watching over them at college. However, that is not the opinion of many students here at Georgia College and State University.

In fact, there are several students on campus that share the same, sometimes cramped, but always exciting dorm room experience. For example, junior Jill Tarleton recently helped introduce her freshman sister, Beth, to college.

Beth and Jill Tarleton are two sisters who chose to have these living arrangements. Jill is currently a junior here at GC&SU and is part of the cohort program. Beth is still getting settled in as a lowly freshman. Living with her sister has helped Beth adjust to the college life much more smoothly.

“Living with [Jill] has made things a lot easier,” said Beth. “I already knew a lot of her friend’s, which meant there were a lot of familiar faces when I arrived. We don’t have to worry about space issues like other roommates would.”

Jill also feels that living with her sister has helped her adjust to her new schedule; however, she does foresee a possible scheduling conflict in the future.

“Since I’m in the cohort program, it takes a lot of my time, and my schedule is tough,” said Jill. “Since Beth is a freshman, her schedule is not as tough as mine, so she has a lot more free time to just do whatever.”

Two years ago Jessica Sedor encouraged her brother Paul to come and visit GC&SU to see if he liked the school. After only a few visits Paul decided he had found a new home.

This is Paul’s second year at GC&SU, but it is the first year he and his sister have lived together in an apartment.

“This year we are both getting involved in many different things. A few of them we are involved in together, and others separately,” Paul said. “I think that living together will allow us to get to know each other on a whole new level, and it will bring us closer than we already are.”

Even when they weren’t living together, Paul says it was still nice having his sister here.

“She helped me when I was registering for my classes, so I had awesome professors my first year,” said Paul. “Now that we are living together, we can car pool, and it’s just nice to already know your roommate so well.”

Lisa and Lori Brock and Jennifer and Ashley Roemer are two sets of twins who decided to make the transition into their freshman year a little easier by living with their “other halves.”

Both sisters agree since they left home it seems they are more like friends instead of sisters.

“It is just nice to know that there is one person that you already know,” said Lisa.

“It’s nice to have someone you can talk to. Ashley is my classmate, study partner, friend, and sister all in one,” said Jennifer.

Ashley feels the living arrangements will bring them both closer together.

“The stress of college can be almost overwhelming. It helps to have at least one person you can talk to and know that you won’t be judged by. Jennifer is that one person,” said Ashley.

Jason Medlon and his brother Matt said living together has brought them closer together even though they each do their own thing.

“We both have very different lives; it’s like we are unified, but scattered,” said Matt. “[Living together] has definitely brought us closer together especially on a spiritual level. I couldn’t have done it without him; for the past four years, he has been my rock.”

Freshman Stephen Scott and his brother Chad also lead very different lives but manage to share the same living space. Chad has attended GC&SU for two years. Stephen likes having his brother here because he
is able to tell him everything there is to know.

“He already knew about the small things like when I should show up in order to get a loft, and I already had a bunch of friends because of Chad.”

When asked if he felt his role had changed now that Stephen is in college, Chad replied, “No, I’m still the big brother.”

Ashley White and her sister Lesley both agree that their relationships have gotten better since they started college.

“We get to see each other almost every other day, and we are able to check base with each other and just find out how the other one is doing. It makes things a lot easier.”

Lesley feels Ashley is more open to her advice.

“She understands where I am coming from now; we just understand each other better,” said Lesley.

For some, coming to college can be very stressful, but for each of these siblings, it was easier, and a much more positive experience because they already knew at least one person

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 13 2002. Filed under Other. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry