Hermey & Rudolph

Hermey turned to Rudolph and said, “hey, what do you say we both be independent together, huh?”

I remember my freshman move-in day like it was yesterday. I woke up at 6:30 a.m. to make it across town for the earliest move in time, 8:00 a.m.  All of my friends from home had left already, so I was antsy to experience what they had been talking about. I had already met my roommate at Day For Admitted Students, and we were ready to start our next chapter. So here we were, unloading everything we could fit into suitcases onto the sidewalk and waiting to have them picked up and carried in for us by move-in helpers from various organizations. We arranged and rearranged and then rearranged our room again until it was exactly how we thought we wanted it. Finally, everything was put away and in its proper place. Knowing that it would only stay like this for about a day, we soaked it in and took off for Orientation day 1.

First activity? Name Game. What adjective starts with a K? Kooky? That’s a great way to present myself…And seriously, how many Katherines and Kaitlins can we have on a hall? We can’t all be kooky. I’ll settle for clepto with a k. Klepto Kelley.

So here we were. Dupont third east. The 32 girls who would live together for a whole year. The best year. A Puerto Rican, a Chicagoan, a Brit, a Williamsburger, and everywhere in between.  And somehow, we worked.  We all joined different organizations and took different classes.  But without fail, every Wednesday at 9:00, our hall went absolutely silent because Criminal Minds was on.  With all the lights off, the smell of popcorn and cookie dough radiated through the hall, and not a single sound was heard between 9 and 10.  When the clock struck 10:00, it was back to the Book of Mormon for GER 7, or Pseudoscience for a freshman seminar, or the six developmental stages being taught in Natural Psychology.

One of the foundations of modern psychology is the Gestalt principle. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. This idea could not be more accurate when applied to William & Mary. You can read all the statistics and every Princeton or Forbes review that you want, but we, those 32 girls and the neighboring 32 boys and the hall after that: that is William & Mary. One Tribe, One Family. Independent together.

-Kelley