Porch Profile: The women of 309 Stonemill Road

Left to Right: Erika Moeller, Alexandria Battaglia, Katie Mccaslin, Maddy Bartsche, Rachel Veneman. Middle: Katie Taylor 

Maddy Bartsche | Porch Correspondent

Flyer News is bringing back an old tradition – Porch Profiles – except this time, we’re writing in a form any group of roommates can relate to: text chains. DM us @flyernews if you and your roommates are interested in being featured!

FN: How did you all meet?

Maddy: Katie and I were random roommates freshman year in Marycrest and Erika and Rachel lived in the dorm room next to us. I met Katie M. through Kappa Delta and junior year she asked me if we all wanted to room together with her friend Alexandria.

FN: How long have you lived together? 

Alexandria: All six of us will have lived with each other for two years at the end of this semester. 

Maddy: Not long enough! I will miss these lovely ladies next year so much! 

FN: What’s your favorite thing about living on Stonemill? 

Maddy: I love Stonemill so much! I think it’s such a pretty street.

Rachel: I agree with Maddy! I also love how clean it is, haha. It’s close to all the fun, but there’s never trash laying out after a weekend.

Katie M: I like our backyard! We lived on Stonemill last year too and both times we have been lucky enough to have lots of space outside to hang out and meet our neighbors. 

Katie T: What Katie M. said! The location is great and having a backyard, both last year and this year, has made for some unforgettable memories and very painful bruises caused by our Slip ‘N Slide. 

Erika: My favorite thing 

Erika: Its close proximity to basically everything! That is especially true of our location this year, closer to Brown Street. Any of my usual destinations, whether that is class or the gym or friends’ houses, are less than a ten minute walk away. 

FN: What’s your all time favorite memory together?

Maddy: There are so many to choose from. My favorite memory together was dancing in the rain freshman year on the field in front of Marycrest while listening to The Weather Girls’  “It’s Raining Men” and Rihanna’s “Umbrella.” Several people walked past including Katie M. and they thought we were crazy. Not to mention, the time we swam under a waterfall together when my roommates visited me in Cleveland. 

Alexandria: My favorite memory is laying out in the street while it was raining and barely anyone else was on campus yet. 

Rachel: ^Both of those times in the rain were so fun! 

Katie T. Sophomore year there was this birthday party we went to for a mutual friend. At the time just Erika, Rachel, Maddy and I were living together, but Katie M. was also there and I believe Alexandria was. The party was ugly Christmas sweater themed and we spent the whole night  singing and dancing with each other and so many of our other closest friends. 

Erika: There have been so many great ones that it’s hard to choose! The one Alexandria mentioned is up there for sure. Fall break in Nashville probably takes the number one spot though. We did so many fun activities as a group that weekend and I will cherish those memories forever. Dancing on a tractor while riding through downtown Nashville was one of the best things we did on the trip!

FN: What is on your bucket list for this semester?

Maddy: I actually have a huge bucket list I hung in our living room. Some of our top bucket list items are getting onto Marycrest roof and a Brown Street bar crawl.

Rachel: I really want to all get dinner at VWK or Marycrest one night! I think it would be so cute to reminisce on all the times we used to eat together back when we had meal plans.

Maddy: OMG! I want red angel hair pasta from Greenlife at VWK.

Katie: Sledding down Stuart hill during a snowstorm. 

FN: Do you have any advice for underclassmen?

Maddy: It gets better… LOL. Also, follow your passions and you will end up where you’re supposed to be!

Rachel: You don’t have to put so much pressure on yourself to have everything figured out! So much of finding out what you want to do comes with experience and exposing yourself to different classes and opportunities.

Katie M: Go out of your comfort zone! Don’t be afraid to say yes and try new things. This is a supportive community that wants to see you do well, ask for help and do things you enjoy doing!

Katie T. You can always make up for sleep, but you won’t get a second chance at the memories you’ll make here. 

Erika: I agree with Katie M. completely! Going outside of my comfort zone is how I made my best memories here and discovered a new passion. Also, make sure you enjoy the present moment. It’s easy to get caught up in the stress of school. But if you’re out with your friends having a good time, try not to let your mind wander to the assignments or tests you have coming up. You can worry about that later. College is too short to constantly be stressed about the future, so allow yourself to stop and appreciate the happy moments.

FN: If you were all back for your 10-year reunion, what would everyone be up to? 

Rachel: Maddy will be living in a city, perhaps Cleveland, as a successful lawyer, maybe doing something with legal writing to combine her JD with her interest in technical writing. She’ll have at least one cat and be a regular at her local sushi place. Katie M. will be the sweetest doctor you’ve met and still a major T-Swift fan. Alexandria will have finished med school and be approaching life with the same chill energy that she has today. Erika will be putting her passion for psychology and fitness into her career and will be even more jacked than she is now. 😉 Katie T. will be the first of all of us to have a child, so she’ll be raising a family while working in communications.

Katie T: Erika will have gotten her master in exercise psychology and will be using it to 1) get jacked and 2) help other people live healthier physical and mental lives. Katie M. will be a doctor and will probably be the kindest one anyone ever has. Alexandria will have pursued a degree in medicine as well and will have lived every part of her life to the fullest. If she isn’t the coolest mom at that point, she’ll be the coolest aunt. Rachel will have achieved her goal of becoming a lawyer and will still be working hard at all she does. Maddy will have married her highschool sweetheart while having achieved her law degree, and probably rescued at least 2 cats. 

Erika: It’s hard to think about how life will be ten years down the road. I am confident that the wonderful women that I live with now will be successful in all the goals they have set for themselves. 

FN: Anything else you would like to add? 

Erika: I am so blessed to have shared my transformative college experience with each and every one of these girls. I am ready to start my life beyond college, but I am definitely not ready to leave all of them.

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