All Kenyon students have had the same experience of filling out the roommate form the summer before they come to Kenyon.  But it is rare that this process produces pairs who last through all four years at Kenyon. Roommates Gwyn Kelley ’25 and Emma Reed ’25, Margo Moceyunas ’25 and Madeleine Magill ’25 and Ella Crowther ’25 and Olivia Bennett ’25 are three pairs among the rare few who have renewed their roommate contracts for a fourth year.

Reed and Kelley’s roommate-ship began in Gund Residence Hall, the first-year dorm known for being a bit of an odd-ball. This origin point was very significant for Reed and Kelley. “The secret to our roommate pairing is we started in Gund — that really bonds [us],” Reed said. Kelley added, “Let’s say we were in McBride [Residence Hall], maybe our relationship wouldn’t have worked.” 

Kenyon is somewhat unusual with first-year housing, in that all roommate assignments are decided by the Office of Residential Life. This system served Reed and Kelley well. “I don’t know if I would have been friends with Gwyn if we weren’t roommates,” Reed reflected. Indeed, the pair does have distinct interests — Kelley is a STEM major, while Reed’s area of focus lies in the social sciences. But these differences have allowed them to balance each other out. “You have to admire the quirks. Gwyn’s alarm is a trap song that I wake up to every morning,” Reed said. 

“It will always wake Emma up and never me,” Kelley joked. “For some people that could be the end a roommate relationship, but for Emma it’s like, ‘gosh, turn that off.’”

They both agreed that their continuous roommate pairing has offered them stability and comfort as they individually evolved at Kenyon over the years. “It’s hard to imagine Kenyon without her,” Kelley said. Turning to Reed, she added, “You are a sister, and we definitely have a sister relationship.”

Moceyunas and Magill were placed together in Lewis Residence Hall. They attribute the success of their pairing to shared backgrounds. “[Madeleine] shared a room with her brother and I shared a room with my sisters for a while,” Moceyunas said. “Understanding how to live in other people’s space, that’s something that if you didn’t have before, is going to be a learning curve in college.” Reflecting on their past three years together, Magill and Moceyunas commented that their close relationship was something they did not expect from the assigned roommate pairing. Moceyunas laughed remembering her initial hesitations after discovering who her new roommate would be: “I immediately thought ‘we are not going to get along’ because you [Magill] just seemed really ‘cool girl’ and I was at that time really nerdy.” Magill, on the other hand, thought Moceyunas was “goth” or “emo” upon her initial online stalk: “I remember saying to my friends in high school ‘my roommate looks kind of scary.” 

These first impressions clearly failed to predict the relationship that they have now. Entering their fourth year together, the duo has experienced their share of ups and downs, from the inherent stress of adapting to college life, to having to do the housing lottery at Summer Sendoff in spring 2022. But for both Moceyunas and Magill, being roommates has been about more than just sharing a room and getting along. “I think roommates take care of each other in a way that’s different from normal friends,” Moceyunas said. Magill seconded this comment. “It became kind of the norm, like we will take care of each other. Margo made me a drawing of the two of us freshman year and it says ‘we take care of each other,” she said. Having this support in a continuous and close way for four years now as roommates has shaped their relationship distinctly. “Being roommates for four years is not better or worse but a different type of relationship than just friends or just close friends,” Moceyunas said.

Crowther and Bennett had an unconventional origin story. Crowther was placed in Norton Residence Hall freshman year with a roommate who decided not to come to Kenyon two weeks prior to move-in day. Bennett, after two weeks with her assigned roommate in Norton, decided that she wanted to move. Crowther had a spot open, and the two decided to move in together. 

They have attributed their success to the various hauntings of Kenyon. After encountering a ghost in the same Norton room, an upperclassmen friend of Crowther’s told her that if the pair gave an offering to ‘the ghost’ at the cemetery on campus, they would get the housing of their choice for the following year. Crowther and Bennett were set on living South as sophomores and made the pilgrimage to the cemetery together. “We gave [the ghost] a cookie and left it at the grave and got the last double South,” Bennett said. This mystical trend continued the following year, when Crowther had a dream while studying abroad in the fall about the status of their housing for the spring: “I went up to the third floor of Hanna [Residence Hall]  and knocked on the door and two men were in there, and I was like, ‘this is my double,’” Crowther said. “And then we got the double on the third floor.” As for the Acland Apartment they are in now, they have not experienced any hauntings; however, they remain aware of what the future could hold. 

Their connection as roommates has in part been due to the mutual care they give to each shared space. “We always find home wherever we go, from ending up in the cave of Manning [Residence Hall], to beautiful Hanna, to the Acland. We always make it our space.” Bennettt said. Preserving this haven for the two of them through the years has not only served their relationship, but also their time at Kenyon more broadly. “I wouldn’t have gotten through that semester without her and coming home and just having it be a safe space,” Crowther said about their time in Hanna junior year. “That constant support, and having it be the same person all four years — it’s invaluable.”

To readers wondering how these roommates have lasted so long so successfully, each of these roommates emphasized the importance of respect and care in the form of intentional action and constant support. And sometimes you just need luck! In Crowther’s words, “When something works so well, you never think to change it.”

Olivia Bennett ’25 is a design editor for the Collegian.