National Sibling Day takes NGU
Hunter Merck, associate writer
Alyssa and Ashley Parker
photo courtesy of Alyssa Parker
Imagine going to college and seeing your sibling every day. For many at North Greenville, part of their family lives on campus close to them. National Sibling Day is on April 10 and NGU students are sharing their experience of going to school with their brothers and sisters.
For some, they really only see their sibling briefly, like Sarah and Stephen Flook. “We see each other a few times a week, mostly in passing,” says Sarah, a junior health and wellness major. Others see their siblings all the time, like Allison and Alyssa Yeater. “We spend almost all of our time together. We don’t fight anymore and we’re best friends,” says Allison, a freshman musical theater major.
A lot of people want to get away from their families when they come to college, but everyone has different reasons for choosing to go to school with a member of their family. Alyssa and Ashley Parker came to the same school because they were both interested in the same kind of college environment, so they decided on the same one. “We also room together…since we already knew what it was like living together. In a way, it’s nice to come ‘home’ to a comfortable environment because it’s just my sister,” says Alyssa, sophomore elementary education major.
Because of living in the same place at a small school, it’s possible for siblings to have the same friends. Some have lots of the same friends, like Alyssa and Ashley, and others share some friends, but not all. “We both have our own groups of friends, which do overlap, and we are in different majors, so we spend most of our time with different people doing different things,” says Caleb Willingham, junior Christian Studies major, of him and his sister, Hailey.
One important thing most people with siblings on campus like is the closeness that going to college together gives them. “It’s wonderful to have all of our stuff together so that we could borrow each others things if needed…we are pretty close, we almost always have been,” says James Dallas Porter, senior CWAL major.
North Greenville provides for a very family oriented college experience. Having a sibling at school gives students a built in community and instantly gives a homier feel when away from home for the first time.
