The two apartments at 934 High Street are actually a single crib—DefJamily. Inside this duplex’s plain white walls reside five individuals who are united by Pub Quiz steez, rec league prowess and a passion for partying.

The residents of DefJamily certainly earn the title of a def family—tenants Michael Schoelz ’12 and Kramer McLuckie ’12 grew up in the same town and have been friends since before high school. After both decided to attend Grinnell, they decided they would room together.

During their first year, Schoelz and McLuckie met Ben Aronowicz ’12 and Kunal Bansal ’12 while living in Norris.

“We liked to do linguistics and paintings,” Schoelz added. “We were just an extended Jamily.”

Bansal, Mcluckie and Schoelz planned on living together with former classmate Salil Kalghatgi, but after Kalghatgi transferred, Aronowicz and Rachel Smith ’12 took his place.

“I didn’t really know the group until this year,” Smith said. “[But] the house has really made a formative friendship circle—it’s a home base.”

The DefJamily is a single house despite being listed as two apartments and includes more than just its residents. However, there are some differences between the two floors.

“The downstairs has the video games and TV system,” McLuckie said. “[But] there are not enough dishes to cook food, so we end up eating out a lot.”

“We call this [floor] the Chode,” Bansal added, in reference to the two males who occupy it.

While the downstairs may be more akin to the “typical” college student house, the upstairs has a different feel.

“While the downstairs is Easy Mac, the upstairs is pasta primavera,” explained Aronowicz, who later pointed out a blackened beet dish that had been cooked in the upstairs kitchen the previous evening.

While the first level boasts a TV and dirty carpet, the upstairs has a spacious hardwood floor bordered by three couches and a tall bookshelf.

Despite the differences in the floors, the residents have a variety of bonding methods, some very intimate.

“The walls are paper thin,” Smith said. “We can count Kunal’s sneezes from upstairs.”

“I can also hear everything that happens in the bathroom from my room,” McLuckie said.

For this reason, it is lucky that the DefJamily is so tight. They say that they bond over Pub Quiz (their team, Dr. Awkward, is a consistent power-player), Netflix and noncompetitve intramural league basketball.

“Everyone here played in the championship basketball game,” Aronowicz said. “Except Rachel. … Sorry Rachel.”

Their secret?

“We’re good at basketball because we live a clean life, we have a healthy diet and [we] exercise,” McLuckie explained.

“But it’s mostly Jesus,” Bansal said.

Aronowicz explained the real reason: “We actually drink a lot before and during games.”

The crew plans to have a team this year, but the name and specifics are under wraps.

The house was home to the 100 Days pre-party, the Mary B. James pre-pre-party and the residence regularly hosts pre- and post-parties for Pub Quiz. They have also provided libations for parties at other houses. The tenants of DefJamily hope that other High Street houses start following their example.

“I want to issue a challenge to the other High Street houses, they need to step it up,” Smith said.

Michael Schoelz is the News Editor of the Scarlet & Black; Kramer McLuckie and Kunal Bansal are sports columnists.