Sam Curry
currysam@grinnell.edu
Photo by Hung Vuong
For a small group of Grinnell students, there is no divide between home and family, as their siblings also live, work and study at Grinnell. These siblings enjoy a delightful but delicate balance between personal freedom and familial affection, a balancing act that plays itself out in different ways across campus.
Photo by Hung Vuong
When two siblings go to the same college, especially one as demanding as Grinnell, you might expect some competition, whether in academics or sports. Anthony Mack ’16 and Andrew Mack ’18 are both on the baseball team—Anthony is an outfielder and Andrew is a pitcher. Although the two don’t compete frequently, this positional separation actually stirs up more competition when it does arise.
“I’ll be pitching against a bunch of different hitters, and then I’ll see him come up … because he’s one of the better hitters on the team, I want to get him out and talk shit a little bit,” Andrew said.
On the other hand, Khoa Nguyen ’16 is a computer science major and his sister Thu Nguyen ’18 is considering doubling in computer science and anthropology, but they do not feel a need to prove that one is a better student.
“We help each other out … there’s no competition between us,” Khoa said.
“He’s just not a competitive person,” Thu said. “He never competes with anybody.”
Photo by Alberto Vazquez
While sibling competition can provide an additional component of stress to the Grinnell experience, stress can also be alleviated with the sweet relief of a home-style dinner spent sitting around a small table in the Dining Hall. Brothers Mike Fitzpatrick ’16 and Anthony Fitzpatrick ’18 dine one-on-one together every Monday before their rehearsal with the Grinnell Symphonic Band.
“We always have dinner Monday nights before band rehearsal. Some … friends have started to call it FitziFeast,” Mike said.
“No, don’t tell him that,” Anthony said jokingly in response.
The McCall sisters, Rita McCall ’16 and Bretta McCall ’19, agreed about the benefits of having an extra D-Hall buddy. They can finish each other sentences and proudly state they have never had a fight at Grinnell because of their unique method of communication.
“We have a code word that we use if one of us is going to start a fight … it’s pineapple. We have a safe word,” Rita said.
Moreover, siblings going to the same college can be a source of comfort to parents as well as students. Sending kids to the same school may mean increased financial aid, easier transportation to and from school and a guarantee that your kids are somewhat supervised. However, parents don’t always advise younger siblings to follow in their big brother or sister’s footsteps.
“My parents were disappointed in me for being a [Biology] major, they wanted me to be an artist. [My] dad literally said to me, ‘If you want to help people, be an artist. You’re not going to help anyone being a doctor,’” Bretta said.
Additionally, siblings can offer helpful advice to each other on classes, friendship, and other academic pursuits.
“[Anthony] helped me out a lot, in terms of picking classes, majors, professors to take,” Andrew said.
The Fitzpatrick brothers love living on the same campus.
“You’re not just brothers; you’re friends too,” Mike said.
Photo by Alberto Vazquez.
