The Wayne—a house overrun with Elizabeths, snakes, surprise bathroom run-ins and hookahs.
Shivani Santoki ’11, Angela Cao ’11, Austin Redman ’12, Liza Spears ’11, Betsy Strewler ’11, Marlena Salgado ’11, Lizzy Montgomery ’11, Jake Knapp ’11 and student teacher Frances Leslie live in The Wayne.
A third of the residents of The Wayne are named Elizabeth. And they like to take advantage of their majority.
“Sometimes when it’s just us three and a guy in the room, we’ll be like, ‘How do you feel about being the only person here not named Elizabeth?’” Spears said.
Those who reside in The Wayne were selected through a meticulous selection process that lasted throughout last semester.
“[Salgado] started the whole thing … she kind of recruited us,” Santoki said.
Salgado was responsible for upholding this important method of selecting residents. Brainstorming to come up with a name for the house this summer after the grueling selections were completed proved to be a demanding task. Eventually the group settled on a name everyone could appreciate.
“We spent hours with the catalogs this summer … and the house isn’t the actual Wayne, but we really liked the name,” Spears said.
The residents of The Wayne are very close to one another. The group does a number of activities together every week. They even tend to walk in on one other in the bathroom. Redman brought up one particular incident.
“It was three in the f**king morning, okay? I closed the door! You could have knocked!” said Spears.
Always lock the bathroom door. Lesson learned.
No matter what may happen at The Wayne, the residents continue to care for one another, spending a lot of time bonding as a house and presenting opportunities for others at the College to join them in the process.
The house has plans to host the newly formed Hookah Club. Just last weekend, the residents threw an after-party for 80s Harris. As a house, they frequently play a game called “Group Therapy,” hold barbeques and watch Jersey Shore.
They also provide shelter to a lot of stragglers and individuals who once called the red brick abode their home.
“Ishita [Dharnidharka ’11] is the one [resident] who never really moved out,” Montgomery said. “I gave her my closet space [because] she’s here all the time!”
Speaking of stragglers …
“We had a snake in our house once too,” Spears said. “Austin caught it … and threw it in the garbage can!”
“What else was I supposed to do with it?” Redman said.
One of the most valuable assets of The Wayne is its collection of Playboy and Sports Illustrated magazines that can be found in the bathroom.
“They belonged to an old member, but we all thought they were [Redman’s],” Spears said. “He claims he likes the articles.”
“Some really good people write for Playboy!” Redman said.
Just another great bonding moments that have taken place at The Wayne.
