The Nortz Family

Every Monday, John, Betsy and Sam Nortz have family dinner in at Reid’s Café ’66.

“Family dinner’s nice. You don’t really get homesick,” said Sam, a junior.

John, Betsy and Sam agreed that it isn’t “weird” that they go to the same small college.

“The most common question I always get is, ‘isn’t it weird to have your siblings here?’ I don’t see why . . . We get along great because we have to,” said Sam.

For the many mixed-year sibling groups attending Whitman, the perks seem to outweigh any downsides of sharing a college. Although Whitman is small, these siblings have been able to carve out their own place, while keeping in touch with family and looking to one another for support when needed.

Betsy, a senior, highly recommends going to school with your siblings.

“It wouldn’t be a good place to go if you are embarrassed or don’t want to step on each others’ toes,” she said.

The three admit that they occasionally annoy each other but have never done anything so bad that they have totally alienated one another. There are other peculiarities to having your siblings in a school with a total student body of around 1,500.

“Gossip gets around,” said John, a first-year.

However, Betsy explains that this is usually good gossip.

“It’s a very fast turn-around from when somebody does something and a sibling hears about it,” she said.

The three do tend to accidentally cross paths on campus. For instance, both Sam and John have lived in the same room in Jewett Hall, and once, Betsy and Sam happened to run into each other at Dragfest.

“We ended up at Dragfest my sophomore year. He makes a very ugly woman and I make a horrible man,” said Betsy.

The Lopez Family

Jazmin, Jennifer and Chantell Lopez never expected to attend the same college.

“We didn’t want to come to Whitman because Jazmin was here,” Jennifer explained. She is a first-year, while her sister, Chantell, is a high school senior and will be starting at Whitman next year.

“It was weird at first for me. I had two worlds, one at home and one at school. It is a little hard because it’s a small school,” said Jazmin, a senior and the oldest sister of the trio.

However, things changed quickly.

“I got over it in a month or less,” said Jazmin.

Now, they explain that attending the same college has improved their relationship and brought them closer.

“We have two classes together this semester. We’re in there chatting sometimes. We sit next to each other,” said Jennifer.

“It’s changed a lot because I’ve gotten close to her. Now she’s my close friend. I come to her for advice,” said Jazmin.

“I give really good advice,” said Jennifer.

Jennifer and Jazmin also stay in touch with Chantell.

“Once every month and a half we get together with Chantell and go out and have food and catch up on each others’ lives because Chantell feels left out,” said Jazmin.

Although attending the same college may seem like it would cast a long shadow for the younger sister, Jennifer hasn’t felt pressured by her sister’s achievements.

“There really wasn’t much of a shadow academically. I’ve been able to establish my own way,” she said. Jennifer is planning to major in French, while Jazmin is a Spanish major.

Jazmin and Jennifer explain that another plus for them in particular of having a sibling at Whitman is that they can speak in Spanish and most people will not understand them.

“I love speaking in accents,” said Jennifer.

The Lopez sisters don’t hesitate to declare their feelings for one another.

“I love my sister,” said Jazmin.

Jennifer explains that she received a valentine from Jazmin that said ‘I love you like a fat kid loves cake.’

“I love her,” she confirmed.

The Appleton Family

Like the Lopez sisters, Maggie and Max never planned to come to Whitman together.

“I came first because they said it was a good school,” said Max, a junior.

Maggie, a first-year, arrived two years later.

“I discounted it at first because he was here. Then, I read that it was number one in happiness in the Princeton Review,” said Maggie.

“There’s like 10 million schools in the United States and she chooses Whitman,” said Max.

Max also has a twin brother, Sam, who is transferring from the East Coast. He would attend Whitman also, but since Maggie and Max are both here, he is going to an academically similar college: Lewis and Clark.

Max and Maggie explained that their situation is unique because they both chose the same school by coincidence instead of being encouraged by a sibling to come visit, like many other siblings at Whitman.

They realize, however, that Whitman does often attract other sibling groups; Maggie explained that another sibling pair from their high school in Singapore both attended Whitman, as well.

Although they were wary of sharing a college, once Max and Maggie arrived at Whitman, they discovered that there could be a positive side to the situation.

“It kind of works out having siblings at the same school because we’re so far away from Singapore,” said Maggie.

“It’s convenient for our parents if they ever come to visit,” said Max.

Max and Maggie also occasionally meet up on campus, a habit that other students tend to notice.

“We have dinner once a week,” said Maggie. “Apparently it’s ‘adorable’ that we talk to each other.”