Inside Palmer, students Richard Scott 14’, Price Ferchill 14’ and Thera Naiman 14’ have creatively brought a “Tri-Coast” feel to our Tri-Co community. The three friends found each other through a mildly complicated process that included middle school friends, a random assortment of first year roommates, and Swarthmore athletics. Ferchill explained that most students, like them, block into Palmer but “[they] don’t keep to themselves,” which allows the development of a larger hall life when compared to dorms like Pittinger. Moreover, Palmer has a spacious lounge on the first floor equipped with many couches and a pool and ping-pong table; during hurricane Sandy, this was the favorite hangout spot noted Naiman.
The “Tri-Coast” theme was methodically planned by the three friends prior to moving in. Naiman explained that “the differences in our rooms are symbolic of our personalities,” and moreover, aim to distinguish where each friend is originally from. Naiman is from California, Ferchill from Texas, and Scott from Pennsylvania. Furthermore, from left to right the friends’ rooms are in order of time zones, representing the West, Midwest and East coast.
Scott’s room is on the far east. His room has large windows which he leaves open to keep his room at a “comfortable 58 degrees”; the cold adds to the East Coast feel. He has posters of Maine and Donald Trump, a “true New Yorker.” Scott grew up not far from Swarthmore College, and admits most things in his room are from his living room. He has various Polish pottery, a large rug in the middle of the floor, and a couch in front of a window on the far right side of the room. Aside from borrowing things from home, Scott admitted to going through a “klepto phase last year.” Near the door he has a David Hasselhoff poster which he and his dad stole from a gas station. He also has a large maroon traffic cone that Scott confessed is “once again stolen.”
Scott is on the cross-country team at Swarthmore and has used the number tags from his meets to decorate the wall that faces the door. Around the room, near the ceiling are also small drawing cut-outs ranging from small men in business suits to the Scooby Doo Mystery Machine chasing down a ghost. According to Scott, the three friends share a love for reality TV.
“Thera is going to be on Survivor, Price will be on Big Brother or the next establishment of the Jersey Shore and I would be on The Amazing Race or The Apprentice,” he said.“We’re going to be stars” he added.
Next is Ferchill’s room, who describes its decor as “minimalist chic.” The only decorations in Ferchill’s room are on the wall to the right of his room. He said he does not want to distract from the architecture of the room because “its got great angles.” Hanging on the wall are a couple of old license plates along with sport caps from golf tournaments he’s played in. “I’m more of an accent guy,” he said, plus they are “cost effective” since he did not have to pay for decorations. Very proudly displayed near the entrance of his room are his golf clubs. Ferchill is on the golf team and according to Scott, he often plays out in the hall.
Naiman indicated that “the empty space in his room represents the open spaces in Texas.” To amplify the Texan feel, Ferchill has a number of small cacti along his windowsill. Sadly, he explained he did not bring them from Texas but purchased them from Home Depot. He noted real Texan cacti “might be difficult to get through security.” Naiman and Scott asserted that Ferchill is like a cactus. “Prickly and short” chimed in Scott jokingly, though Ferchill quickly repudiated with a loud “no,” stating “they’re unique.” “They’re resilient…it’s hard to kill a cactus,” explained Naiman. Considering Ferchill is an engineering major and moreover, has little to no storage place in his closet, one can argue he is resilient like his cacti.
To the left lies Naiman’s vibrant West coast room. On the wall adjacent to her bed are pages from Sunset Magazine depicting coastal scenes. “I miss living near the ocean,” she admits. There is also a Singin’ in the Rain poster, one of Naiman’s favorite movies which also follows her theme by taking place in Hollywood. Colorful lights adorn her window; below these is her “Survivor shrine” which includes a signed picture of Survivor contestant Yau-Man Chan. On the wall opposite her bed are newspaper articles featuring “quirky old people” said the history major who noted, “maybe that’s why I like [them].”
Naiman believes two plush bats are most representative of her. They’re magnetic and are easily transportable throughout room. “I’m gravitational,” she explains. Naiman also plays the violin and is the treasurer of Swat’s mariachi band, which explains the sombreros found throughout her room. Near her door are her prized set of Agatha Christie mystery novels and various board and card games . According to Naiman, she and Ferchill are the best Trivial Pursuit team out of all their friends. Aside from games, Ferchill mentioned “our favorite pastime is embarrassing one another.” The three friends often “play pranks on each other” which they agreed could simply not be “mentioned out loud.”
The overall environment in Palmer is one of “family” described Naiman. Scott voiced how many students complain about PPR being off campus, but in reality “it’s not that far away.” Ferchill noted that Swarthmore students “are a little spoiled” due to the privileges Swarthmore’s small campus provides compared to bigger schools. For Richard, walking “one minute longer for a bigger room” is a good deal, especially when he gets to enjoy the company of his friends from coast to coast.
