Students win free room and board

Sue Bogan (left), director of Dining Services, and Linda Carey (center), director of Housing Assignment Services, present freshman Kaitlin Valli with certificates for free housing and dining for the next academic year.

4:39 p.m., March 24, 2005--Kaitlin Valli didn’t feel particularly lucky when she entered a drawing in February for free housing and dining offered at this year’s student housing fair.

A freshman from Quincy, Mass., majoring in international relations, Valli entered the drawing on a hopeful whim, then forgot all about it until a phone call from Linda Carey, director of housing services, reminded her of the drawing and informed her that she was the grand-prize winner of free housing and dining for the upcoming academic year.

Valli said she was thrilled--and more than a little astonished.

"When I entered [the drawing], I didn’t think much about it,” she said. “I had long resigned myself to the fact that I, Kaitlin Valli, did not win cool things. Ever. [When] I received a call from Linda Carey I was utterly shocked--and completely thrilled!”

When Valli called her parents to share the news with them, she said that she met with similar disbelief. "Both of [my parents] had the same reaction: ‘What? That’s awesome! Wait, are you serious?’ I went around for the rest of the day with a huge smile on my face. As a student, particularly an out-of-state student, winning free housing and dining is really quite amazing."

Although Valli took top prize, smiles and whoops of excitement weren’t limited to her alone.

Anthony George, a junior from Wilmington, and Stacy Kleber, a sophomore from Myrtle Beach, S.C., each won the first prize of free on-campus housing for the entire 2005-06 academic year.

Emilie Englehart, a sophomore from Wilmington, and Sacha Telfer, a freshman from Hyde Park, N.Y., each won the second prize of a free dining meal plan for the entire 2005-06 academic year.

Emily Helmeid, a junior from Fond du Lac, Wis., and Joe Helou, a freshman from Baltimore, each won the third prize of free on-campus housing for the fall 2005 semester.

Fourth prize, a free dining meal plan for the fall 2005 semester, went to both Erica Komorosky, a freshman from Douglassville, Pa., and Katie Krawczyk, a freshman from Newark.

Article by Becca Hutchinson
Photo by Kathy F. Atkinson

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