July 6, 2020 by

Dear Future Yellow Jackets,

Madeline here again! Since I already gave you the boring introduction last time in my previous letter, here are some more interesting facts for you. 

  1. I have upwards of 6 sets of matching pajamas that I wear in the winter because, you know, I’m a big pj girl.
  2. One time when I was working in the Admissions office, we got a new couch that came in a ginormous box. My boss then hid in the box and asked me to go get one of our  co-workers so she could pop out and scare her. Best day of work ever. 
  3. My all-time favorite video game is Pikmin, and my all-time favorite place to play it is in the Maddox 20 lounge, and my all-time favorite people to play it with are Brooke Carothers and Abby Carraher. 

I am thrilled to be coming back to Cedarville this fall, and part of that excitement is because I will be returning for the second year as a Maddox Resident Assistant (RA). My freshman and sophomore years I lived in Printy, and that was a wonderful experience. Printy will forever have a special place in my heart, but I found a true home in Maddox. 

One of the best parts of Maddox is the way it is set up. Eight girls make up a “unit,” and each unit has a lounge that they share with the four rooms stemming from that lounge. It’s so fun to get to collaborate with your unit girls and figure out how you want to decorate your lounge! It doubles as a great place to study after your roommate has gone to bed AND a cozy spot to invite your friends over to watch a movie on a Friday night. Maddox is a square, and all the units face the middle courtyard where we have parties, people hang out, and (my personal favorite) watch the 4Paws puppies play! There are certain units in Maddox that are equipped for dogs, so some of our sweet sisters commit to training a future service dog for the year while the rest of us get the benefit of seeing puppies daily and watching them play. 

While I really like the physical layout of Maddox, my absolute favorite thing about it is the staff. The Maddox RA staff for this coming year is stellar. Bri Ackerman is our Resident Director, and I have not met another person whose heart is more burdened with love for others than hers. She also has a husband, Daniel, which is super fun. (Don’t worry, he isn’t allowed to walk through the courtyard. But if you see him walking all the way around to their apartment on the other side of Maddox in the dead of winter, be sure to say hi and that you’re sorry that he lives with 300+ girls). Daniel is also our coach for the Gridiron, which is the flag football game we play against Printy each year. The local high school lets us use their football field under the lights on a Friday night in November, and the evening is nothing short of wonderfully competitive and epic. If nothing else, you should move to Maddox for Gridiron — it rocks. 

Tips for Dorm Life: 

  1. Invest in a shower robe – It makes the trips to the shower much more logistically friendly. 
  2. Get a mattress topper –  The beds are comfy on their own, but there’s nothing quite like being able to flop in a mega cozy bed at the end of a long day. 

Rules on Campus

Here are two rules that are across the board on campus (that your RA will be giving you more detail about once you arrive on campus)

  1. No boys in the residence hall – That includes the courtyard and unit lounges. There is a Maddox-wide lounge that they are welcome in, but not past curfew (which is midnight on Sunday-Thursday and 1 a.m. Friday-Saturday). 
  2. You cannot have candles (or candle warmers) in your room – I would recommend getting some wall plug ins. Glade is my personal favorite, but there are a lot of really good options out there! 

In Maddox, our brother hall is The Hill. All of the Maddox and Hill RAs have paired up, forming your bro-sis. You and the 30ish other girls in your sister units are paired up with 30ish boys in The Hill. The bro-sis essentially functions as built-in friends, especially at the beginning of the year as you are getting settled in. Not to brag, but I definitely had the best bro hall last year — we had so much fun! Your RA and your bro RA will plan events throughout the year as well as weekly meals and those sorts of things. The Bro-Sis culture at Cedarville, and especially Maddox and The Hill, is really fun and unique to our campus. 

Living in Maddox has been such a sweet gift, but Residence Life in general at Cedarville is a blast. When you live with people and are around them nearly 24/7, you start to form unbreakable bonds as you begin to see the best (and worst) in one another. Living with strangers humbles you in a way that few other things can and as you look forward to this year, I want to urge you to fight the temptation to see yourself as the perfect roommate/unit mate/hall mate and instead focus on tangible ways you can serve those around you. You won’t regret it, I promise. 

I can’t wait for you to move in! All of Res Life is counting down the days to meet you. Please know that you are already being prayed for by your future RAs. See you so, so soon, future yellow jackets!

Madeline Stouffer | Maddox RA

Tags: , , ,
Posted in: , , ,