Faith, Friendship, and Finding Home: Sienna Maki’s College Housing Journey
MADISON, Wis. – Christianity and limiting her drinking is not an identity for Sienna Maki, but it does require her to make sure that she is surrounding herself with people who respect her.
By: Beth Stacey
Maki is a freshman at UW-Madison. She currently lives in Lakeshore dorms with a roommate she met on instagram. In October 2024, Maki signed a lease to live in College Park with a group of roommates.
Maki has been mostly sober since the beginning of the school year. She said that she did not feel like herself when she did drink. During the summer before her freshman year she drank a lot, and shared that she did briefly try the ‘party life’ when she first got to campus.
“I kinda felt like I had lost myself, and was not sure of the path I was on,” said Maki in reference to the summer she spent drinking.
Maki and her roommate had this in common when they met – that partying would not be a priority. Since getting to campus, Maki says she has joined a lot of Christian groups, which she feels are her ‘people’. She says it is much easier to feel confident saying no to a drink and prioritizing her studies and religion now.
Finding roommates who respect her decision was not incredibly difficult, but she said the process was stressful and nerve racking.
“You know there was a bit where I was worried, not sure who I was going to live with next year,” Maki said.
Next year, Maki is living in a house with a total of five girls. Two of her roommates are Christian and do not drink much, while the other two girls do drink. She knows a couple of her future roommates from her hometown, which she is grateful for as it made the process much easier.
“I know they will respect us, they do not plan on having any parties. I can be around drinking and it doesn’t affect me,” said Maki. “But one of my friends, she struggled because she does not know what to be around at all, her parents were abusive, and it can be triggering for her.”
Maki says she thinks it is important to be able to find a roommate who respects your beliefs and decisions, but she does understand that some people need more clear boundaries. None of her roommates smoke and she says this would be a deal breaker for her if they did.
Maki sites sleeping patterns as her biggest concern for the next school year. She goes to bed around 9 p.m., and says she wishes she could have seen the ‘loudness’ and ‘party’ levels of the neighborhood she was signing into.
“They call College Park the sophomore slums, so I am nervous because I like to go to bed early and people tend to party there,” said Maki.
She also is disappointed that she is not close to many parks or other free opportunities on campus.
“I really like to run, and it would be nice to be able to just hop on the bike trail or onto the Lakeshore path,” said Maki. “It would have been really nice to be able to know that before signing, to see a sort of map.”
OpenHouse provides a comprehensive platform that would aid in finding a more peaceful housing situation for Maki. Through our hot map, Maki could choose to see apartments in neighborhoods based on their proximity to bars, parks and ‘party areas’.
Through her profile she could show potential roommates that her priorities lie in faith and limiting her drinking. Through this she could find not only roommates but lasting friendship.
Sources:
Allgood, S. (2008). The intimate friendship scale: factors and association with drinking patterns among college aged friends. UNCW Library. https://repository.uncw.edu/items/29637171-e875-4569-8aef-80cd8dc20cdd
Bowles, K. J. (n.d.). What does faith look like in higher education? Inside Higher Ed | Higher Education News, Events and Jobs. https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/just-explain-it-me/what-does-faith-look-higher-education
Peyser, E., & Peyser, E. (2024, August 9). What It’s Really Like to Stay Sober in College. VICE. https://www.vice.com/en/article/what-its-really-like-to-stay-sober-in-college/
Smith, W. L., & Zhang, P. (2008). PERCEIVED FACTORS FACILITATING STUDENTS’ TRANSITION from HIGH SCHOOL to COLLEGE. Michigan Sociological Review, 22, 19–40. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40969139