When senior Christy Ledden met Danielle Lower and Kristen Bader on her seventh grade basketball team in 1998, the 12-year-old didn't anticipate a friendship going beyond running drills and shooting hoops.
She most certainly didn't anticipate graduating from Miami University with the same two close friends, let alone living under the same roof. Ledden, Lower and Bader and three new college friends currently call 708 S. Main St.-Waffle House-home.
The three aren't alone, because for many at this university, the high school and Miami social circles aren't all that far apart. Many close friends and acquaintances attend Miami together and opt for the infamous high-school-friend-turned-college-roommate route.
Ledden said about 30 students from her 2004 graduating class at William Mason High School in Mason, Ohio-which is about 45 minutes from Oxford-currently attend Miami.
"We know a few (people from high school) who just live down the street," Ledden said. "They come over all the time."
The RedHawk recruitment radius
Rob Abowitz, associate director of residence life at Miami, said only about 20 percent of first-year students request a roommate, whether it be from high school or other activities before college.
However, Laurie Koehler, director of admissions, said about 70 percent of current Miami first-years have students from their high school attending Miami.
William Mason High School is at the top of that list.
According to Mason High School guidance counselor Tony Affatato, between 2005 and 2007, about 27 Mason graduates enrolled at Miami's Oxford campus to begin their college experience.
But Mason isn't the only local school sending its graduates to Miami. According to Koehler, it is statistically more likely that students attend universities within a 300-mile radius of their home.
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Senior Alex Beasecker, who lives with three of his high school classmates from St. Francis De Sales in Toledo, Ohio, has noticed the trend.
"There are so many people from Cincinnati that a lot of people already know each other or know friends of a friend," Beasecker said.
Lower recalled in her Morris Hall corridor during her first year, about five rooms had pre-selected roommates, including her and Ledden's.
Seniors Mary Beth Nesteroff and Angie Larson; who now call Waffle House home along with Ledden, Lower and Bader; and lived in the same Morris Hall corridor during their first year, were also friends before college-sort of.
"We hated each other when we were in high school," Nesteroff recalled, giggling on her couch with Ledden and Lower.
Nesteroff, who attended Milford High School, and Larson, who went to Madeira High School, attended the same local church youth group until a falling out early in high school turned the two into enemies.
"First day freshman year we both just happened to live on the same dorm and on the same floor," Nesteroff said.
However by bonding over the struggles of college adjustment one late night, the fighting ceased and friendship began.
Like Abowitz admits: "People change."
That is actually one reason why he and the rest of the residence life staff suggest students do not share a room with a friend during their first year at Miami.
"People go through a lot of change during their college experience," Abowitz said. "Just because you are friends, doesn't mean you can be roommates."
However Ledden and Lower, who are now in their fourth year as roommates, disagree.
"When we were in high school we'd always go to my house after football games on Friday nights," Ledden said. "There'd be like 30 people hanging out, it was so much fun-we'd watch movies, play cards, dance ..."
And in college?
"Yeah, we basically do the same thing now-nothing changes," Lower laughed.
If you sell it, they will come
Glenn Muschert, assistant professor of sociology at Miami, suggests living with high school friends may provide too much comfort for incoming first-year students and possibly hinder social opportunities.
Muschert said many high school friends may come to the same college due to pressure from what sociologists call a "reference group."
From the beginning of adolescence and into adulthood, most people's reference group consists of their peers. When friends chose a route after graduation, like Miami, others may follow.
Koehler agreed, explaining that along with print and electronic advertisements and campus visits, word of mouth is often the leading recruitment tool for Miami.
Ledden and Lower admit there is a strong relationship between their high school and college. Two of their band directors were Miami alumni and encouraged both to visit the campus.
Freshman year the two even invited a few Mason seniors to stay the weekend at Miami, convincing Ledden's brother to eventually enroll at Miami.
As education majors, Ledden and Lower have heard from professors numerous times about the feeder school, Mason.
"In education everybody knows about Mason," Ledden said. "Professors always say it's the school with the test scores and the fund raising and talk about 'the Masons and Lakotas of this world.'"
Affatato agreed, saying that about 50 teachers through the Mason School District are Miami alumni.
"I think when people go to Miami they hear about Mason and Mason, in turn, feels strong about Miami's education program and its students," Affatato said.
Beasecker and his three housemates from high school chose Miami separately, and later decided to live together.
Beasecker's reason for attending?
"The babes," he said.
As for the other nine St. Francis De Sales students who graduated in his 2004 class of 150, reasons may differ.
For Ledden and Lower, it wasn't until they attended a Campus Crusade for Christ meeting during a visit near high school graduation that sold the Oxford bubble to the Masonites.
"I just thought 'Wow, I love this-I have to go here,'" Ledden said.
Ledden, as a member of Campus Crusade for Christ, Collegiate Chorale and Miami's Opera Program, is not shy to the various social opportunities that come her way.
Lower, too, spreads her time over Campus Crusade for Christ, Miami's wind ensemble and broomball.
Muschert admits, the "homophily" or common-bond Ledden felt when at the Campus Crusade for Christ meeting is another reason people from the same high school will enter college together.
"Basically, people tend to like people who are like themselves," Muschert said.
While Ledden and Lower share many activities and attributes in common-their love for God, outdoor activities and their many mutual friends-they've learned to find the differences too.
"Dani and I are different people, but we work it out," Ledden said. "I could tell her anything."
Diversity deficit
Senior Chris Clark, on the other hand, chose not to live with any of the 12 students from his graduating class of 225 from Kenston High School in Chargin Falls, Ohio, east of Cleveland.
Instead Clark opted for a random roommate.
"I liked (having a random roommate) because I was able to meet new people and have a fresh start in college," Clark said.
This type of randomness could also benefit the university.
According to Muschert, large numbers of the graduates from the same high school can be detrimental to the diversity of Miami.
"If a student from a minority school visited Miami and saw no one here from his or her background, chances are he or she wouldn't attend," Muschert said.
Planning a luau at Waffle House and student teaching together in the spring will soon cumulate Ledden and Lower's last year at Miami. However, the two will not only say goodbye to each other, but the various college friends they've met and high school ones they've stayed in touch with over the years.
As Ledden hopes to move west and Lower plans to go abroad, their time as room mates may soon be over.
"You guys could live together the rest of your lives," Mesteroff joked. "You could be old maids together."
Giggles dispersed throughout the room as Lower's face turned straight.
"No offense Christy but I kind of want to get married one day," Lower said.
Ledden laughed.
"None taken. I definitely agree," Ledden said.
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