SCOTT GULLEDGE / Scroll

Style: individuality that is reflected through a person’s actions and tastes

Kathryn Keller KEL05008@BYUI.EDU scroll staff

If you go to Sunrise Village Apartments and knock on the door of aparment #48, you will be greeted by members of the Bobcat Club. Bobcats wear matching jackets and have only one duty – to protect their aluminum mountain from harm.

Upon entering their apartment you will see the mountain, a silver wall made of over 700 pop cans, each stacked carefully on top of one another, reaching the ceiling.

In the center of the “collage” is a poster of Hilary Duff. This “shrine” is what the Bobcat Club is called to protect.

“We drink a lot of pop and we figured we should put it to good use,” said bobcat Jeremy Burns, a freshman from Preston, Idaho.

What started as a spontaneous construction project soon became a labor of love for all six of the Bobcats, said Bobcat Nate Smith, a freshman from San Jose, Calif.

“This is what brings us love and joy,” Smith said. “This is our life right here. We don’t even like each other without this wall.”

Pop can towers are not the only source of roommate unity, though. The girls in Hillcrest #22 have covered every inch of their living room walls with photos. Nicole Ellis, a freshman from Wichita, Kan said that she and her roommates decided to decorate their apartment in this way because it made the space more livable, and because it reminds them of people and events they love.

“It makes it more comfortable to hang out in,” Ellis said. “You are not staring at white walls; it’s a whole bunch of memories.”

Memories and distractions, Ellis said.

“It is distracting,” Ellis said. “When I’m trying to study, I just look at all the pictures and smile.”

Pop cans, pictures and a whole lot of snowflakes. Michelle Pray, a freshman from Lewisville, Texas, and her roommates in Ricks Hall #280, maximize their resources to decorate for every holiday, especially Christmas.

Hanging from the ceiling are white paper snowflakes and red and green ornaments. On the floor is a small tree decked out with tinsel and ornaments. Stockings hang on the living room wall and white cotton lines the windowsill, impersonating snow.

And the cause for the obsessive Christmas décor?

“All of my roommates and I love Christmas,” Pray said. “And the first time it snowed, we got bitten by the Christmas bug, and the ideas just started flowing.”

Students do the best they can to transform their apartments into homey settings, Pray said.

“This is a home away from home,” Pray said. “You’ve got to make it as comfortable as you can.”