Student story: Suite girls

By Bailey Buer

Snobby intentions, expensive tastes, $1,200 dollars a night -- all were rumors circulating about roommates Kati Griege, Madi Franz, Sammie Hellauer and Rebecca Mitchelson from Whitfield High School in St. Louis.

They stayed in the presidential suite, room number 609, this week at the Holiday Inn during the Flint Hills Publications Workshop. The safari-themed room matched their animal print snuggies. There was a king sized bed, futon and a comfy chair.

Despite assumptions, these self-proclaimed "yearbook nerds" had practical reasons for changing their room.

"I have a really bad back, so if I shared a bed with someone I couldn't get around in the morning," Hellauer said matter-of-factly.

"First we were going to get a cot, so I could sleep there," Mitchelson said. "Then she could have the bed, but the hotel did not have any."

"We talked about other options, like another room," Hellauer said. "This was like the last option on the list. We weren't like, 'We want a suite.'"

There were no other rooms available at the hotel. In order to stay in the suite, they had to ask the camp mother, Robin O’Connell-Tatum, and their parents. The girls said it didn't cost much more. They also had other reasons for getting the room.

"We have a big group here, so we wanted a place where we could meet up, get together and work on our homework at night," Mitchelson said. "There was not enough space for all of us to meet in one room."

Staff members are described as friends that get to spend more time together since they are in the same class. They have spent nights playing games such as cards and doodle dice. They also eat popcorn and some of the seven pounds of licorice the staffers brought.

Hellauer said camp feels like a movies. The roommates have all heard misinformed whispers about the "snobby" suite girls.

"We heard people said it's $1,200 a night," Hellauer said "That's a rumor. Come knock on the door and we will show you. It's not like this forbidden place that has a fence around it. We won't be like, 'Uhhh nooo.' That's not the kind of people we are."

Bailey Buer is a senior at Kapaun Mt. Carmel High School and a student in the advance writing class at the Flint Hills Publications Workshop.