Name: Phoebe Elesta Roe
Age: 20
Year: 2016
Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA
Major/minor: Psychology major, English and Arabic minor.
Activities: President of PEKK, Co-President of the Roosevelt Institute, Chair of the Housing and Dining Committee, Chair of the Housing Lottery Reformation Committee, CA, tour guide, Co-Owner of Kenyon Carryout, member of KCET, a member of Junior Class Council and member of Archon Society.
Power animal: Meerkats are kind of cute and energetic and like to have big families. They seem fairly efficient, too.
Hey Phoebe! You’re one of the busiest students on campus. What motivates you to be so active all the time?
I just do everything I love. Everything I do, I do because I want to do it. I just like to help people out; It makes me feel great.
You’re a proud member of the KCET, you’re a frequent KAC-goer, and I know you used to row in High School. What part does your athletic involvement play in your drive to succeed?
Athletics is everything! If I didn’t run every day, I would do terrible things to people. I think exercising is really cathartic. I also watch The Bachelor when I work out, so it’s just my relaxation time. Rowing was a huge part of my life in high school and taught me a lot about time management and focus.
As a CA, a tour guide, and the leader of a bunch of student organizations, it’s no stretch to say that you are indispensable to student life at Kenyon. What inspires you to contribute so much to campus?
This is my favorite place in the whole world, and I’m really lucky to be here. I want to do whatever I can to make it a better place for everybody else.
Last year, you founded the Partnership Between East Knox and Kenyon College. Can you tell me more about this new community service project?
Long story short, East Knox is now suffering from terrible fiscal issues. So, basically what we do is send people over to help them in any way they can. We hope to encourage [East Knox] students more broadly about their education and the possibility of going to college.
All right, let’s move on to the fun questions. What’s your best story from your summer spent in Oman?
There are so many good ones! I’d have to say that my best story happened about three weeks in. I had a terrible stomach infection and was puking inexplicably all the time, all over the place. Me and my roommate, Rachel, were in a cab going back to our apartment at night and saw a car derby show in the middle of the desert. We asked our cab driver to pull over. We got out of the car, and it was just the two of us and like a million Omani men. They were all watching cars driving around a dirt rectangle. We were just two white girls in the middle of this, and they were stopping and staring at us like we were aliens! When we wanted to go home, we couldn’t get a cab so we had to walk home through this waist-high grass – you’re not supposed to do that in Oman. I think the amazing part is that through all of this I didn’t throw up!
If Jeni’s made an ice cream just for you, what flavor would it be and why?
This is so hard because I literally eat any sweet thing put in front of me, ever. I’d be down for vanilla bean ice cream with chunks of caramel. I don’t want caramel swirl, I want chunks. I also want chunks of hot fudge and chunks of cookie dough. Maybe marshmallow, too! I just love sweet. I’d call it the “You’re Going to Die Soon,” flavor.
If you could plan a dinner party with any three professors, who would they be and what food would you cook?
Definitely Professor Dana Craig, Professor Andrea White, and… probably Professor Ted Mason. This would be a fun little group. We’d talk about standardized exams. I’m really into pasta, so I’d probably cook lots and lots of pasta. Pasta with meat sauce. Either that, or breakfast food.
Finally, what is one thing on your Kenyon bucket list?
I want to make it to the top of Peirce tower. I know there’s a way. I have a feeling I know where the key is. This is my goal.