Sometimes, love looks like butterfly wings.
As the culture of Gerig’s second floor — known more affectionately as “Twooge” — has shifted in recent years, so too has its definition of love and sisterhood, drawn to life through this year’s theme of renewal.
Like a caterpillar rustling in its chrysalis, however, the process has taken time. Carolyn Salvemini, the junior personnel assistant (PA) for Twooge, has lived on the floor alongside her roommate Hannah Beidelman, the floor’s junior discipleship assistant (DA), since their freshman year.
Each year, Salvemini applied for PA. But each year, she said she would rescind her application, only following through this fall. Once an only daughter, she suddenly became the leader for over 20 floormates, a sisterhood that has altered her view of femininity and family.
“There's so much beauty in it,” Salvemini said. “I feel bad that I cut myself off from it for so long, but there's just so much joy in complimenting someone and being like, ‘You look beautiful,’ or like borrowing clothes, which I know is really something I never got to do … growing up.”
The shift in Salvemini’s perspective has influenced her floor as well. Where Twooge’s group message threads once consisted of only PA announcements or campus reminders, Salvemini and Beidelman’s leadership has created a rejuvenated floor environment.
Requests for jewelry deliveries, clothing swaps and even quick hair fixes — “can someone braid my hair before class this morning?” — are slowly redefining what Twooge has been in years past.
But first, it’s a foundation built on the Lord.
“There's so many different floors that are known for so many different things,” Salvemini said. “but I just want to be known for the love of Christ — how we love the Lord, how we worship the Lord and how we love others out of that love for him”
That love is what led Salvemini to create a floor event where Twooge sent out Valentine’s Day cards to every woman on campus, signing each with the simple closing: “Love, Twooge.”
The message, though simple, was a testimony not only to the love of Twooge’s leadership, but also to the floor’s growing bond with one another. It’s a bond that started with Beidelman and Salvemini’s own friendship.
Now in their third year of rooming together, the pair has learned to balance their partnership as leaders with their everyday life.
With a 15 minute “rule” where work talk cannot begin until after the roommates have checked in on each other, Beidelman and Salvemini have also practiced deeper communication together. In the process, their love for their floor has become an overflow, a giving that does not drain but instead truly sustains.
Of course, it’s not all seriousness. From creating a “mojo-dojo” for Ken, whose plastic smile guards the hall, to the brand-new Pancakes and PJs IHOP event, the team’s joy is freshly contagious.
And yet, at the same time, the two women have never forgotten their roots in Christ or the needs of their floor.
“I just kind of saw a need for the word ‘renewed,’ or ‘renewal,’” Beidelman said. “We're ambassadors for Christ, and … it's just a good reminder. And of course, I love butterflies, so it fits the theme.”
For the PA–DA duo, the symbolism the butterflies provide offers a reminder of the opportunity to become a new creation, filled with the grace and beauty of God’s love.
Though not part of Twooge’s floor verse, Beidelman said grace has been a powerful tool for transforming her own life. Resting in the Lord’s presence and capability has allowed her to better own her role as DA.
Resting in the Lord rather than doubting her abilities or strength, Beidelman said God has recently instilled in her that she is just a part of his constant plans for redemption— and that trusting God to do the rest is enough.
The redemption found in a transformation built on love is the theme of Twooge’s recent renewal. It’s about finding the beauty in change, like the beauty of butterfly wings, and sharing that joy with others as well.
