Housing Market 2020: Mather

In its 50th year, Mather House is teeming with House spirit, a welcoming community, and incredible tutors. Any freshman would be lucky to join this fun-loving house, not to mention have a single every year.

By Margot E. Shang

All About Housing

Matherites are lucky to have spacious housing — sometimes with a river view — all three years. Mather’s two buildings, the Lowrise and the Tower, feature singles, many within n+1 suites. According to Mather’s House Committee chairs, sophomores tend to live on the third floor of the Lowrise, juniors on the fourth floor of the Lowrise, and seniors in the Tower. “Honestly all the sophomore and junior housing is good party housing, because they all have the same large common room,” HoCo Co-Chair Anna Peng ‘21 says.

But Mather is great for more than just its housing; it also features great amenities. The House has a tranquility room for yoga and relaxation, a pottery room, the big TV room, a newly renovated library, and tunnels to get anywhere in the house without stepping foot outside—which is key in the winter months. The Junior Common Room is an extremely popular party space, so Matherites don’t have to go far (or outside at all) to go out on the weekends.

By Casey M. Allen

Community

The HoCo Co-Chairs couldn’t overstate their love for the Mather house community.

“The community I feel is really strong, and I think that’s something I didn’t think would matter when I was a freshman, but as a sophomore and junior I’ve realized it’s really important to have a strong house community and [to] have administrators who care about you and want to get to know you,” HoCo Co-Chair Nicholas Lore-Edwards ‘21 says.

Peng added that the house administration and the tutors are central to the house community: “Our Faculty Deans, our Resident Dean, our House Administrator, and all of our tutors really make a huge effort to meet the students and then have events like study breaks that actually help students meet each other… They really want tutors that will go out of their way to meet all of the students and participate in house life.”

Another unique aspect of the Mather community is that the HoCo hosts “happy hours” instead of steins. In other houses, a stein is essentially a fun community gathering put together by HoCo with drinks, food, and music that happens once a week (depending on the house). Happy hours take place on Friday nights, with “strobe lights and lots of food and lots of loud music, and water pong,” says Lore-Edwards, “It’s kind of like people go out to happy hour, instead of like, a stein, I feel like is different than that.”

By Pei Chao Zhuo

The Mather dhall was also highlighted as a key community-gathering space in the house. “In the dining hall, there’s usually only people who live here, since it’s farther, so like when you go to the dining hall you recognize everyone, so I feel like that just creates a nice community, because it’s not like one of the closer houses where it’s constantly like random people in the dining hall,” says Lore-Edwards.

Mather is also the reigning intramural champion. “We did win the Straus Cup last year, and we’re first in IMs currently, but I think the IMs is like one thing that really brings people together, people get really behind that,” said Peng.

Clearly, when it comes to house spirit, Mather’s (Straus) cup runneth over.

By Pei Chao Zhuo

Your Questions, Answered

If you could describe Mather in three words, what would they be?

AP & NLE: Fun, quirky, and welcoming!

What are Mather’s go-to events?

AP: Mather Lather and Mather Prom (spring formal)

NLE: All Mather first-years get in free to Mather prom!

What are the best places to chill and hang out in the house?

AP: People love the dhall. I think the dhall is a really nice place to hang out. There’s a lot of cozy areas to study and sit.

NLE: We have a coffee bar in the SCR every Sunday, that’s really nice… One of the tutors makes cappuccinos and lattes and stuff.

Why did you run for HoCo?

NLE: I think Mather has a really good HoCo. They do a lot and we have a good community and people actually come to our events. Really just because I like the House a lot, I like the people, that’s the main reason.”

AP: I was also on HoCo my sophomore year. Mather has such a great house spirit, so I think like I want to be a part of that hype, people just get so excited about things in Mather, so it's like really nice to be able to facilitate that. And the people are amazing and being able to throw fun things for people is really great.

What’s the biggest misconception about Mather?

NLE: It’s not that far. The Mather Express picks up right outside of Mather every 10 minutes and takes you to Widener, Lamont, even Northwest. Mather to Lamont, is like, such a short walk. There’s always parties going on in this area. Now it’s close to Kung Fu Tea, which is a big selling point.

What’s your favorite House memory?

AP: Dorm storming and people yelling “Mather” everywhere. We danced on Dunster’s table [in Annenberg] and had the Happy Hour which was a lot of fun... it was great.

If Mather were a fruit, what fruit would it be?

NLE: It has a rough exterior like an avocado, but it’s really soft and mushy on the inside, with like a nice, strong, core.

AP: That’s good.