John Paul Ficenec

A pair of rollerblades, well-worn, lie on the floor like an old, loyal dog at the apartment of the Rowen sisters. On this fine, last day of August 2016, I find myself here to meet with not all, but one half of the Rowen sisters - that is Sydni.  She tells me of her morning commute to Hudl upon inquiry of the ‘blades, and how she has to be there by 8 AM. Knowing the distance between her apartment and Hudl, I’m aware of what a jaunt it is. But being the clever woman she is, I was not surprised in the slightest to find out she was using none other than a pair of rollerblades to cut her commute time in half (and simultaneously doubling the fun).

When I first met Sydni back in October of 2015, she sat silently in the same room as I was being interviewed, observing me. Given this silence, I was not able to gauge her or her personality during this brief interrogation, but in the months following my interview, through moments minute and maximal, I found a person so entrenched in joy; finding it in other people, finding it in herself, and spreading it ‘round and ‘round. How could I not call her an ally?
“I have always found beauty in recognizing differences,” Rowen says. “not in a divisive manner, but because there’s something so special about what makes us different.”

After she tells me this, she proceeds to quote Emma Stone, which, if you were to look at either her laptop or the top part of the wall in her living room, would come as no surprise given the minimalist design combination of a pair of spectacles beneath a small lightning bolt.  

But Rowen wasn’t lying. Her and I could not be any more different; whether you were talking about our family dynamic, faith, or Greek life involvement here on UNL’s campus, our differences outnumber our similarities by a large margin. Yet we manage to forge a connection purely as two human beings, by what driving force I could not tell you, so I’ll let Sydni, or rather, Sydni quoting Esther 4:14 tell you: 

“‘Perhaps this is the moment for which you have been created’. For me, that’s where the biggest ‘wow factor’ comes in. I am fascinated to see at the end of my life why I was created, because I think the craziest thing is that it could be because one time, someone came across my post and decided to look into the Bible and became a believer, or because I helped someone with homework one time. The ‘wow factor’ to me is perhaps any moment is the reason I was created.

I ask her to explain the “wow factor” more, my reasoning being whilst thumbing through her journal bible, filled with colorful drawings, questions, and statements, the word “wow” was littered throughout.

“I think sometimes we get super wrapped up in the day-to-day stuff as college students that even when we’re overwhelmed, it can be mundane at the end of the day, ‘cause we’re like ‘Wow all I did was go to meetings and did school and how am I both so overwhelmed and so bored of that same, monotonous stuff?’ The wow factor for me comes when I’m recognizing the Lord’s bigger plan for me. And that’s both looking back at successes and failures.”

“When I write ‘wow’ in my bible. it’s because I’m in awe of how much it’s correlating with my life at the time, as if what I just read was designed for me to read exactly at that hour of that day.”

It’s this dichotomy between the mundane and the bigger picture that allows Rowen to thrive. That allows her to solve a short-term problem by way of rollerblading to a long-term company. That allows her to up the goofball factor by being on ‘blades while simultaneously toning it down dressed in her most business casual attire.

Sydni is unafraid to be herself, but more importantly, she’s unafraid to allow other people to be themselves.