Character Sketch
Kristin Erickson
Born
—7 Dec 80
Prep School—Saint Francis, Class of 1999

Kristin is tall, very fair skinned, with straight, pale blond shoulder-length hair the color of cornstalks and light blue eyes. She wears round glasses with thin wire frames. She's not plain, but not exactly pretty either. Kristin is the type of girl that doesn't stand out in a crowd, but she's always got a genuine, friendly smile on her face and is the kind of person who always thinks of her friends first and is ready to lend a hand when needed. She comes from a VERY large family (the youngest of eight . . . she has seven older brothers)!

She's at Saint Francis on a full academic scholarship. Her family is working class . . . their means are far below the circumstances of most of the other girls at the school. Her family lives on a working cattle and guest ranch about 2 hours outside of Missoula, Montana. Kristin's father is the ranch's head wrangler; her mom is the cook. All of her brothers work on the ranch or travel the rodeo circuit.

Kristin's extremely smart and her family wants her to have more opportunities in life. She'd like to be a large animal vet someday, but if she had stayed in Montana her options would have been limited. The nearest town with a school is over 70 miles away so she's been home schooled her entire life. Fortunately for her, the rancher's wife and two daughters are alumni of Saint Francis and encouraged Kristin's family to have her try for a scholarship at the school. Her family is very close and loving and Kristin misses them a lot . . . at times she wonders if her dreams are worth being so far from home.

Everything is very different for her at Saint Francis than back in Montana . . . life is so much faster at school, there's so much to see and do. Kristin has been very sheltered and is quite innocent in the ways of the world. When she first arrives at Saint Francis, a lot of the girls are quite mean and snotty toward her . . . she's never been out of Montana before, let alone had the types of experiences her classmates have. Among the other girls, who spend summers in Europe and fly to Aspen to ski over the Spring Break she sticks out like a sore thumb.

Mary Catherine befriends her immediately though . . . right on the Quad the first day of freshman year as they wait in line to get their room assignments. Kristin is a bit timid and shy; she worries about doing anything that could jeopardize her scholarship and isn't the type to get into mischief generally. She will follow Mary and Mandy along on their adventures periodically because the other two girls always seem to be having so much fun she just can't resist! She wishes she could be more like Mary Catherine who always seems so confident and brave and is so outgoing!

Through Mary, the other students accept Kristin and Mary nominates Kristin their first year at Saint Francis for freshman class president, turning down the opportunity to run for president herself. She really comes out of her shell over her four years at Saint Francis. Kristin has dated Tim Henley since they met at the freshman mixer . . . high school sweethearts all four years. He may well ask Kristin to marry him before they head off to college. A few girls get married in the Saint Francis chapel immediately following their graduation. You never know!

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