Meet Our Women

Narelli Narciso

Third Year, External Logistics Coordinator

Although the morning is not her hour, and therefore morning prayer a struggle, Narelli is always there and stays the longest for breakfast and intentional conversation afterwards.  When she is not making an effort to find out how everyone’s day is in the house, she can be found drawing, writing, or playing her guitar. The wee hours of the morning find Narelli at the kitchen table hard at work either studying, working out ways to make Christ in the City the best that it can be, or taking the time to get to know the women of the house.  Narelli is a calm individual who considers herself to be clumsy, but has a grace about her in the way she handles stress and difficult situations.  Although she is stubborn, she can be won over by chocolate or any food that reminds her of her home country, Brazil.

Gabrielle Ramos

Second Year, Head of Faith Formation and Programming

When Gabbie was a high school senior someone once told her that she would live in a Catholic women's household in college. She shook her head and laughed--so did God. Now she is enthusiastically living the call to household leadership. She's passionate about nursing, global health, and ministry. She serves on the Penn Catholic board, brings Holy Communion to the patients at CHOP, visits the homeless with Christ in the City, peer advises, represents Penn Global as a student ambassador, co-leads ENDOW, actively participates in SNAP, works for her parish youth group, and works in the School of Nursing Office of Admissions.  In her spare time (if that's even a thing) she enjoys brainstorming new ways to travel, facetiming the little ones in family, walking through the city, writing for the blog, snapping covert candid pictures, and readings things she wants to read (instead of text books). Gabbie runs on coffee, hugs, hand sanitizer, and the grace of God.

Claire Foster

Second Year, Financial Mananger

Nobody finds as much joy in scheduling classes and planning things out as Claire, but to succeed as a nursing major with minors in Nutrition and Anthropology while also being a member of Kite & Key, peer advising, tutoring, co-leading Bible study, and serving as the chair of the Small Groups, among many other activities, it all makes sense. Her ideal Friday night would consist of pajamas, ice cream, and Grey’s Anatomy. For best results, talk to her after she’s had substantial time to wake up but before her early bedtime, don’t feed her shellfish, bring her candy to ice cream, and brace yourself for her (LOVING) sarcasm.

Rose Campbell

Second Year

Every household needs a little bit of Texas! Tucked away on the third floor in one of the best decorated rooms filled with green plants and the cutest closet lives a real live Princess Belle, Rose Campbell. On Saturdays you’ll find her walking to the farmer’s market, reading a novel, or in the kitchen baking as a break from the nursing grind. As a result of her coffee addiction and love for apartment decor, she has spent many a time walking down random streets and alleys to admire the designs (and plants) and try out as many coffee shops as possible. Involved in Penn Speaks for Autism, the University Choral Society, and Student Nurses at Penn, Rose lives out her passions from the tiniest of plants to largest of causes.

Brooke Engelbrektsson

Second Year 

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At six feet tall and modeling Penn Nursing scrubs or her Navy ROTC uniform, Brooke certainly makes an entrance into the room but also into your life. Sassy, classy, musical, and driven, Brooke is always pushing herself to accomplish new goals whether that be academically, physically, or professionally. Some fun facts about her is that she went 15 years without eating peanut butter, she calls her hair-ties "WIGGIES," and she has to order her jeans from Long Tall Sally’s. Though women of the house may quote Sharpay from High School Musical and say “Evaporate tall person,” everyone is excitedly awaiting for the next time she appears.

Michelle Nigro

Second Year

Michelle  is a third year nursing student minoring in History, Health, and the Humanities, along with a unofficial certificate in taking internet quizzes.  Besides being involved in the Penn Catholic community, she’s the Secretary of Penn Singers Light Opera Company, serves as the Legislative Coordinator for Student Nurses at Penn, and works as an Administrative Assistant in the Dean of Nursing's Office #legit.  She has a great memory for trivia facts, but not so much for Anatomy and Physiology.  She enjoys watching movies, exploring Philadelphia, and visiting museums.  She is known for talking without a space bar and messing up microwave mac-n-cheese.

Gabriela Juarez

First Year

Born and raised in Peru in a very close-knit family, with loving parents and two older brothers who made her childhood so special,l some of Gabs best memories are of road trips to her grandparents’ farm in the North of Peru, where they played around with animals and helped harvest crops. They would hear stories of how their grandparents were able to give a better life to their children through hard work and strength. She developed a love for peaceful nature and an admiration for hard work that helped her set my feet firmly on the ground. This learned maturity and determination helped her achieve her goal of studying in America, and got her all the way from Peru to where and who I am now.

Jen Esposito

First Year

The Unofficial Mom of the House, Jen Esposito, is always there for a shoulder to cry on or laugh with and like any good Italian mama, make sure you’re well fed and loved! She’s a certified peer mental health counselor and a member of Project Let’s at Penn (Let’s Erase the Stigma).  She’s a member of the Leadership Board at Newman and is the resident chef for our big events! She loves to Lector and EMHC at mass and is her heart is filled (although exhausted) when she brings communion to Penn Presbyterian on Sundays. You can usually find her doing work at the Kitchen table as she’s a Senior majoring in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics.  Her goal is to be an engineer for a theme park and build roller coasters and she will be happy to talk your ear off about it anytime. Don’t be alarmed when she starts talking with her hands or raising her voice (she doesn’t have any indoor voice for sure!), she’s just passionate about almost everything. Nothing makes her happier than Sundays in the house, between going to mass together, small group, and then house dinner, you will be sure to find her tearing up during grace before dinner with a heart bursting at the seams.

Diana Sieh

First Year

Night owl of the house, Diana can easily be spotted in the living room or kitchen at 2am… When she isn’t running to coordinate WUHC (Wharton Undergraduate Healthcare Club) meetings or making sure Awakening runs smoothly, you can find her cramming her studies in Biology, Healthcare Management, and Operations (Decision Processes). In her spare time, Di absolutely loves to edit videos, binge tv shows, edit her photography blog, and play tennis. Oh, and catch her endlessly speaking about fish-keeping, her huge family tree & history (73 cousins indeed!), and how incredible her home country, Brazil, is!

Sammy Steeman

First Year

Sammy is a sophomore in the college of arts and crafts on the ~original~ Biological Basis of Behavior pre-med track with a minor in Chinese. While she’s not working at an autism research lab, volunteering with Penn Special Olympics, or taking MERT shifts, she can
be found training with Penn Figure Skating or talking about skating to anyone who will listen. If you catch her running around from one thing to the next, she’ll probably be drinking an unnecessarily large amount of coffee. When she gets a spare moment, she
loves running, finding new coffee shops in Philly, reading good books, and writing pieces for Spectrum, Penn’s autism awareness and research blog. Her ideal vacation would consist of a lot of hiking and doing yoga on a mountaintop somewhere!

Nora Hennessy

First Year

Nora is a sophomore in the School of Nursing. Her interests include baking, running, and drinking all the coffee. She can often be heard humming songs from The Sound of Music because she dreams of becoming an opera singer. She believes laughter is the best medicine and says she learned everything she needs to know in life from watching Desperate Housewives in middle school. I strive to be more like Chris Traeger from Parks and Rec every day. She has an altar ego as the "cleaning fairy," leaving notes to remind people to keep the house spick and span! When asked about her essence fruit she says, "I can be likened to a watermelon- sweet and slightly seedy.

Gabrielle Hemlick

First Year

Gabrielle is a dynamic computer coder by day and musing musician by night (although she can often be found coding late into the night in her attic room). With her violin, Stacy, in hand, she is continually exploring Philadelphia’s vibrant music scene. Whether it’s through jamming with friends or taking trips to Center City to hear the Philadelphia Orchestra perform, Gabrielle feels most like herself when she is immersed in music. After a long night at comp sci office hours, Gabrielle always feels happy when she can come home and share a laugh or two with the other women in the Household (or look at some memes on the Penn meme page).

Elyse Decker

First Year

From Florida to Maryland to Pennsylvania now, Elyse is always on the go as a sophomore biology major on the varsity women's lacrosse team. She is often found rocking her crocs while studying or face timing her sisters. Living with a lot people is nothing new for her because she 's one of six. When put outside on a humid day, Elyse wins for having the softest, fluffiest hair in the house.

Catherine Parr

First Year

Catherine is a sophomore in (surprisingly) Wharton.  In addition to involvement with exec at Newman, she is involved on campus with Penn for Jesus and Christian Union, where she is an assistant bible course leader for freshman girls.  When not at home talking about how amazing Jesus is and eating chicken and raw spinach, she can be found at Pottruck or wishing she was there.