When most Fairfield students think about housing on campus, their thoughts immediately go to dorm life on the quad, in the townhouses or at the beach. However, there are a few groups of students on campus who have taken it upon themselves to create a living situation that expresses their interests and passions.
Themed housing has been available for freshman with programs including Healthy Living as well as the Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math program. However, starting this year, upperclassmen have the chance to be inventive and get involved in a living and learning environment in both the townhouses and apartments.
The Office of Residence Life’s new program, ‘Build-a-House,’ is an opportunity for a group of students with common interests and goals to get together and create a house that represents their individual interests through a chosen theme.
Jason Downer, associate director of the office of residence life, said that this program is designed for ‘students who are looking for a little more engagement.’ There are currently
four such houses on campus in both the apartments and townhouses, including the themes of community service, women’s empowerment, leadership and environmental
issues.
These groups of students were chosen through an application process that took place last year in which they were required to write essays on their proposed themes and ideas, and present these plans to a selection committee in the Office of Residence Life. Veronica Florentino ’10, a member of the Social Justice townhouse, said, ‘Since this was the first year of the program, the selection committee with Res Life worked with us to get to know us and our ideas better.’
Although space is limited, all Fairfield students can apply to the Build-a-House program.
Alexandra Gross ’09 lives in the apartment complex in ‘The Earth House’ with fellow classmates Emmalee Egan, Kelly Bauer and Mary Anne O’Gorman. Gross learned about the program through a flyer as well as through a few professors and wrote a proposal based on her ideas.
‘I thought this would be the perfect opportunity
to live in a situation where I lived with people who shared common ideals on environmental issues and concerns,’ said Gross. ‘More important, to inform people, especially students, how they can live sustainably by incorporating and adopting small changes of habits.’
As part of their responsibilities for their house, Gross and her house mates have planned projects including an intensive recycling program and a worm-composting program. They even created a house blog to inform people of environmental issues at theregreen.blogspot.com.
Florentino said that the ‘Build-a-House’ program is ‘a fun way to mesh living and learning in the townhouses’ and is very happy about her decision to take part in the program.
‘What makes it unique is that we work together to plan events to raise awareness about social justice issues’ said Florentino. ‘Having this extra cause and organization unique to our house makes our house interact on a different level.’
The students involved in ‘Build-a-House’ are working together with Downer as well as University President Fr. Jeffrey von Arx to make sure that opportunities for living and learning are available for upperclassmen to have in the years to come.
It is proving to be a worthwhile experience for students to take charge in the issues of which they are most passionate, according to Florentino and Gross.
‘Build-a-House was such a great decision for me,’ said Florentino. ‘I’m really excited to see all the plans our house put together come to action this year.’
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