During the week of Monday, Feb. 9, the Office of Residence Life hosted open houses for the three sophomore residential colleges: Service for Justice (70 McCormick Road), Creative Life (Faber Hall) and Ignatian College (Loyola Hall).
The open houses, which took place on Monday at McCormick, Tuesday at Faber and Wednesday at Loyola, served as a way for rising sophomores to take a tour of the different residential colleges, as well as learn more about what each program entails.
Sophomore Patricia Masi, a current resident of the Ignatian College, hopes that through these open houses, rising sophomores will be able to see how residential colleges differ from other living options in that they provide more of a “community aspect” to college life.
“It’s a really strong community in Loyola. I met a lot of new people, as well as some new best friends,” Masi said.
Junior Heather Mooney, a resident assistant in the Service for Justice residential college, also added that “people in Kostka and Claver just don’t have the community that you get in residential colleges.”
The community aspect that living in these residential colleges entails is something that the Office of Residence Life puts into consideration when selecting applicants.
According to Assistant Director of Residential Colleges Jodie FitzPatrick, the Office of Residence Life “looks at students’ desire to participate in an intentional community setting. These desires include participation in the retreats, academic courses and Mentor Program.”
Many rising sophomores looking to apply for a spot in one of the three residential colleges are eager to explore the communal opportunities that the residential colleges offer.
“It’s very important to continue the community that you built in the place where you live right now, and I want to be in that community in the future,” Aura Cristina Agudelo Rivera ‘18 said.
Freshman Dan Gatazka pointed out the fact that applying to live in a residential college saves rising sophomores from a lot of hassle in the long run, since “if you get into a residential college to start with, you’re in the door already, as opposed to having to wait until the big lottery where everyone’s trying to figure out where they want to live.”
However, not all freshmen are as intent on living in a residential college next year. According to Mooney, many students “are intimidated by [residential colleges]. I think that they think the two retreats and monthly mentor meetings are a big commitment, but they’re really not. They are really the best part of the program.”
Freshman Kaitlyn Godberson also added that a benefit of living in the Village over a residential college is that “the Village offers a more independent living opportunity, allowing college students to grow into adult lifestyles.”
Masi also mentioned the benefit of the retreats students take through the residential college programs, saying that they provide students with “a nice break” from their school work.
There is still time before the Feb. 23 deadline for freshmen to apply to live in a residential college next school year, and FitzPatrick encourages students to take advantage of this opportunity in order to gain “a better understanding of themselves and how they are called to live an inspired life as a student and beyond their collegiate years.”
Leave a Reply