After a rocky start, the Ignatian Residential College in Loyola Hall is now moving into full swing. With current freshmen now evaluating options for next year, The Mirror hopes that members of the Class of 2006 will look hard at the College as a chance to broaden their horizons.
The Ignatian College is something that any member of the university community should be excited about. After winning a $2 million grant from the Lilly Endowment to begin the college, Fairfield’s program received an overwhelmingly enthusiastic response at a national meeting of the endowment’s beneficiaries. For a Jesuit institution like ours, such a response is very encouraging as Fairfield continues to develop as an institution of higher learning.
This college affords one of the most unique and thought-provoking opportunities for education that this university offers. A person’s four years at a university are a period of self-discovery and too often this discovery is conducted without sufficient introspection and guidance.
The program facilitates as many people as possible in the illumination of life’s potential through self-discovery. The goal of the Ignatian College is to develop a community, to grow and benefit both the individual and the entire student body beyond the walls of the college’s home in Loyola Hall.
The college may be able to foster the sense of community that it hopes to. The only requirement the the college asks is that students participate in small group mentor meetings and trips throughout the year, a more than reasonable request for the fortunate residents that will have access to these planned opportunities.
Though this year may have gotten off to a rough start for the Ignatian Residential College, with delays in the refurbishment of the central lounge and classroom, it seems as though the situation will only improve from now on, to eventually offer endless possibilities to students at Fairfield for years to come.
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