A year ago, Hood College was hit with a storm. It lasted for months and created chaos, with many of students getting pulled into the mayhem. This storm, was not a real storm, it was first year housing.<\/p>\n
First-year residence halls are coming up on their first anniversary. The idea received a significant amount of pushback from students after it was announced. It has almost been in place for a year, and Hood College has been changed because of it. Whether or not this change is a good thing still seems to be up in the air.<\/p>\n
For me personally, I never thought first-year housing was a good idea and still don\u2019t. As a first-year I appreciated having upperclassmen friends in my building to learn from, and as an upperclassman it was always nice to have an easy opportunity to get to know the freshmen. When I talked to current upperclassmen about the first-year dorms, they seemed to agree.<\/p>\n
Many students have expressed their opinions towards this matter throughout the past year.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the things that initially drew me to Hood was the sense of community, and I think that [before] that expanded to all different classes,\u201d said Sophie Smith, a junior. \u201cI think that the freshman housing kind of made it more divisive in terms of cohesion among all Hood students.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many of the older students on campus acknowledged that there are some good things about the freshmen dorms, but overall do not like them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there is some positive things, like being able to bring tutors into the buildings two days a week, and I think now there is a better sense of community with the freshman,\u201d said Afton Woodring, a junior and resident assistant in Smith Hall. \u201cBut I think the problem is that unless you\u2019re a freshman athlete, or you are out-going, you don\u2019t get to interact with upperclassmen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kerry Murphy, a sophomore, living in the freshman dorms rooms with a first year, preferred when the dorms were integrated. She stated she doesn\u2019t see a lot of the first-years, but does think they have all bonded. \u201cI see a lot of freshman becoming friends with other freshman, which I guess is the whole point,\u201d Murphy said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think putting freshman in with upperclassmen is so much better,\u201d Murphy said, \u201cbecause the upperclassmen can help you find your way around and not be that<\/i> freshman. And it makes friendships that you probably wouldn\u2019t have had otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n
For many upperclassmen, a negative impact of the first-year housing is the fact that the freshmen students do not live with more mature students, and so they get stuck in high school habits.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seems like first-year housing doesn’t allow for residents to mature when they are only surrounded by their peers, instead of by their mentors,\u201d said Frances Morgan, a sophomore. \u201cThe resulting environment is just an extension of high school, instead of a more serious academic setting.\u201d<\/p>\n
The first-years about their opinions on the freshmen-only dorms, they mostly seemed to agree with Morgan\u2019s point about the negative impact on not having older students around.<\/p>\n
\u201cLiving with freshmen, there is no one there to keep them in check or to keep them from doing dumb stuff,\u201d said Paul Downs Jr., a Memorial resident. \u201cWhen you live with older people, you mature up, because older people are not afraid to come at you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kaitlin Marutani, another first-year, agreed, \u201cI think if there was more upperclassmen mixed into it then maybe some freshman could get advice from then that they couldn\u2019t get from people who don\u2019t have those experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another problem first years cited was drama among the freshmen, exacerbated by the first-year residence halls.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not that I don\u2019t like [first-year dorms], but we\u2019re separated,\u201d said Shawn Barnes, a first-year resident of Smith. \u201cSo when we\u2019re separated, and it\u2019s just a bunch of freshman, there is more drama.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, while many freshmen did cite things they do not like about freshmen dorms, not all of them think the dorms were a bad idea. Christopher Lafontant, a freshmen Memorial resident, said he thinks the first-year dorms are great.<\/p>\n
Lafontant said: \u201cI actually think it\u2019s a very well thought out plan to put all the freshman together, because a lot of people when they first come to college are kind of a little nervous. When they\u2019re around people their own age, they can basically be comfortable. When I first moved into Memorial, it was kind of easier to relate to people, because we were all talking about high school and prom and all this other stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think one of the pros about it is having all the freshman together,\u201d Marutani agreed, \u201csince it\u2019s a new experience for everyone and you can experience it with people who are kind of going through the same things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Overall, it seems like freshmen have mixed feelings on the dorms. Many of the first-years thought there were good and bad parts about the decision. Most expressed preferring having dorms the way they used to be would probably be better.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt kinda stinks because I have a lot of friends that are upperclassmen,\u201d said Samy Brandt, a freshman who lives in Memorial, \u201cbut it\u2019s also nice because we have just freshman activities. I can see the positive in it, but I just kinda wish that it was more integrated.\u201d<\/p>\n
Professors also stated they have not seen an impact on the students as a result of the first-year dorms.<\/p>\n
Dr. Van Winter said, \u201cI\u2019ve been positively impressed with this year\u2019s freshman class. I was also positively impressed with last year\u2019s as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA part of me likes it, but most of me hates it,\u201d Downs Jr. said. \u201cA lot of freshmen don\u2019t have upperclassmen friends, and that\u2019s sad, cause you kinda need people to guide you. Hood is a small community, and if it wants to be in unison, it has to go back.\u201d<\/p>\n
In general, the verdict seems to be, everything is okay. However, while there are some positive aspects to the first-year dorms, it also seems to have caused a divide on campus. For instance, finding first-years to talk to for this article was not easy, simply because as a senior I barely know any freshmen. A year later, and I\u2019m still not entirely sure why this had to happen. I don\u2019t think I am alone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"