Spring Break
Maple Hill dorm to offer 'intellectual community feel'
Pamela Acosta
Issue date: 3/12/07 Section: News
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Both programs, First Year Experience and Sophomore Experience, are designed to meet the scholastic and social needs of residents through academic, professional and extracurricular opportunities, according to the UA Housing Web site.
In general, the Living/Learning Community will have a more academic focus and its programs will reflect that.
Some students want "more of an intellectual community feel," said Becky Howard, student development specialist for housing.
"They want to feel like they're living on a college campus," she said. And some students "feel like they're living in 'Animal House.'"
Holcombe has a capacity of 140 residents and the community aspect is easier to create with those numbers than with 700 residents, she said.
Tracy Fortenberry, a UA freshman, got accepted into the program and is excited to move in next fall, she said.
"Just the aspect of something completely new to the campus is exciting," she said. "I think it would be cool to help freshmen while it was still fresh in my mind."
The Living Learning Community is really focused on the First Year Experience and trying to get freshmen ready for college life, Fortenberry said.
Holcombe organizers tried to make residents be part of the community and "the lack of involvement was my own fault," but the required participation in Maple Hill will get her more involved in the community, Fortenberry said.
"I'll be forced to make those friendships and it'll be part of my schedule," she said.
The program requires students living in Maple Hill to take part in specific events throughout the year. Freshman, for example, have to attend Razorback Outreach for Community and Knowledge camp, which is sponsored by the First Year Experience office. The three-day camp allows for incoming freshman to form a social network to ease the transition into college, according to the FYE Web site.
The application for sophomores also lists a number of expectations that those students must follow while living in Maple Hill.
For example, students must conduct themselves in the appropriate manner and contribute to the community, serve in the community accountability board, speak with the resident assistants on a regular basis, participate in two community service projects inside and outside Maple Hill hall and participate in the Professional Development Institute and the StrengthsQuest assessment process.
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