In a scene that could best be described as carefully controlled chaos, the University’s new incoming students and returning residents began moving into residence halls early Thursday morning.
Although most incoming students were nervous, tired and unsure of their new surroundings, some of them were comforted by the fact that they would soon be living in the University’s newest residence hall: the Living Learning Center.
Adel Koketaeva, a University sophomore and resident assistant at LLC, said she was excited to be living in the complex, but on move-in day, her main objective was to be as helpful to the new students as possible.
“I have to be here for the (new students),” Koketaeva said. “They have to know that they can come to me if they need anything. My job is to make them feel as at home as possible.”
Incoming freshman Madelyn Krevitt, who said she was happy to be one of the limited number of students selected to live in LCC as she waited in line to check in to her hall, also voiced her enthusiasm for the new building. Krevitt said she was eager to start her college career at a place that she knew was “the best fit” for her.
“I came to visit (the University) when it was cold, and I loved it,” said Krevitt, who comes from Southern California. “I figured if I loved it when it was freezing cold, I could love it whenever. I’m really excited.”
At 8:00 a.m., Director of Student Housing Mike Eyster stood in front of more than 30 residence assistants and residence hall staff at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for LLC, the first new residence hall built on campus since the 1960s. The new two-building complex, which took more than two years and $30 million to build, will not only be a home for almost 400 students but will also be a center for daily interaction between students and the University faculty.
Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership and Mark Foster, a graduate of the University’s School of Architecture, designed the complex with students, who had direct input on the buildings’ look and feel, in mind.
Eyster stressed that the complex’s careful design was intended for one main purpose: to help all incoming students reach their full potential.
“What we have here is much more than a building,” Eyster said during his short speech. “What we have here is a program.”
LLC was “designed to help students succeed academically” by allowing them to have daily contact with professors, advisers and residence hall staff, Eyster said. The complex houses classrooms, meeting rooms and offices where professors can meet with students on their own turf.
“The idea is that when students connect with faculty early on in their careers, their success level goes up,” Eyster said. “This building facilitates that.”
In addition to being a meeting place for students and faculty, LLC was also designed to be as energy efficient as possible. The
complex boasts solar panels, special awnings to help regulate the buildings’ temperatures, and ventilation panels to provide natural air flow.
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