Incoming first-year students can apply to be a part of the Thrive: Healthy Living Academic Residential Community in Earl Hall — a community designed to promote a healthy lifestyle.
Academic Residential Communities are programs at the University of Oregon that focus on creating a community for students living on campus based on similar passions and interests, according to the ARC website. Each group of students in an ARC lives together in the same residence hall, takes classes together each term and participates in various activities coordinated by ARC directors.
The university has a total of 13 ARCs for the upcoming year, with topics ranging from healthy living or journalism to health sciences of sustainability.
Chantelle Russell, the associate director for Physical Education, will act as the adviser for the Healthy Living ARC. Russell said the vision for the ARC is all about “creating a first-year experience where students are living together and learning together.”
Members of the Healthy Living ARC will live together in Earl Hall, the dorm closest to the REC.
According to the ARC’s website, these students will participate in the yearlong ARC seminar by taking classes in biology, mindfulness, meditation and movement. Members will also plan, shop for, cook and eat healthy meals together. They will also hold an annual intramural membership, participate in a self-defense workshop and an Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training.
At the beginning of the year, students will focus on “their own wellness goals and priorities like where they are at and where would they like to be and what does that mean while living on campus,” Russell said. “So focusing on exercise, nutrition, sleep, all of the factors that now change now that you’re living on your own.”
Building community is a huge focus for the Healthy Living ARC, and it’s a goal shared by all ARCs on campus, according to the ARC website.
Connor Jackson, a first year student enrolled in the Business ARC, explained how being a part of the community has helped him both academically and socially.
“Everybody on your floor is business majors,” Jackson said. “It makes it easier to meet people, people that you’re probably going to be in classes with, people that have similar interests as you.”
Quaye Negro, a first year enrolled in the Art and Design ARC, had a similar take on her ARC. “Living with people who have similar goals, just in general with all ARCs, is really beneficial because you’re a product of your own environment,” Negro said. “If you choose to surround yourself with people you aspire to be, then you’ll be like them.”
Negro also described how being in an ARC has given her time to pursue her passions she might not otherwise have had a chance to. “For me, having a creative outlet is hard to make happen unless I create the space for it,” she said. “So kind of find something that’s more of a passion that doesn’t necessarily have to lead to something academic.”
The Thrive: Healthy Living ARC is available now for incoming students to fill out an ARC application in the community section of the University of Oregon Housing application.
