Incoming freshmen will have an exciting housing opportunity this fall

Rivers Hall dormitory will have renovations this fall both physically and managerially. For the first time, the dormitory will be exclusively for freshmen students. The individual rooms will be furnished with moveable furniture and the halls will be staffed by upperclassmen students who are trained and prepared to assist freshmen with the transition to college life.

The program is based loosely on the program already implemented in LaGrange Hall dormitory, the Starting History On Campus program. This program was designed to help students achieve a balance between maintaining good grades, a social life and campus involvement.

The idea to change Rivers Hall into a freshman dormitory with a similar SHOC program began about one year ago with Kevin Jacques, director of residence life, Audrey Mitchell, director of housing and David Shields, vice president of student affairs.

The program is designed to help freshmen learn to balance good grades and campus involvement. To do this, odd numbered floors will be staffed by not only a student resident assistant but also a student FYRE fellow, which stands for Freshmen Year Residence Education, said Jacques.

The FYRE fellows were chosen to lead by example in a mentor position through an application process with rigid GPA standards. They must serve as models for healthy study skills and time management.

Along with offering the FYRE program in Rivers Hall, the dormitory will undergo some minor adjustments this summer. The individual rooms are presently furnished with a built-in desk and bookshelf, but this fall all furniture in the rooms will be modular and portable. This will allow the students to rearrange the furniture and control the layout of the room to their liking.

Along with the FYRE programming, Jacques said that Residence Life would also like to be able to implement faculty programming in relation to budgeting and health and wellness.

This will be done with the motive to expand upon and supplement classroom learning. While this will be a transitional period, Residence Life is hoping for success with the new program. The program will be evaluated yearly to discern the need for new improvements and to provide help and resources.

“This is a great opportunity for students to meet other freshmen like themselves, and have a well-trained staff available to help, have unique opportunities and, most importantly, to succeed at UNA,” said Jacques.