With the start of a new semester, over 1,700 students are returning to campus or moving into their on-campus housing for the first time, ready to find new friendships and communities. For those who live in one of the 11 new — or at least newly refreshed — theme floors within the residence halls, their communities are literally a few steps away.
“There are so many great things about living on a theme floor,” says Brookelyn Digon, Residential Life coordinator of Tonopah Complex. “Students see higher GPAs and more fulfillment due to being surrounded by others who have similar academic interests or similar values and identities. They feel more connected.”
Each floor has a different theme, ranging from academics-based floors like Fine Arts, Hospitality, Engineering, and Honors, to those that promote support and community, such as All Women’s, Stonewall Suites, and Howell Town (named after Clark County's first Black landholder).
Though the floors were already given a sprucing up last summer with new wall wraps and redecorated lounge rooms, Housing & Residential Life had been carefully collaborating with students and faculty across campus for months.
Digon explains, “Dr. Sammie Scales [Office of Student Diversity Programs interim assistant director] did a focus group with all of the identity-based theme floors last semester and got feedback as to what those groups would want to see on their floors, not only with the updated decor, but also with the programming.”
The updates have already made a difference, says Digon. “Having that space updated has been encouraging folks to go to theme floor events because they like spending time in the lounges.”
Digon’s favorite lounge? “They’re all fun, but I would say Fine Arts is really unique. They have music stands and this huge dance floor. For the folks on the Fine Arts floor who are dance majors, they can practice their dancing.”
New Theme Floors
In addition to revamping the existing theme floors, Housing and Residential Life introduced two new communities for students to enhance their on-campus experience.
The first new floor, First-Year Experience (FYE), is dedicated to supporting students’ overall success in their first year at 51ԹϺ. Peter Gatto, director of Housing and Residential Life, explains, “There’s always a lot of energy around engaging students early and getting them familiar with resources and faculty to build a strong foundation for success inside and outside the classroom. We actually built a satellite office [in the South Complex] so that faculty and staff from FYE can physically be in that office and students can simply walk down their hall when they have questions or challenges.”
The second new floor, Global Languages, was created in partnership with the Department of World Languages and Cultures and International Student and Scholar Services to bring together international students and students studying foreign languages. “I wanted to bring all these different cultures and individuals onto one floor so that they could practice their languages and learn about the cultures,” says Gatto. “If students don't have the opportunity to study abroad, we can bring some of that experience home.”
Themed for Success
Gatto and Digon both explain that the revamps to the theme floors goes beyond the physical decor. “Each themed community has their own goals and learning outcomes. We’re bringing resources to the residence halls and making it a one-stop shop for any type of question or concern a student has. Every floor has an office or an academic liaison who spends time within the residence halls every week so that students can go directly to their liaison to ask questions,” says Gatto.
Digon adds, “We were very intentional about RAs and programming. We have academic liaisons for all of the floors, so the RAs have somebody to go to as a resource. Recently, the Study Intensive floor hosted an event and invited their liaison from the Academic Success Center. She was able to come to that event and make that connection with the residents on that floor.”
Because of the resources provided through the theme floors, students benefit from the faculty engagement and build strong relationships with their peers — leading to a higher retention rate and improved grades. Over half of the students living on campus earned a GPA of 3.0 or higher.
Gatto and Digon plan to regularly measure student feedback for continued improvement of residential housing.
Gatto says, “After working with faculty and staff, taking a lot of people's time and energy to support this, and physically enhancing all those spaces, I want to make sure that the students that are living in the theme communities think ‘Wow! This is exactly what I was excited about and you all delivered.’ Now, my hope is to add a couple more this year!”
