On-campus apartment life has doubled since the new addition of the Residential Village and Taylor University’s recent purchase of the Delta Apartments.
The Delta Apartments was bought in fall 2023, Will Hagen, vice president for strategy and chief of staff, said. Over the summer, the school renovated the newly-purchased property.
Diana Verhagen, hall director for on-campus apartments, previously served as the Olson Hall director in the past two years. She accepted the apartment director position on Jan. 29. In her new role, she oversees Campbell Hall, Wolgemuth Hall, the Residential Village and the Delta Apartments.
Verhagen said she enjoyed being a part of something new. In previous years, being an apartment director was a part-time job. However, since the completion of the Residential Village and the recent addition of the Delta Apartments, the number of residents in apartments has doubled.
Last fall, 605 students enrolled at Taylor, including freshmen and transfers, Holly Whitby, vice president for enrollment and marketing, said. This semester, there are 627 new students.
The growth of the student-body made it necessary for Taylor University to purchase the Delta Apartments and bring the Residential Village online, Skip Trudeau, vice president of Student Development and Intercollegiate Athletics and program chair of master of arts in higher education, said. The new housing additions provide about 200 beds leaving around 50 beds unoccupied.
“If we didn't have those 200 beds, we would be way overcrowded,” Trudeau said.
One of Verhagen’s goals is to provide the apartment Personnel Assistants (PAs) guidance to create more events, bringing students together. One way she intends to do this is through a grant she received called the Class of 1970 Ministries and Christian Foundation Grant.
The grant funds a new program geared towards Taylor students who are transitioning from college to emerging adulthood, Verhagen said. Part of the program will focus on what it means to be a faithful Christian after Taylor University. Different parts of the training will focus on spiritual and practical approaches to post college; for instance, a finance or life-skills workshop.
Verhagen encourages students in the apartments to strengthen relationships with their neighbors. The goal is for students to show neighbors hospitality, she said.
“That is what life is like after this: people live in homes and apartments, and I think it’s such a witness in Christ when we are hospitable, and we are the ones that reach out to others,” Verhagen said.
Since the completion of the Residential Village and addition of the Delta Apartments, new opportunities for creating culture arise. With these sorts of changes, Trudeau hoped to see students build their own experience and traditions and to accommodate others as they do that.
