With a growing number of students opting for on-campus apartment housing, upperclassmen adjust the way they do “life together.”
Last year Taylor University introduced the new Residential Village, which can house up to 152 students across five different townhouses. Additional apartment buildings including the Delta Apartments and Casa Patricia Apartments were bought by the university last year.
As students transition from college life to life after graduation, Diana Verhagen, hall director for on-campus apartments, hosted a cooking class where students learned to make soup to prepare them for that transition.
In addition to using these new buildings, students live in apartment-style housing in Campbell and Wolgemuth Halls, giving students looking to move out of the dorm extra opportunities.
Senior Christian ministries major Olivia Greene served as a personnel assistant (PA) and discipleship assistant (DA) when living in Olson and now serves as a PA in a Residential Village townhouse. Though she has been a PA twice, she explained that the two roles are different.
As an Olson Hall PA, Greene’s job was to build relationships and put on events. She now primarily works to make her building comfortable for residents. She performs practical duties such as facilitating maintenance requests.
“(Apartment living is) a really great segue into real life, especially for those that are seniors or in their last year at Taylor,” Greene said. “I think it's a really sweet time to be able to plan ahead while also still engaging in the Taylor community. For me, I was sad to leave Olson, but I was looking forward to investing into the girls that I am living with because I have the capacity to invest into just those people.”
Similarly, senior film and media arts student Isaac Mass served in residence life leadership in Bergwall Hall before becoming a PA in Campbell Hall.
Comparing his two experiences, Mass said “It's very different because obviously as a PA in a normal residence hall, you have a big role in welcoming freshmen and getting people involved. There's a lot more community events. Even in Bergwall which is kind of known as more of a reserved space. There's a lot more in terms of having events, gathering people together, more of like a shepherding role.”
Mass said that people living in Campbell are thriving. It is more peaceful than the dorms, and because people are not living in a tight space, he has not dealt with conflict resolution like before.
Senior philosophy major Sam Spiegel is fulfilling a new role this year in the apartments. This is the first school year that apartments have had DA. Because of this, he said there is not a clear idea of what an apartment DA’s role looks like.
As the role of DAs in the apartment is new, those in this role have a lot of creative freedom, Spiegel said. Currently, they all meet with the apartment Discipleship Coordinator, and some run or organize Bible studies.
When deciding to make the transition to apartment life, Spiegel was concerned that he would feel isolated or detached from his old wing in Wengatz. But so far, his experience has been positive, and he is still a part of that community and able to maintain relationships.
Practically, as an athlete he enjoys the sleep he could get not in a dorm and said he has “the best of both worlds.”
Spiegel encouraged students who are interested in leadership positions but not currently in them to not wait for a title to take on responsibility and be a leader.
“Focus on being a good example and how to help people that are coming in and who don’t know what’s going on…,” Spiegel said. “I think leadership is just definitely way bigger and way more important than any title. And I think a title should just give you sort of a formal avenue to exercise leadership that you're already focusing on and already doing.”
Spiegel thinks there is a misconception that if students ask for help from residence life, they are a burden – but he encouraged students who need help to seek it out. The people in these roles want to support and care for them.
