Hi! My name is Caitlyn Longenecker and I’m a second-year student studying architectural engineering. Last year I had the opportunity to live in Ritner (located in Pollock housing area), and I loved every minute of it. Ritner is home to the First Year in Science and Engineering (FISE) Special Living Option (SLO for short), which means that almost the entire building is considered “home” for first year students intending to major in science and engineering. An SLO is a great option for someone looking to find help close to home and make friends with the same interests!
I went into the housing selection with the matching of my roommate left to the Penn State housing gods. I was nervous going into the roommate situation “random,” but it helped knowing that I would be living in the FISE SLO, which narrowed the possibilities. I went into the whole situation thinking, “Wow, I’m gonna live around a bunch of nerds and it is going to be super quiet and no one will want to talk…” but boy was I way off. First of all, it’s a simple equation (we’re engineers, we all love math don’t we!):
leaving the door open = meeting new people = making new friends
I became friends with so many people on my floor (oddly enough my room was one of the few to leave our door open, but we were located right near the elevator, so naturally everyone had to say hi). I was very lucky, my roommate, along with most of the other girls on the floor, were taking similar classes, which made it much easier to ask questions and help each other through some tougher assignments, I didn’t even need to put on a jacket or shoes to go ask them a question.
In FISE specifically, each floor is also home to a Program Assistant (PA), in addition to the RA. The PAs in the building would hold office hours and professional development events for the whole building, where we would be able to talk to upperclassmen in the majors we were interested in. These events were focused in the science and engineering realm, so we were actually inclined to attend because it pertained to what we were interested in.
To keep it simple, I love the location of Pollock. Pollock is close to College Ave, and somewhat located near the center of campus. If we are being honest, the buildings in Pollock don’t look too inviting, some may even venture to say crummy but I like to focus on the character of the buildings. I love Ritner, it just took some getting used to! But then again, what freshman housing, that you can guarantee your residence of, is gonna be sparkly and new?
Ritner is a 7-minute walk from the HUB, downtown and the creamery (which may sound like a lot but oh my, are your legs in for a treat on this campus..). Pollock is close to lots of great study spots, from Redifer Commons in South (hint: go to the floor where the commons desk is, there are tons of tables and it is much quieter than the upstairs) to the Millennium Science complex with tons of classrooms and study spaces in the Huck Life Science Building and Thomas. Even on the ground floor of each dorm in Pollock, there are many study spaces, from larger rooms with tables and whiteboards to smaller quiet study spaces to rooms with couches and tables. I found that a lot of the time when it was raining, I didn’t feel like leaving my building so I would just pick a spot in one of the rooms, put my headphones on and get things accomplished.
Living in an SLO is not for everyone, whether it is engineering related (E-HOUSE, WISE or EASI) or not, but I would suggest taking it into consideration! Regardless of where you live, remember to find study spots where you can be productive, which for me was NOT in my room, and that was perfectly okay. I made an effort to choose spots in nearby buildings and develop a routine to go there between classes and early in the morning on weekends. Whatever you choose, make sure it works for you! College is definitely a time to develop a personalized study plan and techniques, which may or may not work for others, it comes with time! Good luck and don’t forget to visit the Penn State SLO website to learn more!
Caitlyn Longenecker
Team E Envoy
No comments:
Post a Comment