Living and Learning with Sean

Transcript

Okay, everyone, first, we’re gonna head to Fairfield Way. This is the heart of campus where you’ll find everything from the library to the Student Union, to a farmer’s market in the fall. Sean, a double major in Urban and Community Studies and Psychology is gonna tell us about UCONN’s residential life and learning communities. I can’t wait to hear about life on campus here. It’s all yours Sean.

Thanks, Alex! When I first came to UCONN, I was a little worried. It was such a big school and I felt overwhelmed by all the opportunities, the size of the campus, and everyone I saw walking around. I was worried that I might get swallowed up by the size of the university, and I knew I needed to have a strong base to be able to explore all the amazing opportunities a big school like UCONN had to offer. I was able to find that home in my residential community on campus.

Our res life staff puts so much effort into making sure that you connect with your roommate and floor mates to give you a solid support group here at UCONN. I remember my first weekend was packed with so many different events, from scavenger hunts to concerts, that by the end of it, I felt like I’d already known my floor mates for forever. As you continue throughout your time at UCONN, you’ll just grow closer with your floor mates. Doing homework together, going to events together, even joining clubs together. Some of my favorite memories have been spent sitting out hanging in the hallway with my floor mates late into the night, spending all day long, playing volleyball with them on the sand courts right outside our door.

Past just making amazing friends though, living on campus also gives you easy access to all the great opportunities, events, and dining that UCONN has. It’s just a quick walkaway to any of our eight dining halls, Downtown Storrs, or the Student Union, all which have delicious food. It seems like every day on campus there’s a different event happening, whether it be our learning community field day competition, one of the many late night activities our Student Union plans. My favorite is the paint night. Living on campus truly allows you to get the full UCONN experience.

And if you’re looking for an even closer sense of community that’s more specialized like I was you might wanna consider joining a learning community or LC as we call it. We have 20 different residential learning communities all across campus, which are groups of students who share common interest and live together. Now these interests can be major based like our women in STEM learning community, which allows you to live and connect with students of similar career interests and in the same classes. These can also be interdisciplinary, like the one I chose to join, the Leadership Learning Community, which is more focused on a common interest.

Learning communities also put on even more events, trips, and professional development activities to help you better yourself as a person and connect with other students at UCONN. Some of my favorite events at UCONN have been through my learning community, like our annual trip to six flags or at four arrows leadership retreat. With such an amazing experience that living on campus at UCONN provides, it’s no wonder that we have one of the highest percentage of students living on campus out of any public university in the nation. I hope you’ve learned a little bit more about what it’s like living on campus here at UCONN and I’ll send it back to you, Alex.

Sean, that was great. When you talked about how you instantly connected with people in your residence hall it reminded me how important the residential experience is for college students. And it sounds like the learning communities are a way to make those connections even stronger. Congrats on everything you’ve accomplished, and good luck in the master’s of public administration program.