residence life
October 22, 2014
Commuter Becomes RA
Last year Barbara Hernandez-Walton, a 19 year-old sophomore, was a commuter but this year she is living on campus as a Resident Assistant (RA). Hernandez-Walton first heard about being an RA through some on-campus friends who wanted to apply for the position. Hernandez-Walton decided to apply as well because she “thought it would be really fun to live in the dorms and experience being on campus.” The start of her year has proved to be just as fun as she expected it to be. “I see myself as a freshman still,” Hernandez-Walton said when she talked about meeting new people...
November 3, 2013
DIY events call for campus creativity
Residence Life has opened up weekend event planning and funding to anyone with a good idea and a plan for how to start it. They call the process DIY Events. Chad Coleman, Resident Life director, said Res Life has always been open to weekend event ideas from the student body. “Now we’re just trying to formalize this process . . . and encourage it more,” said Coleman. After the “highly successful” trivia night held by Adelphian House last year, the “Minute to Win It” event proposed by individual students from KMY and the Masquerade Ball from Kulp students that had...
September 18, 2013
Coinless laundry machines installed
Get a load of this—new coinless washers and dryers were installed on the Goshen College campus this summer, and students no longer have to pay to do their laundry. These updated front load machines are in line with Goshen’s ecological goals. They use half the water that the old machines did and require half the detergent, according to Chad Coleman, director of Residence Life. Goshen College’s seven-year contract with ASI Campus Laundry Solutions was up for renewal this year. In April, Coleman met with Bill Born, vice president of Student Life; Jim Histand, director of finance; and a representative from...
September 18, 2013
New RDs find their place
Katie Dwyer-Zeman and Neal A. Friesen are among the many new faces that appeared this fall in the Kratz, Miller and Yoder buildings. Both are new assistant directors of residence life and student activities. Friesen, a 2007 GC graduate, recently completed his master’s degree in theological studies from Wesley Theological Seminary before joining the staff. As a new residence assistant director to Yoder building, he brought three years of experience as a resident hall director at Hesston College in Kansas. The first few weeks have meant many introductions for Friesen. However, as a graduate himself, he is able to reminisce...
March 13, 2013
Resident Directors to resign at end of school year
Students living in the Kratz, Miller and Yoder dorms will be greeted by two new Resident Directors this fall. The current directors, Heather Goertzen and DaVonne Harris, will be resigning from their positions at the end of May Term. For Goertzen, this marks the end of three years as an RD, a role she began in the fall of 2010. Harris is stepping down from a position that started in fall 2011. “This is one of the first times when there will be a complete switchover in KMY,” Goertzen said. Both Goertzen and Harris expressed love and gratitude toward students....
February 21, 2013
No more lotteries: Residence Life revamps housing selection
Students considering the upperclassmen apartments for next year met last week with Chad Coleman, director of Residence Life, to discuss the new housing selection process. The new system, initiated by Coleman, is now an online application. Apartment selection will open in the middle of March to students who graduated high school in 2009 or before. The following week, Residence Life will update the available apartments, and 2010 graduates can begin applying. 2011 graduates can apply the following week. Previously, the apartment selection was based on a random lottery system that often left students scrambling at the last minute. “When called...
February 7, 2013
Senate approves new open house hours
Goshen College finalized plans to change open house and quiet hours for underclassmen dormitories, taking effect in the 2013-2014 school year. The new hours will be 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. from Sunday to Thursday and 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. Previously, the open house hours began at noon every day and ended at 11 p.m. on weekdays and midnight on weekends. The visitation policy has changed even from last year, when only residents from their own floor could access a hall during open hours. Now students are admitted onto floors of the same gender at...
November 30, 2011
Vita House makes a home
Until last week, five carved pumpkins sat next to the backdoor of Vita House on the window air conditioner, greeting passing visitors. Each of the five women living in Vita carved one of the five pumpkins. Four of the pumpkins flashed smiles. The fifth was mouthless, but impeccably mustachioed. Vita, an on-campus small group housing unit, is home to juniors Eliza Graber, Emily Hedrick, Ariel Ropp, Kate Widmer and Rosa Wyse. They take the meaning of the word “home” very seriously. Their home is on the eastern edge of campus with a front door on 12th Street. Inside the back door,...
April 14, 2011
Four-year residency: sticking students back in the toothpaste tube?
With three fewer small-group houses on the market for juniors and seniors next year, some students are questioning why they can't live in off-campus houses. “I think it's not the worst idea,” said Lucas Nafziger, a senior, “but the fact that we're so limited in where we live is frustrating.” Goshen College hasn't always had a four-year residency policy. In the early 1980s the number of full-time students increased to 1200, maxing out the on-campus housing. Rather than build more residency halls, the college decided to move seniors off-campus. Then, in the early 2000s, prospective students began talking about the...
February 5, 2011
Three student houses to become community houses
Juniors and seniors looking to find campus housing for next year will have three fewer houses to choose from this year. Aurora, Avon, and Hymnal houses will all become community rental properties in the next school year. Student Life decided to eliminate these three student houses because between the apartments and small group houses, upperclassmen housing hasn't been filled to capacity in recent years. “Last year the apartments were full with several small group housing units empty,” said Bill Born, vice president of Student Life. “This year we have the inverse. Between the two, we are not utilizing the space...
January 20, 2011
Eager-to-return students pose facebook rally
It wasn’t until a few days before classes started last week that many students realized they only had eleven hours to move into campus housing before Monday night classes started. Worried that this wouldn’t give them enough time to get their lives in order before classes started, 90 of these students attended a Facebook event designed to rally Student Life to open campus housing earlier. Instead of opening all campus housing a day earlier, however, Residence Life ended up dealing with students on a case-by-case basis. If students were traveling from over eight hours or had flight reservations, they could...
September 23, 2010
Floor meetings invite conversation on substance abuse, sexuality
In an effort to bring issues of substance abuse and sexuality to the forefront and increase awareness, each dorm floor met with a resident director for an informational all-floor discussion during the first week of school. In the past, issues of drugs and alcohol have been addressed in the chapel setting. Following the soccer home opener on Sept. 8, first and second years congregated on their respective floors to discuss drugs, alcohol and more in a smaller setting. Jake Shipe, the resident director of Yoder dorms, and Keith Graber Miller, professor of Bible, religion & philosophy, met with each male...
September 15, 2010
New faculty members – a second look
This week we’re introducing three more faculty members to the student body: Heather Goertzen, resident director, Colleen Geier, of the American Sign language department and Christopher Fashun from the Music department.. Heather Goertzen Goertzen joins the Goshen College Community as the new resident director of the Kratz and Miller halls. She previously owned and worked in a private counseling practice and believes this background will help her work with students. “I feel like I’ve worked with some very difficult situations and at this point it’s hard to shock me, so I feel like I can be open to different students...
January 27, 2010
Big fun, small watermelons: Night at the RFC
Yoder Resident Director Jake Shipe had an ulterior motive in organizing the annual Night at the RFC, held last Friday. The main goal was for Goshen students to have fun (about 200 attended), but he also wanted to give the President’s Leadership Award applicants on campus for the weekend a feel for what they should expect at Goshen. Night at the RFC was planned to coincide with their visit. The Yoder resident assistant-organized event offered basketball, volleyball, racquetball, walleyball, an open climbing wall, yard games, Wii on a big screen and watermelon polo, led by Vice President for Student Life...