University Housing supports students’ transition to college

By Elise O’Brien

It’s Thao Truong’s second year on campus as well as her second year living in Ogg Residence Hall. About four hours away from her hometown of Northfield, Minnesota, Truong is living in a different room, a different city, and a different state for a second year. In this new environment, she is forced to develop her independence and face challenges to succeed in school. She has also had to establish a new social group all while managing her schedule and personal health.

This is the case for the many students who live on campus each year. With over 90 percent of first year students living in University Housing Residence Halls, University of Wisconsin-Madison students aren’t left to face these challenges alone. Services like social events, tutoring and advising are offered to students in their own residence halls as a means to adjust to college life.

Chadbourne Residential College Faculty Director John Zumbrunnen described the way that residence halls, and the interest-focused learning communities within some halls, help students connect with the help they need on campus.

Through their programs and services, University Housing helps students “get… in contact with faculty and staff so that you don’t have students who are feeling isolated or lost on campus or don’t know how to connect with resources,” Zumbrunnen said.

The “staffing model,” as described by Associate Director of Residence Life Cindy Holzmann, is one way Housing assists students as they adjust to the college life. Students can reach out and ask for help from their trained House Fellows. These floor leaders are supervised by professionals in College Student Development who help them guide the floor community, according to Holzmann. Throughout the dorms, other staff members support students with anything from helping students send out their mail to answering questions about what classes to take next semester.

The structure of the dorms themselves also allow residents to meet new people and develop groups of friends. Truong said the best part about living in the dorms was being around people all the time.

“In housing there’s all these people you wouldn’t have met otherwise or wouldn’t have been friends with otherwise,” Truong said.

Truong’s experience correlates with findings from a 2008 study titled “Residence Hall Architecture and Sense of Community” from the Journal Environment and Behavior. Researchers Devlin, Donovan, Nicolov, Nold and Zandan found that dorms that are arranged down a corridor with a shared bathroom, such as the design of the dorms at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, promote a sense of community more than suite style dorms. The basic layout is just another way University Housing encourage students to establish new relationships as they transition to their new environment.

Housing also aids students in the development in their social life by promoting events on campus, Holzmann said. Students can get out of the dorms and make friends by attending events that range from Inflatable Night in front of Gordon Dining Hall to trips to Devil’s Lake to Craft Night at the Union.

“We want you to understand what great resources are available all across campus once you are no longer living in the residence halls,” Holzmann said about campus events that take place outside of the dorms.

Besides making friends and finding new activities on campus, students also can struggle with academics. A dorm lifestyle, especially the learning communities, can help students because it connects them to peers and professionals who can guide them through career decisions or tough classwork.

Holzmann said students who are used to earning high grades but then struggle transitioning to a college workload often need help “resetting expectations” for classes.

“The majority of the students that we talk with will say college is harder than I thought it was going to be and my classes are harder than I thought they would be,” Holzmann said. She connects these students with tutors who can help with specific classes and advisors who can help students understand which classes are most important for their specific major.

In addition to the services, dorms are designed to promote academic success with multiple study spaces. For example, Ogg Residence Hall has three study spaces on each floor, according to Truong. There’s the social den where residents can hang out with friends, the quiet den for students who need to really focus, and a third room, which was converted from extended housing after the extra residents were transferred to open rooms, that’s used as an additional silent study room on Truong’s floor.

By living in University Housing, students are also connected to all the groups the University is connected to, including University Health Services, staff from the Counseling Center, University Police and the Dean of Students Office, according to Holzmann.

“There’s just a lot more, closer connection to all those campus resources than what you get off campus,” Holzmann said.

Students living in dorms on campus have access to services and programs that can boost their overall college experience. Learning communities try “to give students a sense of community and integration on a really large campus,” Zumbrunnen said. A combination of these services and events provide a dorm experience full of guidance and opportunities to grow academically and socially.

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Read on to see one freshman’s first year experience.