"Life in the Dorms"
Mattion Hiebner
Chapter 2
- Dorm doors and hallways
- "Mandatory" meetings
- Classes Starting
Are We Having Fun Yet?
Book observations:
Dorm doors and hallways-
- Filled with messages in the form of flyers, bulletin boards, photos, collages, and jokes
- RA's doors were decked out with decorations
- Bulletin boards were decorated by the RA, usually relating to the time of the year
- One usually contained information about academics and one about health related topics and the rest were fun facts or images
- RA's made door tags and welcome signs for the students
- Most of the girls made their own tags and took down the RA's stuff while the boys left theirs up
My observations:
Dorm doors and hallways-
- Most of the doors are filled with the name tags from the RA's
- Bulletin boards are decorated by the RA, usually with advice or activities that are available for students to participate in
- The white boards provided for every room are usually filled with messages from other people or the people living in the room
- Most of the girls in my hallway have created their own door tags or have decorated their doors with seasonal items, the boys either have their original tags still on the door or they took them down
The Absolutely Positively Mandatory First Hall Meeting
Book Observations:
"Mandatory" Meetings-
- The first hall meetings was absolutely mandatory
- Not everyone showed up
- Talked about policies and keeping your private life private so it doesn't give the RA's a reason to come in to your room
- Even less people showed up to the meetings after that
- Met in the lounge of the residence hall
My Observations:
"Mandatory" Meetings-
- Met in the auditorium
- All freshman were required to go
- Talked about policies and what they expect out of the students
- Also had a freshman hall meeting with our hall RA
- This was an opportunity to get to know the other people in your hall and present ideas to the RA for activities throughout the year
- As the year has gone on, less people have been showing up to the meetings
School Days
Book Observations:
Classes Starting-
- Most of the students (freshman) didn't make it to all their classes
- Students were studying less and socializing less but spending more time working at jobs
- Nathan lived around students who were involved in clubs that fit their interests and groups, some requiring community service
- Many students multitasked while they did their homework
- The time students went to sleep depended on their class schedules
- The huge variation of classes made it difficult for Nathan to interact with everyone because she rarely saw the same people unless they were in one of her classes
My Observations:
Classes Starting-
- Bethel campus is easy to get around, some students didn't make it to their classes if their was a mix up
- There is a lot of socializing being done that involves studying
- Being at a small college means that most are involved in sports and organizations so they keep busy
- Many multitask while doing their homework
- The sleep schedule of a student depends on their classes