For many freshmen, a dorm quickly shifts from being just a place to sleep to the place they will make friends, memories and routines that will stick with them for the rest of their college experience.
Dorms in the Presidential Village are some of the most sought-after places to live.
“Presidential Village I and II filled the quickest during freshman room selection last year,” said Alicia Browne, director of housing administration.
One unique benefit to living in the Presidential Community is the direct access the residents have to the Robert E. Witt Student Activity Center, which has basketball courts, a rock wall, a weight room, a convenience-style retail store and restaurant stands.
The layout of these dorms is likely one of the reasons they are so popular. The Presidential dorms primarily offer four-bedroom suites, including a bathroom, kitchenette and living area that gives students more space than a traditional-style dorm.
“My room has just enough space. It’s not cramped, but there’s not too much space,” said Carley Clem, a freshman majoring in nursing.
Another perk is their closet and bathroom size, which is significantly bigger than the other suite-style dorms.
“I feel like the best thing about my dorm is the closet, because I know a lot of people don’t have as much closet space,” said Addison Armstrong, a freshman majoring in chemical engineering.
Apart from the amenities in their dorm room, students who live in Presidential Village, have access to two communal kitchens, a game room, a laundry room and a common space. However, most of these additions are not specific to the Presidential Community and are available in the other freshman dorms as well.
“At the beginning of the semester, I would meet people in the kitchen when they would bake cookies,” said Jaxson Liening, a freshman majoring in computer science and mathematics. “It was a good social space.”
While these common facilities provide many benefits to the residents who have access to them, the large population in Presidential Village poses a challenge to their availability. Being able to house roughly 900 students in each dorm, the communal facilities are often occupied around the clock, especially the single laundry room with 16 washers and 24 dryers.
“People like to not take their stuff out. So the machines get full really quickly, making it difficult to do your laundry at any normal time,” said Lilly Hensley, a freshman majoring in nursing.
The large number of residents in Presidential Village also contributes to its reputation as a more social dorm, which students say comes with its perks and downsides.
“It is definitely very social at all hours of the day, and I enjoy it because it’s easy to talk to people, and at the beginning of the year it was good to make new friends,” Clem said.
However, some residents say that cleanliness is an issue.
“I would say it’s very clean on weekdays, but it gets bad on the weekends when people come back intoxicated, and then they will destroy the elevators and the hallways, punch out ceiling tiles, run into walls, rip out water fountains or sometimes puke inside of the elevators,” Liening said.
Another downside to these dorms is their location on the north edge of campus, placing them far away from the center of campus where most classes are located.
“The worst thing about my dorm is it’s the farthest dorm away from everything, so everything is at least a 20-minute walk,” Clem said.
Despite the criticisms she has for her dorm, Clem still recommends it to future students.
“If you are like me, you like to be around people, but sometimes you need your own space,” Clem said. “You get that in the Presidential dorms.”