If there’s one thing that jumped out to junior Bridget Whalen about McIntyre’s dorm culture this year, it’s the conversation.
“They’re so incredibly willing to engage and initiate conversation, it’s really impressive,” Whalen, the head resident assistant of the girls’ freshman dorm, said. “They look me in the eyes and talk to me, it doesn’t matter if we’ve had a real conversation before.”
McIntyre sits on the outskirts of campus, hidden by fellow women’s dorms and neighbor to the Slayton Arboretum. Hosting only freshmen women and the lion’s share of female freshman athletes, its community hasn’t always had a strong presence in the past. This year, its RA team is committed to enlivening the culture in a new way.
“You have to intentionally go there,” sophomore resident assistant Vivian Turnbull said. “We are going to try to do more bonfires and maybe a worship night or something, just to use the outdoor space.”
The team really hopes to build on the culture from last year to build a welcoming and restful space.
“I actually saw what I wanted it to look like last year in little snippets here and there. Big groups of girls, studying together in the lobbies, being together, celebrating someone’s birthday in the lobby and everybody who walked through it would stop and say happy birthday. That was really impressive,” Whalen said.
Whalen believes those study parties and conversations are the practical application of an important aspect of developing a philosophical habit of mind.
She pointed to John Henry Newman’s lectures on the liberal arts, in which he talks about the philosophical habit of mind as one of the most essential parts of learning.
“Students are forming their minds rather than just memorizing knowledge. You have to cultivate a philosophical habit, that’s why it’s called a habit. You have to put the work in and it becomes a way of living,” she said.
Although the work of cultivating the mind has to be done by the freshmen girls themselves, Whalen believes she can work to develop the right atmosphere.
“My ultimate vision is just to make it a place that they want to come back to in the evenings,” Whalen said.
Creating a place that strikes a balance between being a retreat, and being a place where girls can socialize is an important aspect of building dorm culture, Turnbull said.
“There’s a good balance of being able to go back to the dorm and rest, but there’s always going to be someone around to top,” she said.
Between dorm breakfasts and study parties, the girls have many opportunities to meet and engage with their dorm mates.
“The girls are really welcoming, most of us have our doors open randomly, and we talk to one another all the time,” freshman Malina Ladzinski said. “I think the biggest thing about Mac’s community is how you’ll randomly find girls in the couch area, and they’re just talking about random things, laughing about our schoolwork, and just hanging out.”
As homecoming approaches, the McIntyre RA team is excited to make it as fun as possible for their residents.
“I’ve already noticed several things that are just perfect. For instance, my team of RA’s are already putting so much work into it, work that I could never do. I don’t have the imagination for these things, but they do, and they want to share it and make it great,” Whalen said. “We don’t care about placing, we just want to have fun.”
Whalen says she is impressed by the way her team has worked together to brainstorm and develop ideas.
“I anticipate that week being absolutely utterly exhausting and energetically debilitating. I’m going to be drained,” Whalen said. “It’s going to be so worth it – it will have been more than worth it and will more than pay for itself.”
For Whalen, being a resident assistant and creating dorm culture is a beautiful example of Christian self-sacrifice.
“There’s no greater love man has than to lay down his life for a friend,” Whalen said. “And, in a way, they’re sacrificing so much, they’re laying down parts of their lives for these freshmen, and they love it, so how can you not be impressed? It’s really cool.”
