The Whitworthian

Issue date: 2/27/07 Last Updated: 8/9/07

Tyler Zuck/Whitworthian Freshman Caleb Kaplowitz, junior Taylor Counts, sophomore Dan Lewis and senior Kalen Spees play video games in a pod in Duvall Hall last week.

As the spring semester gets underway, the newest dorm on campus, Duvall Hall, is working to develop its own identity.

Developing strong community life in a large building like Duvall presents difficulties that are not impossible to overcome, said April McGonigal, resident director of Duvall.

McGonigal said Duvall's community pod setup, where between six and eight students are housed together, can make it difficult for these clusters of students to establish close dorm-wide community.

"I think students are enjoying the pod communities," McGonigal said. "There are some challenges and it is harder to get to know people from other pods."

Such challenges are being addressed by the resident assistants.

Junior Kyle Pflug, RA on the second floor, said he and other RAs are working together to create strong community life among Duvall residents by organizing activities in which all students can participate.

"We focus on inter-pod activities with team competitions made up of students from each pod," Pflug said.

Pflug said developing solid community life is still in the experimental stage this year. Once RAs establish a good system for bringing the community together, Duvall can establish a unique campus identity.

Prime times and dorm activities in the lounges make for the best ways to unite the large building. McGonigal said students have played indoor badminton games and watch television shows in the movie rooms.

Pflug agrees that Duvall's spacious lounges are an outlet unique to the dorm.

"The lounges are where students get to know each other," Pflug said.

Due to the sheer size of the building, students living in Duvall tend to hang out with fellow students living in their pod instead of branching out. McGonigal said such problems are common around campus.

Students living in a more traditional building like Baldwin-Jenkins Hall or Arend Hall may not have the best housing set up for their personality, McGonigal said. Buildings like Stewart, Boppell or Duvall may fit their tastes better.

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