Summer 2007 - Hood College

Summer 2007Hood Magazine 15C A M P U S L I F EThe need and the desire among studentsfor more social activities and entertainmenthave grown, too. Miller oversees the CampusActivities Board, the student organizationthat helps plan and execute a majority of thestudent-run events throughout the year,including traditional Hood events such as“welcome back” for students in the fall,Family Weekend, “Fright Night” forHalloween, coffeehouses and making preexam“goodie” bags, as well as events such asperformances by hypnotists, comedians andbands on the residential quadrangle, in TheLoft and in the Whitaker Atrium. Big screenmovie nights are also held in Rosenstock HallAuditorium and in the Hodson OutdoorTheatre.One person who has seen the changes frommultiple perspectives is Danielle Allen ’05,M.B.A. ’07, assistant women’s basketballcoach and graduate residence director ofMeyran Hall. Allen is one of only a handfulof people who experienced Hood in herundergraduate career as both a women’s collegeand a fully coeducational institution. ThePennsylvania native has also seen the associatedgrowth of the College student body fromthe perspective of a staff member.“People are enthusiastic,” Allen said,“because there are so many more things to getexcited about.”Out of necessity, things have changed inthe residence halls. All residence halls exceptShriner Hall are now coed residences anddesignated floors are coed as well, exceptfloors with only one restroom and showerarea, as is the case in Memorial and Smithhalls and certain wings of Coblentz Hall.Each hall still has a president and housecouncil; GRDs like Allen reside in each residencehall and work with undergraduate residentassistants who are assigned to each floorin each hall.Because more students are living on campusthan at any time in Hood’s history, theCollege has leased apartments off campus forthe second straight year. In 2002, the residencehalls were two-thirds full, with 420students living on campus. Four years later,and after making room for 20 additional students,the residence halls housed 658 womenand men. In the 2006-07 academic year theCollege leased five two-bedroom apartmentsnearby to house 20 juniors and seniors. Inthe upcoming year, the College will lease10 additional apartments that will house40 more students.Shane McCarrick ’08 finds time to play a pick-up game of volleyball with friends on Hood’s residential quad.The increase in students has also led tochallenges with parking, making finding aspace difficult during peak times. About 40additional parking spaces have been addedaround campus over the past few summers,and the board of trustees at its June meetingapproved the construction of a 160-space lotthat will be ready by winter.The new spaces will bring the availableparking spaces to about 923, including thoseon campus and on nearby Rosemont,Ferndale, Evergreen and Magnolia avenues,which Rick Puller, director of campus safetyand security, believes will be adequate.Beginning last year, neighbor FrederickMemorial Hospital began allowing Hoodstudents to use its parking deck after 4 p.m.weekdays.Allen attests to the changing atmosphereon campus. “The campus has diversified inmore ways than one,” Allen said. “Not only“It is more lively andthere’s something goingon all the time.”have the demographics of the residence hallschanged but the overall atmosphere on campushas been transformed. It is more livelyand there’s something going on all the time.”And in the process, students are growing—together.That growth has led to the expansion ofstudent support and resources and includesleadership development training for studentgroups, through programs such as thoseoffered in the Center for Leadership andService.“Successful programming leads to studentsatisfaction,” Miller said, “which in turn leadsto retention and greater interest.“It’s been about the students,” Miller said,“and what our students have done in makingthis transition work. If not for them, wewouldn’t be where we are today.” ■Danielle Allen ’05, M.B.A. ’07Assistant Women’s Basketball Coach andGraduate Residence Director of Meyran Hall