|
|
|
|
By Eric Sean Weld Nine years ago when Carolyn Lie '00, of Agoura Hills, California, first set foot on the Smith campus to watch her sister, Jacqueline, graduate, she remembers being impressed by the regal beauty of the dining hall in Franklin King House, where her sister lived. She noticed with awe the glass juice decanters and silver serving trays brought out for commencement weekend, a large oil painting presiding over the hall, and elaborately arranged hors d'oeuvres and entrées. "I thought she was really lucky," says Lie of her sister. "It all seemed very opulent. And that stuck with me." Six years later, as a high school senior shopping for colleges, Lie visited Smith and stayed in Cushing House. Again she was moved by what she described as the residence's stately sitting room and the individual, homey character of Smith's houses. "It was exactly as I remembered it as an 11-year-old," she recalls. "I still felt that aura about Smith that you feel when you come here."
It's not just the candlelight
dinners or the afternoon teas that make each residential house
a home. Whether it's Ziskind or Tyler, each house is unique and
inspires intense loyalty among its residents. So when the time came, in 1996, for Lie to make a decision about which college to attend, she recalled those first favorable views she had of the residence houses on campus and settled on Smith over schools like Barnard and Washington and Lee. Lie says the college's housing system had a major influence on her decision to come to school here. She'd grown up with Jacqueline's stories about candlelight dinners, house teas and other aspects of Smith's residential life, and she wanted to experience it for herself. Now after four years of living on campus-her first year in Comstock and the rest at Talbot-Lie says her original impressions of Smith's unique housing system have only grown more positive. "Your house is the defining thing in your life here," she says. "The first thing I ask another Smith student when I meet her is, 'What house do you live in?' Who you live with here is who your social life is structured around." Lie, like most students who live on campus, maintains a dogged allegiance to her house and its residents. She says without reservation that Talbot is the best house among all 35 residences in the campus system with its location in the northeast corner of the campus convenient to the Davis Student Center and downtown Northampton. She insists her house is the most outrageous on campus, due mostly to its hosting of the annual Immorality Party. But of all her house's attributes, Lie says it's her housemates that make it the best place for her. And when it comes time in May for Lie to walk across the stage and receive a diploma from President Ruth Simmons alongside other seniors from her house, she will cheer loud and proud for Talbot. Leila Sweidan '01, a government major from Malta, will cheer just as proudly with her senior housemates from Chapin Hall when the class of 2001 lines up to accept diplomas. "I think Chapin is one of the best houses, if not the best house, to live in on the Smith campus," says Sweidan. "Chapin is beautiful. It is in an ideal location. It has a character of its own. The sense of community in the house is very strong. Chapinites are very hard-working Smithies, yet still know how to have fun on the weekend." No matter which house they live in, Smith students seem fiercely committed to their residences. Each house has its own identifiable character, they insist. For decades, houses on the Quad have been thought of as the "party houses." Those on Green Street have the reputation of being quieter, more scholarly. It's the individual character of each house that seems to endear the college's residence system to students and inspire their loyalty to the place where they live. "In a college of 2,500 women, it is important for people to find a smaller group in which to identify themselves," says Sweidan. "Houses often serve that purpose. Each house is individual." A Smith Tradition Smith's housing system, a network of intertwined yet distinguishable residences scattered about campus, some in clusters, some more isolated, is a tradition that dates back to the college's origins. Since 1875, when the college welcomed its first 14 students to study here and live in Dewey House, Smith undergraduates have made their home away from home within the house-like residences on campus. Dewey still stands and houses faculty offices. Hubbard and Washburn houses, both built in 1879, still accommodate students. Many houses are graced with charmingly old-fashioned architecture. Inside each one, housemates share a high percentage of each other's lives as they dine together, partake in social and educational programs, watch sitcoms together and discuss issues of the day across the dinner table. It's the college's unique, student-governed
house system that helps attract many students to Smith. They're
immediately struck, they say, by the homeyness, the comfort and
the welcoming atmosphere in the houses when they visit campus.
"When I was in high school and looking at colleges, I thought
it was a lot more cozy, friendly, charming, and very endearing
here," says Elizabeth Farrington '00, who lives in Cushing
House after having spent her first year in Morrow. "The
rooms are pretty nice. I like the hardwood floors. It feels very
homey." "I spend mostly all of my time here," says Adrienne Mathews '03 of her Tyler House residence. "Pretty much I just leave to go to classes, parties, downtown. I do most of my studying here." "I do all my studying and homework at Chapin and much of my socializing," echoes Sweidan. "Most of my time is spent here." Many students agree it's the camaraderie they find among the ranks of their housemates that compels them to spend so much time at home. "I feel very close to my housemates," Sweidan says. "We all eat here every day, and that is a large part of encouraging good relationships among housemates. Students here often do not have much time during the week to socialize." Certainly one of the college's objectives is to foster students' appreciation for their on-campus residences. The college wants students to feel comfortable and inspired within their house life. That's why the Residence Life staff, a group of about 70 employees and student workers in the dean of students office, endeavors every year to schedule an ambitious agenda of in-house educational, informational and entertaining programs. During the past year, students in various houses could attend panels and workshops on diversity and appreciation of different ethnic backgrounds, join up to construct houses for low-income families through Habitat for Humanity, take trips together to see a show or to shop in New York City, play intramural sports, or even take a class that met right in their house. In addition, a host of house improvements during the past five years strives to make life in the student houses more comfortable, fun and healthy. As a result of the college's 1996 self-study, several projects have been launched to improve residence life. Renovations and expansions have been carried out on several houses, including Chapin and Tyler; satellite fitness centers equipped with treadmills and StairMasters have been installed in convenient locations around campus for students' use; and an ambitious plan to place new pianos in the common area of every student house is in the works. "The residential experience is central to Smith students' experience," says the college's new dean of students, Mela Dutka. "Its quality is critical. Here is a small community in which students can form wonderful relationships with one another. Living on campus is in itself a learning experience." But as wonderful and dynamic as the house experience can be, to get the most out of their Smith education, students need to develop relationships and activities outside their house as well, emphasizes Dutka. "A student's house is a wonderful home base," she says, "but it can't be the only community in which a student lives." To get the most from a Smith education, Dutka says, a student must balance the time spent in her house with time spent in class and in other activities outside of class and her house. Dutka and her staff are focused on creating meaningful and educational opportunities for students outside the classroom. "Students' out-of-class learning experience is as valuable as the in-class learning experience," she says. It's through club involvement, work-study jobs, community activities, and participation in religious groups and student organizations that students can gain life experience that complements the knowledge gained in class and in their houses. Statistics show that the more involved a student is in activities and organizations around campus, the more likely she is to perform well academically, thrive personally, and have a successful college experience, Dutka says. The classroom is critical to students' education, she says, but it won't provide the "totality of their learning experience. There's no one arena that can teach all you need to know. Part of our goal is to help students become a part of more than one community, to try out interaction in many communities." Still, regardless of what communities they involved themselves in as students, what they chose to study, or which clubs they joined, many alums will tell you it's their house and their housemates that they identify with years after they have left Smith. Elizabeth Speas '44, of Northampton, says she considers the friends she made while living in Talbot House during her final two years at Smith the most valuable aspect of her time here. Some of them were so close, she says, that they have met socially at least once a year for 40 years in Speas' former hometown of Baltimore. Speas' classmate, Elizabeth von Klemperer '44, Esther C. Dunn Professor Emeritus of English, says friends she made while living in Haven and Dawes houses are still important to her. "The ties formed in college are very strong," says von Klemperer, who organized her 55th reunion last May, drawing 90 members from her class. "We were very close back then and have remained so." Some of today's students acknowledge the limits that Smith's housing system can apply to social opportunities and accessibility to activities outside the residences. Though they value living with a small group of women in a self-governing community, they admit that larger, dormitory-like housing would at least provide a broader pool of potential friends and associates. But the trade-off is worth it, they say. It's precisely the smallness and the close-knit intimacy in the houses that give them their welcoming, homey feel. Put everyone together in one central dining hall, or build dormitories that could house hundreds of students in one building, and that feeling would likely be lost. "I really like the house as a community environment," says Jessica Shafer '02, one of 80 residents of Ziskind House. "I like having your own dining room, your own living room, a place where everyone gathers and watches TV and hangs out together. I like the open atmosphere." "The social system here is limiting because of the housing system," admits Lie. "But in the long run it's worth it. The friendships that you do have are closer and more meaningful." Lie had high expectations when she first arrived on campus fresh with stories from her sister about house life. Now in her senior year, she says all her sister's stories came true and more. "My expectations have definitely been surpassed," she says. "Around the dinner table last night, we were talking about how lucky we all are. It's so nice to be around these women who realize how special it is to be here." Among the positive experiences Lie counts in her four years at Smith, it's the relationships she's developed that she most values. "My good experiences at Smith are derived directly from my good experiences with my friends in my house," she says. "My favorite thing about living here is the lifelong friends that I've met." |
..............................................................................................................................................................
NewsSmith
is published by the Smith College Office of College Relations
for alumnae, staff, students and friends.
Copyright © 2000, Smith College. Portions of this publication
may be reproduced with the permission of the Office
of College Relations, Garrison Hall, Smith College, Northampton,
Massachusetts 01063. Last update: 5/2/2000.
Made
with Macintosh
