Intellectual Climate
Wedriesday, April 23, 2014 • page 11
arrive at residence haiis
neighborhoods for the fall.
Every residential area will be led by a
Neighborhood Association that is co
chaired by an assistant director of residence
life and a faculty director or member. Each
association will be programmed differently
depending on the theme and population of
the neighborhood.
“We have a neighborhood plan that
talks about intellectual culture, personal
development and community understand
ing and skills,” Allocco said. “These reflect
the goals of Elon’s core curriculum and
they’re developmentally appropriate for
largely first-year students.”
The theme for the Global Neighbor
hood this year is “Religion and Conflict.”
Allocco coordinates rotating activities ev
ery Tuesday. The first Tuesday every month
is a house dinner in which all students in
the neighborhood are invited to eat an in
ternational meal and engage in a lecture
and discussion led by faculty members.
On the second Tuesday, organizations and
departments visit the residence halls to
hold informal conversations about topics
dealing with their entity. The third Tues
day involves events organized by student
mentors such as RAs, Cultural and Lin
guistic Mentors and Residential Learning
Assistants, and on the fourth Tuesday, the
neighborhood shows an acclaimed inter
national documentary film.
Junior Madeline Monaco, an RA in
Global Building 4, said the events made
faculty more relatable and, as a result, were
something she wishes she’d had her fresh
man year.
“The Tuesday events were the most vis
ible element of the Residential Campus
Initiative. The variety of events that are of
fered, the different faculty who participate
and the varying times of the events are all
reasons for which the events have seen
success this year,” she said.
Freshman Alex Vandermaas-Peeler,
who lives in Global Building 4, said the
neighborhood is leading the way for Resi
dence Life programming.
“The Tuesday events are a really fantas
This summer Bravo, who is from Costa Rica, wiii move to the Giobai Neighborhood to join her advisees, the international Fellows.
CAROLINE OLNEY I Photo Editor
tic way to connect what we are learning
inside the classroom to our living situa
tion,” she said. “It is really significant to
have programming that is so enriching and
challenging.”
Expanding Roles
Bravo, Pardini and Allocco all said their
roles have expanded since residing on
campus, and it has only helped their rela
tionship with students.
“I’m able to have lunch and dinner with
students and know them on a much more
personal level,” Bravo said. “You’re walk
ing into Moseley and a student has a quick
question. Those types of interactions aren’t
formal and don’t necessarily happen all the
time, but they accumulate quickly.”
Pardini agreed with Bravo, saying that
living in the Honors Pavilion has been an
enriching experience.
“I see the students as they are outside of
the classroom,” he said. “We see each other
as regular people. I get to know them well
and understand their problems. I get to
know their fears [and] hopes and see how
they grow intellectually from one semester
to another.”
Allocco said doing residential campus
work improved her classroom teaching and
vice versa.
“I don’t understand this as a separate
role so much as a complementary role that
really enables me to expand the venues in
which I teach,” she said. “It gives me an
opportunity to model intellectual inquiry
for the students all the time.”
As for any additional benefits, Bravo
said there’s always the chance she can im
press her colleagues.
“Sometimes I run into professors on
weekends who are on campus for certain
events, and they might think I am working
all the time,” she said.