Residence halls provide variety of experiences

Dan Hoffman Arizona Daily Wildcat Undeclared freshman Kevin O'Neil passes some time by bouncing a Ping-Pong ball in his Arizona-Sonora dorm room. Simple pleasures like this are a well-earned break from studying for the over 2,000 students living in residence halls.

"Everyone still hates them, though," added Katherine Kruft, a psychology freshman.

Kruft said she knew Coronado had a reputation as the classic freshman residence hall and chose to live there for that reason. She said she now feels she may be getting a greater taste then she wanted.

In the smaller Yuma Residence Hall , fire alarms aren't as common.

"We haven't had fire alarms go off but somebody did saran-wrap the toilets last week," said Rupali Roy, undeclared freshman and Yuma Hall resident.

Roy said such pranks are not that frequent at Yuma, which was one factor in her choosing the honors hall. Yuma is one of three residence halls open to honors students who must maintain a minimum 3.5 grade point average.

Every year, about 5,000 students like Kruft and Roy sample the diversity of residence hall experiences and options.

Dorm-dwellers may choose from 17 residence halls. Each hall affords a different experience, said Greg Ziebell, assistant director for Residence Life.

"There's a history here that residence halls take on a personality or characteristic. They all have their own unique architecture and flavor," Ziebell said.

Some residence hall experiences, however, are more unique than others. For the 37 residents of Sierra Residence Hall, one of three halls in the Stadium Hall system, home is buried in the bowels of Arizona Stadium.

The rooms are dark and of various shapes and sizes. Pitched football battles often rage overhead. Regardless, retailing and consumer studies junior Gigi Johnson loves life in Sierra.

"You get used to the dark and you can sleep when the rest of the stadium halls cannot because the sun is out," Johnson said.

And the football games overhead?

"You can't even hear it unless the band starts playing really loud and the people start stomping their feet," she said.

Some dorms promise a certain type of community: all-male, all-female, honors or substance-free.

Elementary education junior Jocelyn Meadows opted for Coconino Residence Hall, an all-female dorm.

"It's quieter and there's a more comfortable atmosphere. You can walk down the hallway in a towel and it's not a big deal," Meadows said.

In all-female Maricopa Residence Hall, residents do not sleep in their rooms. Instead they bunk in a sleeping porch filled with row after row of beds. Residents have their own bed in the sleeping porch.

Resident and nutritional sciences freshman Miriam Tseng said she loves the sleeping arrangement.

"The sleeping porches are really wonderful because my roommate can stay up studying really late in our room while I go to sleep undisturbed," Tseng said.

Psychology sophomore Alfredo Leal is spending his third year at Cochise Residence Hall, the all-male version of Coconino and Maricopa. He said the majority of the residents appreciate the all-male aspect.

"Sometimes you get guys saying 'I wish there was at least one wing of females' but then they think about it and say, 'no, it's better for study habits and academic purposes,'" Leal said.

Coronado, the largest dorm on campus, offers aerospace engineering freshman JoyAnn Rudd a different experience.

"The hall is so big it's hard to meet people," Rudd said, adding that of late false fire alarms occur almost once a week.

Regardless of these late night interferences, fine arts freshman Cory Howard said he found Coronado's atmosphere invigorating.

"It's a real social dorm. It's definitely not a study dorm, but it's an experience not to be missed," Howard said.

Some residents who moved to apartment complexes after a stay in a residence hall said that though they welcome the freedom and extra space, they do find themselves missing certain aspects of dorm life.

"I really enjoyed being in the middle of campus and having lots of people around at all hours of the day," said mathematics sophomore AndyLowe, who moved from Yuma into an off campus apartment this year.

Ziebell said residence life is trying to emphasize that residence halls are more than a place to sleep.

"We're creating living environments that are going to encourage learning because that's what a residence hall is about," he said.