A couple of weeks ago, as I made my way to my apartment through the lobby of The Woods Apartments, Millikin University’s apartment complex only offered to students, I noticed a large group of both incoming sophomores and other upper classmen, as well as officials of Millikin University’s Office of Residence Life, including Paul Lidy and Josh Parker, all gathered together, in order to get students to sign leases for the upcoming school year. Labeled a lease-signing party, students of Millikin University were invited to come to the lobby of The Woods in order to sign their leases, while also allowing students to participate in a raffle and a pizza party. Through my eyes, I saw this as a way of both the Office of Residence Life and The Woods to encourage less than eager students to take part in Millikin University’s upperclassmen housing option.

For a majority of students at Millikin University, the thought of The Woods brings both feelings of contempt and hostility, due largely in part of The Woods being the only sophomore and junior option to live in. Because of these negative feelings, many students are extremely weary to sign leases for The Woods, much less get involved with the staff who coordinates the flow of students moving into the apartment complex. Nevertheless, through acts of interaction and gather, done in a multitude of different ways, the officials of both Millikin University’s Office of Residence Life as well as the staff of The Woods, these officials aim at creating a fun environment for the students who occupy the apartment complex.

During the course of last semester, or more importantly the first semester in which sophomores and juniors were all living in The Woods apartments, both Millikin University’s Office of Residence Life as well as the staff of The Woods coordinated on gatherings in order to both bring students together and to be better able to accept their current living position at The Woods apartments. During the course of last semester, the officials of both the Office of Residence Life and The Woods offered a diverse range of activities that students who were living in The Woods were able to attend. Specifically, at the beginning of last semester, the Office of Residence life and the staff of The Woods coordinated on a cook-out for students living in The Woods. In the middle courtyard centered between the buildings of The Woods, students were able to both participate in games such as bags while also being able to eat food provided by the officials of the Office of Residence life and The Woods, while also being able to meet with officials such as Paul Lidy. Furthermore, as the semester went by, during October as Halloween grew closer and closer, the Office of Residence Life and The Woods offered students living in The Woods a chance to watch scary movies together in the theatre of The Woods, located in the basement of the lobby, as a chance for students to get together and celebrate the upcoming holiday while utilizing the entertainment resources that The Woods provides.

This semester has offered other chances for students living in The Woods, as well as incoming residents of The Woods, a chance to experience the utilities of The Woods in fun ways. Besides the lease signing parties, which will be offered two other times during the course of the semester, The Woods is throwing a Super Bowl party again in The Woods theatre, allowing football fans living in The Woods to come together and ring in the major athletic event, in an area with comfortable couches and high defined televisions.