This year, O'Hare's Wellness Community received over twice as many applications as it did last year.
According to Greer Jason, director of Fordham's Office of Residential Life, over 70 Fordham students applied, compared to last year's 30 applicants. In order to meet this new demand, Wellness Housing will be expanded to two wings in O'Hare, instead of just the current one.
"If students had the interest in living in this type of community, the University wanted to support that interest," Jason said.
Residents living in Wellness Housing make a commitment as a community to live substance-free. Wellness appeals to "residents looking for a place to live where they're not going to be pressured for their choice to live substance -free, and an environment where those choices will be encouraged and explored," Jason said. These residents are "also looking to live with people who share their values and are willing to have fun without using substances."
However, Jason suggested that the increase in applicants for Wellness housing this year was not necessarily due to a less-experimentally-inclined student body, but rather could be a result of the increased popularity of Fordham's residential communities.
"Students have had really positive learning experiences in their Integrated Learning Communities, and they want to seek out and continue those experiences as upperclassmen," she said.
Amanda Deal, FCRH '11, plans to live in Wellness next year for precisely this reason.
"I don't drink, and I want to be around other people who don't drink, but most importantly I want to continue the Queen's Court [substance-free] tradition next year," she said.
Bianca DeCastro, FCRH '11, also wants to live in Wellness for the same reasons. "I like community-oriented living-like I have at Queen's Court."
Residents from other communities besides Queen's Court are also interested in this community experience. More than twice as many Tierney residents applied for Wellness this year as last year. A larger number of applications for Wellness Housing also came from students currently living in Hughes Hall.
2008 Woodie Awards
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