Second News Story & Feature

Sorry this is so late onto my blog, posting these slipped my mind.

Feature-
Many years ago in Stimson Hall, a hall mom was in charge of the hall. Heather E. Coakley is bringing that unique feel back as she works as a Residential Education Director.
Hailing from Illinois, Heather graduated from North Central College with a degree in Speech Communication and a minor in Theater and Organizational Leadership. She is now pursuing her Masters at Washington State University in Higher Education Administration while working as a Residential Education Director in Stimson Hall.
As a RED, Heather works to do much supervision, advising and administrative tasks concerning the function of Stimson as a residence hall, but to call it at that would not do her job justice. Heather works to build community and involvement in the hall while helping students grow as they get to know themselves and their leadership potential.
“I get to know the residents really well, I have tons of fun, I do things at my job and sometimes I have to pinch myself and say, I’m getting to do this as my job,” Heather said.
Heather brings a unique feel as a leader to Stimson Hall, something that has not been felt in many years, being the only female and acting as a hall “mom” if you will.
“She has embraced Stimson by investing herself into the hall and in turn has become a place she calls home.
“She is something new and I think that they enjoy that she brings a new dynamic to the hall,” Nathanael K. Fairchild, resident of Stimson and friend of Heather, said.
Although there is a great potential for bumps along the way the addition of a female RED in an all-male residence hall has been very smooth.
“I think the hall has embraced Heather well, being that she’s the first female hall director here since the early nineties. I feel like the hall has been very good trying to get to know her,” John M. Powers, her coworker and friend, said.
Due to the way the hall has embraced her, the staff and some residents are referring to her as “mom.”
I find it comical in the fact that it shows the staff has come to embrace her, and also how she has embraced the staff. Both parties are comfortable with that, it’s representative of the fact that it is a change to the hall as she is a female in the hall, Powers said.
Stimson has been a very traditional and historic hall. Built in 1922, Stimson has been a very traditional hall. Stimson has always valued community and camaraderie within the hall.
“I just love local history. I came from a town that had a lot of local history. They really liked to celebrate their heritage. To come to a building that has a similar pride in its history is really cool because there is so much there, I'm still finding out things about the history,” Heather said.
Some of the unique characteristics Stimson has is its unique recruitment.
“The most unique thing about Stimson is the way we recruit Resident Advisors. We call them Sponsors here, a system that's been in place since the 30s, when the house mom decided she needed helpers,” Heather said.
In the end, Heather is working towards her goals with higher education administration and Stimson Hall is a stop along the way where she is there to influence the residents and the residents influence her.
“Things are going great. People know I am here, they know they can come to me, they do and that is all I can really ask for,” Heather said.
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2nd News Story-
You must have heard the rumors, right? The rumors about Duncan-Dunn being torn down. Or how about the rumors about Community too? Oh, and do not forget Ganon-Goldsworthy and KMac as well.
The development of the residence halls has been a slow process for the last few years, Olympia Hall being the first new addition in thirty years. There have been numerous remodels and renovations but nothing completely new. Washington State University Housing and Dining Services was working on new plans for the residence halls during that time.
WSU Housing and Dining Services was working with Mithun, an architectural company, to plan future residence hall buildings. The original plan was called Precinct One and was to tear down Ganon-Goldsworthy and KMac and put in 4 buildings overlooking a courtyard, said Director of Housing and Conference Services Robert B. Tattershall.
Due to the features and expenses of a new residence hall, the price of living in that hall may be increased compared to other residence halls. However, the students do not seem to mind.
“Over 700 students picked Olympia Hall as their first choice, only about 200 can live in Olympia. It worries us that it is by far the most expensive, but Olympia is beyond the most popular on campus,” said Tattershall.
Just like Olympia Hall, future residence hall building projects are sure to be environmentally friendly.
Yes, they will be environmentally sustainable. You can do green things like replace windows and change the heating, but you will never be able to do near as many green things compared to building something completely new, said Tattershall.
There are many features surrounding Olympia Hall.
Some of the big things are that we are entirely card access. We are the first green residence hall, for instance all the materials came from within 500 miles of Pullman, and all over the hall is sustainable information such as the low energy lights and the low flow toilets, said Residential Education Director Meg E. Autrey.
A great example of the issues WSU faces as they look at the future of the residence halls on campus lies in Duncan-Dunn.
“You can renovate these things but you can’t really renovate them in a way to meet the student’s needs today. We allow microwaves in Olympia, that’s the only place we can allow it, the electrical is not enough in other halls,” said Tattershall.
Duncan-Dunn was shut down for the fall semester of 2009. The reasons were because of Olympia and cost.
“Duncan-Dunn has quite a few facility problems. The roof needs to be replaced, the plumbing needs to be replaced, just about every year some bathroom has to go offline for a few days or a week while we replace some pipes. The building is just inefficient. If we close it we save a bunch of money.”
A Duncan-Dunn alumni shows his opinion about Duncan-Dunn.
“Well, I must admit that I’m pretty sad that it’s considered being torn down because I had such an amazing experience there my freshman year, but I can see why WSU decided to shut it down,” said student Brett Melnrick.
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