Lakeview provides new learning environment

The benefits and distinctiveness of the new Living and Learning programs are coming into view after five weeks of school have put them to the test in and out of the classroom.

"The strength of Living and Learning is that it just brings people that are different together that would normally be fragmented," said sophomore Dan Colosimo, a member of the Civic Engagement House.

There are five year-long Living and Learning programs that comprise 16 students each, including a resident adviser -- Civic Engagement House, Spanish in the Community, Political Campaign House, Earth Lodge, and Life, Literature and Art.

Each program includes a class related to the house theme as well as academic and social activities. Students live in the co-ed Lakeview dorm that opened at the beginning of this semester; students from each program live in the same hall.

The Civic Engagement House features the class Urban Crisis In America, taught by Amy Howard, director of the Bonner Center for Civic Engagement. This is the third year Howard has taught a Living and Learning class.

The class covers national and Richmond urban history along with problems that have developed since World War II. Students are creating a documentary film in groups as a final project on topics such as homelessness, gentrification, gangs in Richmond, AIDS and public education.

Colosimo is working on the documentary on gangs in Richmond, and said it was challenging and a lot of work, but in a good way.

"This is the class I have learned the most in ever at Richmond," Colosimo said. "I feel like I know why things [are] the way they are."

Civic Engagement House has taken a Richmond City bus tour, participated in a poverty simulation and is planning to attend the mayoral debate, Howard said.

The Life, Literature and Art course is based on Arnold Weinstein's book, "A Screen Goes Through the House," said Della Fenster, the program's professor. Fenster is also an associate professor of mathematics and teaches Core.

"We're looking at what we learn about critical questions of life through literature and art," Fenster said.

The class has met with guest speakers and lecturers including Dana Gioia, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, which Fenster said was one of the class's most rewarding activities. The group has also done a ropes course and learned Chinese calligraphy.

"They're involved almost in your daily life which is very unusual," sophomore Marianne Williams said about the professors in the program. "I think it helps emphasize that academia and life are not separate things."

Spanish in the Community is taught by Carlos Valencia, director of technology for the Latin American and Iberian Studies Department and coordinator of Languages Across the Curriculum. The class is taught exclusively in Spanish, including the textbook. Students in the program also have to complete 20 hours of community service.

Junior Lauren Davis is working at an internship at the Supreme Court of Virginia, shadowing an interpreter to complete her community service hours. She would not have done this internship or tried interpreting if not for this class, Davis said.

Valencia is working on a spring break trip to Cuba for the class, Davis said.

Davis also said she liked that the dorm was co-ed because it made the program more enriching and broke down gender barriers that exist in gender-segregated dorms.

Sophomore Karin Eastby, from Political Campaign House, also said she liked that the dorms were co-ed. She said when her roommate had a question on a homework assignment from a class a male student in her program was also in, her roommate could walk down the hall to ask the question instead of walking over to a male dorm where people would wonder why she was there, Eastby said.

The Political Campaign House is closely following the 2008 presidential race and is studying presidential, mayoral and senate races and campaigns, said Dan Palazzolo, professor for the program and professor of political science.

Palazzolo said he was unsure at first how class discussion would go because there were students who were strong advocates for both presidential candidates, but the students so far had respected each other's opinions.

Students in the "Campaign 2008" class have to either create a campaign ad or spend 10 volunteer hours involved in a campaign before the presidential election.

Eastby is working with University of Richmond for Obama to register voters and is canvassing to complete her required hours.

"I realized that I'm more interested in politics than I originally thought," Eastby said.

The Earth Lodge residents are taking a class called Natural Reflections of Fiction and Nonfiction and focuses on how humans affect nature, sophomore Alix Ablaza said.

The class also fulfills the American Literature general education requirement.

Students in the class had an opportunity to go on a camping trip before the semester began and plan on going caving, camping and hiking.

"[The class] gives me more opportunities to do more things that I wouldn't normally do as a college student," Ablaza said.

The class is writing a blog about their events as well as quotes, comments and pictures from the class readings.

All of the groups have used the kitchen in Lakeview for social events and plan to continue to use it, students and professors said.

Some students said they were frustrated that they were not allowed to use the kitchen unless it was for an event for a Living and Learning program. The kitchen is locked so students have to request use from their RA, who gets the key for them.

Contact staff writer Stephanie Rice at stephanie.rice@richmond.edu