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Written by: Andy Zhong
Bentley is introducing a new type of specialty housing. Beginning this year, students had the opportunity to apply for Sustainability Housing in addition to Wellness Housing.
According to the Bentley website, “Residents of the Stratton Green House will have the opportunity to research, plan and direct, along with Bentley Facilities Management personnel and the Office of Housing, the renovation of Stratton House into a sustainable, energy-efficient residence hall.”
The plan is to create a community of students who are dedicated to increasing recycling, improving energy efficiency, and providing environmentally friendly alternatives on campus, beginning with their own living styles.
“We want to make sure our values are in line with the school,” says Director of Residence Life John Piga. By introducing sustainability Housing, Piga hopes it “allows [students] to parlay the experience into a career choice.”
Unfortunately for the students hoping to live in the Stratton Green House, Residence Life was unable to attain enough applicants to fill its seven singles and two doubles.
“I was surprised,” said Piga. When asked if Stratton Green Housing received many applicants, Piga responded that there were “less than ten.”
Residence Life plans to provide the remaining rooms in Stratton House to applicants of the Wellness community. Members of Sustainability Housing will continue to work as a community to address environmental issues on campus.
Perhaps the reason why there were so few applicants was the lack of awareness about Stratton House in the first place.
Sustainability Housing for the 2010-2011 academic year will be located in Stratton House, which is situated near the Beaver Street entrance to the University. Piga believes that Stratton House’s “small community” allows it to be the ideal location for students to learn more about sustainability.
With events like the month long Blackout Challenge as evidence that sustainability issues are of interest at Bentley, Piga and Residence Life believe that Sustainability Housing is a good idea.
Students who have applied for specialty housing were notified on February 19, 2010 about their housing assignment for the next academic year.
“I wanted to have a community of friends who I could get to know and network with, while at the same time have some type of culture within my residence hall,” said junior Jewel Cash, who was accepted into the Stratton Green House. “In this case, it is an eco-friendly culture.”
Junior Gerly Adrien, who was also accepted into Stratton, wants to learn more about what it means to be sustainable. “I chose Sustainability Housing to understand more of what it meant,” said Adrien. “Why was it so necessary for Bentley to have this type of housing?”
Part of the reason for environmentally-friendly housing is so that the student community can provide input into what takes place on campus.
“My idea is to create a vegetable garden where we can grow food and then have chef nights where each person makes something and uses the items we have grow in the recipes,” says Cash.
Although Residence Life was unable to fill Stratton House with the amount of applicants it received, Piga is hopeful that there will be a growing population of students in the future interested in Sustainability Housing. “I don’t envision sustainability going away,” says Piga.
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