Although moving to a different location can make students nervous, UNC Asheville helps make the adjustment to college life stress free with the living learning communities on campus.
Living Learning Communities (LLC) are a great way for students to connect with like-minded students right outside their door. Through the LLCs, which are housed in different residential halls on campus, students can get involved in service opportunities, social events and programs hosted by their residential assistant. Not only do students living in LLCs have a built-in group of friends, research shows that students who participate in LLCs tend to do better in class, too. UNC Asheville offers a unique variation of LLC’s to accommodate all students’ interests from exploring the local area and all it has to offer to learning about what keeps your body and mind healthy.
Find out more about just a few of UNC Asheville’s LLCs from the students who live in them in the stories below. For more information about all our LLCs, visit the Housing website.
Wanderlust
Zachary Dorcas, sophomore history major with a teaching licensure, is the RA for the Wanderlust LLC for the 2018-19 academic year. The Wanderlust LLC is focused on the history of Asheville and Western North Carolina.
“To talk about our community, whether it’s Asheville or N.C. or the United States, it fits into the bigger part of world history,” Dorcas said. “That’s what a lot of our programs, at least the ones I’m planning right now, are aimed at that.”
Together, students in the Wanderlust LLC take IST 272, a course about the history of Western North Carolina.
“It gives a really cool opportunity for the RA and other people in the hall to really use that to cultivate relationships,” Dorcas said.
Dorcas said the LLC is a great way to get involved and educated about the community you’re living in. He focuses on teaching the residents different skills and habits through different programs hosted by the LLC. He said he hopes they consider the connection between their surroundings and where they come from.
And not all of the learning happens in the classroom, or even in the residence hall. Last year Dorcas took the LLC residents on a trip to the River Arts District in Asheville
“It was a really cool way the city of Asheville has used something that was kind of run down to make it more into the character of the city,” Dorcas said.
Sinead Abbott-McCloud, sophomore political science major, is a returning student to the Wanderlust LLC for her second year.
“It really opened my eyes up to the history of North Carolina. I didn’t really know much specifically about Western North Carolina as a whole,” Abbott-McCloud said. “I thought it was interesting that I had to take that required course, otherwise I probably wouldn’t have known anything about Western North Carolina.”
Abbott-McCloud said the LLC also helped her create relationships with her peers and hallmates, and that she’s enjoyed spending time with international students in the LLC and understanding their perspectives and culture.
Sankofa
The Sankofa LLC is an interdisciplinary and co-curricular program for first-year students of color and students looking to engage, explore, and foster diversity, equity, and inclusion. It’s a program that requires that students welcome the invitation to learn, embrace, and be open to a new way of seeing the world. Together, students in Sankofa all take the Africana studies course, Thinking From the Margins, and participate in activities on and off campus, from jam sessions on the hall to museum tours in Birmingham.
Lauren Braswell, a biology major and RA for Sankofa, said she wanted to take a leadership role in the LLC as a way to be more present in her community, and found great value in taking the Thinking From the Margins course as a group. “Dr. Z’s (Jeremias Zunguze, assistant professor of interdisciplinary studies) class really provided an intimate space and really allowed people to be open, vulnerable, and honest,” Braswell said. “The class was so raw and real, and it’s great to have that space for students on campus. My Sankofa residents also took a lot away from that class and taught me things about the course before I took it.”
Chemistry and neuroscience major A’Zane Troxler said her most memorable Sankofa experiences included brainstorming meetings and playing music together on Sunday nights. Taking Thinking From the Margins, she said, provided her with a different perspective about the UNC Asheville experience, and gave her a place to feel like she had a sense of shared identity and community. “It was like coming home!” she said.
“Get out there and talk to your neighbors!” Troxler advised. “You’re going to find out you’re a much different person than you thought you were and make friends you never thought you would.”
Athens to Rome
Athens to Rome is an LLC dedicated to learning the Greek language and ancient history. The LLC requires all students to take a Greek language course. Shepherd Ellis, history and classics junior and the LLC’s RA, said the class has brought the residents closer together due to the challenges by the language.
“There was one time at the beginning of the year, where I walked by the lounge and they have started doing this big study group,” Ellis said. “They’ve taken over the pool tables in the Founders lounge and just had all these notes on it and they were studying for a Greek quiz. That was pretty cool.”
Ellis said he hopes the residents gain a better understanding of what classics discipline is.
“I wouldn’t say it’s super well known,” Ellis said. “I’m hoping that people will get more appreciation for a field that I don’t think is well represented.”
Ele Eschenburg, a first-year art student, said learning ancient Greek has been a challenge, but she has enjoyed the experience of learning a second language and the traveling opportunities that open up.
“I’m part Greek, so just learning the language, finally, is nice,” Eschenburg said. “Also, just having a little community. That’s not really a big deal, but it is a big deal because you’re a part of the living learning community, studying abroad, and having the abilities to study abroad.”
Thrive
The Thrive LLC is focused on just that—thriving.
“I think what is unique about the LLC is that it’s not grouped towards one major. A lot of people who are interested in bettering themselves, either mentally, emotionally, physically, they feel like being a part of whatever LLC that is geared towards,” said Michaela Dodd, chemistry major and Thrive LLC RA who graduated in May 2019.
This years’ required course is focused on nutrition and lifestyle with the Health and Wellness Department. Dodd said the course helps residents become more aware of their habits by focusing on eating habits and a healthy lifestyle.
“Not that you always have to eat healthy, you can have a piece of cake or a cookie sometimes, desserts and savory foods are not always bad for you,” Dodd said. “I think it teaches that there is a balance and helps people navigate to that.”
Dodd said she hopes the residents can build a community and help each other grow.
“People who become part of the LLC think it’s for nutrition and physical fitness. I want to shift the focus more towards the holistic ideal approach of self-betterment,” Dodd said. “So not only those aspects, but also your mental health and so making them aware of all their resources that are available so they can succeed.”
One of Dodd’s favorite experiences with the LLC was in the Teaching Kitchen on UNC Asheville’s campus in the Sherril Center.
“We all made a meal together, which was really cool. People who never cooked before got to learn how to cook and they got to all be involved in the process of making lunch for that day,” Dodd said.
The residents focused on nutritional value and content of different meals and understanding how your body is impacted by different food groups.
Natalie Melech, a new media sophomore, said Thrive is a unique LLC because it focuses on physical and mental health. She is a returning member of the LLC and said her favorite memory from last year was at the practice kitchen in the Sherril Center as well.
“Cooking together was a great bonding experience as well as a stress reliever,” Melech said. “It was also fun to learn how to cook a new dish.”
Melech appreciates the relationships she has built due to the LLC.
“I was worried about not having a support system going into college, and I saw that Thrive was meant to connect you to other students who are interested in bettering yourself,” Melech said. “I’m really glad I joined because I met a lot of interesting people who I continue to stay friends with.”
Don’t miss Part 2
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