For first-year students at the University of Idaho living in the dorms can be daunting, but the Theophilus Tower cushions the transition from home to college.
Taller than any other residence building on campus, the Tower stands high at 11 floors along with a multi-functional basement. Unlike other residence communities, each level of the tower is either all-male or all-female and ranges from 30 to 40 residents per floor. Each floor is complete with a shared bathroom and a furnished common area.
Maddi Degenshein, a Tower resident and sixth floor representative, said her original plan was to live in the Wallace Residence Center, but she ended up living in the Tower instead – something she considers fortunate.
Degenshein said there are both pros and cons to living in the Tower – or any residence hall – but the pros of the Tower outweigh the cons. The water does not always taste the best, and 40 girls using the bathroom over a long weekend can make for a less than desirable space, but she said these are just small issues no matter where students choose to live on campus. Degenshein also said that even when the elevators often break, they are fixed almost immediately, and the maintenance staff for the Tower does a great job of creating a clean, safe environment.
“It is kind of like an endless sleepover with all of your friends, and your parents can”t tell you to go to bed,” Degenshein said.
This sleepover-like feel is what appeals most to Degenshein about the environment in the Tower because it quickly made the building feel more like home
Ashlee Mulberry, a Tower resident, also found that the Tower carries a feel of family and home.
“Compared to Wallace and the LLC”s (Living and Learning Communities), the living style of the Tower is a much more traditional college experience,” Mulberry said.
She said having a community bathroom that is cleaned everyday is appealing because freshman are just beginning to learn to live on their own, so having a regularly cleaned bathroom helps.
“I would just say overall that the Tower is the best place to live because it is clean, welcoming and fun,” Mulberry said.
Degenshein said in the Tower, study groups and clubs occur often within dorm rooms and common areas.
“I started a club called “Tea-Tox” which actually just started out as people coming into our room and drinking tea with us and talking about their day,” Degenshein said. “Then we decided to make an actual club out of it.”
She said the club brought in first-year students not just from the Tower, but from other residence communities as well. Tea-Tox ended up being a bi-weekly meeting group with plenty of tea and conversation.
Degenshein said the Tower is a great place to meet different people and learn outside of the classroom.
“There are so many different majors, so if I need help with chemistry homework I just go up three floors and there is my tutor,” she said.
Both Degenshein and Mulberry recommend the Tower to first-year students because the overall environment is welcoming and helpful.
“We have 11 stories of other people to visit with and we are all friends,” Degenshein said. “There is always an endless supply of something to do.”
Hailey Stewart can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @hailey_ann97