Alumni Hall Introduces First Year Interest Groups

Alumni Hall Introduces First Year Interest Groups

Keyshana Dupuy, Featured Writer

Alumni Hall is one of the Pace University Westchester campus Residence Halls dedicated primarily to first year residents and has the most Resident Assistants (RA) on campus due to the seven First Year Interest Groups (FIG).

The Extreme Sports and Pace Nation (ESPN) FIG has 220 first-year students, making it the largest FIG, thus the reason the ESPN FIG has four RAs. Students in this community are interested in sports of all kinds, pushing their adrenaline levels and/or supporting Pace

University athletic teams so the RAs try to coordinate events related to those interests.

As the second largest FIG, the Pop Culture and Media (PCM) FIG has three RAs. Students in this community will look at popular media and how it affects American culture and society. The RAs have put on a variety of events like attending the Maury Povich show screening.

The Honors FIG has two RAs and is dedicated solely to students who are a part of the Pforzheimer Honors College at Pace University. The Honors FIG is different from the other FIGs because there are a few upperclassmen living in this section of Alumni Hall as an extra academic resource for the first year honor students. The students experience several programs through the Honors college or RAs such as lectures on various hot topics such as Professor Talk: Sexual Assault, trips to museums, and service opportunities in the local community.

The Creating Entrepreneurial Opportunities (CEO) and the Setter’s Leadership House (SLH) FIGS are the only two that have one RA due to the amount of residents each section has. The CEO FIG focuses on giving students the chance to learn and discuss effective business strategies, compete in competitions like Shark Tank Pace edition and explore different avenues of career choice and planning. The SLH FIG is for students that were accepted to the Setters Leadership and Service House program and includes ongoing service projects as well as weekly leadership workshops.

The Body and Mind (BAM) and Nursing FIGs each have two RAs assigned to them. The BAM FIG focuses on maintaining a physically, mentally, and emotionally healthy lifestyle through programs such as in hall cooking lessons, Yoga, and Pilates classes. The Nursing FIG has programs dedicated to nursing topics but the FIG is not Nursing major exclusive.

Residents select their FIG preference and are housed based on the FIG they chose. FIGs are used to build communities between residents as well as staff based on common interest and seem to work very well.