As of the Fall 2019 semester, Wheaton will have a new residence hall. Pine Hall has a 178 bed capacity and is located near Pine Street, adjacent to the Meadows complex and Young, McIntire and Clark (YMC). The target completion date is July 2019, with an opening planned for the 2019 fall semester.
The Associate Dean of Campus Life and a planning team member of Pine Hall, Ed Burnett, is excited about the opportunities that the new residence hall will provide for students to collaborate and hang out. “With the first-year students in one location and how the building’s location will create a new quad on lower campus, I see the opportunity to do some fantastic programming that can help build connections and community among new students during their first few weeks on campus,” Burnett said. The new hall also aims at exploring the physical and mental aspects of life and their intersection with overall well-being. Specifically, residents will focus on seven different dimensions of wellness: academic/professional, emotional, environmental, intellectual, physical, social and spiritual.
Following the submission of an application, an interview process, and “group process,” Wheaton College selected their new Resident Advisors (RAs). Alicia Moquin, assistant director for Residential Leadership Programs and Area Coordinator for the YMC Quad, described how Resident Advisors were selected for the new hall. “We focused on the applicants that had mentioned [the new hall] at some point during the process, once we had it narrowed down. If they’d said at some point that they were interested in wellness, and various other aspects of the hall, they became contenders for the position in the new hall,” said Moquin.
“I liked the idea of helping students feel welcome and comfortable in this new environment,” said Gracie Vicente ’22, who will be a resident advisor for the new hall. “I didn’t know I’d be placed in the new hall- but I’m so excited about it!” Vicente sees the new hall as “an engaging space within the community, where students can collaborate.”