According to Kat Cooper, director of communications for residential and hospitality services, the number of students living on campus this summer has dwindled from a fall and spring average of 14,500 to only 345, a shrunken population that comes as a boon to some summer cafeteria workers and dorm residents.
Brianna Losey, a kinesiology freshman and summer resident of Bailey Hall, said the comparative ghost town of a campus means greater opportunities to orient herself before the much busier fall semester begins.
“(Being) a freshman living on campus during the summer is nice because it allows me the space and time to get to know the campus without it being completely congested,” Losey said. “It will be good to prep me for the fall.”
But there is a down side to summer on-campus living because the transient dorm population of summer doesn’t provide the same ‘home feeling’ as the regular semesters, Symphony Ollie, a kinesiology freshman and summer resident of Bailey Hall, said.
“We were kind of like a family during the fall and spring with the floor meetings we had to have,” Ollie said. “I have never seen my RA. I don’t know who she is and we have been here since Thursday for the summer semester. It’s kind of weird not knowing the people on your floor. Campus is kind of dead right now too.”
Bailey Hall, like the other two campus residences available in the summer, was open for students to move in May 14. But unlike Owen Hall and University Village Apartments, which are only available to those students who have reservations to live there during the fall, Bailey Hall has no restrictions on student summer residents.
The limited campus offerings isn’t exclusive to the dorms either. The only cafeterias open during the summer are the Vista at Shaw, which is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Brody Square, which is open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
For communication senior and cafeteria worker Angela LaMar, working food service in the summertime means an easier workday.
“During the fall and spring semester the cafeteria is more packed and a lot of people come in,” LaMar said. “During the summer it’s pretty chill.”
And for human development and family studies junior Demitria Powell, that relaxed atmosphere is a time for sparking friendships and getting to know the other summer workers.
“I feel like the relationships with my coworkers are a lot more intimate now, whereas during the school year it’s always so busy,” Powell said. “Now that we are slow, you can develop a lot more relationships and be a lot closer with people than during the school year.”
