Emily Young says she has the distinction of being the first person to use the hot tubs in West Shaw Hall - and she’s proud of it.

The criminal justice senior defended the tubs from those who question how sanitary they are.

“People say, ‘Aren’t you scared?’ But are you scared to swim in a hotel pool?” she said. “It’s not gross. It’s cleaned really well.”

Young, along with more than 1,000 students, moved into Shaw Hall this month as residents, new and old, experienced the about $12 million in new amenities.

Some students even waited more than five hours to sign up for rooms last spring.

The first batch of students have moved and settled within Shaw’s walls since it closed in May 2001 to completely gut and redo the bathrooms and the dorm rooms.

“Students are really pleased,” Shaw Hall Manager Carol Noud said. “Overwhelmingly, everyone loves the improvements.”

Those improvements include some features not noticed by all students living there, such as the added sprinkler system and updated electrical capacity.

But the crowning glory of the makeover, Noud said, is the bathrooms. They were completely remodeled in a more modern scheme, with hexagonal sink islands, garbage disposals, motion-sensor lights, automatic flushing toilets, shower changing stalls - and hot tubs.

But many students living in the building are skeptical about using the new tubs.

“I don’t know what goes on in there,” education sophomore Andrea Mitchell said. “We checked it out, and it was kind of dirty.”

The building opened in 1949 and was an all-male dorm for about 20 years.

Themed “Traditions Live On,” the opening of Shaw hopes to give a rebirth to the building many students developed fond memories of in its 53-year tenure.

Finance junior Marie VanAsperen lived in Shaw her freshman year before it closed to renovate, and moved back into the same room her junior year.

VanAsperen probably noticed many other things students new to Shaw didn’t.

“The walls aren’t that ugly yellow color,” she said, referring to the new coat of “vanilla bean” on the walls in her second-floor room.

“I like the desks,” she said. “They’re so much nicer than they were before.”

Aside from the furniture and the bathrooms, students living in Shaw are enjoying another perk the construction workers couldn’t redo.

“It’s really close to everything,” VanAsperen said.

Computer engineering freshman Chris Wright came to Shaw through the Summer University Program Excellence Required (SUPER), a program that aims to give freshman a head start on college by taking college courses during an eight-week period in the summer.

Although he hasn’t experienced living in other dorms, Wright said he’s still happy living in Shaw, especially because of the bathrooms.

“They’re nice, but you’ve got to keep them clean,” he said.

Shaw staff is still working out small kinks, Noud said.

“It’s just working the bugs out of any system,” she said.

Despite some misconceptions, Shaw residents do not pay higher room and board costs to live in the building. But that doesn’t bother non-Shaw residents like English sophomore Rachel Morrison.

“I don’t really care,” the Armstrong Hall resident said. “If I would’ve wanted to live in Shaw with the Jacuzzi and the furniture, I would have.”

Young may have begun her stay at Shaw Hall as the first person to use the hot tub, but she said she’s looking forward to experiencing all of the other conveniences available to her.

“It’s all so nice,” she said. “Everything’s so brand new.”

Amy Bartner can be reached at bartnera@msu.edu.