What I Did: Moved to Forester Village
For the first two years of my college career at Huntington University, I lived in Roush Hall. I will always cherish the memories I made with my roommate and suitemates during that time, and yet, I knew I wanted to have another living experience in my last two years of college. Thankfully, HU offers another residence option: Forester Village.
Forester Village is a group of apartment buildings on Fruit Street (past the Mailroom) and within the cul-de-sac of Forester Lane. Each of the three to four apartments within an apartment building has a living room, dining room, full kitchen, and two bedrooms and bathrooms. Both Forester Village and HU’s residence halls have excellent qualities, and I would recommend either to an upperclassman student. For the junior or senior who is interested in moving to an apartment, here are two goals that HU’s residence life team has for you in Forester Village.
1. Forester Village provides students with the opportunity to experience living more independently.
Within a residence hall, students are responsible for cleaning their own room. However, dutiful housekeeping members clean the bathroom facilities and other living spaces within the hall. In Forester Village, the responsibility to clean your entire living space is completely dependent on you and your roommates. While this task can seem daunting, I have found that living more independently has helped me slowly prepare for life after graduation while still having full access to resources such as meal plans, laundry, and maintenance. Additionally, living and working with three other roommates to maintain our living space has taught me valuable life lessons such as responsibility, patience, forgiveness, and the act of compromising, which are all wonderful attributes to have for the rest of your life.
2. While in Forester Village, students are still connected to campus and community.
Moving to Forester Village does not mean you have an isolated and disconnected relationship with HU! When people ask me if I still feel connected to campus, I always have the same reply: I am far enough from campus that I feel I have my own space, and yet I am close enough to still feel rooted. Communication is one of the vital character traits of Forester Village, and our Residence Director communicates efficiently with any academic or event information that other students receive in traditional residence halls. Additionally, the Forester Village Sojourners work diligently to create community both within Forester Village and with other halls on campus.
For more information on the requirements to live in Forester Village or the specifics of what each apartment offers, check out HU’s Residence Life page.
