The deadline to apply for our learning communities is rapidly approaching. For some learning communities, the deadline is a distant memory.

Don’t despair. One of the learning communities students are still eligible to apply for is Pharmacy House. And it’s pretty great. Shannon McCarthy is a current member of Pharmacy House and has a lot to say about her experience. I mean if below doesn’t finalize your decision to join a learning community, I don’t know what will…

When I arrived at Ohio State, I decided it was time to become more involved in the community and take advantage of the large and diverse student body at Ohio State. I wanted to get involved in activities specific to my interests so that I could meet new people and broaden my perspectives. Keep note that I am a shy person, so getting involved is a very terrifying thing. My first step to joining the Ohio State community was signing up for the Pharmacy House Learning Community. As a Pharmaceutical Sciences major, Pharmacy House was a great fit because it allowed me to meet a lot of the people in my major and ensure that pharmacy was the right career path for me.

The day after move in, we had our first Pharm House event: an ice cream social. I met twenty fellow students who shared the common interest of pharmacy as well as my hall director and academic advisor. I can definitely say that being in a learning community helped with my transition into the new college environment. All of the community members live on the same floor, so we started out the year by meeting many of our fellow residents. The Pharmacy House RA is also a BSPS student, so she is always around to give advice on classes and ways to get involved. Pharmacy House isn’t just for Pharmaceutical Sciences majors and is open to all students, so anyone who is interested in some aspect of the pharmaceutical sciences is a great addition to the community. One of my friends is a biochemistry major, but the learning community is relevant to him because he is interested in drug discovery and research.

The major highlight of the learning community is the opportunities to meet with professionals and students in the pharmacy field. We’ve had the opportunity to attend a dinner with the dean, a talk about addicting drugs with a professor, a general chemistry help session with a graduate student, and a discussion with current pharmacy students just to name a few opportunities. We also went on a trip to Cleveland to visit the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame and WIL Research. We had the opportunity to take a tour of WIL’s facility and discuss with employees the role of pharmacy in their research work. With a major of less than one hundred students per graduation year, the learning community has helped me to make quick connections with the College of Pharmacy at Ohio State. Another major benefit of the LC is Food and Fellowship. Food and Fellowship is a program which runs once a week for two hours. Our academic advisor, Katie, sits in the Canfield Lobby and is available to answer any and all questions. She also has food (lots of food!), which is essential to every Pharmacy House event.

Pharmacy House Trip to Cleveland, OH.

Overall, joining Pharmacy House has helped me to make quick connections at Ohio State. I have had the chance to bond with my fellow students, RA, advisor, and hall director while participating in fun events and learning about the pharmacy profession. By joining Pharmacy House, I felt comfortable right away at Ohio State and had the confidence to join other clubs and become an active member of the Ohio State community.

Today, we feature another guest post from one of our ridiculously amazing and talented learning community students. A great part of being a land-grant institution is having a strong College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. This college has become a great partner for us in Residence Life, and you can see from Anna’s post below that they are helping us create a very positive student experience.

If you are from a small town and/or are passionate about food, agriculture, or the environment, the Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences Learning Community (CFAES LC) would be a great community for you to join at Ohio State.

My name is Anna Schmenk, and I am from a small town in Ohio. Due to where I grew up, coming to such a big university was quite nerve racking, especially because my dorm seemed to have more people living in it than there were people living in my hometown. Living in the CFAES Learning Community made my transition from a rural area to an urban one much easier because of the other students that I was able to live with. Many of the people living on my floor in Norton House have the same interests in different areas of food, agriculture, and the environment. These similar interests and backgrounds made making friends very easy because there was always something to talk about that everyone knew at least a little about or wanted to learn about.

We even went on a trip to John Deere Headquarters!

One of the best parts though was (and still is) living with people who are in the same classes as me. I did not realize how helpful this would be until I came to Ohio State. Many students in my dorm often walk to classes together and form study groups to help each other prepare for exams. If I am ever really confused on a subject matter or homework, I can just ask my roommates for help or ask someone down the hall. In addition, the CFAES LC has allowed me to attend workshops on how to write resumes, fill out scholarships, and many others different topics. These workshops have allowed me to talk with faculty in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, and it is great to get to know these faculty members who can help you excel at Ohio State. Plus, most of the workshops often involve free food!

Joining the Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences Learning Community was definitely one of the best decisions that I made when coming to The Ohio State University and has made me happy and proud to call Columbus my second home.

The CFAES Learning Community provides great experiences for any student interested the environment, agriculture or food. Applications for the learning community are due on May 4, 2015, and can be found at go.osu.edu/learningcommunities.

Want to know one of the high points of our learning communities at Ohio State? Two words. Academic. Partners. 

Many of our learning communities at Ohio State have Academic Partners connected to them. These folks are often academic advisors or faculty members in a college or department across campus. Our partners are often in our residence halls interacting with LC students,

Our academic partners are great. So, we wanted to showcase all they do in a blog post. We asked them questions, and they shared. And now, a word from our academic partners.

How do I support students in the Learning Community through my role? 

Nicole Fette, Nursing Learning Community: I serve as the academic contact between the College of Nursing and the Learning Community.  I collaborate with the housing staff to plan events for the residents of the LC.  My major responsibility is to market and recruit my colleagues within the College of Nursing to attend events like Zumba with the dean, Dinner with the dean in November, and introducing faculty and staff to residents at the kick-off event in August.

Gina Hnytka, SUSTAINS Learning Community: I facilitate AEDE/ENR 1200, which is our 1 credit, fall seminar course for 1 year students (optional for 2) in the SUSTAINS Learning Community.  I also collaborate with the SUSTAINS Hall Director, Aaron Moore, on the planning of our event calendar and bringing in faculty, industry partners, and community members to meet with the SUSTAINS Learning Community students throughout the year. 

Katie Watkins, Pharmacy House Learning Community: I stop into the residence hall regularly to provide advising and support to students throughout the year.  I have direct access to faculty, staff, alumni and students in the College of Pharmacy, so I have been able to organize programs like “Pointers from the Pros” (where a panel of current OSU PharmD students came to Canfield Hall to talk about how to make yourself the most competitive Professional School applicant) or Pharmacy Jeopardy (where a faculty member from the College of Pharmacy came to mingle with Pharmacy House students and play a game).  It is so much fun.

Sam Reed, Business Honors Learning Community: One of my favorite parts about my job is that I get to coordinate the Business Honors Learning Community (BHLC). As the coordinator of BHLC I support students by not only serving as their assigned academic advisor and  teaching their freshman seminar course their first-semester of college, I am also the person responsible for planning all the weekly events BHLC participates in each week. Students in BHLC will get to know me very well throughout their first year at OSU.

Chris Adams, John Glenn Civic Leadership Community: I am responsible for planning academic, service, and social programming for students in the John Glenn Civic Leadership Community. I work to build community among the students and make them aware of opportunities at the Glenn College, as well as other outlets for furthering their study of public service and public policy.  I also teach our learning community class and serve as a resource to the students, helping them navigate Ohio State.

Why should a student join a Learning Community?

Gina Hnytka: A Learning Community provides you with a smaller, close-knit environment in which you can build connections with faculty, staff, and industry contacts in your specific area of study or interest.  The staff support for Learning Communities is unparalleled, we are very intentional in the way we plan the year, create opportunities, and support our students.  Your success and ability to connect with networks that allow you to achieve your future goals are our top priority.

Shannon Pelletier: The value of living with people who “get you” cannot be overstated. For example, I did not major in a science and I find subjects like Anatomy gross; in FHP all the students get excited about their Anatomy labs and compare dissection stories at dinner.  They also take similar courses so there is a built in study support system.  Living with other students who share your goals allow you to benefit from their knowledge (such as how many observation hours PT at OSU requires) and helps you feel like the university isn’t a large campus where students get lost in the shuffle because they have friends with common interests built-in to their living and learning experiences.

Sam Reed: Students should join a Learning Community because it provides opportunities that may not be easily accessible if they are not in such a group. For instance, students in my Business Honors Learning Community (BHLC) get to move in a few days early and go through Fisher’s “On Boarding” program where they get an opportunity to network with other first-year students, go to professional development workshops, and network with faculty, staff, and some company sponsors BEFORE they event start classes! Students in an LC also get to meet a group of students who have the same interests as them and they get to live on the same floor of a residence hall together, what an easy way to make friends and make Ohio State feel smaller right off the bat.

What is your favorite part of the Learning Community you work with?

Nicole Fette: My favorite part of the learning community is meeting students outside of the “office”.  By attending events, I have more time to interact and communicate with students on a personal level.

Katie Watkins: I serve as the Academic Counselor for the students who live in Pharmacy House – so being a part of the LC has strengthened the bond I have with the students I serve.  OSU is a big place, and being closely connected can help it feel A LOT smaller around here.  I love the students I serve.

Chris Adams: I enjoy the broad variety of student programing our students take part in.  From trips to current events discussions to service projects to intramural sports, our LC programming compliments students’ coursework and allows them to take part in activities they are most passionate about.

One of the signature events for our International House Learning Community is their Chinese New Year Celebration. Today on the blog, I-House student Logan Ward shares about his experience.

Chinese New Year Celebration.

Last month, the International House Learning Community hosted a Chinese New Year Celebration in the Morrison Tower lobby.

The International House Resident Advisers, Joseph Lee and Yilu Sun, took a group of nearly 20 residents  – both international and native – to Saraga Market at 1:00 pm in order to purchase some the necessities for the party. Items that the group set out to buy included hot pot (a traditional Chinese meal form) ingredients such as lamb, tofu, vermicelli noodles and Chinese cabbage along with Chinese dumpling ingredients like celery and ground pork. Residents also had the chance to do some shopping of their own and bought many Asian products such as seaweed and rice cakes.

After the group returned, the RAs set out to recruit more I-House residents to decorate the lobby for the evening event. The decoration team decorated the lobby in total red and gold – the traditional Chinese New Year colors – with lanterns, streamers and other decorative items.

This is when I got involved with the celebration. I helped press the dumpling fillings together in a bowl (for a reason that I will explain later) and begin bubble tea – commonly known as boba – preparation.  I, along with some other residents, set out the dumpling fillings on the tables so that participants could work on making their dumplings. This was an interesting task for most of the participants, because many had never even eaten Chinese dumplings let alone made some themselves! I got to fold a few in order to learn how, but had to go back to the kitchen so that we could start boiling them.

One by one the groups handed in their dumplings for boiling. While this was going on some other residents started cooking the hot pot – which was also a big hit among the non-international students. I also boiled the tapioca pearls and water for bubble tea. We prepared two kinds of tea – black and green. Bubble tea is my specialty, so I really enjoyed getting to share that with the residents at the event.

I have to admit that cooking in the kitchen for the event was quite stressful, because everyone was doing so many different things all at once; however, I thoroughly enjoyed being apart of the event and I know everyone who came did too. Afterwards, a lot of the residents stayed in the lobby and played a fun Chinese game called Mahjong (one of my favorite games) and the laughs and conversation from the party continued.

This event is one of the main reasons I love being a part of the International House Learning Community: sharing a culture and learning culture are my two favorite things to do. I love the I-House Community and am so glad I decided to get involved.

Our SUSTAINS Learning Community.

Over here in Residence Life, we are in the midst of learning community recruitment season. Over 200 upperclassmen applied to be part of learning communities next year and we just hosted 200 admitted students who wanted to learn more about our learning communities. Definitely an exciting time of year for us!

As we have talked with current and prospective students, we have got a lot of questions about what a learning community exactly is. GREAT QUESTION!

A learning community is a group of students who live together on a residence hall floor or floors (i.e. currently, the 9th and 10th Floors of Siebert Hall host the First-Year Collegian Learning Community). All of our learning communities at OSU revolve around academic departments or majors (Engineering House, Future Health Professionals) or themes/interests (Visual and Performing Arts, International House). Our learning communities typically consist of 30-90 students.

Residence Life staff and our partners from academic departments provide programs and other opportunities for students centered around the learning community, and these often happen in the residence hall setting. These opportunities could be anything from dinners with faculty members to a trip to New York City to a service project with the Ronald McDonald House. Students in learning communities have the opportunity to make the experience their own, and we find many of our students become super engaged in their communities. The student posts’ on this blog highlight many of these opportunities.

Ok, I know you are knowing thinking, “But Lisa, why should we care?”. You should care for so many reasons! First and foremost, our learning communities are a great way for students to have a community the moment they step on campus. The people you live with will have the same major or interest as you, and you immediately have a connection. We also find that students in our learning communities are more successful in adjusting to college, find a stronger connection to Ohio State and become more involved, and they have higher GPA’s than their peers.

We say this all the time to students and parents, but learning communities are a GREAT way to make this large university your own little community. We are proud of these communities and work hard to make sure all students have a great experience in them. If you have further questions, please check out or website or email us at reslearn@osu.edu. We love hearing from you!