By Holly Luttrell | Reporter
The Education Living-Learning Center (LLC) is now the Impact LLC, but it remains committed to educating students to serve by teaching others.
The program began in 2015 under the school of education as the Education LLC. It accepted students of all majors who had a passion for learning and a desire to share their knowledge with others. Today, the only thing that has changed is the name.
“We realized that most people thought it was just for education majors,” program director Erin Stamile said. “So we wanted to change our name, not to change who we are but to clarify that we have this bigger vision and commission for our program that wasn’t captured under Education LLC.”
The Impact LLC is housed in the South Russell Residence Hall, where the students are given resources to thrive in their individual majors. According to the Impact LLC website, the residents have access to private study spaces, a 3-D printer, a color printer and a laminating machine. Students are also encouraged to participate in service days that allow them to utilize skills learned within their major.
With support from the Impact LLC, students from all departments and are brought together by a common passion for learning.
“Everything that we do, we try to offer a very dynamic program strategy that captures a lot of different students in one event and one program. We are always trying to engage students of different degrees,” Stamile said.
On a campus filled with students pursuing education, the Impact LLC reaches those who want to use this education to teach others. They hold the belief that students gather and teach information their whole lives, whether they are in a classroom or not.
The Impact LLC goes above and beyond the Baylor curriculum to prepare its members to be able to take the knowledge they receive and share it with others.
“We can educate our students and empower them to be successful in their education here at Baylor,” Stamile said. “And of course we want to prepare them and empower them to be good communicators and to have all of these strengths. There’s so much that goes into being a good teacher.”
The program engages students beyond the general Baylor curriculum through the academic connections and the mentor programs. Through academic connections, students are given the chance to hear from guest speakers and network with faculty members from departments around campus.
According to the Impact LLC website, 90 percent of the residents are first year students. These members are paired with an older student to help ease the transition into Baylor and into the Living-Learning Center.
“As a mentor, I’m basically always available to my mentee or mentees,” said academic connections co-chair and Impact LLC mentor Sarah Tinlin.
Tinlin described a mentor’s role as a resource for first year students to turn to for study tips, networking on campus, navigating Baylor or personal support.
“We’ll be meeting with our mentees at least once a week at the beginning. As the year goes on, we meet with them less and less frequently,” Tinlin said. “We’re trying to prepare mentees to be independent. We are trying to help them get to the point where they don’t need us anymore. The point is to get these freshmen on their feet and to be prepared for the rest of their college career.”
The mentor program allows first year students to transition into college easily, and for mentors to learn how to share knowledge with others. This structure helps encourage students to be lifelong learners and educators.
The Education LLC may have changed its name to Impact LLC, but the commitment to preparing students to be leaders who consistently gather and share knowledge remains the same.
