By Piper Rutherford | Staff Writer
Living & Learning Communities offer new students a chance to form immediate connections and friendships with like-minded peers.
The Baylor and Beyond LLC at North Russell houses students from all over the world. The program’s director, Leia Duncan, is an international resident herself. Duncan grew up in London and Cyprus and said she now has the privilege of helping her residents both engage in Baylor and navigate the world.
“We lean into our name heavily, so the first thing we tell people is that we make sure our students are connected to resources and academic units on campus,” Duncan said. “We want them to find a special and diverse home here, while also prioritizing the beyond piece of our program by connecting to the greater Waco community and diverse parts of the world that our students come from.”
This year, Duncan reported that they have students from almost every single continent, including Asia, Africa and Europe, and international students make up 15% of the residence hall’s population.
“One of the things my students talk about his how fortunate they are to meet each other and hear one another’s stories,” Duncan said. “You see students from all different backgrounds and walks of life becoming friends and learning from one another.”
As for how this sharing of knowledge in the dorms translates to the classroom, Duncan said it is important to learn about the world from a global perspective, regardless of one’s major.
“Every major cannot be done well in a vacuum, since every aspect of business is touched globally now,” Duncan said. “Nothing is ever going to be just American-based, and as students get ready to enter the professional world, they need to know how to work well with people who are different than them, which they have done by learning how to live well together.”
Other academic resources that Baylor and Beyond provides its students outside of course curriculum is the chance to travel to New York City over spring break, as well as participating in cultural immersion activities throughout the school year.
“We do ‘Fun Fridays,’ which can include providing snacks from different cultures, like an Asian snack day, celebrating Lunar New Year in January or observing Black History Month in February,” Duncan said. “We also have cultural cooking nights each month, where someone in the community teaches us how to make their favorite dish from home, and we get to learn about how to cook it before eating it together.”
Another way LLC fosters this sense of community for students is Earl Hall’s Science and Health Program.
The program’s director, Michelle Diaz, said the goal of their LLC is to help students pursuing pre-health careers find others who are going through the difficult curriculum during undergraduate.
“I know that pre-health can be a competitive environment,” Diaz said. “This is why I hope that by students building a community from the start, they see one another as peers and friends who share the same studies as them and can be a good support system.”
Diaz, a former first-generation student, she said she knows what it is like for students to come into college not knowing who the right person is to ask their questions.
“I may not have a biology or chemistry background,” Duncan said. “But I do have insight in student development from my own studies as well as real-life experience of being new to Baylor.”
Duncan said that in the last week of September, their community celebrates the birthday of Dr. Hallie Earle, who was the first female graduate of Baylor’s College of Medicine and first female practitioner in the Waco area.
“She really was a trailblazer who we hope can inspire our residents as they work to pursue a career in health,” Duncan said. “Through her and each other, they can see how they can have a big impact on medicine, because of what started in our learning community.”
