UNC Asheville senior Richard Bilhorn eats, sleeps and breathes mechatronics engineering, and he’s helping others immerse themselves in the subject this fall.
Bilhorn will take up his post as resident assistant of the new engineering Living Learning Community at UNC Asheville.
“For me, personally, I know engineering was so difficult,” said Bilhorn, who spearheaded the creation of the engineering community. “Had I not had the resources of the engineering lab, my professors and other students, I couldn’t have done it. So I thought an engineering community would help people get involved quicker.”
Bilhorn will be joined by around 20 other engineering majors on the third floor of Overlook Hall, on a hallway designated especially for them. Some of the students are even moving back on campus from their off-campus housing to be a part of the community.
“Everything will be focused largely on engineering, all my socials, all my bulletin boards,” Bilhorn explained. “There’s an advantage to that focus, because it actually opens up more opportunities.”
For example, the group will take a fieldtrip to the BMW plant in Greer, South Carolina. Bilhorn will decorate the hall with artistic bulletin boards focused on circuits or logic design. And students will have a greater opportunity to take advantage of one of their greatest resources—each other.
“All the national research shows that if a student is involved in a Living Learning Community, that the chances of them persevering is much, much higher than students who aren’t,” said Melanie Fox, director of residential education at UNC Asheville.
Such communities may be especially helpful to first-generation college students, like many of the students in UNC Asheville’s new AVID program. UNC Asheville is the first four-year university in North Carolina to join the AVID for Higher Education Success Initiative, which is designed to help ensure the success of first-generation students and those from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds. A living-learning community will be part of the program.
“A lot of the students who fall into the AVID categories might have more difficulty transitioning than your average college student,” Fox explained. “So some of the programs we’ll be providing will be regarding typical transitions issues for those students, like study skills, how to talk to professors, what’s the best way to succeed in the first semester of college.”
They’ll also have potlucks, go rafting and participate in community service projects.
“We’d love to offer more Living Learning Communities in the future,” Fox said. “The liberal arts atmosphere is very conducive to Living Learning Communities. We’re very much about educating the entire person. We’re educating not just brains, but your social self, your health and wellness self. You’re learning all the time. A Living Learning Community promotes that liberal arts philosophy.”
Students who are interested in creating additional Living Learning Communities are invited to contact Fox at [email protected].