If you had asked me before move in day what I was most excited for when coming to Vanderbilt, I would have confidently told you dorm life. This might surprise some, as the typical activities associated with living in a dorm include showering with flip flops on and begging noisy neighbors to settle down well past quiet hours. However, I, with rose-colored glasses, looked past these cons because of what living on the Martha Rivers Ingram Commons could offer: a strong and vibrant community within my class. From upperclassmen friends, YouTube vlogs, and old My Commons Life content, I learned about events including the Commons Cup, house signature events, and house floor bonding activities. These events were designed to foster friendship amongst house residents, and I couldn’t wait to experience them for myself. Now that I’ve lived in Stambaugh House for a semester, I can happily say that for the most part, I found the community I hoped for in August. But I wondered if residents of the other nine houses on Commons felt the same way. So, I asked my fellow freshmen how they feel they’ve connected with their house and housemates.
The Historic Neighborhood
Those living in North, East, West, Gillete, and Memorial described the community within their houses with similar positivity. Sabrina Downey ‘27, a resident of North, believed her house had one of the strongest communities on Commons.
“Whenever I see someone I know from the house around campus, we smile and wave at each other. Conversations are always happening around North and people are excited to talk to one another. You can tell that people really care about each other here,” Downey said.
She also remarked that North’s strong community helped her adjust to college life.
Chloe Whalen ‘27, who lives in East, noted that living in a smaller house helped to kindle the community felt by all the residents.
“East’s community is very tight-knit. I know almost everyone in my house. We all support each other, laugh together, and help each other out,” Whalen said.
“West definitely has a cute, tight knit community. There is a palpable sense of passion and competitiveness for Commons Cup points, and I love participating in events,” Ainsley Howington ‘27 said.
She reflected on when West finally felt like home to her.
“It was definitely a gradual process. Probably early in the year when I started to get to know people through West Fests and participating in Commons Cup activities,” Howington said. “Also whenever anything goes wrong in the house, like the heat going out. Bonding over struggles is real.”
“I think Gillette’s sense of community definitely ranges based on the floor. My floor tends to be pretty quiet but we are always very supportive in my floor’s Group Me! Other floors are known to be a little more rowdy than ours, and a lot of friend groups in the first semester were all on the same floor,” Josie Gaynor ‘27 said.
“I love love Memorial 5. We are such a close family and I can’t go a day without knocking on someone’s door and talking for an hour,” Alaina Lafaye said. “It started to feel like home around October, when we all started studying together in our hallway and getting dinner together.”
The New Neighborhood
Interestingly, students living in Crawford, Hank Ingram, Murray, Stambaugh and Sutherland said overwhelmingly that communities were stronger within individual floors rather than across their houses as a whole.
“I think Crawford’s sense of community is most comparable to a cat, for lack of better words. It honestly might just be me, but I thought that it took everyone a little bit more time to get accustomed to the living situations and get comfortable with each other. But now, I think that we’ve been here for a while, that we can comfortably coexist with each other,” J.C. Salubre ‘27 said.
Just because communities look different within each house, doesn’t mean that the communities don’t exist:
“Crawford isn’t always the most bustling house, but I have learned to create an environment where I feel comfortable with people that I know in the house,” Salubre said.
“While Hank is a huge house and can sometimes feel pretty separate, I think at least for the floors, they feel like a house themselves. You got about 60 or so people there and especially on some floors, we all hang out all the time. I personally visit each floor regularly just to see what’s going on and talk to everyone,” said Omare Omatete ‘27.
Murray House followed the same trend, with floors tending to stick with each other.
“Each floor is pretty tight, but people don’t really talk to each other between floors,” Ousmane Dieng ‘27 said.
“I usually go [to Murray Munchies] every week. They’re always fun and convenient, our HPAC and head of house make sure to leave some for the students who couldn’t make it, which is really nice,” Naliah Nwanguma ‘27 said.
I myself live in Stambaugh House, and I’m happy to report that our community is a strong one. I would say that we are a friendly, sociable community. I think that friend groups mainly exist within individual floors, but I know of some friend groups (including my own) made up of people from every floor in Stam! It helps that almost everyone is outgoing or extroverted. Because of this, the house is pretty active. My house first began to feel like a home when people began to hang out and do work in my floor’s common room, and when I began to familiarize myself with every resident at weekly StamSweets Tuesdays.
Lastly, Sutherland proves similarly:
“I think the house community is a bit nebulous. I don’t think I would go as far as to say the entire house operates as a cohesive unit, unless in times of reminding other houses of their innate inferiority, however, there absolutely are pockets of cohesion that can be seen across different floors,” Ricky Brown ‘27 said.
“My floor frequently uses the common room for studying, leisure, and just to hang out. Sometimes I’ll see little subgroups of floor mates at breakfast before class. But I don’t see much inter-floor relations for lack of better wording,” Sean Avery ‘27.
In conclusion, each house boasts its own vibe, and the sense of community within each one seems to work well for its residents.
