Issue date: 8/21/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Steve Berry Senior Jenny Rule moves into her Evergreen Hall dorm room last week. Her family, including her mom, right, helped move her belongings into the new room.

Media Credit: Derrick Manuat

The scene of Friday's move-in day was fairly typical - carts stacked high with boxes and bags, families saying goodbye, freshmen moving into Woodland, Prairie and Bluff Halls for the first time.

On Saturday, the scene was slightly different. Though equally as hectic and not as tearful, the same excitement and anticipation came as 511 upperclassmen became the first residents of Evergreen Hall.

The new, $40.1 million, 190,000-square-foot Evergreen Hall officially opened Saturday.

Junior math major Amy Sidwell and junior psychology major April Roth decided to become roommates through a mutual friend. Together, the group occupies a four-person apartment.

"It's great," Sidwell said. "Oh my goodness, everything looks wonderful."

Sidwell and Roth's apartment features taller-than-usual ceilings in each bedroom.

"We have 20-foot ceilings and everyone else has low ceilings," Roth said, extending her arms upward. "I can stand like this on my bed and still not touch the ceilings."

Other configurations in Evergreen Hall include six-person apartments, four-person suites and single-occupant studio apartments. 72 percent of the units are private bedrooms.

Although the building is technically a residence hall, each unit (except four-person suites) features a full kitchen.

"We actually have a sink," sophomore CMIS major Michael Ealy said. "We don't have to go into the bathroom to use it."

Ealy was among the approximately 220 residents to move into the building before the official opening day. According to Evergreen Hall Director Justin Allen, roughly 275 students moved in Saturday.

"It was kind of exciting, knowing you were going to be one of the first people in," Ealy said.

Roth, who moved in Thursday, was the first person to arrive at her apartment.

"I was actually scared to sleep by myself the first night," she said, explaining that relatively few people had moved in at that point.

According to Allen, a few expected problems occurred with keys and other items, but University Housing Facilities Management staff members were on hand to help.

First-year resident assistant Noel Bradac, a senior pursuing a BFA in ceramics, was drawn to Evergreen because of its proximity to the Art and Design Building.

"It was either going to be here or Woodland," Bradac said. "Anywhere else is too far away from the art building."

Other students chose Evergreen because it was brand-new.

"I didn't want to move to Cougar because this was newer," junior business major Kendra Hopkins said.

Among the residence hall's other features are a multifunction room, two classrooms, fitness room, student organization offices, conference room and computer lab, as well as a pond, half-court basketball court, walking trail and barbecue area.

Designed to accommodate upperclassmen, Evergreen Hall is a hybrid of sorts, a cross between an apartment complex and residence hall.

"It's like Cougar Village and one of the residence halls got together and had a baby," Bradac said.

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