Although the new residential plazas ““ Rieber Vista and
Hedrick Summit ““ were designed for upper division students,
UCLA Housing has had to adjust to an unexpected number of
first-year students living in the plazas.
In an effort to help build community in the plazas, all
first-years have been clustered into groups on several floors in
Hedrick Summit, said Bridget Le Loup, the Resident Director for
Hedrick Summit.
Associate Director of Housing Services Geri Sena said there are
currently 155 vacancies.
She called the numbers a “snapshot in time” and said
they would continue to change as additional housing contracts are
sold.
According to UCLA Housing statistics, the total number of
first-years in the two buildings is 336.
She said the rest of the residents were grouped according to
preferences indicated in the housing questionnaire.
Le Loup said programming would be geared towards the high rate
of first-year and transfer students living in the building.
“We are well aware that (first-year students) are
here,” Le Loup said.
Le Loup said residents of Hedrick Summit are quite social,
despite initial concerns by students that the design of Hedrick
Summit and Rieber Vista would negate such an atmosphere because of
the single rooms and lack of communal bathrooms.
“I’ve been doing rounds and there’s been
nothing but positive feedback,” Le Loup said. “So far
so good.”
Resident Director of Rieber Vista Kallen Marquez said there have
been floor programs specifically planned for first-year residents
and more programs would continue to be planned since first-year
students make up approximately half of the residents in the new
buildings.
“My RAs were actually really excited to get a lot of
freshmen,” Marquez said.
Hedrick Summit’s first-year residents also had the
opportunity to assist with Welcome Week preparations and to be
involved before they started school.
Associate Director of Housing Angela Marciano said the layouts
of Rieber Vista and Hedrick Summit are based on students’
preferences for privacy as indicated in a survey conducted by UCLA
Housing.
Marquez said although Rieber Vista and Hedrick Summit are both
new residential plazas, the two buildings have different resident
distributions and floor plans.
The numbers of first-year students in Rieber Vista is similar to
the distribution of students in De Neve Plaza, she added.
Marquez said the majority of the rooms in Rieber Vista are
double-shared rooms, with only a handful of ten-person suites.
Le Loup said Hedrick Summit has a similar distribution of
rooms.
Marciano said the last residential plaza being built ““
Rieber Terrace ““ is expected to be completed winter
quarter.
Rieber Terrace will offer hundreds of additional spaces for
students in the long run, which will help compensate for the
closure of Sproul Hall next year due to renovations, Marciano
said.
Marciano said even though there will be four years of
renovations to the high-rise dormitories, Housing plans will
guarantee four years of on-campus housing to students after all
construction on the Hill is complete.