The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 42, No. 2 - 30

William R. Frazier * Myron A. Eighmy

enough programming directed at wellness,
there were other students on the same ﬂoor
who did not wish to live in and participate in
the community and thus disrupted potential
learning, and the students in the community
felt there was an overall lack of communication
between the residence life and wellness staff.

Participation in the
community was expected to
promote better overall health
and a sense of well-being
which would contribute to
improving the likelihood for
academic success.

Based on these ﬁndings, the residence life department made changes to the program with
the goal of improving the experience.
A signiﬁcant amount of time was invested
in rethinking and restating the goals and objectives of the wellness learning community.
The staff engaged students to determine what
their expectations were for the program. More
time and energy were devoted to training staff
to be better prepared to work with the students
living in this community. In addition, the practice of placing non-participating students on
the learning community ﬂoor was abandoned.
(Previously, because of low enrollment in the
wellness community, beds not ﬁlled by learn-

ing community members were assigned to
non-community students.)
Students in the wellness learning community agreed to be held accountable for
their actions and to actively participate in the
community. Additionally, they agreed to the
following components: to actively support
the development of a wellness community by
becoming involved in activities on the ﬂoor
and contributing to the welfare of the community; not consume or be in the possession of
alcohol, any controlled substance, or tobacco
both on and off campus; not allow guests to
possess, consume, or be under the inﬂuence
of alcohol, any controlled substance, or tobacco
while on the ﬂoor; attend a community retreat;
support other ﬂoor members in their attempt
to live a healthy, well-balanced life; and live a
healthy life centered on wellness concepts by
making lifestyle choices that maximize good
health (NDSU, 2010).
The students created a community contract among themselves that was based on four
questions: Why do we want to be part of the
wellness community? What do we want to get
out of this year? What kind of legacy do we want
to leave for future wellness ﬂoor students? and
How can we hold each other accountable? The
contract became the individual's personal commitment to the wellness learning community
(NDSU, 2010).

BENEFITS OF LEARNING
COMMUNITIES
Literature has revealed the historical and practical foundations for how learning communities have been formed and developed over the
years and how they provide beneﬁts for the
faculty, staff, and participants. Students come

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The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 42, No. 2

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