With expectations of the biggest incoming freshman class, the University of Nevada, Reno opens a new dorm for students. This year's freshman class is estimated to be about 10 percent above last year's, which was 3,387 students. Peavine Hall is the newest addition to campus and will serve home to 600 freshmen, officially on August 20. There are no vacancies for the next school year and even the waiting list has maxed out.
The dorm originally was meant to host 400 students, but with the high demand to live on campus, rooms that were initially intended to be doubles have since been converted into triples. The closet space has not been adjusted, however, and students will have to figure out how to share two closets among three students. The bathrooms are private, so instead of community bathrooms each student will only have to share with their roommates. This hall is five-stories high with the option, originally, of a two-bed style or four-bed.
The dorms at the University of Nevada, Reno are created more as communities and usually each has something that gives them a difference to stand out. Peavine Hall is no exception and incorporates the wellness theme. The residents will be encouraged to set goals that fall into the seven dimensions of wellness. The focus of the dorm is physical fitness and health, and each student will be set up on wellness teams in hopes of challenging each other and providing wellness growth among peers.
The 117,000 square foot building is the first new construction project that was finished with gender-neutral bathrooms in the common areas on the University of Nevada, Reno's campus, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal. The first-floor common area features a fireplace created with bricks from a 1920s era house. The project totaled $40.5 million but has helped with the pressure to build more on-campus housing, said the Journal. Peavine Hall will be adding to the nine dorms currently holding more students than originally intended. With studies proving that students who live on campus their first year have better grade point averages and are more likely to continue their education to graduation, officials know it's very important to create more housing for the increasing amount of students who enter the university.
In order to secure a spot in the new dorm, students had to have requested it by February. Some students will begin moving in on August 16 when the dorm first opens its doors, but the majority will move in on the official move-in day of August 20. There still seems to be a huge need for more dorms for incoming students, but hopefully Peavine Hall will help relieve the stress for the immediate future.
