The Kennedy Hall at Bellarmine University is an elongated corridor weathered by the memories of students and scholars past. The carpet is stained from food and drinks from various parties. The walls are almost painted with the ideas and feelings of the residents.
For 5 weeks, Governor Scholars accepted from all over the state of Kentucky come to live in Kennedy and 5 other dorms on the campus. Taking classes and creating a unique community that has made this program coveted by highs school juniors for over 25 years.
“The hall creates a community within a community,” said Aris Cedeño, Dean of the Governor’s Scholars Program. “This single area of space is where scholars live their daily lives and where the most camaraderie is formed.”
“Before meeting each other in the hall, I wouldn’t have hung around with any of these people,” said Brian Bickers, a 2009 scholar at Bellarmine.
The light at the end seems to rush in through the window, much like the scholars rush in and out everyday. The corridor can be a symbol of solitude when it is empty or a symbol of camaraderie when it is full.
Over the 5 weeks the scholars are together as much as 16 hours a day, creating a unique community of its own, even when conflicting characteristics come into play. The hall plays a major role in this bonding experience.
“GSP made me hang out with these people, then I realized everyone was really cool,” said Bickers, who lives in Kennedy Hall.
Every person, out of the 18 scholars, has a nickname. Sometimes these names make sense, sometimes they do not. Names like “A-Money” or “Static” are constantly heard throughout the hall.
“The hall is oddly entertaining,” said Logan Omerod, another resident of Kennedy 3B. Omerod also spoke of the halls ability to communicate well, “Our meetings last double the time because we talk so much.”
Kennedy 3B does everything together. They often times travel in groups, and they have a “my hall is better than yours” mentality. They flaunt their hall. But no hall is complete without problems. Sometimes arguments ensue between roommates.
“Very rarely we switch roommates,” said Cedeño, “civilized people work the problems out. RA’s keep the hall together. RA’s are a very important piece in the GSP community.”
To cope with any skirmishes, the Resident Advisor is in charge, a guide for the hall. This role on Kennedy belongs to Grant Buckles who has to conquer the task of controlling twenty scholars 24-hours a day.
“A RA is there to make sure everyone behaves, but you have to set back and let everyone do their thing; you can’t force things.” Buckles said.
Some halls even do Showcase, GSP’s talent show, together. Scholars find common skills on their floor and decide to show them off. Recently, several members from Kennedy 3B and a few from other halls created “Tenacious P and the Redheaded Step Children.” This “hall band” performed Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” at the second week’s Showcase and brought the audience to a roar.
Many times cliques form based on common characteristics such as musical talent or athletics. The hall is a clique formed between people of different characteristics, nationalities, and personalities. Consequently, they come together and form a clique that dominates Governor’s Scholar Community. A scholar’s hall is part of his or her GSP identity.
“I trust all of the hall. I like to hang out with all of the hall,” remarked Bickers. He has realized his friendships are very important and is glad he lives in Kennedy 3B.
Through classes that include a focus area, or major class, a secondary class and an issue-topic seminar, the 300-plus students are exposed to many new ideas and experiences. Strong bonds often come out of the classrooms, but some scholars will tell you the true connection is created in the corridors of college dorms – a location that for most of these high school juniors will be home in a very short year.