Most students going into college worried that they won’t make friends or that they won’t find their way through college. Others just come to college with an open mind and don’t have a problem making new friends.
Some colleges have living and learning community programs, also known as LLCs, where a group of 20 students share a common interest. The students live on the same residence hall floor, take classes together, and engage in other activities that are the main focus of their group. Here on campus, there are six different LLCs which are Academic and Career Exploration, IMPACT Leadership, Honors, Realizing Dreams, Voices of Justice, and Spectacle LLC’s. Each of those LLCs have different topics that they focus on and go more into depth with to help the students.
“I think it was great for incoming students, who had an interest in performance, theater, and film to come together and find like-minded people. This also helps them dive into the academic aspect of those communication interests,” Abel Rodriguez, director of the center on immigration and assistant professor of religion, law and social justice said.
Rodriguez was an adviser for the Spectacle LLC. The Spectacle LLC, focused more on film, media and theater, where they learn how to be intelligent cconsumers and critical interpreters of the forms of mass culture that surrounds them. Rodriguez was an advisor for two years for the Spectacle LLC.
While being a part of the LLC, Rodgriuez taught a course on the study of religion through film. Not only did he teach a religion course, but he was also their adviser, which meant he was their college success professor. He would help schedule their classes for the next semester and help them adjust to Cabrini and make sure the students were adjusting to college. The advisers help the students find their path in terms of their interest related to that area.
Each LLC has different events that they take their group to as a bonding experience for all of them. The Spectacle LLC, host a film festival that they have every year. The LLC would also take the students to every play that the college had each semester. They would take a trip to New York City every year to go to the NBC Studios and tour the studios there. The group also took a trip to the Museum of the Moving Image.
“It helped me a lot to secure myself in what I like because I’ve always been interested in movies. I’ve always had my own self-teaching, but being part of the LLC Helped me meet new people who also liked movies,” Aiyana Martinez, English major, said. “I also got to know with time that this was the field I was interested in and wanted to do in the future.”
Martinez was part of the Spectacle when she was an incoming freshman. The Spectacle LLC had a drama class where they learned about theater and acting techniques. Spectacle students also wrote essays for plays and read plays. The students also talked about religion through movies, so that it wasn’t just solely on the art of the films. The students talked about religion through movies since the campus is big on religion.
Being part of the LLC has made it easier for students to integrate into the campus and college life. Martinez also went on to say that the LLC helped inspire her to chase after what she wanted to be instead of doing what people expected her to do.
