Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
A new era at Penn State Brandywine
Students move into first-ever campus dormitory
MIDDLETOWN » On the TV series “Blue Bloods,” New York City native and Columbia University freshman Nicky Reagan takes a break from the Ivy League each Sunday to have dinner with her extended family. Penn State Brandywine freshman Jimmy McGettigan can do the same.
McGettigan was one of nearly 250 students who moved laptops, linens and laundry baskets Thursday into Orchard Hall, the newlyconstructed residence campus hall. Brandywine is now among 11 of the system’s 20 commonwealth campuses to offer housing.
“I wanted to live on campus for the experience,” said the Drexel Hill native. “I’m also close enough that I can go home if I need something.” Unlike many college freshman dorms, which are often some of the oldest on campus, the incoming students here are the first to live in the four-story, L-shaped building. The rooms, with adjustable beds and underneath storage space, desks and chairs, wardrobes and a combination refrigerator/freezer/microwave, are
augmented with a community kitchen, club and meeting space and TV room.
Orchard Hall also is home to a new student union with the Lion’s Den, a student gathering space, conference area, student affairs office and eatery and bookstore to meet the needs of the entire campus. Some of the newbies had already visited the latter, as blue and white pennants, rugs and pillows adorned their rooms.
The residence hall is coed by room and a peek inside typically revealed the gender of the occupants. Roommates Christine Gorman of East Norriton and Alexa Moreschi of Audubon, classmates at Renaissance Academy Charter School in Phoenixville, coordinated their look with matching reversible quilts, rugs and other dusty rose accessories.
“It must be a girl vs. boy thing - she was so much more organized than her brother when he left for Albright,” said Christine’s mother, Carol. “She knew exactly what she wanted and it made it so much easier.”
The grounds were also organized for the first onslaught of on-campus students. Families greeted with directions to the parking lot were eventually able to drive close to the door, where approximately 35 staff, volunteers and the Nittany Lion helped unpack vehicles and transport belongings. The popular hashtag #ThankGodThereIsAnElevator succumbed to its celebrity, however, and those who arrived later were forced to use the steps.
Many of the move-ins are using the local campus as a stepping stone to University Park by enrolling in the 2+2 plan, which allows them to begin classes locally and eliminates the need to reapply as juniors. The program works especially well for psychology major Rebecca Zaturn of Glen Mills.
“My family is thinking about moving back to Long Island,” she said. “This way I get the experience of living away from home.”
While the majority of the vehicles had Pennsylvania tags, New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire, Maryland, Delaware and Ohio license plates were among those in line. The two and a-half hour distance between the campus and her Kinnelon, N.J., home is “not too close and not too far” for Jamie Andrews.
“I went to a small private high school and this felt like home,” she said. “I’m not a ‘big campus person’ and could ultimately decide to stay here all four years.”
With the exception of the international students, however, the prize for farthest distance went to Maria Roybal-Gomez, who with her parents drove 29 hours from Espanola, N.M. Like some of her fellow students, she plans to spend two years at Brandywine majoring in philosophy and anthropology before heading to Centre County and ultimately to medical school.
“The East Coast attracted me because it is so different from the Southwest,” said Roybal-Gomez. “I took a gap year after high school and began the application process in December and I’m super excited to be here.”