Western Kentucky University is celebrating two newest residence halls that make up the school’s First Year Village.
The $48 million learning complex at the south end of campus opened last fall for freshman students.
The pod-style residence halls house most of WKU’s Living Learning Communities, or LLCs.
In a ribbon-cutting on Wednesday, President Timothy Caboni said the goal is to help first-year students stay and complete their degrees.
“They study together, walk to class together, go on field trips together, shout across the hall to one another when they need help on an assignment," explained CAboni. "They grow up as Hilltoppers as part of a small, intimate academic community of their own, and because of that connection, because of that support, they’re going to persist.”
President Caboni said the First Year Village is already paying dividends. More than 95 percent of first-year students who participated in LLCs in the fall returned this spring.
