LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) -- An enrollment spike at Philander Smith College meant some students spent last semester at a local hotel. Now, those students are busy unpacking as they settle into new housing.
56 students now have brand new housing at Philander Smith. A total of six new units were added allowing students to be closer to campus, finally providing student a place that they can call home
Director of Housing Waylon Metoyer said just weeks ago students lived in the La'Quinta on Broadway where they found it difficult to adjust.
“This is our newest community in addition to our residential life center,” Metoyer said. “We have about 56 students residing on campus that includes five resident assistants in each unit in addition to a professional staff member."
With a smooth transition, they were able to move all students who lived at the hotel in the new facilities at Panther Village. "They were very excited to come here and finally have a place that they can call home while living on campus,” Metoyer said.
Each unit includes five bedrooms, four bathrooms, a full kitchen, and a washer and dryer. The spaces will fit up to ten students.
Panther Village is much closer than before, and students now have two options to get to the main campus. They can either drive or take a 10-minute walk right down the street. But either way, students say they're just happy to be out of the hotel.
LaTia King, a sophomore at Philander Smith, finds the new place a lot easier to access campus. King said it’s a place where she and her roommate now have the privacy they deserve.
"I really like it here. I'd rather be here than on campus,” King said. "It gives me an at home feeling. I don't have to feel like I am just away; I am at home in a house just like my own home.”
The addition of amenities on site are helping her re-adjust to being back at school. But, the journey doesn’t stop here. With increasing student numbers, the school looks to expand even more, by creating programs for students living in the new units.
"We will develop some living learning communities to have specific students residing on here working with staffing and programming that we will develop for next semester,” Metoyer said.
