As you may or may not know, I have spent my freshman year living in Dykstra Hall and will be returning next year as an RA! Every building on campus has a little bit of a different dynamic and not every building is right for everyone, so I would encourage everyone to seek out the right fit (and Res Life will help you out with that based on what you put down on your housing card!). However, Dykstra is one of the largest halls on campus, and it seems to work out pretty well for a lot of first-year girls!
I have loved living in Dykstra this year. It has given me so many awesome opportunities to make friends and foster awesome relationships and conversations. Dykstra is the only dorm on campus that is set up in clusters instead of hallways. There is a central living room connected to every dorm room, so there is always a place nearby to hang out, do homework, relax, have conversations, share snacks, watch movies… I think you get it! The clusters are so nice because you always have space to do whatever you need to!
The girls in my cluster are truly some of my best friends, and I probably would never have even met a lot of them if it weren’t for living so close to them. I am so thankful that we all ended up in the same place. God’s hand was definitely at work in placing us all together!
I also love that there is always someone new to meet in Dykstra, but at the same time, it’s like a big happy family of familiar faces, and that’s awesome! There’s always someone to get to know, to talk through things with, to ask for help with homework (I’ve done that with complete strangers… Dykstra love), to offer your Cheez-Its to, or whatever. You could just walk through Dykstra and say hi to people that are sitting out in the clusters and pretty much immediately make friends if you wanted to, and that’s a sweet aspect too.
It’s a really social place to be, but if you need space, you can also go in your room. Granted, someone might come in to say hi (that includes someone you don’t know who is looking for your roommate and ends up staying to chat with you for half an hour… Also personal experience, but it was an awesome one!), but that’s usually a nice break from studying or whatever you’re doing anyway. It’s awesome that people want to know you and invest in you and just encourage you in whatever ways they can! Dykstra, and really all of Hope, is great in that way!
So basically, I love Dykstra. I can’t wait to be back again next year as an RA. It’s going to be a blast! Hope to have some of you guys join me there too! Make sure to leave a comment, tweet @hopekathryn17, or email me at kathryn.krieger@hope.edu! Thanks for reading!
PS: I made a video about Dykstra earlier in the year! Check it out!
“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”
Romans 12:2