The target is located immediately on the fourth floor of Boyd Hall, where the UNLV has established its first phase of learning and living...
The target is located immediately on the fourth floor of Boyd Hall, where the UNLV has established its first phase of learning and living for the black and African-American diaspora. Door signs from Wakanda Forever adorn the room, and the games "Cards Against Humanity" and "Uno" bring the community together.
The standard of an apartment, the expectations that the residents create and accept together to live in, is to talk to each other as they walk down the hall. Encourage students to meet. Andre Cooper's assistant said, "It's refreshing because we spend too much time on the phone and forget about simple greetings."
Howell Town is the newest themed community on campus. The residences also have all-women apartments, healthy living and LGBTQ + students, as well as apartments for members of Honors College and Harrah College of Hospitality. In his first semester, Howell Town attracted 30 residents, mostly students and transfers.
V Dedeaux chose Howell Town because "I can have someone here I can relate to and understand, Howell Town feels completely different than other floors and corridors."
Resident Faith Lawson added: "The apartment is very communicative, we see that we have the same difficulties, and although I still do not know anybody in my apartment very well, I always have the feeling that I know him ."
Cooper said the experience in Howell Town brought students together and that "people really want to interact and participate." Having like-minded people on a floor where they can thrive and leave their comfort zone helps maximize what UNLV has to offer. "
The roots
Inspired by the launch of Stonewall Suites in 2017 , an apartment for LGBTQ + residents, student Anna Opara and student Sharon Uche (17 BA Communication Studies) defended the new apartment because of their identity. "We believe Howell Town would complement the UNLV's ethnic diversity in a way that would make it easier for students to graduate and verify their identity," says Opara.
Opara and Uche studied similar soils at other universities, including Stanford University, Virginia Polytechnic University, and the University of California at Berkeley. Opara also asked for support from the Black Student Organization, the National Society of Black Engineers Section and the Association of Residences before preparing an official proposal for UNLV Housing & Residential Life to approve the floor.
The name of the apartment came when they learned that John Howell was the first African American from Clark County to legally own land. Since opening in the fall semester of 2018, students have learned that Howells Land is now part of Springs Preserve in Las Vegas. This discovery led to a collaboration with the Springs Preserve team. The residents are planning a trip to the apartment in the spring semester, which is led by archeologist Nathan Harper, the reserve curator.
Beyond the different, the daring, the diversity
Andrew Lignelli, Residential Housing Coordinator, said the apartment is part of campus efforts to improve resources and support for minority and first generation students. UNLV is considered the most diverse university in the country and is called by the Federal Government as an "institution serving the minorities".
"In recent years, students have expressed that the UNLV is very good at being an" institution with minorities "over a genuine" institution serving minorities, "which means that it goes beyond the numbers." There are not enough resources for colored students at the UNLV, "said Lignelli.
He oversees the South Complex, home of Howell Town. "We believe that this type of shared housing would satisfy the needs of black and African American students to create a community in which they can feel empowered by the recognition of a prominent and traditionally underrepresented community."
Deputy resident Andre Cooper added, "Howell Town gives us something special, and as a result our inhabitants feel very much attached to a group of similar and related people."
This can be attested by the resident of Imani Satterwhite. Although she is the youngest of three children, Satterwhite says she actually grew up by herself. "I can be in an environment where I could not grow up, every person I saw was a minority, but here I see how the family can be."
The residents attended campus events together and received several guest speakers from the UNLV's Office of Student Diversity and Social Justice, the Greek Life and the Panhellenic National Council (Council of Brotherhoods and Sisterhoods with Letters). International Greek (historical African-American)
Residential Life Deputy Director Orlando White notes Howell Town was developed when the UNLV organized the men's retreat and the black girls at the roundtable in March 2018 in September 2017. He said, "It was clear that there was a desire and a need for special spaces to significantly explore identity ... Howell Town Provides Strength through Celebrating and Exploring Diversity Diversity or the presence of differences are essential elements for that Success of the students. "
