It’s called the Community-to-Classroom (C2C) Living-Learning Community, but “community” isn’t the only word you might hear more than once in a discussion of the campus program that debuted in 2014-15.

First-year education majors who spent the year together on the fourth floor of Neufeld Hall also talked about “bonds,” “family,” “friends” and “home” when describing their shared experiences this spring.

C2C was designed to be a community that blurs lines between classroom and residential environments—“a classroom without walls” where students taking introductory education classes together could continue academic conversations, said Caleb Farmer, director of residence life.

Education faculty involvement is also part of the equation, including spending time on the floor and sometimes joining in activities with the students, he said. The idea for the program emerged from faculty conversations about how to better engage students, added Dr. Julie DeGraw, vice president for student life and dean of students.

Based upon several of the first participants’ comments, the effort appeared to be successful.

Katelyn Baumlein, from Findlay, said she had wondered if she would have friends at Bluffton. But everyone in C2C came together from different backgrounds to form bonds “we’re never going to lose,” she predicted. 

She noted, too, that there was “always somebody there for you” on the floor—a feeling echoed by Brianne Frederick, from Leetonia. In particular, Frederick mentioned the older education majors who helped the first-year students with studying, and motivation, while living with them as mentors.

One of those mentors, Rachel Keske of Lima, said that meeting incoming C2C students as a guide at orientation last summer excited her about the possibility of participating. And everyone “hit if off immediately” when they moved in for the start of classes in August, she said.

Another mentor, Megan Long of Marion, pointed out that activities such as group dinners specifically contributed to the building of “strong bonds.” For her, that sense of community was manifested by being greeted “the minute you step off the elevator on the fourth floor,” she added. “They’ve become my Bluffton family,” she said about the C2C students, and just getting to know each other made this “the best year of my life.”  

D’Nae Reese, from Columbus, told of the students’ invitation to the home of Tim Byers, an assistant professor of education and their instructor for an introductory teaching course. He treated them like family, helping create the kind of connection “we would like to make as teachers,” Reese said.

After all, noted Claire Deorio, also from Lima, she and her classmates were more than a community of people living together. “We are a community of future teachers,” she said.

Dr. Paul Neufeld Weaver, an associate professor of education, Spanish and cultural studies who taught the C2C group in its Becoming A Scholar course, explained that the program’s organizers hope it will provide additional support as students navigate their first year at Bluffton. It seemingly did just that during its initial year for at least two group members, who acknowledged that a difficult transition to college had them uncertain about staying.

“Why go home when I have all these friends here?” one C2C student recalled asking herself. Another said the program gave her “a chance to move into a space that’s mine” after having moved many times before coming to Bluffton. “C2C is more home for me than anything,” she said.

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“They’ve become my Bluffton family,” said Megan Long (back row, middle) about the C2C students she helped mentor during 2014-15.