WKU dedicates First Year Village with ribbon cutting

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – An exciting day for the Western Kentucky University community! WKU celebrated its two newest residence halls and First Year Village with a ribbon cutting ceremony.

Dozens were in attendance to hear about the focused living communities on the south end of campus. The $48 million complex features two pod-style residence halls which house the majority of the Living Learning Communities.

WKU President Timothy Caboni says within these communities, students become a small family by learning, studying, and hanging out together. 95.2% of students who lived in an LLC returned for spring, 5.9% higher than those that did not.

LLC student Jake Jones also spoke at the event and talked about the impact living in a community like this has had on his life.

“Transitioning to WKU I was hoping to meet diverse people and learn more about the world about me. Being part of an LLC has broadened my knowledge of others and allowed me to learn from them,” said Jones.

“They’re gonna be more successful, have more contact with faculty, have something engaging that’s academically oriented, making something that makes the 150 hours spent outside of class as important as the 15 or 18 they spend inside class,” said Caboni.”

The two residence halls together house 635 students.

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