For the 2013-2014 school year, the upper level of St. Joseph’s Hall, the former convent building, has been transformed into dormitories for 13 male international students and their two supervisors.

According to Coordinator of International Student Programs Sandi Seiler, the dorms first became an idea when international students began asking about on-campus housing.
“Around year one or two [of the international student program] I noticed a pattern of some students asking if we were a boarding school. I got calls and emails from students, especially in Asia, asking about on-campus housing,” Seiler said.

According to Seiler, on-campus housing makes it easier to have international students. “It can be difficult to find 50 host families. It is a big decision for a family to take on an international student for a year. Instead of everyone having a host family, some [international] students just want on-campus housing,” she said. “Some students feel at the mercy of someone having a license. They get here and they want to be involved.” According to Seiler, living on campus eliminates the transportation issue.

According to dorm supervisor Michael Kimble, the students have a general schedule they follow each day.

They get up at 6:30 a.m. to walk to school at 7:15 a.m.

At around 6:30 p.m. after sports practice and club meetings, they have dinner in the cafeteria, and then they have study hall from around 7:15 p.m. to 9:45 p.m., and then return to their rooms at around 10 p.m.

Kimble said living in the JC dorms is slightly different from his old boarding school, The Phelps School.

“It’s a little bit different. At Phelps I was not living in dorms but here I am living in dorms,” Kimble said. “The neatest thing is the energy. Students are always coming back with stories to share.”

“Each student has their own private room. I’m not aware of any other boarding school or even college dormitory where each student has a private room,” the second supervisor of the dorms Brother Steve Strausbaugh said.

“We have a very spacious lounge with a nice flat screen television. The first floor is basically offices for advancement and public relations. On the weekends, we use the conference room for meals.”

Sophomore Ben Flomo is an international student from Liberia. Last year he attended Brookhouse School, a boarding school in Kenya.

According to Flomo, “the rooms are okay but there is too much noise. My boarding school before, everything was better except the rooms. There we had to share rooms.”

Cole Alban is the Online Chief for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.