Forms of Community

March 29, 2018
Peyton Lawrenz

Each year at Princeton has felt distinct and different, separated by the milestones unique to each year and the growing pains of personal development, change and growth. However, throughout the feelings of near-constant change year-to-year, what has held constant is the feeling of community and the feeling of belonging at Princeton. 
 
As an admitted student, even before you arrive to campus, you are welcomed into one of the first forms of community that you will find on Princeton’s campus—your residential college. Princeton is divided into six residential colleges—Butler, Forbes, Mathey, Rockefeller, Whitman and Wilson--, each of which constitutes a microcosm of the larger university. While each residential college serves practical purposes containing dorms, dining halls and common spaces, each residential college becomes a center of community for its residents, bringing together students from diverse backgrounds, and a support system. Each college has a faculty head, dean, director of studies and director of student life, all of whom are available and ready to support students as they transition into and move through Princeton. The colleges also include a team of peer advisors including residential college advisors and peer academic advisors. As a first-year, Butler College became a home base and a community for me. 
 
However, as I have spent more time at Princeton, the initial communities that I formed as a first-year have grown and changed, expanding from the self-contained community within my residential college to encompass diverse communities across our campus. As a sophomore, I dedicated time and energy to creating and expanding the communities that I had found as a first-year. Dedicating my energy to others through service and extracurriculars rewarded me with new friendships and communities. 
 
Now, in my third year, I feel grounded. After two years on this campus, I have found a place within it. I have friends and people and communities that help me feel rooted. Although I remain open-minded, eager to meet new people and form new connections, my friends and communities anchor me.  Now, instead of looking to others to help me feel that I belong, I serve as a Residential College Advisor, working to help facilitate first-years’ transitions into Princeton and support them in forming communities.