Harrison College House will expand its Integrated Living Program to serve as an anchor for the house as the Freshman Experience program will be discontinued.
In 2017, all three high rises will become upperclassmen-only dorms. For Harrison, this change means the loss of the Freshman Experience residential program, in which freshman are integrated into Penn through a combination of mentorship and community-building events.
Harrison Dean Frank Pellicone views this program as extremely important to the sense of community in Harrison, and believes that losing the program will be detrimental to the house.
“The freshmen are in many ways a backbone of our house,” Pellicone said. “I remain hopeful that between now and then the decision may be reversed and we will continue to see the vibrant, four-year community in Harrison that we have enjoyed through the Freshman Experience program.”
To compensate for the loss, Pellicone has decided to increase the size of the house’s Integrated Living Program — a living-learning program with students from all schools. The group hosts several events throughout the year, ranging from speaker events to book groups to movie nights. Currently, there are two Integrated Living floors, but next year there will be three.
“When it was clear we were losing our freshmen, we thought this would be a nice way to keep up community and academic community-building,” Pellicone said.
Igor Bazay , a College and Wharton senior who now serves as program coordinator, spearheaded the program in 2011 when he was a part of Riepe College House’s Integrated Studies Program.
“My freshman year in the fall I saw how everyone loved living together and how so many of our friends wanted to share in our community,” Bazay said. “It was a really great experience and we wanted to see that continued.”
The main purpose of the program is to “create a really open and welcome intellectual community,” Bazay added.
“We intend to build a community of thought,” Bazay said.
Students in the Integrated Living Program are also pushing to make connections with freshmen in Riepe’s Integrated Studies Program — despite the coming absence of freshmen in Harrison.
