The IDEAL Program, previously a non-residential certificate program, added a residential component for the first time this year.
This fall, Jason Rogers and Bo Hoskins moved in to Sewell Hall as the first non-commuter IDEAL students.
“We want our students to be fully included in the campus experience,” Kelly Blankenship, IDEAL’s Program Coordinator, said. “This program allows them to be fully immersed in campus life, and that is our dream for all our students. We want everyone to get the same benefits and opportunities without exclusion.”
The TPSID Grant helped with funding to make the residential component of the program possible. Other changes to the IDEAL program included adding an optional third year for students to complete, a trial experience in the summer for prospective IDEAL students and expanded community involvement for the current students to participate in. Lipscomb was one of 25 schools to receive the grant, and it has allowed IDEAL to hire Residential Coordinator Samuel Hutchins who will act as a liaison between IDEAL and residential life.
“With the extra money we received, we will be able to provide extra support,” Blankenship said, speaking of the changes being made this school year.
IDEAL has a tentative goal to add two new residential students each year.
The new roommates, Rogers and Hoskins, said they are both excited about their move to residential life. They noted that although move-in day was stressful, it was definitely worth it. The two students also said they are excited to get to know more people outside the IDEAL Program and be a more active part of campus life.
“These might be the two most eager students on campus,” Hutchins said. “This is a beautiful testimony of what Christian higher education should look like. It’s people of all different walks of life being afforded similar opportunities to learn and get to know one another.”
A student wishing to apply for a residential spot in the IDEAL Program will go through an application process that includes an interview and survey sent out to adults who have previously worked with the student.