For the brand new upperclassman residence hall, Alumni Hall, Lipscomb is welcoming Jackson Smith as head resident this upcoming semester.
Smith graduated from Lipscomb this past May and was an active student on campus, serving as SGA President for the 2016-2017 school year.
Smith said that Dr. Sam Smith, Lipscomb Dean of Student Life, told him after he received the position that Alumni Hall was now his “castle.” As head resident, Smith plans to cultivate a certain culture for his residents through respect, faithfulness and accountability.
“This gives me full responsibility for creating the culture and community,” Smith said. “I will do this using several different methods from events to relationship building and by setting a tone of what I think my castle should be.”
Similar to the Village Apartments, Alumni hall will be co-ed, but male and female students will have designated living spaces on separate sides of the dorm. There will be three floors of two-person rooms with private bathrooms. The building will also include a community kitchen, balcony patio on the third floor, multiple study spaces, a classroom, a conference area and a lobby on each floor. To add to this growing list of amenities, seven rooms on the bottom floor will be used as hotel space for guests.
Smith will be the youngest head resident on campus, but he believes it will give him the opportunity to bond with his close-in-age college residents because of his relatable and recent experiences as a Lipscomb student.
“That’s the most exciting part about this job for me,” Smith said. “This will look very different for me than it has in years past as I transition from a student to a professional staff member. My main role is to lead students, but I still want to build lasting relationships with the opportunities I have.”
As head resident, Smith’s position will consist of ensuring the safety of residents in Alumni Hall and implementing Student Life’s mission in “equipping students to discover their created purpose and embrace their place in the Kingdom.”
To do this, Smith will be working alongside four student RAs to maintain a level of student expectation and safety.
“For the last four years of my life as a student at Lipscomb, this campus has been my home,” Smith noted. “Having the opportunity to work here and share that experience with students means the world to me.”
“I now get to look back on college and see that so many mentors and friends here helped me become the person that I am today. The opportunity that I could have that kind of influence on even just one student at Lipscomb is the reason I wanted to be a head resident.”