Residential Life Decides Superblocks

Residential Life has released its decision announcing the groups that have been awarded superblock housing for the 2013-2014 academic year. The committee has approved the Collective Mind group for Palmer House, the Design House in Jewett, the Exploration and Adventure group in Meeker House, the Superplay superblock in Homestead and the Intentional Living House in Munford House, in addition to Superblocks in the five mods.

Each year, groups of about 30-45 students apply for these block houses with a specific theme in mind.  Members of each group must prepare a presentation for a board including Karin Hall-Kolts, residential systems coordinator, other members of the residential staff, and a student.  This board determines which groups shall receive houses after students present their theme.

This year’s superblocks are made up of a diverse group of upperclassmen with varying ideas on how to improve the campus community through programming.

Blake Shapskinsky ’15, who organized the Collective Mind superblock, hopes to take advantage of the house’s size and reputation as a hotspot for social life on campus to create a forum for thoughtful discourse.

“It was incredible to see how the issue of divestment instigated campus-wide debate,” said Shapskinsky. “We would like to replicate at least some of that.”

Shapkinsky said he got the idea for the Collective Mind superblock after watching Intelligence Squared, a UK-based debate program that stages Oxford-style debates between experts on a wide array of topics.

Shapskinsky and the members of the block plan to replicate this program in the hopes of drawing a diverse crowd of students to the house by hosting various professors and speakers as well as knowledgeable student to debate topics of interest.  The group has already began planning debates, with topics which include the legality of marijuana and the morality of Guantanamo Bay.

The group that will be residing in Meeker House, the “Exploration and Adventure” block, hopes to push its members and other students to step outside of their comfort zone .

“We purposefully left the theme open-ended because we did not want to limit the scope of our theme,” explained Kevin Tenenbaum ’15.  According to Tenenbaum, the group plans to host activities ranging from maple sugaring to a community discussion about death and mortality.

“Discomfort does not pertain to one certain type of experience,” said Tenenbaum. “Hopefully Meeker will allow us to demonstrate that through various activities.”

The Mods will also house Superblock groups next year.  In the Norgay Mod, the “Around the World” block,  a group of internationally inclined students who will be going abroad in either the fall or spring will theme their block around their experiences in foreign locales.

“We want to do forums and discussions based on travel,” said Zoe Kaslow ’15.“The goal is to not only discuss our personal experiences abroad but also to give advice to those who plan on studying in a foreign country at some point in their Middlebury careers.”

The members of Norgay will also seek to build a strong relationship with the Study Abroad Office on campus and establish the mod as a place any student can visit with questions or concerns before they go abroad.

Homestead House, which has been awarded to the Superplay superblock, will encourage its members to be physically active.

“Everyone who will be living in our house had the shared experience of playing outside as children,” said James Clifford ’14. “We all believe that the type of mental and physical stimulation is a valuable asset.”

“We thought Homestead was particularly well suited to our theme because of the size of its lawn,” Clifford added. “We will have the space we need to get outside and fulfill the mission of our theme.”

The group has many events planned, including hosting an outdoor barbeque in conjunction with the Community Friends program in both the fall and spring of the next academic year.

The other Superblocks themes have a wide variety of themes, from Baking in the Earhart Mod to Intentional Living in Munford, and next year’s houses will provide the student body with a varied range of social spaces and activities.