Site Description: The City College of New York’s “Towers” is a ten story building that houses thousands of City College students. Although the building is grey in it’s exterior, it is extremely bright once inside. Surrounding the building is tons of greenery and the architecture buildings that also belong to the college The Towers harbors a very positive and accepting energy and students appear to be very comfortable and happy residing there. It is a great environment for students and it allows them to feel at home even if they’re thousands of miles away from it. The Towers also features multiple amenities available to students as well as being included in the final price of the dorms. Amenities include a laundry room, music room, seminar room, lounges, and even a large kitchen and vending area. Students are free to use these amenities at any time so long as they keep it clean and don’t create issues for other students or staff. Each floor is painted a different color to represent a new theme for the semester. Seeing to the fact students spend two semesters dorming, the Towers residents often find their floors painted a different color once they ring in a new semester. Some floors even have their own lounge for students to relax and mingle with others, but don’t get it confused with a hangout spot since the floors have quiet hours as well. These quiet hours provide students with the peace and quiet needed in order for them to excel in their work and studies while the top two floors are actually always in quiet hours 24/7. It is an exceptional place to dorm and it allows students to excel in their schoolwork while also having new experiences.

Subject Profile: My expert for the subculture of the CCNY Towers is a student who resides in the Towers herself. I decided to use my classmate Britney as my expert once I was turned down by a staff member who was originally my expert. Although my expert changed unexpectedly and in very short notice, Britney actually turned out to be an amazing guide to the dorms. She is an insider to what student life is like at the Towers and she gave great insight as to how things actually are as a resident. She was an amazing tour guide and was able to answer any question about the Towers and although she has only dormed for her freshman year, she gave very helpful information. She is a crucial aspect to my project and going on the site visit with her as my expert was a fantastic choice. If I ever have another project regarding the dorms, I will definitely find my way back to her so we can work together once again.

The Interview:
What is the main reason you choose to dorm here at CCNY ?
How would you describe the diversity within the towers regarding the students ?
How is student life here, do students easily get along with others or is there initial hesitation to meet new people?
Are there events here at the towers that allow the students to mingle and become friends ?
Do you ever experience issues among the students or staff? Or is everyone kind and friendly ?
Do you enjoy your school environment ?
Do any students ever move out of the dorms before a semester is complete? If so, why ?
Has there been any negative occurrences on campus since you began dorming here?
Do you think dorming life has a negative or positive effect on your performance in the college ??
What do you do on a regular day ?
How many students dorm ?
How much is it to dorm here at CCNY?

The answers:

1. I chose to dorm here at CCNY because I really didn’t want to deal with a long commute. I would’ve had an hour and a half commute and if there are delays it would’ve been two hours. I’ve heard stories of students that have long commutes and then their grades drop because by the time they get home they’re so tired that they barely have energy to do their homework to their full potential.

2. When it come to diversity at the towers it is definitely diverse. Believe it or not there are a lot of students that dorm here from out of the country. Personally, my roommate is from Russia and that really surprised me. I thought it would mainly be students from upstate or long island, but this isn’t the case.
3. Students seem to get along pretty easily at the towers. However, in my experience a lot of students are very mature and seem to be here mainly for school and not much else. I have met a few people that really do maintain a vibrant social life though.
4. Of course, there are events every week and they each hold a theme that teaches a bit of a lesson. One week they had an event promoting safe sex where they had a party at the end of the week. They even have little events around finals and midterms that helps students destress. I just saw one where they were giving out ice cream to help us “chill out” for finals week.
5. I think that with any living situation you’re gonna run into problems no matter what. However, it’s nothing out of the ordinary. Everyone is quite friendly and willing to help especially among the towers staff.
6. I enjoy the towers environment but when it comes to the CCNY environment I have run into some issues. However, the towers is a great environment because it’s not very loud or wild like some other dorms. This can get kind of boring sometimes but overall I think that it is a good thing.
7. I actually tried to move out before the 2nd semester began just because it is really expensive. I felt bad that my parents were working so much just to pay for my housing fees but it’s not an easy thing to do. There is a whole process and obviously I did not get out of my housing contract.
8. The fire alarm goes off sometimes because residents make stupid decisions but it’s college so I didn’t expect anything more.
9. I think that it has a positive impact just because it allows you to have a space that is really just dedicated to your schoolwork. It also encourages you to become more independent when you have to deal with roommate issues or maybe just buy your groceries for the week.
10. If I have a long day I usually just come back to the dorm, make dinner, take a shower, and then do homework or watch Netflix until I fall asleep. But if I only have one class that day I would normally do laundry, maybe workout, catch up on homework, and just kind of relax if I have nothing to do that is super urgent.
11. I’m actually not sure how many students dorm, but I do know that there are 10 floors and there are rooms on every single floor. ( Estimated in the thousands)
12. It depends on the type of room you want but I have the cheapest option. I believe that is about $12,000 a year. I pay $1,258.60 per month for the duration of each semester.

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