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Lauren Welch Rocking out the 9th Floor
New Journalism Living and Learning Community moves into Columbia Hall

Lauren Welch meets lots of J-school students in her office as an SJMC adviser. Three years ago she started seeing them in the classroom as a University 101 instructor. This year, as coordinator of the School's first living and learning community, Welch is seeing the students in their own element—the ninth floor of Columbia Hall.

Fifteen freshmen accepted into the Journalism LLC are “pioneering this new experience for us,” said Welch. "The students come from all over the United States—from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Georgia,Tennessee, New Jersey and South Carolina. But now, they call the ninth floor of Columbia Hall home and the living and learning community their new family."

Welch, whose background is in University housing, spent several years refining the concept of a journalism living and learning community, which combines the residential aspect of college life with the academic component. Last year, Dr. Carol J. Pardun, the director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communications, endorsed the program, and both welcomed the inaugural residents of the community to campus in August.

In addition to living on the same floor, the students attend class together. They are all enrolled in Welch's University 101 class and the Journalism 201 Survey of Mass Communications course taught by Professor Ernest Wiggins.

Welch said she could tell the first day which of the 22 journalism students in her University 101 class were in the community.

“They have clearly bonded,” she said. “They show a little more respect for each other. You can tell when one of them speaks, they gravitate to that person.”

Freshman Taylor Cheney came across the new community while she was filling out her online University housing application. She already knew she wanted to live at Columbia Hall.

“I was like, ‘What? I have to get with this!’” Taylor said.

We caught several of the new
members of the Journalism Living and
Learning Community during move-in day.

On move-in day—and despite the rain— students and their families attended a reception at Dr. Pardun's home, just down the street from Columbia Hall.

“It was wonderful to see their enthusiasm, and it was wonderful to see their parents’ enthusiasm,” Dr. Pardun said. “In this day, when the media are in such turmoil, it’s refreshing to see students and parents who understand how important this degree is.”

cake Each student in the LLC has a student mentor, who serves much like a big brother/big sister. Welch said the mentors are there to help with things like move-in day, give advice on classes and internships and just generally be available as a journalism resource for the new freshmen.

But that's just part of the program Welch has developed for the community.

Students also will have monthly professor-led discussions, a service-learning project and an etiquette dinner hosted by J-school Career Services Director Beverly Dominick.

The freshmen will also have access to a J-school graduate student who will be available at set times in the residence hall each week. Dr. Pardun also has offered to host dinner with the students twice during the year.

“I think it will be interesting to see how this plays out,” she said. "Lauren has spent a lot of time and effort ensuring the success of the program. I can't wait to see the way the community will evolve."

The Journalism Living and Learning Community will be open to new applicants again in early spring.

The students are blogging their experience as part of their University 101 class at http://sjmc-llc.blogspot.com/.

The Big Move:
One family’s transition to USC

By Tenisha Waldo

Taylor Cheney and Kristyn Winch

Eighteen years of preparation and anticipation led to freshman Taylor Cheney’s move-in day at college. She was ready, as was her family – and so was the School of Journalism and Mass Communications’ first living and learning community.

Taylor’s mom, Bonnie Cheney, had ditched the convertible and rented an SUV to haul Taylor, her stuff, and her 14-year-old sister, Logan, the two hours from Mount Pleasant to Columbia on move-in Saturday.

colleage “We were so overwhelmed,” Taylor’s mom said. “We left at 6 this morning.”

The SUV wasn’t big enough, however, to pack in Taylor’s precious oversized portrait of heartthrob crooner John Mayer.

“My friend’s mom actually ended up coming with me,” said Taylor, who is a print journalism major. “She brought some of my clothes up, and she brought the poster. … We couldn’t fit it in our car, but we fit it in hers!”

Every inch of Taylor’s side of her Columbia Hall dorm room is coordinated: The orange-topped stool and the kaleidoscope orange star from World Market above her desk. Her green apple laundry basket and her whitened coffee pot. Vanilla apple air freshener. A bedspread of green, magenta, light pink and orange stripes to unify it all.

At midafternoon, Lauren Welch, the J-school academic adviser who came up with the idea for the living-learning community, and Lisa Chestney, a graduate student and mentor in the community, stopped by to answer any questions.

Where was the bursar’s office, Bonnie Cheney asked. It was time to pay for college.

“All right, let’s go take a field trip,” Taylor said, curious to explore campus.

“Taylor, can you bring drinks into class?” Logan asked as they passed the Carolina Colloquium Café.

“I don’t know, probably water,” Taylor said.

They reached the bursar’s office in Petigru, and Bonnie Cheney grimaced at the line down the hall. “Maybe I’ll pay it online and just be done with it,” she said.

But 10 minutes later, they were headed back out.

“Well, first semester’s paid,” Bonnie Cheney said. “Check,” Taylor said, marking off her mental list of to-dos.

Stuffing the receipt in her purse, Bonnie Cheney urged Taylor to “keep working, honey” and apply for scholarships.

They made it back across campus, and then the heavens opened up with a typical summer afternoon Carolina downpour. They had ducked into Capstone and tried waiting it out, but the rain wouldn’t let up and the clock kept ticking.

So it was dash for the car and then for a reception at the house a few blocks away of Dr. Carol Pardun, the journalism school’s director. Some people were huddled under a backyard gazebo. Others were under a deck, their umbrellas still up to ward off the rain dripping through the cracks.

The cookies, cheese and chips were largely untouched, getting soggier by the minute. But Dr. Pardun said everything was already out when the rain came, and it would have gotten even wetter had she tried to move it inside.

As she moved between the deck and gazebo under her umbrella, 18-year-old Sarah Nelson of Cincinnati said the living-learning community would “make it all easier” to adjust to college life. The print journalism major said she is looking forward to possibly studying abroad.

Eighteen-year-old Chris Brown of Atlanta said he chose USC for the visual communications major, which isn’t offered in Georgia. He has a Southern Regional Education Board scholarship for students to pursue majors at out-of-state schools that aren’t offered in their state.

Visual communications is “the one place that brings everything together,” said Charles Bierbauer, dean of the College of Mass Communications and Information Studies.

Taylor Cheney said it was price and proximity that got her to USC.

She said she expected the University’s size would be a challenge, but she didn’t expect the jitters she felt when her mom and sister left after move-in weekend.

“This is really the first time I’ve been out on my own,” she said. “I was pretty heartbroken.”

But she said the J-school’s living-learning community already had let her meet new friends who helped her transition.

Written by:

Tenisha Waldo

Tenisha Waldo

Waldo is pursuing her master's in mass communication and is an iSITE contributing writer.

She is from Columbia and graduated from the SJMC in 2006 with her bachelor's in print journalism.

Edited by:

Doug Fisher

Doug Fisher

Fisher is the author of Common Sense Journalism, co-author of "Principles of Convergent Journalism" and executive editor of The Convergence Newsletter .

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