Last week, I became involved with a coveted and illusive concept: Connecticut College's common interest housing.

What I realized is that no one really talks about this because it is extremely complicated, but I’ve managed to make sense of it. Common interest housing is apartment style housing that (mostly) resides on the other side of Mohegan Avenue, near the Athletic Center. It consists of the Winchester Houses, Ridge Apartments, and 360 Apartments (which are actually located on the main campus and, unlike the rest of the dorms at Connecticut College, come with a kitchen and living room and are made for 2-6 people.)

The common interest aspect is that each group applies for their housing with a theme, which is what my three friends and I were working on last week. We had to put together an application that explained what our theme was, how it coincided with the College’s goals, the purpose of the project, how it would benefit the larger community, how we would work with our adviser (whom we also had to nominate), and why our specific housing choice was integral to our project.

Since my friends and I all have environmentally focused majors and three out of four of us are vegetarians, we knew we wanted a sort of environmentally based food theme. We also incorporated my friend Natalie’s interest in waste management and my interest in sustainability to add a composting aspect to the project, which we can hopefully expand to include the rest of the Winchesters and Ridges. While we did get an interview for our housing, we have a long application process ahead of us before a decision will be made about our housing. Common interest housing is very competitive and I know many people who are applying for it. It just shows how much our educational interests get combined with other aspects of our College lives.