First Place goes to the Honors Pavilion.

Second Place goes to the Elon College Fellows Floor.

Third Place goes to 3VA–Honors Floor.

Students participated in a variety of events, receiving points for event attendance, good grades and challenges between the communities.

Communities who won will receive $200, $100 and $50 to go towards programming.

In addition, residents of these communities participate in the Learning Community Challenge—a semester long program that encourages students to meet residents of other communities and establish closer relationships with those they live with on their hall. Students gain points for attending events ranging from athletic contests to speakers presenting on a myriad of topics. Communities can also challenge one another in the program, allowing residents to further increase their connections on campus. Students are encouraged to submit work that receives a grade of “A” or “B” to gain points for their community. Why do they do this? Many students have their eyes on the $200 first prize that will be awarded to the community with the most points at the end of the semester.

Communities will be able to use the prize money as funds for programs they wish to pursue in the spring. Some floors have ambitious plans for trips to major cities. For these floors, winning $200 can’t hurt.

More than 200 students live in Learning Communities, offering residents the opportunity to connect with students and faculty with common interests and goals. Each community is focused on a particular area of interest; among the most popular are Service Learning, Communications and Creative Arts. Possibilities of topics range from academically-focused areas such as honors, Elon College Fellows and the Math, Science, Engineering Community, to special interest communities such as the Outdoor Learning and Health/Wellness. Other communities include La Casa de Español and the International Pavilion.

U.S. News and World Report included Elon’s learning communities as a “Program to Look For” in its 2006 edition of “America’s Best Colleges.”

Freshmen from the Class of 2009 were led by eight upper-class student facilitators who have been training for these adventures since spring. Students participated in one of two Adventures in Leadership treks the weeks of July 11-16 and July 18- 23. In addition, three professional staff members and one faculty member joined the students, allowing them to meet not only other Elon students but faculty and staff as well. Students had a chance to learn more about their leadership styles through challenges which included rock climbing, a personality inventory, rappelling and small group initiatives. Two days of whitewater rafting on the New River rounded out their adventure.

The experience is not a full-service trip. Participants had to work as a team to make decisions that affected the entire group. Students were encouraged to reach beyond their comfort zone and experience new challenges.

Angela Passarelli, director of the Center for Leadership, believes in empowering students to make their own choices. “Adventures is a time for incoming freshmen to preview college life in a unique setting,” says Passarelli. “They are responsible for their own experience, yet guided and prompted by experienced student leaders.”

Incoming freshman Brian Hahn was glad he decided to participate. “Adventures in Leadership was really a great experience, because it offered incoming freshmen the opportunity to meet one another before even arriving on campus and gave them a chance to interact with facilitators who had already experienced what Elon has to offer. Not to mention, it was a blast!”

Adventures in Leadership started in 1993, allowing incoming freshmen to get a jump-start on their college careers, make new friends and develop their leadership skills. Its sister program, Discovery, was added in 2001.