Hillcrest Honors Community

Hillcrest Honors Community is an undergraduate residence hall at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. With a student capacity of 108, it is the smallest residence hall at Virginia Tech. Along with the Main Campbell Honors Community, Hillcrest requires that all of its occupants maintain a grade point average of 3.50, and it is customary that they live in the building for the first four years of their undergraduate education. Students staying for a fifth year may live off-campus but still participate in community functions such as occasional dinners, the senior toast, and Colloquium Magnum (see below).

In addition to being a residence hall on the second and third floors, Hillcrest houses Virginia Tech's University Honors offices on the first floor. Community residents thus have the opportunity to maintain close personal relationships with the Honors staff.

Hillcrest Hall is one of few buildings at Virginia Tech not named for a person. The name is derived from its location at the crest of a hill at the southwest end of Virginia Tech's central Drillfield, between West Campus Drive and the Grove. It is one of the few red brick buildings on a campus known for its "Hokie Stone" architecture.

Hillcrest is unusual as a Virginia Tech residence hall because of the structure of its living arrangements. Most residence halls at Virginia Tech have either hall bathrooms or 3-room suite-style groupings. Instead, rooms in Hillcrest are arranged in pairs; each room has its own sink, and every pair is connected by a shared bathroom containing a shower and toilet. A handful of rooms, typically reserved for Hillcrest's four resident advisors, have private restrooms. Hillcrest is also somewhat unique on Tech's campus because men and women may live next door to each other.

Academics

All non-freshmen Community members participate in a section of Colloquium Magnum, an unproctored literary and current events discussion class which averages ten to fifteen students per section. Freshmen take a similar course called "Freshman Honors Seminar" (or "FHS") in their first fall semester, then join the rest of the community in Colloquium the following spring. The Community accepted freshmen for the first time in Fall, 2001; before this, freshmen with honors status living elsewhere on campus had the option of taking FHS.

An Academic Standards Council oversees and enforces the GPA criterion. Three members, elected from each freshman class, serve through their fourth year in the Community. Students with a cumulative GPA below 3.50, when they would otherwise be asked to leave the Community, may appeal to this Council, which then determines appropriate probationary measures. Council members must maintain a 3.60 GPA.

Hillcrest is seen as a major source of academic recognition for the University, as its residents traditionally fare very well in competitions for the Class of 1954 Scholarship, Horton Scholarship, Goldwater Scholarship, Fulbright Scholarship, National Science Foundation Fellowship, and Marshall Scholarship, among others. One of the Program's goals is to provide scholarship money to every entering student in the Community, a goal which has already been met for the class that entered in 2004.

Community members are individually invited to join before their arrival to Virginia Tech. Approximately 25 University Honors Program applicants are invited to interviews during their senior year in high school on the first weekend in April. From that pool are selected recipients of the Alumni Presidential Scholarship, the most prestigious Honors scholarship bestowed by Virginia Tech. All students interviewed receive some scholarship. Open positions remaining in the Community after the interview weekend are filled by personal invitation from the Honors Director. However, many students apply to join the Community from other parts of campus after their freshman year, contributing to the high percentage of upperclassmen in the Community.

Politics

Community members have a mixed record of political participation within Virginia Tech. Individual interest drives some members to leadership in student groups concerned with environmental protection, international students, university policy, student life, professional organizations, religious communities, and many others. There is no required political or leadership component to the Community.

History

Prior to becoming a community for honor students, Hillcrest Hall was the first women's residence hall on Virginia Tech's campus. In this capacity it was affectionately referred to as "The Skirt Barn." Several testaments to this fact remain:
*There is a men's restroom located on the porch, as gentleman callers were not permitted inside the doors.
*Hillcrest Hall is the only residence hall on campus with its own dining room, kitchen, and fireplaces. The dining room is used for special events and classes.

In addition, Hillcrest has housed student-athletes. Legend holds that during this time period, several student-athletes attempted to light a fire which resulted in a conflagration that almost consumed the building; as a result, the living room fire place is now bricked up and unusable. Hillcrest has also served as housing for international students and graduate students. Currently, Hillcrest Hall also houses the offices of Upward Bound and Talent Search, the Center for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, the Academic Assessment center, and the Residence Hall Federation.

ee also

* Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
* Virginia Tech campus

External links

* [http://www.vt.edu/ Virginia Tech (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University)]

* [http://www.univhonors.vt.edu/ University Honors at Virginia Tech]

* [http://www.hillcresthonors.org.vt.edu/ Hillcrest Honors Community Official Web Site]

* [http://www.hillcrestchronicle.org.vt.edu/ Hillcrest Honors Community Unofficial Web Site]