Pathfinder - Colorado College

Philosophy

As a residential college, Colorado College provides unique opportunities for students to grow intellectually and personally within a community of learners.  Our three-year residency requirement is anchored in our unique academic plan, incorporating three specific areas of learning: academics, campus activities, and residential living. Grounded in this plan, the department of residential life and housing carries out the mission of the college by facilitating student learning experiences outside of the traditional classroom.

Our staff emphasizes three principles in our work: developing relationships, being intentional, and being persons of influence.  These principles are illustrated through our thoughtful approach to how we assign students’ rooms as well as how we approach creating educational experiences outside the traditional classroom. We strive to be student-centered by balancing individual student needs as well as the needs of the community.

During their first year on campus, students live in one of the traditional residence halls, where emphasis is placed on helping students learn about themselves and each other, campus resources and policies, and how to live together in a community. The sophomore year is a year of reflection, focused on learning self-responsibility and adjusting to changing friendships, how to communicate with peers and hold each other accountable for their shared expectations, and role modeling for new students. During their junior and senior years, students live in less-supervised communities where we expect they begin to engage themselves in more global communities, are more self-governing, and give back to the residential community by serving as role models and engaging in conversations about how to improve college practices and policies. All of these efforts are designed to help prepare students for living off campus during their senior year or after they graduate from college.

Since all students will live on campus for the majority of their CC experience, the department seeks to provide housing by balancing the needs of each individual student with the needs of the greater community of all students living on campus. Our hope and expectation is that students living on campus are committed to being active members of their community where they reflect upon the spirit of each community value and apply the values to their every day life and interactions. Given our focus on student learning we hope that students understand that we strive to meet their needs, not always their wants, and we also expect that students engage in their communities by demonstrating the community values in their actions, taking responsibility for themselves and their friends, and by confronting behaviors they see in themselves or others that are not congruent with these values.