The Oaks and Park Place Neighborhood

Emerging Adulthood

The Community theme guiding the Oaks programming is Emerging Adulthood. The theme has a three-pronged focus: thrive, information literacy, and community and civic engagement.

When students move into on-campus apartments, they’re forced to reckon with “adult behaviors.” Oaks residents are living independently, studying abroad, conducting undergraduate research, taking on leadership positions, working at internships, and engaging in deep inquiry in their majors. They’re also learning to live independently. And according to a study that analyzed 5,000 tweets that incorporated the hashtag “adulting,” that’s not a bad thing. “Are you surprised to see that the most common sentiment expressed by ‘adulters’ is positive? Adulting is a source of pride” (Risdal, 2016).

“Generation Z sees problems but wants to find solutions and knows how to wield their tools and knowledge to do so. We predict Generation Z will have a strong work ethic similar to Baby Boomer and the responsibility and resiliency of their Generation X parents, and they may be even technologically savvier than the Millennials” (Seemiller & Grace, 2016).

Through Late Night Noms and Neighborhood Dinners, residents have expressed that they need support being adults. The Oaks will focus on introducing students to diverse perspectives, learning how to be responsible and discerning information consumers, discussing civic engagement outside an election year, the concept of thriving, and more. Most of our events focus on some aspect of being an adult and what that means. We’ve had organic conversations with residents that transition from surface level to in-depth and meaningful; this shows our residents are ready, willing, and sometimes eager to go deep.

Residents of The Oaks and Park Place are supported by Elon as scholars and professionals, and they are interested in learning to integrate their academic life with their residential and social life. They want support learning to manage their residential lives — cooking, managing a living space, navigating relationships as adults while taking advantage of all Elon has to offer. In other words, they want more of their academic life in their social and residential life, and they want help making their residential life as productive as possible to support their academic life.

The Oaks and Park Place Neighborhood Plan

Oaks and Park Place Neighborhood Plan 2022-2023 external is an educational roadmap for integrating Oaks residents’ academic, social and residential experiences.

Neighborhood Student Population

• 650 students
  • 30% sophomore
  • 49% juniors
  • 21% seniors

Facilities and Amenities

• The Oaks: 6 apartment buildings. Apartment styles include: 4-person units with single rooms; 4-person units with double rooms; 2-person units with single rooms.
• Park Place: residential apartment building over mixed-use space. Apartment style: 3-person units with single rooms.
• Neighborhood common areas: McCoy Commons with a Club Room (full kitchen included), multi-purpose room, and offices for Phoenix Card and Campus Safety and Police. Outdoor sand volleyball court and courtyard with tables and outdoor grill.

Neighborhood Leadership

Jen Cole is the Community Director for the OPP Neighborhood

Matt Wittstein is the Faculty Director of OPP.

Signature Programs, Social Traditions and Academic Experiences

Residents have an opportunity to learn from one another and hear from campus partners in an informal setting through various neighborhood programming. Matt Wittstein, the Faculty Director of The Oaks, lives in the neighborhood and supports its intellectual life.

Neighborhood Dinners

Neighborhood dinners are intellectually themed social events. At OPP Neighborhood dinners, AMs invite faculty to come together with students to discuss current issues in the world. Faculty members will be chosen based on their expertise in particular areas of interest as well as the AM’s interest in having dinner with them. These dinner conversations allow residents to explore the issues in the world and connect them to what they’re learning in their courses. They are informal, social, and the discussions are resident-led with conversation questions composed by AMs, Faculty Director and Community Director.

Late Night Noms

The OPP Neighborhood staff has established Late Night Noms as a social tradition with a focus on the emerging adulthood theme. Late Night Noms runs from 8-9 p.m. in the club room. Each Late Night Noms has a theme, including wellness, productivity, sustainability and identity development.

Podcast Potlucks

OPP will host monthly Podcast Potlucks to enhance students’ social and intellectual wellness. This event will involve selecting an overarching theme and specific podcast episodes for students to listen to and discuss at a potluck dinner. Themes will intentionally focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion within the context of our community.

Welcome Back Extravaganza

A welcoming meal traditionally has been a hugely successful neighborhood kick-off event. Over the years, this event has had many themes, but the core goal to bring residents together, welcome them back to Elon, and provide them with the chance to meet their neighbors stays the same. ONA members are invited, giving residents their first Oaks opportunity to engage in informal intellectual faculty interactions.

J-Term Book Club

The Oaks and the Station at Mill Point will partner to host a joint book club supporting the Winter Term theme.

Winter Term Trivia

The Oaks will partner with other neighborhoods to host a trivia night with questions based on the Winter Term theme. Winter Term Trivia offers an opportunity for students who are here over J-term to be in community, knowing programming can be sparse during January.

Black History Month Event

The OPP Neighborhood will partner with The East Neighborhood and The CREDE to host an event for Black History Month. Past events have included a dinner inviting local Black and African-American political and civic leaders to share their journeys and knowledge about Alamance County and North Carolina history and an Expo event where identity affiliated student groups have hosted tables, similar to an organization fair.