The Oaks and Park Place Neighborhood

Discovering Adulthood

The Community theme guiding the Oaks and Park Place programming is Discovering Adulthood. The theme is supported by three pillars of discovery: Identity, Thriving, and Civic Engagement. Our Oaks and Park Place Neighborhood Plan 2023-2024 provides a taste of what residents can expect this coming academic year.

Welcome to The Oaks and Park Place Neighborhood!

When students move into on-campus apartments, they’re forced to reckon with “adult behaviors.” OPP 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. OPP residents live in a community that will allow them to explore and discover adulting on their terms.

Through Neighborhood Dinners, residents have expressed that they need support being adults. OPP 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.

Neighborhood Student Population

• At least 700 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 OPP, lives in the neighborhood and supports its intellectual life.

Neighborhood Dinners

Neighborhood dinners are intellectually themed social events. At OPP Neighborhood dinners, AMs and residents invite faculty to come together with residents to discuss current issues in the world or find ways to connect and thrive together. Faculty and staff will be chosen based on their expertise in particular areas of interest as well as the AMs 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.

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.

Winter Term Trivia

OPP 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.