Sunday, November 4, 2012

Introduction to the HAV CLAS Building


            Hassayampa Academic Village CLAS building is one of the biggest freshman dorms on Arizona State University campus.  This freshman dorm is located on Lemon Street which means it is in close proximity to other important locations on the ASU campus. For example, it is close to the Student Recreation Center, Memorial Union, the ASU Bookstore, public transportation stops, and many off campus apartments.  The Class of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) building is unique in that it contains the dining hall, UPS store and P.O.D market. Also on the opposite side of the dining hall, there is a tutoring center for your child to go when he or she needs help. Within this map, the location of each of the areas are displayed as well as what your child’s dorm room hall will look like when they decide to enroll at Arizona State University.  According to ASU official website in the online tours section, it states that Hassayampa is a “co-ed freshman community providing double-occupancy accommodations with suite-style bathrooms. Amenities include: 24-hour campus security and front desk services, tutoring center, academic advising, laundry facilities, vending machines, wireless zones, study lounges, air conditioning and an Ethernet port for each resident” ("Arizona State University: Online Tours").  Also on each floor there is a Community Assistant and a Peer Mentor.  Sometimes a floor will have a Sun Devil Rep.  A Community Assistant is the regulator of the floor; they make sure there are no issues or conflicts. Every night, Community Assistants travel around the whole CLAS building in order to make sure the environment is safe and everything is in order. A Peer Mentor is there to socialize and make your child feel at home and become comfortable with ASU. A Sun Devil Rep job is to promote school spirit by helping your student get involved in the different ASU activities.  Also throughout the building during certain times there are quiet hours in which there should be minimal noise so students with early class can have a well-rested night. With all these amenities and student interaction, Hassayampa environment and atmosphere creates a safe community for social and education opportunities. In maintaining a safe environment, this academic village also includes a great amount of well-lit lights. There are also several blue lit lamps that are there in case of an emergency. Arizona State also offers free late night transportation from one area of the campus to another. However, when walking at night you still can feel very safe and comfortable. Within the Hassayampa environment, there are three total buildings: CLAS, the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, the W.P. Carey School of Business, and the University Explorers which are all in one building, and Barrett, The Honors College. Barrett is a “unique advantage of experiencing a small, intellectually and socially vibrant environment while having access to the vast resources of the major research university at ASU” ("ASU Barrett, The Honors College"). With scholarly students in close proxy, your student can connect with others that have high standards when it comes to education.  Hassayampa and Barrett connect physically because in front of Barrett is a courtyard. This is in the middle of all the three buildings so many students from the different buildings will congregate with friends there. As you can see, due to Hassayampa Academic Village’s great location it helps in staying connected to the Arizona State University campus as well as creates a community in which your child will succeed educationally but also find friends that will make their freshman year of college enjoyable.  





Works Cited
"Hassayampa Academic Village ." Arizona State University: University Housing . N.p.. Web. Nov 2012. <http://housing.asu.edu/residence/hassayampa-academic-village>.
"Hassayampa Academic Village." Arizona State University: Online Tours. Arizona State University. Web. Nov 2012. <http://www.asu.edu/tour/tempe/hassayampa.html>.
"Tempe Resident Meal Plans." Resident Meal Plans at ASU Tempe Campus. Arizona State University . Web. Nov 2012. <http://sundevildining.asu.edu/tempe/mealplans/resident>.
"Sun Devil Dining opens new market in Memorial Union." ASU News [University]. Arizona State University, 23 2010. Web. Nov 2012. <https://asunews.asu.edu/20100923_podmarket>.
"Sun Devil Dining Spring 2012." Arizona State University: Sun Devil Dining . Arizona State University . Web. Nov 2012. <http://sundevildining.asu.edu/files/TempeSpring2012_HoursofOperation_1.pdf>.
"The UPS Store @ ASU." Arizona State University: ASU Housing. Arizona State University. Web. Nov 2012. <http://housing.asu.edu/content/ups-store-asu>. <http://housing.asu.edu/content/ups-services>.
"Welcome to Barrett, The Honors College Four Unique Honors Experiences, One College." ASU Barrett, The Honors College. Arizona State University . Web. Nov 2012. <http://barretthonors.asu.edu/>

Dorm Room


Where your ASU student lives his or her freshman year is one of the most important decisions that will make their college life enjoyable. The hall in which they are placed is one of the easiest ways in which friends are made. This happens because of social connection and educational commonality. Each hall is divided mostly by major. For example, G4 is where the biochemistry, chemistry, and biological sciences are located.  However, there are other majors like history, psychology, and sociology that live on this floor. Arizona State University housing works very hard to match your student up with people that are in their major or same classes. Located in each hall are two study rooms, a laundry room and a lounge with a television and community kitchen. The two study rooms located on the floor are used differently because one has two white boards and the other one is just a room with a table, chairs and no window in the door. The smaller is one is more for an individual quiet area. While the bigger one is a where most groups go. Although it has a window in the door it is very quiet with a good temperature environment. Most students use the study rooms as a homework area, group study area, or a group hangout area.  It affects the entire floor because it gives area for students to study together or socially interact in a scholarly environment. The lounge with the community kitchen and television can also be used educationally because it quiet during the day and it is a comfortable area.  However, the lounge can also be used socially. Many students use it to watch movies, watch TV shows or play board games with friends. Also some students will make community dinners there. The lounge is a great place for relaxation. Also to mention, the laundry here in the Hassayampa Academic Village residences buildings are 100% free! As for the dorm rooms, each dorm contains “two Twin beds (36x76), two metal dressers, and two metal desk with chairs, one window and blinds,  a waste container and a blue recycle basket and Wi-Fi and high-speed internet” ("Arizona State Univerity: University Hosuing ").  Your child, their roommate and their suitemates share the bathroom which includes a shower, toilet, and towel hangers. Also they share the air conditioner unit but the room on the left side of the suite controls the temperature. Each dorm has its own unique structure so here are many ways to arrange a dorm room and personalize it in order to make it home for your college student to live their freshman year.  

The P.O.D Market


The Hassayampa CLAS building also is home to the P.O.D market. The P.O.D market is a convenience store.  It sells dry goods, frozen foods, meal exchange plans, “home” essentials like trash bags, air fresher, safety pins, medicines, pencil and more.  According to Sun Devil Dinning the purpose of the market “was to develop a highly-customized solution that delivers quality, convenience, variety and value and met the specific needs of the campus community” ("ASU News [University]").  The market’s goal also “meets the demand of students looking for fresh, healthy and quick dining options” ("ASU News [University]").  The P.O.D market is one of the prime locations where M&G dollars are used. M&G dollars stands for Maroon and Gold dollars, in which can be used to buy food outside of the dining hall or other essential items. However, M&G dollars is not the only use of money that can be used in the market. Also available are meal exchanges. A meal exchange happens after the dining hall closes. This is when your student can go to the market and pick out a specific certain amount food that will count a swap at the dining hall. The P.O.D market is also home of subway. The market is underneath the CLAS building; however, it faces toward the direction of Barrett, the honors college and the courtyard. This creates a community between the different residence halls because it easily accessible and many students use it so it a great place for interaction especially at night. The employees within the P.O.D are not very talkative because since they are dealing with so many college kids in a small area, they work to get people in and out of the store.  The hours of the market are from “Mondays through Thursdays from 7 a.m.-1 a.m., Fridays are from 8 a.m. to 1 a.m., and Saturdays and Sunday hours are from 10 a.m. to 1 a.m.” ("Arizona State University: Sun Devil Dining "). 

Hassayampa Dining Hall


Located underneath the CLAS building is the Hassayampa Dining Hall.  The dining hall is “All-You-Care- To-Eat” within certain hours.  The hours of dining hall are “Monday through Thursday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.  Fridays are from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.  Saturday hours are from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Finally Sunday’s hours are from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.” ("Arizona State University: Sun Devil Dining ").  However these hours will change if there is a holiday, a break, or other special event. With the dining hall, there are different meal plans. There are “unlimited meals with 250 M&G dollars, 14 meals a week with 375 M&G dollars, 180 meal per semester plus 375 M&G dollars, 8 meals per week with 350 M&G dollars, or 135 meals per semester” ("Resident Meal Plans at ASU Tempe Campus").  M&G dollars stands for Maroon and Gold dollars, in which can be used to buy food outside of the dining hall. For example, most students use M&G dollars at Memorial Union because this is where Starbucks, Burger King, Papa Johns, Jamba Juice and more fast restaurants are located. Students also use M&G dollars at the P.O.D market, a convenience store.  Also to mention, depending on the meal plan some contain a limited number of guest passes that can be used to treat someone to breakfast, lunch and dinner. With the in dining hall, they are several stations: sandwich bar, salad bar, pizza, soups, vegetarian station, and “home plate”. “Home plate” is where the home style food is made.  Also it varies depending on the time of day.  The employees at Hassayampa are very friendly. They talk to you, ask about your day and have great communication skills. Also if there is problem they will fix it immediately. On certain days in the dining hall there are random themes.  For example, Mondays are known as meatless Mondays.  The goal of meatless Mondays is to display to freshman about weight gain and to be aware of freshman fifteen. Plus it shows alternative healthy style of eating.  Other themes include 60’s nights and pajama party.  The Hassayampa dining hall has great amount of social interaction because it a way of gathering around the table to eat but also talk to people and make new friends.

UPS Store @ ASU



The UPS store is the convenience site in which mail is received and shipped. It is next to the Hassayampa dining hall as well as located on Lemon Street. It provides “full service locations [that] will not only provide you with your own mailbox, but also offer a full range of postal and shipping services, and copy and printing services you can rely on.” Also according to ASU UPS store website it is responsible for handling all of your mail service needs” ("Arizona State University: ASU Housing"). The UPS store socially affects the residents because it helps them stay in contact with the world-class service. The different types of service include “private mailbox, shipping and moving supplies, printing services, fax services, and ship or store” ("Arizona State University: ASU Housing"). There is also a service made especially for move in day and move out day, it is called “home 2 home”.  In this service, the UPS store will allow for shipping of dorm supplies as early as two weeks prior to move in date into the residence hall. UPS will also pick up your dorm supplies from you house and moved to your residence hall. When it is time to move out, the “home 2 home” service can help in moving back home for the summer. They can also provide support if you want to move into an apartment or it can store personal items for you.  The personal mailbox is given to each student in which they can receive many items.  For example, the mail received is maybe for personal use like care-packages and internet brought clothing or dorm supplies. Some students will use their mailbox for educational purposed like the shipping of books. How students will receive their package is by taking the little slip of paper found in their mailbox and taking it up to the front desk of the store. After an employee will ask for their signature on the slip of paper and their ASU student ID, this happens in order to check for verification so students will receive the correct package that belongs to them. When verified, the employee will then go find your child’s package and give it to them. In recommendation from personal experience the customer service is reasonable; However, I believe most of the employees lack social skills. The hours of operation are from “Monday to Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and it is closed on Sundays” ("Arizona State University: ASU Housing").