Live. Learn. Love.
Like most good things at Randolph College, the Peace and Diplomacy Floor was a student-faculty collaboration.
For the past three years, Kate Descoteaux ’08 has been participating in the Susan F. Davenport Global Leadership Program, a special four-year program designed to educate and inspire thoughtful and engaged global citizens. Each junior and senior Davenport student has a faculty mentor, and together they must come up with an idea for a senior capstone project.
Descoteaux’s mentor is Tina Johnson ’93, Randolph College’s Director of International Programs. Johnson showed Descoteaux a proposal that she and some other professors had written for the fledgling Global Honors curriculum. After several brainstorming meetings and discussions, they came up with the idea for a living/working residence hall dedicated to peace and diplomacy.
Descoteaux used the grant-writing skills she acquired through the Davenport program to craft a winning proposal, earning enough funds to found Randolph’s first themed, live/work residence space.
Randolph staff members and administrators were quick to lend a hand. The assistant dean of new students and the director of residence life sent special e-mails and letters about the new floor to first-years and returning students.
“I’ve gotten support from every direction I’ve looked,” says a grateful Descoteaux.
This August, Descoteaux welcomed the 12 inaugural members of the Peace and Diplomacy Floor. The residents include two women from China, one woman from Jamaica, and two men, one of whom speaks fluent Russian.
With men and women sharing a floor—and more importantly, a bathroom—the students had an opportunity to put their diplomacy skills to work immediately. After a quick meeting, they decided that the men would hang a sign on the bathroom door when they’re using it and that women can decide whether or not they want to enter.
“I was very impressed with how everyone handled it,” says Descoteaux.
As members of the floor, students are required to take one of three classes each semester: American Cultural Patterns (AMC 203), World Politics (POL 113) or Peace & Conflict Resolution (POL 107). They will also meet twice a month for group discussions or to attend a related campus event. Each student is also asked to write at least three blog entries a week reflecting on class work, discussions and events.
“The big thing that I’d like them to do is to bring a global component to the school in the form of a project that they work on together, preferably related to peace and diplomacy,” says Descoteaux, who will work with the students to come up with a project proposal they can all get excited about.
Emmapemma Xu was thrilled when she found out about the Peace and Diplomacy Floor and even more excited when she moved in. “I want to be in a small community with people who have the same ideas and want to do the same things,” says the first-year from Shanghai.
Descoteaux’s grant only covers funding for the Peace and Diplomacy Floor’s first year of operation, but she’s hoping that with the help of dedicated Randolph professors and students, she will have helped to create the college’s newest long-lasting tradition.
