Pitt’s newest dorm gets good reviews

Some students try hard to keep their dorm rooms free from spills and messes.

But for… Some students try hard to keep their dorm rooms free from spills and messes.

But for Catie Henderson, the decision wasn’t hers to make.

The bathroom ceiling of Henderson’s room, in the brand new Panther Hall, began leaking on Monday.

She told how the entire floor was covered with water, and that the water was dripping from multiple places in the ceiling.

Although the problem was not expected, it has not lowered Henderson’s opinion of the hall overall.

“I still think [the building’s] really beautiful, and I love my room. Once the problem is fixed, it will be as good as new,” Henderson said. “I guess these are just the kind of things that happen in new buildings.”

If an opinion of a building, which provides a view of the Petersen Events Center, can overshadow the impact of a leaky ceiling, then Panther Hall must have so much to offer to its residents.

Students are living either in three-person suites, five-person suites or doubles, all of which come equipped with their own private bathrooms.

Colin Gorman, who lived in Tower B last year, thinks the rooms are spacious.

“The bathroom is as big as my room was last year,” Gorman said.

He also commented on how clean and new the building is in general, and how he did not have to spend time cleaning up his room.

Even the mattresses epitomized cleanliness: They still had plastic wrapping over them when residents entered their rooms.

Each floor has a lounge, a study area and a laundry room, while the ground floor alone contains a mailroom, a coffee bar, a fitness center and e-mail kiosks.

Other luxuries that the hall offers are air conditioning that can be controlled in every room, an Internet connection for each student and a refrigerator and microwave for each room.

The distance from campus is also not a problem because shuttles, such as the 10A, make stops at the hall.

The co-ed building, which is located on University Drive near Pennsylvania Hall, houses mostly second-year students.

The residents will be part of a “competitive-edge program,” where events will be held in hopes of making them more aware of campus sports games and groups, such as different honor societies. By knowing about campus groups and events, they may be willing to do more of these activities.

Some programs are also intended to create self-reflection, explained Julie Uspal, the eighth floor resident assistant of Panther Hall. She mentioned that they will have a chance to escape from schoolwork and just spend time thinking over their career aspirations and other life decisions.

Uspal wants her floor occupants to spend time exploring Pittsburgh because she said that it is an awesome city in which to attend school. She explained that the sophomore year is a good time to realize this.

“As freshmen, you spend time making friends,” Uspal said, clarifying that freshmen do not have a chance to really experience the city nor the organizations that Pitt has to offer.

Sophomores, on the other hand, already know people, and they should just spend their time enjoying the college experience, Uspal said.

Trips that have already been planned for the residents of Panther Hall include a spring break trip to France, a community service outing to Ireland and a retreat to the Oglebay Resort and Conference Center in West Virginia.

At the moment, though, many students such as Lauren Books are just satisfied with the aspects of the building.

“I have my own room, a living room, a big bathroom and big elevators,” Books said as she compared these conditions to the ones she had last year in Holland Hall, where she only had one dorm room, a communal bathroom and smaller elevators.

The name of the building even offers a little originality for her.

“I think it works,” Books said. “It’s more creative than ‘Tower A.'”