Life in the Service House
The Bennion Service House is a theme community for students of all backgrounds and majors who are dedicated to service and volunteer work. By living in the Service House, students will engage in Service House Dialogues, Officers Hollow, Saturday Service Projects, and Project Youth.
Service House Dialogues occur three to four times throughout the year, and bring together students, faculty, and community members to discuss current issues. The next Service House Dialogue will be about ability and disability, and it will take place on Tuesday, February 27th from 7:00-8:30 PM in the Service House, and an information session about the house will immediately follow. These dialogues also allow students to share and promote issues that they are passionate about, and these events facilitate open conversations and the sharing of ideas and opinions.
Around Halloween, residents in Officers Circle will partake in Officers Hollow. With this event, students living in the Service House will decorate their house and allow kids from potentially dangerous neighborhoods to trick or treat. This event has been a tradition in Officers Circle for many years, and it has also helped facilitate communication with local community members.
As a part of living in the Service House, residents will have a few service obligations. Residents will be expected to partake in the Bennion Center’s Saturday Service Projects. These projects involve volunteering for about half of the day to address issues and meet the needs of the local community. Residents will also be expected to support and participate in Project Youth. This project aims to inspire students from elementary schools in Salt Lake City to pursue higher education. By living in the Service House, residents will have many opportunities to get involved with community service.
With so many opportunities for service and engagement with the community, students will gain experience with impacting their community and partake in enriching activities. In an interview with Michaela Lemen, a third year student who is double majoring in honors geology and biology with a minor in political science and is currently living in the Service House, she told me that she chose to live in the Service House because she “wanted a community, a way to assimilate [her] way into college life and because [Service House residents] have such diverse majors and interests, yet [they are] all brought together through service." Michaela also said that the Service House is “not so much anther dorm, but a whole new family you're moving into." With the close-knit friendships formed within the Service House, residents will have enriching experiences with their house-mates and their local community. The Service House is such a “accepting, loving, and inspiring community" that anyone would enjoy living there!
Applications for the Bennion Service House are open now and are due by March 2nd. Applications can be found through the housing and residential education and the Bennion Center’s website. Apply to live in the Service House today!
