By the efforts of Jonathan Triplett, the new Director of Residence Halls, along with his staff, more work has been done on improving the University of Guam Residence Halls in only 7 months than in the past 5 years.

“When I first came, I could see that we needed a lot of changes,” says Triplett, while also adding, since then, “Theres been so many changes, some may seem small and some may seem big, but they’re all big to me.”

“One thing I wanted to do is change the students’ experience,” says Triplett, “first by improving their own private space, which is their room, the place they spend most of their time.” With this in mind, Triplett, his staff, and a few student volunteers took it on their own hands to renovate Guma’ta Hall, providing students with newly furnished and painted rooms.

Triplett then renovated the common spaces, such as the study halls, lobbies, and including reopening a computer lab for residents. “The common spaces are the second place that students spend most of their time, so improving on these places was a great way to make their experience better” says Triplett.

Another thing that is on Triplett’s agenda is to open a new convenience store on campus. The store will be located at the main lobby of dorm 1. “Opening a convenience store would make it so that the residents can get everything they need right here where they live,” says Triplett, “it would also make it a lot safer for them because they wouldn’t have to walk all the way to the nearest store anymore.”

Joanna Kumaichi, a Senior Criminal Justice major, and a resident at the dormitories explained to us that, life in the dormitories “has definitely become more comfortable,” while also adding, “I have been here for more that three years, and I can honestly say that I can that the dorms have never been better.”

Triplett went on to mention that another thing that they needed to improve on was the programs that were offered to the residents. Whether it was programs that were designed for activities or ones that were for educational purposes, he wants to improve on all of it, and even add new ones.

“We are exited to say that we have just recently launched our brand new, bike share program with our 10 brand new bikes,” says Triplett. He explained that the bike share program will allow dormitory residents to rent out bikes for free whenever they want. Triplett also added that this is only the beginning for this program, and that his plan for the future is to increase the amount of bikes to about 60 and offer it to every student in the university.

Another program that was recently launched at the dormitories are the shuttle services. After getting two new vans, the residence halls can now shuttle residents to any destination on island, whether it is for activities off campus, or for taking the day out shopping.

Triplett went on to say that his plan is to have a diverse set of programs that offer as many opportunities to the residents. Programs that include athletics, recreation, education and conveniency.

“Yes we have done a lot, but there is so much more to improve on,” says Triplett, “it does not matter how, but we will get these things done.”

Triplett also added that “one of the things that I admire most about this place is that, we have a lot of different students from a lot of different places, and all of them get along very well.”

For more information about the residence halls, contact the residence halls office at www.uogresidencehalls@gmail.com or call them at (671) 735-2260/61.