The popular saying is that a house doesn’t make a home. However at Lyon College, a House does make a home and much more:  Welcome to the First Year Learning Community at Lyon College!

Since 1997, Spragins House has been home for freshmen as they begin their college careers.  While many think of the physical house when Spragins House is mentioned, it actually consists of the four freshman residence halls (Spragins, Blandford, Bryan and Love) and the Morrow Building in addition to the house where the Resident Faculty Mentor lives.  It is designed to provide a central place where freshmen can gather to live, socialize and learn together.

That is an important point most people make about Spragins House — it affords an opportunity for students to get to know and learn from each other and, maybe more importantly,  faculty and staff outside of the normal academic setting.

In a letter explaining his concept of the House system at Harvard, which several members of the Lyon community visited before implementing its own system, Fred Jewett, the dean of Harvard College in 1992 said:

“... It is the Master-Apprentice relationship where knowledge is communicated in as broad an interaction as is possible; where indeed the most telling lesson might be learned at the least expected moments — over tea, in the midst of a chore, or even during an evening of carousing.”

And that is something those who have helped develop Lyon’s system have taken to heart.

It begins with a class all freshmen have in common--COR 100...

There is an academic focus that guides freshman during their first semester. Every freshman takes COR 100, Freshman Orientation, a course designed to help a student make an easier transition into college. Those courses are taught by faculty/staff and student mentors, focusing on topics such as

• service learning,
• career development,
• computer literacy,
• the honor and social codes,
• study skills and other similar topics.

The sessions are designed to allow the students to adjust to their first semester while at the same time providing contact with teachers and other students they otherwise might not have.

Tim Lindblom, the Resident Senior Faculty Mentor for the Freshman Advising Program, believes it is a good way to introduce the students to the liberal arts model. For example, students in a section of COR 100 may have a chemistry professor as their mentor, but in class he reads an article on literature and leads a discussion on it. Or the students may lead. Instead of putting people into boxes, the class breaks down barriers and champions diverse points of view.

And the life of learning continues outside the classroom...

COR 100 is only a one-credit course for a semester. There is much more to the Spragins House program. For the fall semester, there are scheduled events in Spragins House and the Morrow Building.  These range from group dinners at the Resident Faculty Mentor’s home to gatherings on the Quad. The House sponsors two film series.  After the first two weeks of school, representatives from each advising group will form an Advisory Board.  They will plan the events for the spring semester.

The important thing about these events is that they aren’t specifically related to the classroom.  Events get groups of freshman together with faculty and staff in a relaxed atmosphere, such as the group dinners.

Some of the best moments at Spragins House are those that come about spontaneously: conversations over a home-cooked meal, discussions after a film led by a staff mentor, dropping in for a glass of lemonade on a Sunday afternoon.

The results are tangible...

One of the biggest lessons students learn through the freshman experience, especially in COR 100, is that it is acceptable to voice an opinion or express a thought, in much the same way that a trusting family operates.  The faculty encourages students to speak out.  This is probably not what the students experienced in high school. At Lyon, it is more than "okay" to be a good student. That’s why the House system has become an important part of  freshman life in the six years of the program’s existence. With a goal of having a community of learners, it allows each member of the community to have a voice, to feel as if they are part of the community. 

To help foster the sense of community, the Residence Life Staff also schedules activities within the residence halls that are designed to draw students’ interest. The Resident Faculty Mentor  works in close collaboration with these peer leaders to assure tolerance, respect, and honor become the standards all community members live by. When students come to dinner, they'll see the motto for the House above the hearth: