Hillcrest Honors Community

About the Hillcrest Honors Community

Hillcrest is a residence hall that houses 104 students of all backgrounds, majors, and years. It is a place where academically gifted and dedicated students can live and work together to seek a superior education, taking advantage of everything Virginia Tech has to offer. It fits into the university as a residence hall that focuses on academics, adding to the list of other theme housing programs that focus on things such as leadership, sports, and internationalism.

But more importantly, it is a community. It is the smallest residence hall on campus, and because of its small size, it encourages students to gather, to form bonds, and to make conversation. Residents can learn about each other's achievements and experiences, get help from each other, and encourage each other. Through their interaction, the students can share goals, dreams, and ambitions, and see, through themselves and others, that those dreams can come true. It allows the students to learn not only from their professors, but also from each other. Freshmen who come into the community have a constant resource of information from upper-classmen, including seniors, and continuing members benefit from each other and from the new members, who each have unique experiences and goals.

Hillcrest Community is located in the same building as the University Honors Program, with close access to the resources of the Honors staff. Each semester, every student participates in Colloquium Magnum. This class, which meets once a week, provides an opportunity to hold organized discussions of literature and issues affecting the world, to interact with distinguished alumni and faculty, and to meet with the Honors staff. Residents also participate in regular social activities, where they come together as an entire community with the Honors staff and a selection of alumni and faculty.

by Cory Bigler, alumna

Mission Statement

The following mission statement was written by the Hillcrest Community Advisory Council (CAC) during the Spring 2005 Semester. Many students felt that having a statement of the purpose and aims of the Community would help guide us in making decisions about other aspects of the community, such as Colloquium Magnum, the book list selection process, or rooming assignments. In order to know what options best fit the purpose of the Community, we needed to clarify that purpose.

The Community had several opportunities to give input to the mission statement, and voted on it in its current form.

Short Version

Our mission is to foster learning through an immersive social and academic environment that allows people of diverse intellectual interests, backgrounds, and perspectives to freely exchange ideas and that encourages them to continually improve themselves, their skills, and the world around them.

Long Version

Who We Are

We are a community of scholars of diverse intellectual interests, backgrounds, and perspectives, with a sense of responsibility to improve ourselves and our community.

Mission Statement

Our mission is to foster learning through an immersive social environment that allows the free exchange of ideas and encourages us to continually improve our skills in effective communication.

Beliefs and Values

We believe that education is not only a means by which we can improve ourselves and the lives of those around us, but also a goal to be pursued for itself, and that we can be most successful by pursuing that goal together. We value our differences, because we believe that we can form a more complete framework for viewing the world by interacting with people of diverse intellectual experiences. We recognize the many gifts that Virginia Tech has to offer us, and we feel a sense of responsibility to give back to the university of which we are a part.

Quotes

What do Hillcrest's residents think of it?

“Hillcrest is the friendliest, most involved, productive, and impressive, not to mention cleanest, complex of single room apartments with shared bathrooms you'll ever live in.”
~ Sarah Hawes

“The Hillcrest Community provides the means for a confluence of some of Tech's most capable and self-directed students with some of the campus's most active students--physically and intellectually. In the walls of Hillcrest one can find a co-operative environment, not a silent study library! Including a natural range of students from natural loners to social butterflies, the Community members constitute a supportive network of help and friends, truly making this dorm a home instead of a place to camp out between classes. As with any family there exist responsibilities in helping out with the day-to-day operations of the group, but when the chores are picking what to eat for free formal dinners and choosing where to go on trips, the work turns into enjoyable opportunities. The rest of the Hillcrest fun ranges from enjoying students' talents and idiosyncrasies to creating friendships unlike any others.”
~ Cindy Schreiber

“Hillcrest is a home for the intellectually deviant.”
~ Heath Conyers

“This summer, I saw the movie "A Beautiful Mind" for the first time, and ever since then, I've thought of Hillcrest as a place where beautiful minds live and work: the people here are unique, most a little quirky and some downright quacky, but we each have our own special brand of brilliance.”
~ Danielle Irving

“Hillcrest is home. :-) Seriously I think of this as my house. I walk around without shoes and leave my door open. It's a great place to live with a lot of interesting people that have the same sort of interests and goals.”
~ Stefanie Hartman

“It's the quietest dorm on campus. No competitions to see who has the loudest music. No having to share bathrooms with the rest of the hall. We all end up being friends, so everyone says hi to each other and I can walk through the hall and come across at least one person to talk to--or someone who's smart and can help me with a problem... O:-)”
~ Ted Winograd

“I love Hillcrest. The people are open and fun, and the rooms never feel small. I moved in and thought, "Here is a place where I can feel inspired." All types of creativity will never want for ideas in this place.”
~ Rachel Swortzel

“Hillcrest is a an academic and philosophical microcosm. The dorm is filled with strong personalities, from many different majors, backgrounds, interests, and aspirations. I lived in the archetypical dorm my freshman year: a massive, dirty, and generally unpleasant building that probably should remain unnamed. Choosing to live in Hillcrest was one of the most important decisions I made early in my college experience, and quite often I am reminded how fulfilling it is to be here.”
~ Shomir Wilson

“Hillcrest is home. I mean, where else do you walk down the hall, smell something delicious, go into the lounge, and find freshly baked cookies, brownies, or some other kind of pastry? And where else would you find people one minute crowded around the television watching “The Simpsons”, the next minute watching the Discovery Channel, and the next, fighting over puzzle pieces to put the communal puzzle together? Where ELSE would you want to live?”
~ Cory Bigler