The main quadrangle, colloquially known as the first-year quad, is home to the dorms where all Amherst’s first-year students stay. Personally, I love living in the first-year quad because of its location. I live in the Appleton dorm, which is known as a quiet dorm – therefore, the noise level in my dorm is relatively quiet compared to that of other halls. My dorm is only a 5-minute walk from the Alumni Gym, where I usually meet before going to practice with the golf team. Appleton is also located right next to Webster Hall, where I had my Introduction to Stat Modeling course in the fall semester, and Johnson Chapel. It’s also right next to Memorial Hill, so I’ve had the great opportunity of seeing the beautiful sights from Memorial Hill every time I walk out of my dorm. Unfortunately, Appleton is a little bit farther from Valentine Dining Hall and Frost Library than the rest of the dorms are, but its location is more convenient than some dorms that are located across the street from the main campus. Below is a photo of my friends and I walking across the first-year quad together!
Appleton is located on the West side of the quad, and the other dorms on the West side include South Hall, North Hall, and Williston Hall. As their names imply, North Hall and South Hall mirror each other in terms of structure, and Johnson Chapel is sandwiched between these two halls. Appleton and Williston are similar in that they only have three floors.
Across the quad is the East side, which contains James Hall, Stearns Hall, and Charles Pratt Hall. James and Stearns are both relatively large dorms, and they have an interconnected basement that allows residents to travel back and forth between the halls. The interconnected basement also houses music practice rooms as well as James and Stearns’ shared laundry room. James and Stearns also mirror each other in structure. Charles Pratt, on the other hand, is the unique dorm on the first-year quad. Charles Pratt Hall used to be a gymnasium before it was remodeled into a dorm. It houses a large population of first-year students, and it also contains the Writing Center, a place where students go to get writing support on essays and writing assignments. Though almost every dorm on the first-year quad has at least one common room on each floor, if not multiple, Charles Pratt has tons of small common rooms that are great for studying.
Each dorm has a main common room on the first floor that has a TV and a small, communal kitchen with a sink, microwave, and fridge. In general, each dorm floor has its own CA, a community advisor, who is in charge of managing the floor residents and hosting events to foster a sense of community for each floor, and each side of the quad has its own CDC, a community development coordinator. One event that my CA hosted at the beginning of the year was a tote bag painting event – she bought tote bags and paint as well as boba for us to drink, and all the materials were funded by the college. Living on the first-year quad has been a great experience, and I’ll miss it after I move to a different dorm next year.