It’s 6:30 AM, and Jessica’s already in the kitchen making coffee.  She’s the assistant to the Gaia House head chef, and it’s the student internship of her dreams.  The residents signed up for breakfast duty today start to wander in and get to work.  They set out cereal, bagels, bread, cheese, and fruit.  They fill pitchers with milk and juices and bring out the plates and silverware.  Jessica compares the menus for the week to the food stored in the fridge and figures that they have plenty of extra eggs and milk.  “Who wants pancakes?” she says.  Everyone cheers.

Jessica’s majoring in Hospitality & Tourism Administration , and she wants to own a restaurant someday.  One thing she loves about Gaia House is that food isn’t a commodity here, it’s part of the community.  The residents cook together and serve each other, and even with over 100 people at most meals, it still feels like a family.  The chef buys a lot of their produce from local organic farmers; Jessica interviewed some of the farmers for a class project, and it still amazes her that she’s met the actual chickens that laid the eggs she’s cracking right now, and she’s seen the trees that grew the apples that the residents will eat today.

Pretty soon even people who weren’t signed up to work this morning are back in the kitchen flipping pancakes, and some of them even stick around to wash dishes.  The fixtures in the kitchen may look institutional, but it feels just as warm and friendly as Jessica’s kitchen back home – the room where everyone always hangs out.

After a long morning of seminars at Quigley Hall, Rachel meets her three best friends for lunch.  A couple of them live further off campus now, but they bought Gaia House meal plans so they all get together for lunch nearly every day.  Today it’s falafel; Rachel grabs a piece of fresh pita bread and rolls up a huge sandwich.  She’s going to need the energy for hiking: every Wednesday when the weather’s nice a couple of Gaia House faculty mentors lead hikes out in the Shawnee Forest.  Today’s plan is the four-mile loop at Little Grand Canyon .  Rachel’s scheduled for lunch clean-up, but that only takes 15 minutes and then she grabs her boots and water bottle and heads out to the van.

Sometimes Rachel feels like she really lives in Quigley.  She’s a senior in Interior Design, and between her studio class and trying to put together a portfolio for job hunting, she’s working over there day and night.  But she always makes time for hiking.  She never thought of herself as outdoorsy before joining Gaia House – she starting hiking just for the exercise.  But she’s kind of fallen in love with the Shawnee Forest.  Every week she comes home feeling alive and restored, and the colors and patterns of the changing seasons in the woods give her some of her best design ideas.  And through Gaia House she’s learned a lot about sustainable design and materials, too.  Nature is part of Art, and Art is part of Nature: that’s an insight that will always be part of Rachel’s work from now on.

When Tarik’s classes are done every day at 3:00 PM, that’s when his real education begins.  Lectures and seminars are great as far as they go, but he’s a hands-on learner, and that’s why Gaia House is a perfect fit for him.  Tarik settles in to his favorite couch at the Gaia Café with a big mug of coffee, and the rest of the Gaia House Program Committee assembles around him.  The theme for next semester’s programs is “Water”, so the students and faculty on the committee start brainstorming program ideas.  Maybe the Public Policy Institute could co-sponsor a forum on water rights.  Maybe students could build a demonstration model of a greywater reclamation system.  Maybe different religious RSO’s could put together an interfaith service using water symbolism from their different faiths.

Afterwards, Tarik stops by the dining room and puts his name on the late dinner list before heading over to the Communications Building to work on alt.news.  He gets some of his best news story ideas from Gaia House activities, and he loves giving Gaia House students the chance to learn more about Radio & Television Broadcasting . Tarik finally gets home at 8:00 and grabs the tray with his name on it from the fridge.  He heats up his Thai curry and hangs out for a while with the other late diners before heading down the hall to the café for more coffee and what feels like five pounds of homework.  Good thing the café is open all night!  Tarik figures you only go to college once, so you might as well squeeze every drop out of the experience; the incredible diversity of people, ideas, and activities at Gaia House keeps him challenged and energized.

Jessica, Rachel, and Tarik represent the thousands of SIU students who understand the transformative power of education.  SIU offers outstanding academic opportunities, but too many students struggle on their own with how to integrate that learning into their lives.  Some succeed: they find the resources that they need from faculty, staff, and their fellow students, and they create a supportive home for themselves.  But others fall through the cracks: they don’t find the sense of community that would carry them through hard times and help them make meaning of their experiences here.

Our goal in creating Gaia House is to help care for the whole student.  What sets us apart from other campus resources are our core values: environmental sustainability, peace and justice, spiritual wholeness, and interdisciplinary learning.  Please read on to learn about specific program elements that embody these values.

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