Sense of Place: Living in the Groves

Being a Resident Assistant (RA) for two years in the Groves area of North Lake Village at Florida Gulf Coast University, I gained a sense of pride and ownership of the Groves neighborhood. Known as my home away from home I grew fond over the large nature and beach environment developed within my area. Living on a beach front , my environment consists of a community sand volleyball court, a vast blue lake with a pier doc that can be used for site seeing and taking pictures, and finally a grill for cookouts. The population that surrounds me generally are college students around the ages of 20 and up. Since I've been living in buildings S,R,Q respectively within the Groves neighborhood, my  environment is an apartment complex with 48 residents. The Groves neighborhood consists of many college students that are generally very active at various times throughout the day; therefore, plants and  wildlife are not popular within this area of North Lake at FGCU. A few of the wildlife animals that have appeared in the Groves area of North Lake are alligators that comes from the open lake behind the buildings, black racer snakes, raccoon that often eat out of the trash, and small birds.  Moreover, what made the Groves neighborhood special and unique to me was being an RA for two years within the neighborhood. While being an RA I had to promote the area that I lived in with pride to my residents to make them appreciate all of the good factors that the Groves contained. I often utilized the Groves resources by performing programs within the residential apartments, grilling, and even hosting volleyball programs that were open to my 48 residents.To add to the Groves neighborhood pride, my neighborhood created T-shirts and used the slogan "Started from the bottom now we're Groves," this brought a sense of community to my area and caused me to become appreciative of what the neighborhood had to offer. Next year I am going to be the Residence Life Team Assistant that oversees the RAs in their work and will be providing services that helps benefit the Grove's neighborhood.As a result, it was through the housing position and resources that the Groves offered me that caused me to view myself a member of the community that was born and raised in the Groves and accepted it to be my sense of place.

                   (Volley Ball Court and a part of the beach located in the Groves Neighborhood).