The Kenai River Campus graduation ceremony will take place at 7 p.m. on May 7 at Kenai Central High School’s Renée C. Henderson Auditorium.

The Kachemak Bay Campus will celebrate commencement at 7 p.m. on May 6 at Homer High School’s Mariner Theater.

KPC’s Anchorage Extension Site’s graduates celebrate their commencement at a luncheon sponsored by the staff and faculty each year. Many of the AES graduates participated in the UAA commencement ceremony that was held on May 3 at the Sullivan Arena in Anchorage.

KRC’s Residence Hall’s second year on track

Since KPC’s first residence hall opened in August 2013, the residence life community has blossomed. According to Tammy Willis, associate director of residence life, 100 percent of the residential students who responded to a recent quality of life survey said they were the most satisfied with the apartment appliances, quality of events in the hall and the hall’s security services.

“The cable TV system, rec room equipment (ping pong table and pool table), lounge furniture, quantity of events and the outdoor amenities such the Frisbee golf course, kinetic sculpture, barbecue grill and the basketball court ranked second and the laundry facilities and apartment furniture ranked third,” Willis said.

Willis, known on campus for her penchant for statistics, prepared a 2014-2015 year end summary that offered a glimpse into the different aspects of KRC residence life. Fall 2014 occupancy increased from 26 percent in 2013 to 59 percent. Resident retention rates between semesters ranged from 83-91 percent.

As for demographics, 35 percent of residents were from the Kenai Peninsula, 22 percent were from the Anchorage area, 24 percent were from other areas of Alaska and 19 percent were from outside Alaska. Fifty-five percent of the students living in the hall were under 21 years of age, 22 percent were between 21 and 25 years of age and 23 percent were older than 25.

Residence Life Coordinator Leslie Byrd, and six resident advisors (student employees) hosted 97 different programs for residents during the academic year. The programs are an important part of the residence life experience. Program topics range from entertaining (e.g. Talent Show) to educational (e.g. current events discussions) with program support from campus staff and faculty and from the local community.

Another important aspect of residence life is the Living Learning Communities that have been formed in the hall. The survey indicated that 60 percent of residents chose to be a part of an LLC. The most popular was the process technology LLC, with its designated four apartments (four students in each) being 100 percent occupied. The next largest was the Academic Excellence Community, followed by the Substance Free LLC, the Paramedic and the Alaska Native LLCs.

“The residence hall will be very busy this summer with various summer conferences with 2029 bed-nights booked between May 16 and August 14. In addition to the summer conference groups, 22 out of 24 summer spaces have been reserved for summer students,” Willis said.

The fall semester application period to live in the KRC Residence Hall is open now. Students new to the college who have not yet been issued a UA ID number, must register for fall classes (must be taking a minimum of 9 credits, however students taking 12 or more credits are given preference) in order to have the option to apply for KRC housing at the UAOnline website at https://uaonline.alaska.edu/. For more information, call 262-0256 or email reslife@kpc.alaska.edu.