After a long year of absence, the ILS Core Value Houses will be back next year. Charlie Potts, Director of Residential Life, will be helping bring back this special part of the Gustavus campus.

ILS stands for Intentional Learning and Service. There are three houses that hold four students each and two houses that can hold six students. The goal of ILS housing is for these houses to serve as a base of operations for students as they work on several themes or projects that promote the five core values of Gustavus.

The houses will be used to plan, organize and implement students’ projects or themes into the life on campus and/or the St. Peter community.

“So the idea is to bring back the ILS houses and create living-learning environments for Gusties,” Potts said about the plan for the coming year.

Each house doesn’t have to be its own project either; multiple projects can be hosted in one house, or one project can be hosted in several houses. With only 24 openings, the applicant assessment is quite rigorous.

“Res Life will have high standards for the house members and the project/theme. The house members will plan activities for the year that speak to the theme and that serve as opportunities for outreach to campus,” Potts said.

For students interested in applying the information is on the Residential Life website, and applications are due on Wednesday, March 14, 2012 at the Residential Life Office.

The groups are interviewed by a committee and a project will be selected before spring break. The interview is a ten to 12 minute presentation in which the group will outline the project and their plan for the year.

For people wondering what exactly a project for ILS would look like, Potts gives us this example: “For instance, if a house wanted to specifically focus on sustainability and the environment, they could create monthly educational activities in the residence halls, on campus or in the community; they could volunteer for a local environmental agency; they could work with the college to find creative ways to improve recycling and composting practices; etc.”

The hope is that the students, through doing this project, cause one or more of the core values to be evident to everyone who sees their work. The houses that had been used for ILS in the past have still been in use this year, with two of the houses having ties to key student groups on campus, but weren’t officially ILS Houses.

“While they have been doing well on their own, the plan is for Residential Life to provide the support and structure the ILS Core Value House programs need to thrive,” Potts said.

This isn’t Potts’s first experience with the ILS houses. He graduated from Gustavus in 2001 and had friends who lived in the houses. He loves that Gustavus is firm in its five core values and offered some interesting insight.

”We have five core values [Excellence, Community, Justice, Service and Faith] and we have five houses—seemed serendipitous.”

For interested students, any questions about the ILS Core Value Houses can be directed to Charlie Potts at x7529 or cpotts@gustavus.edu.  Applications are due March 14, 2012.