Making one’s room a home is a unique but temporal form of self-expression. Photo by Jada Gangazha. 

GIANNA CASSIN | STAFF REPORTER | gcassin@butler.edu 

Students living on campus make their room a second home for the year. At the end of the year, it can feel like it has all gone by so fast, and students must leave the space they have lived in for nearly nine months. 

Each room at Butler, aside from the furniture, is fully empty at the start of the year. With a blank slate, students can make the room their own. While at home, people may have lived in the same room for years and not had the chance to recently customize it. It can be nice to have a fresh start at the beginning of each year to decorate a new space and create a homey feeling. 

Naiya Rooks, a sophomore psychology major, prefers being at Butler rather than at home for several reasons. 

“I feel like all my people are here,” Rooks said. “I really like to be busy, so it’s better for me to have schoolwork and clubs and things to do, [rather] than be at home during summer and just working. It’s not the same feeling.” 

While there are move-in crews for some residence halls, there is no help for students moving out at the end of the year. Between finals, packing and saying goodbye to friends for the summer, a lot of emotions come with moving out. Everything happens pretty fast, with barely any time to take a breather. 

Skylar Ashcraft, a first-year criminology-psychology major, has come to love her dorm, and wishes there was a little more time to pack up and unwind. 

“With the weather warming up, I just want to spend this time outside with my friends that I made at college,” Ashcraft said. “I would have liked if they gave us an extra week. I know Butler gives a lot of nice resources out during finals but for me, I’m too busy with finals to use those resources.” 

The end of the year can be an incredibly stressful time for students. To combat this, Butler provides resources like therapy dogs and opportunities for free food leading up to and during finals week. Butler Libraries will be providing a snack cart, coloring, a pizza night and stress relief kits. 

Cate Pugliese, a first-year sociology-criminology major, is leaving with more connections than she came into the year with. She has become close with her roommates and people in her dorm hall, and is not going to be living with all of them next year. 

“I am pretty sad because everyone’s separating next year,” Pugliese said. “Some are going to sorority houses and going to different rooms. I know the friendships are still gonna stay; it’s just the fact that we’re not going to be as physically close to each other.” 

While most students will be returning next year, many will not be living in the same rooms they occupied this year. Studying for finals, reminiscing about everything that happened during the school year and the stressful logistics of moving out all amplify the emotions of this time of year. 

Each room is filled with memories of previous residents. It can be difficult to leave these spaces behind, but the memories will live on.