Creating a home away from home

New student housing: Creating a home away from home

Working as a First Nations Access Coordinator, Jillian Stephens has her hands full when it comes to running cultural programs and supporting students at Coast Mountain College.

But when the opportunity came up to help curate a theme for the interior aesthetic of new student accommodation on the Terrace campus, she just couldn’t say no. For her, this new building is an opportunity for the College to make the right impression on its students and visitors.

“The general theme for the building is based on Indigenous functions, we’re answering the call to action to build student capacity with intercultural understanding and mutual respect,” she explains.

“Being the school of choice for place-based experiences, we wanted that feeling to be imbedded from the start for a student with housing, by creating that home away from home feeling and building that connection.”

The new student housing building replaces the 40-year-old-buildings on campus following an $18.7 million investment from the province. It houses a large cultural space, 108 student rooms, two hotel suites, an elder suite, two shared kitchens, two collaboration areas, a computer lab, an E-sports room, two shared kitchens and bike storage.

“It looks just as big as it sounds. It's beautiful, spacious and it's welcoming,” Stephens says.

After many months of planning, Stephens and the housing team bring the building to life with the beauty of the rugged landscape of the Northwest and the distinct cultural aspects of the surrounding First Nations territories. Stephens says overall, the incredible mountains here are what attract us and make this place home. Embarking from that frame of reference, each floor and wing is to illustrate a different aspect of the trail-walking experience outdoors.

"We combine different types of people coming together in one space. From those who grew up here to those who just immigrated into Canada,” she says.

“We know how difficult it is for First Nations students leaving their community, so we wanted to have aspects of their home here to lower their anxieties... but we also wanted it to be an experiential piece for international students so they can still experience the North even when they can’t be outside all the time.”

“We didn't want students to just have a pillow and a bed to sleep on between their studies, we wanted them to have a home,” she says.

“And creating all of this is so important because we're not only investing into their education, we're investing into their lives.”

Viewbook 2022