[video] CSI Celebrates Dolphin Cove Opening

The aroma of homemade waffles greeted residents and their families during the opening and move-in celebration of The City University of New York’s College of Staten Island Dolphin Cove Student Housing today.  

Under brilliant blue skies, Dr. William J. Fritz, interim president of CSI, and his wife Bonnie, prepared the homemade waffles from a longtime favorite recipe using a personal collection of waffle irons from the 1900s. 

“Bonnie and I are thrilled to welcome the newest members of the CSI family to campus,” commented Dr. Fritz while serving piping-hot waffles with all the trimmings.  “Today’s event is a milestone in the lives of our incoming students, as well as the history of CSI.”  He added that at many colleges across the country, Presidents greet the students and help them carry their luggage, but “I’m a cook and I love using these antique waffle irons that belonged to my mother and my grandmother, so I thought why not serve them waffles?”

Jessica Nowack, a first-year student studying business and marketing from Mystic, Connecticut, decided to live at CSI because “I was really impressed with how the dorms were going to look and the way things were run, so I figured it would be a nice place to live,” adding that she was looking for “the typical college experience [and] living on my own.”

Tia Poindexter, a freshman from The Bronx studying biology, chose to live in Dolphin Cove, saying “I didn’t want to be too far from home, but I wanted the college experience, so I decided to live on campus.” She hopes to make “friends for a lifetime.”

Selena Patino, a freshman from Queens studying to become a nurse, explains she “always wanted to live on campus because I heard that by living on campus you’re more able to study and you get better grades, and you get to meet people.”  She hopes to not only “get an education, but also lifelong friends” while “making many memories.”

In order to help make move-in day memorable, most of the College’s senior staff and administration were on hand to help.  The celebration also included a back-to-school barbeque in the afternoon and parent orientations throughout the day to acquaint students and their families with the facility, the College, Staten Island, and New York City.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcFBOO7MTys[/youtube]In addition to the five boroughs of New York City, residents of Dolphin Cove have come from across New York State, as well as California, Texas, Montana, Massachusetts, Maine, and Connecticut; and internationally from Greece, France, Japan, Australia, and the Netherlands.    

The opening of the residence halls is one of many exciting “firsts” for the College. As detailed in the College’s Strategic Plan, a new building to house the region’s most powerful Interdisciplinary High-Performance Computing Center is in the design phase, additional classroom space is being renovated to serve a growing student population, and the School of Business and School of Education, the first professional schools at CSI, have recently opened. 

“The creation of these new schools will support faculty scholarship, promote collaborative partnerships within our community, and will better position the College within the broader academic community to provide enhanced value for our students,” commented Fritz.  He also noted that data demonstrates that students who live on campus have a higher persistence and higher graduation rate than non-residents.

Dolphin Cove received its name from English major Dakota Dawkins, a transfer student from SUNY, who submitted the first-place entry in the College’s naming competition in December 2012. 

The four- and five-story buildings feature single- and double-occupancy units, eight Resident Assistant units, and two professional staff residents. All private and semi-private units for students feature kitchens with a four-burner range top, oven, refrigerator, and garbage disposal, as well as dedicated bathrooms. A third building is slated for construction in the immediate future. All buildings are LEED Silver Certified. 

Dolphin Cove is located on the CSI campus at 2800 Victory Boulevard in the Willowbrook section of Staten Island, NY.  In addition to offering a state-of-the-art fitness center, study lounges, and social spaces, residents enjoy CSI’s free round-trip shuttle service to the St. George Ferry Terminal for one-stop access to the Ferry into Manhattan.  Dolphin Cove is also easily accessible from the College’s Student Center, Sports and Recreation Center, and academic buildings. MTA buses are also available on campus.  

 The College of Staten Island is a senior college of The City University of New York, offering doctoral, graduate, baccalaureate and associate degrees.  The Dolphin Cove licensing office can be reached at (718) 982-3019 or www.csi.cuny.edu/housing.  The offices, currently housed in the Campus Center, are scheduled to move into the South Hall of Dolphin Cove.