Everyone always says the experience one receives while leaving in the residence halls during college cannot be matched.

And recent changes in the residence halls are creating an experience that is becoming untouchable.

The Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, in conjunction with the Department of Residence, has created a Casa Hispanica Learning Community.

The learning community was created to give students the opportunity to interact in Spanish, participate in cultural and social activities and receive academic guidance and information on career choices.

The most important factor about this learning community is that it is open to all Iowa State students living in the dorms, not just Spanish majors.

There are many advantages to having learning communities in the residence halls.

Not only do learning communities provide students with educational resources, they also help students experience other cultures without having to leave ISU.

Ordinarily, a student living in the residence halls may never meet all the residents in the hall who share his or her same interests.

Learning communities eliminate students having to search for people with the same interests.

The impact of already existing learning communities has not gone unnoticed by university officials.

Some students are even encouraged to live on learning communities like the Women in Science and Engineering learning community.

On these residence hall floors, students don’t have to go farther than down the hall to receive support or study tips.

Aside from their educational aspects, learning communities like Casa Hispanica will be a step forward toward creating a more diversified environment at ISU.

All students living in the residence halls will benefit from culturally based learning communities when the floors host cultural activities.

To make sure learning communities do not become secluded floors in a residence hall, their presence and purpose must be established from the beginning.

The presence of learning communities is sure to be felt more in the future because their impact on diversity will put the university one step closer in fulfilling its goal to become the best land-grant university in the nation.