All the students who opt to live in a College House are charged with putting on events they think will interest students, staff, faculty and other community members. But the house officers take on the biggest roles of planning, budgeting and marketing the events. This year, Helmreich’s officers are president Emma Husseman ’18, vice president Morgan Rielly ’18, programming director Julianna Burke ’18, communications director Rachel Mann ’18, and treasurer Jacquelyn Wu ’18.

Throughout her first year at Bowdoin Julianna Burke was never in doubt about her desire to live in a College House her second year here. “I never questioned that I wanted to live in a College House,” she said. For one, it was a way of continuing to live in a close-knit environment with her peers. Living in one of the old, rambling College Houses can help students feel as if they are living less in a dormitory and more as if they’re in a real home, with communal cooking, dining and living areas, noted Jacquelyn Wu. “We have a kitchen, living room and lots of space,” she said.

Morgan Reilly, who grew up in Westbrook, Maine, explained that one of his motives to live in a College House was to bring Mainers to campus to speak about their lives and work. This fall, Helmreich House has invited a Bowdoin alumnus who works in the microbrewery industry and is planning a talk by a refugee who survived the Rwandan genocide. “As a Mainer, I wanted to help break the Bowdoin bubble,” Rielly said. Next semester, he added that he would like to bring someone in from Idexx, a Westbrook-based animal health diagnostics company, and someone from one of Maine’s Wabanaki groups.

Many of the College House events are centered around first-year students. This year Helmreich is associated with about 66 first-year affiliates, who are invited by house members to parties, apple picking outings, movie nights and other social activities. Emma Husseman said she has appreciated the bonds she’s formed with both the house’s first-year affiliates and with her housemates. “I really like the nice community that comes with the house,” she said. “You can walk in and have friends in your living space.” She also has enjoyed supporting the first years as they adjust to college life at Bowdoin. “It is a lot of fun getting to know people and helping people out if they have questions,” she added.

Burke added, too, that one of her biggest motives to join the College House system was to “make Bowdoin as positive a place as possible for first-year students….The social culture doesn’t just happen — it’s shaped by people.”

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