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It’s kind of hard to miss the Rollins building complex. The building is located at the corner of Virginia Avenue and Rollins Street.
And sports an intricate design that is home to two of the residence halls—Hudson and Gillett, as well as the Rollins Dining Hall.
Hi, I’m Lisa Maida. And I’ll be guiding you through the newly renovated Gillett Hall which first opened in 1968 and was dedicated to Miriam Lewis Gillette for being the first female to graduate from the University of Missouri.
Now follow me through the hall that stands at seven floors tall and houses 420 residents.
Since Gillette Hall has been renovated, don’t expect to see the same old walls in the hall, or at least don’t expect to see the same design you saw years ago.
Now you can find more modern designs such as a white board wall used by staff members for event information, and new sliding glass doors for the study lounges.
You need to check this place out. This place is ginormous. There’s plenty of rooms to study, lounge, watch TV, or even work on a computer.
Rollins entrance lobby had me at ‘Hello’.
Hi. Can I help you with anything?
Hi. My name’s Lisa. I was wondering if there’s a student staff member available to show me around some of the hotspots of Gillette?
Yeah, you’re actually in luck. Carmelita is a student staff member.
Hi. I’m Carmelita, a community advisor on the fourth floor.
Hi Carmelita, I’m Lisa. I was wondering if you could take me on a tour of Gillette Hall and if you could show me some of the unique hotspots?
Sure thing. Follow me.
Okay.
The defining quality of Gillette is the fact that we are so close to Hudson Hall. It’s not just Gillette’s over here, Hudson’s over here. But it is a wonderfully large community of over 800 students.
The opportunities are really endless for involvement. From tasks force, to teams, to intramurals.
And a really active hall government—Rollins Group Counsel. So students want to get involved and have an idea. There’s definitely an opportunity for it right here in Rollins.
No home is complete without a kitchen. Gillette Hall is equipped with a kitchen that looks as sleek as a new Apple product.
Take use of the kitchen appliances such as the microwave, stove, fridge, or check out kitchen equipment from the front desk.
Speaking of checking out items from the front desk, if you find yourself waiting for your laundry to finish, check out a board game from the front desk and take it to the laundry room to play with some friends.
Even if you don’t play games, there’s plenty of room to study while waiting. For those who have toured Hudson and Gillette Hall rooms in the past, you’ll see the similarities between the old rooms and the new renovated rooms.
However, you’ll also notice some nice changes. Since Gillette Hall’s a community-style building, it has two types of rooms—single and double.
The two main differences between the two are that a single is built for one resident whereas the double is built for two residents.
Hey guys! How’s it goin’?
Not much. Just studyin’ for school.
This is Lisa. She’s goin’ on a tour through Gillette.
Hi!
Do you mind if we come in?
O, sure.
Wow. It looks really, really good in here. So did you guys coordinate this beforehand? Did you guys know each other?
Um, we didn’t know each other, but we did coordinate it. We met at ‘You at Mizzou’.
Okay, wh-what’s that?
It’s like a website. Like, you create your own Facebook page and you get to talk to other incoming freshmen.
That’s cool. I didn’t do that. I just—I don’t know….
I think it’s new.
Oh is it?
Yea.
I like the colors. How did you all coordinate the colors.
Well, my favorite color’s purple.
And my favorite color’s pink.
And they just go well together. So, we kind of through in the green because it goes well with both.
And why did you decide on this layout?
Um, just for more room.
It really opened up the room so we could have like… If we have chairs, we can set them up to watch TV, or if friends come over to talk.
Do you feel like it’s enough space?
Yeah. I think so. Yeah.
I mean, it’s one of the smaller rooms on campus, but I don’t think it’s too small.
So what made you guys choose Gillette?
It was brand new. So that’s the nice thing knowing that it’s going to be clean and not run-down like some of the others. And it has a really good location on campus.
We’re, like, in the center everything. And it’s easy to walk to the two dining halls close by and to classes, and the rec center. It’s all right next to it.
Now, is this a learning community? Is this a FIG?
No, we’re a general learning community.
General Learning Community? So you have people from different majors?
Yeah, there’s a mix of a bunch of different majors on the floor. Everything from science to journalism. And everything else.
What are you all’s majors?
I’m secondary education.
And I’m Biology/Pre-Medicine.
K. Have you been able to go out to a lot of events that Gillette has had?
Yes. We’ve gone to, like the barbeques they had. And then…what was it?
Alright, well thanks for lettin’ us tour the room. Um, good luck with all your classes this semester. And maybe I’ll see you around campus?
Yeah!
Thanks girls.
Thank you.
As you enter the rooms, you can see that these are not the same locks used eons ago.
Instead, these locks are electronic card swipe, which opens the doors after you swipe your students ID cards and enter a given number into the lock.
The real work behind these nifty locks starts as soon as you update your card at the kiosk center located near the desk.
A few other things to note about the historic Gillette Hall is that it’s located at the corner of Virginia Avenue and Rollins Street and is connected to Hudson Hall.
Gillette and Hudson reside within what is known as the Rollins Complex. And Rollins Dining Hall is connected to Hudson and Gillette Hall through the main hall entrance.
If you have any other questions about Hudson Hall or any other hall on campus, check out our website at reslife.missouri.edu.