Do You Hang Out with Friends or Study in the Study Rooms?

By Tarapi Pyo ’24

At Westminster, there are a good amount of study rooms available in the library. Students can find two small rooms on the first floor and two more small rooms on the second floor. These smaller rooms are hidden away and are more secluded. Three walls and a transparent glass door enclose these four rooms. Next, there are two medium study rooms on the library's second floor. These rooms have a large window that offers the sun's warmth when it is out. Most times, if there is enough natural light, students use the sunshine and turn off the lights in these rooms.

Along with these six study rooms, there are also three large spaces in the library that are intended more for people to work by themselves quietly alongside others. For these smaller study rooms, they are utilized by the community for a variety of purposes. Although these rooms are intended for study purposes, the rooms are used by students to hang out with friends, enjoy their own space away from everyone else, and as an area to pass the time in their free blocks. In addition, these rooms are utilized by day students, especially since they don't have rooms to retreat to at the end of the day; students occupy these rooms and enjoy their alone time or hang out with friends here.       

In addition, each day of the week, many Fifth and Sixth form boarding students walk to the library at 8 p.m. for study hall. Droves of students from various dorms like Cushing, Kelter, and Alumni journey to the library every night. Though many students go to Sejong, some stay in the library and finish their homework for the night. Even day students who stay later on campus choose to stay in the library during this time. Right after the first check-in, students race to these small and medium study rooms, as they are likely to fill up quickly. Bigger groups of students like to use the medium study rooms to work on group projects. Especially many 6th Formers use these rooms during study hall to spend time with their friends while they do their homework. Before they leave for college in the spring, these Sixth Formers enjoy their last moments on the hill every day as much as possible with their peers laughing and working. These study rooms provide an ideal space for them to do so!

Overall, the study rooms are spectacular spaces at Westminster, and the entire community utilizes them. Many professional tutors, as well as Peer Tutors, help students in these study rooms. When I asked Alex Goodman ’25 to share her opinions on these rooms, she enthusiastically answered, "I like the rooms because it gives me a quiet space to work on my assignments!"