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Back during my first year at the University of New Haven, I was a member of the Fire Science Living Learning Community (LLC). Members lived in Bixler Hall and attended a weekly class together that enabled us to become certified to be on the UniversityÐÓ°ÉÔ­°æ™s Community Emergency Response Team.

I had many overlapping classes with a couple of the other members from the LLC, and it was easy to walk down the hallway and knock on one of their doors with questions. I became close with everyone in the group and loved the sense of community I felt right from the start.

Chief Wayne Sandford was such a great adviser for the LLC. He has a lot of experience in the fire and emergency management fields. Even though he had plenty of his own stories to tell us, he still brought in guest speakers from the fire science field for more perspectives. He knew a lot about the area and would give us recommendations for things to do.

I learned a lot, not just from the material we covered in the meetings, but also from the other members and from the experiences we got to share together. Additionally, the LLC got to go on trips, including to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York City.

Although there were more males in both the fire science major and in the LLC, I always felt included and comfortable both inside and outside the classroom. I felt treated as an equal, and the advisers, professors, and resident assistants always made sure of that. I truly enjoyed my first year and would recommend joining an LLC to anyone.

I am a senior now, and I am still friends with a lot of the people who were in the LLC. Looking back, it was a valuable experience, and I am very grateful I chose to be a part of the UniversityÐÓ°ÉÔ­°æ™s Fire Science LLC.

Sydney Landolphi ÐÓ°ÉÔ­°æ™23 is a fire science major at the University of New Haven.