For students in the McCormick Inclusive Leadership Community, living in a diverse environment and learning about other cultures is a part of everyday life.

The community floors were established last year, said Jim McMahon, assistant dean of residence life. They were designed as a one-year program in which students from different cultures spend a year living together on separate floors of McCormick Hall.

"The program is open to any freshman who has an interest in cross-cultural learning opportunities and who expresses an interest in wanting to live and take classes with people from a variety of cultures," McMahon said.

Approximately 54 freshmen — both male and female — have participated in the program each year, he said.

"We create a living community that is welcoming to people of a variety of cultures," McMahon said. "It's a very inclusive group so you're living with people that have different experiences and different ways of looking at things."

The students involved in the program say the floor serves as much more than a place to live.

"It makes you think about how you live and what you take for granted," said Josette Goff, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences.

Bianca Haney said she was able to meet different people and develop healthy relationships living on the floor.

"It gives you insight to other perspectives and makes you a more diverse person," said Haney, a College of Health Sciences sophomore.

The community floors give students the opportunity to live in an environment where they're not afraid to ask questions, said Kate Frigo, a College of Arts & Sciences sophomore.

Students in the program are required to attend a seminar on cross-cultural issues such as oppression, privilege and prejudice, she said.

Events are planned for the floor each year, including trips to non-Christian religious services and Milwaukee's Black Holocaust Museum, McMahon said.

Frigo said her favorite event last year was a trip to Ko-Thi, Milwaukee's African dance company.

There students danced along with members of Ko-Thi and learned of the drum and dance traditions of Africa.

Students were only meant to live on the floor for one year but last year's group from McCormick enjoyed the experience so much that half of the group decided to stay together. They are now living on separate wings of Schroeder Hall, McMahon said.

Both Frigo and Goff decided to move to Schroeder along with their floor. They said they wanted to do more for the Marquette community and to continue learning about other cultures.

The friendships forged on the floor were so tight that students didn't want to leave, Frigo said.

"The entire group from last year is still very close," she said. "Even the girls who didn't stay on the floor still come up to visit all the time."

The community floor is open to both majority and minority students. There are 20 Caucasian, eight black, seven Asian and nine Hispanic students on this year's floors, McMahon said. Incoming freshman must apply to be considered for the program.