Students move in to new student apartment village at Hollins University

Some seniors at Hollins University just hit the housing jackpot. They get to move in to the school's new Student Apartment Village.

Reilly Swennes is the Student Government Association President and a senior at Hollins University.

"I'm excited to be there with my friends for my final year of college, make memories, work hard," she said.

Her leadership role helped land her a spot in the university's new apartment village.

"I'm certainly excited for the kind of community they're trying to build out here," Swennes said.

It's a community along with amenities, such as an in-unit dishwasher and washer and dryer.

"These are far and away probably the best apartment I'm going to have in a good while," Swennes added.

Eight-years in the making, the village is the university's first new housing built in 50 years. It features four buildings and eight units, housing 40 students.

"To see the smiles on their faces when they're moving their items in, settling in, there's nothing like it. We're thinking, what is today's college student like," Melissa Hine, Assistant Dean of Students and Director of Housing at Hollins University, said.

This village is intended to bring more students to the main part of campus, closer to dining options, extracurricular activities, and classes.

"I think it's really exciting for the new students to see that the campus is growing and changing for the better," Kendall Comolli, a senior who is moving in to the new apartments, said.

And these houses are just part of Phase 1. Phase 2 will bring in six more buildings.

"It just speaks to the university's care and concerns for students creating a community here, and I think this is just a small piece of a much larger plan to bring more folks out here, get people interested," Swennes said.