The University of Illinois school year has just begun and we’re incredibly excited to have a new, amazing group of residents. To kick off a great year at The Retreat at Illinois, we planned a calendar jam-packed with a variety of residence life events to give our residents and their friends the opportunity to meet and mingle with their neighbors and to enjoy spending time in our luxury amenities.
Week 1 – Breakfast Bar
For our first resident event, we held a breakfast bar in our 10,500 square foot clubhouse. The Retreat team made sure everyone was fueled up and ready for success! Everyone started their first day with a balanced breakfast – after all, it is the most important meal of the day! Breakfast food included: fresh fruit, Danishes, muffins, cereal, and juice. We had so many residents stop by that the breakfast bar was wiped out within 20 minutes!
Week 2 – Popsicles At The Pool
Week two, we held popsicles at the pool on our two-story pool deck. Luckily the Retreat at Illinois has the largest pool in the Champaign-Urbana market and our residents loved having the opportunity to swim up for a nice, cold popsicle. 15 Retreat residents showed up for some popsicles and a nice swim on a hot August afternoon.
Week 3 – Ice Cream Social
During our third week of resident events, we held an ice cream social in the clubhouse at the bar area. This was a fun way for residents to meet and get to know their surrounding neighbors in the community. 15 residents showed up right away clearing out the ice cream bar within 10 minutes! We had options from drumsticks to fudge bars!
Week 4 – Canned Food Drive
For our fourth resident event, we held a canned food drive in the clubhouse to give back to those in need. The residents who donated were happy that we were doing something to benefit the community and they felt good that it was easy for them to help give back as well.
Week 5 – Get To Know Your Cottage
Week five, we held a get to know your cottage on our Instagram account. We wanted to make sure our residents knew how to use things in their cottage like setting the temperature properly, what to do if the breaker in your apartment goes out and how to use the call box system at the front of the community. This got a lot of attention and taught resident’s important things about their new homes that they didn’t know before!
Week 6 – Grill & Chill
Our very last week of our 6 in 6 events, we held a grill and chill in the clubhouse! We had pulled pork sandwiches, chicken, potato salad, macaroni, cookies, and a lemon pound cake for residents to enjoy! We were out of food within 15 minutes of starting the event. There were 40 residents who showed up to enjoy some nice food on us and to get to know others in the community!
Our team has had such an amazing time getting to meet our residents over the past 6 weeks. Here at The Retreat at Illinois, we strive to create the best experience in University of Illinois off campus housing and hosting a variety of awesome resident events is just one part of achieving that. Keep an eye out for more events to come, we’re looking forward to a great year!
