Rivier University president Sister Paula Marie Buley greets junior Sam Tibbetts, who, along with senior Alicia Martinez, right, took part in the symbolic ribbon-cutting ceremony for the university’s new Rivier Village residences on Friday. At left is Sister Helene Cote, Provincial Superior of the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary, and Mayor Jim Donchess is at right.
Rivier University president Sister Paula Marie Buley greets junior Sam Tibbetts, who, along with senior Alicia Martinez, right, took part in the symbolic ribbon-cutting ceremony for the university’s new Rivier Village residences on Friday. At left is Sister Helene Cote, Provincial Superior of the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary, and Mayor Jim Donchess is at right.
NASHUA — Immediately after he participated in the ceremonial ribbon-cutting that signaled the official opening of Rivier University’s new apartment-style student housing complex, junior Sam Tibbetts was more than eager to lead a guided tour of his new digs for those attending the event last week.
Tibbetts’s eagerness was two-fold: One, he got to show off the well-appointed, four-bedroom apartment into which he and three other Rivier students will be soon be moving, and two, the tour allowed him and his guests to escape the frigid gusts of wind that swept across the campus.
“For me, this is so much better than sharing (dorm rooms) like we’ve been doing,” Tibbetts told the roughly 100 people who gathered between two of the Rivier Village buildings for the brief ceremony.
The opening of the village marks the completion of the third major project in four years for the university. That rapid growth follows the highest fall enrollment in the university’s history, according to Rivier President Sister Paula Marie Buley.
Tibbetts, a homeland and international security major from Gray, Maine, and a member of Rivier’s men’s lacrosse team, said he was quite pleased to be “one of the first (students) to move into the village,” which he said allows students to live in apartment-style accommodations “with the convenience of living on campus.”
Connor Eck, a cyber security and criminal justice major from Franklin, Mass., who is one of Tibbetts’s roommates, said he’s grateful he was among the juniors and seniors selected as the first occupants of the village.
“We went through a process, it sort of like a lottery,” Eck said while greeting visitors touring the four-bedroom apartment.
Senior Alicia Martinez, a biology major from Haverhill, Mass., also addressed attendees during the brief ceremony. “It’s great to have a private room and still be living on campus,” she said. “This will allow us to thrive.”
Nashua Mayor Jim Donchess told listeners that he considers it “a pleasure to come to Rivier and see yet another new project” taking shape.
“Sister Paula, the leadership and the board of trustees have done a fantastic job in moving Rivier University forward,” Donchess said, adding that the university “has been evolving so wonderfully over the past few years ... I’m sure this is going to continue.”
The new housing, which Buley called “the newest investment in the student experience,” stands as “a tangible demonstration of the university’s dynamic growth,” she said during the ceremony.
“The new residences will accommodate Rivier’s expansion and provide opportunities for upper-level students to experience independent, apartment-style living” as they prepare to transition into their professional careers, she added.
Buley also told the students in attendance that “the living and the learning that will happen in (the village buildings) will profoundly affect you.
“You will learn a lot about yourself, your flexibility, your resilience, your community spirit, your compassion ... your ability to celebrate at times, to forgive at times,” Buley said.
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