The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 45, No. 1 - 82

Cliff Haynes

were highly involved. This interactive context
of the metaphor can be seen in the ﬁrst two
themes of community and family. However,
other women saw the neighborhood as more
of a place that met physiological needs, which
is reﬂected within the theme of a building;
these women may have noted the interactive
nature of the neighborhood but chose not to be
active participants.

Engineering Classes as Challenges
The Engineering Classes as Challenges interpretive metaphor embodies the idea of something that by its nature requires special effort
or skill; these women saw their engineering
classes as difﬁcult. The ﬁrst two themes of
path and obstacles reﬂect how they viewed the
coursework, while the other two themes of business and competition reﬂect how they viewed
their interactions with the coursework and the
skills they used to overcome challenges.
The women agreed that the classes and
the lifestyle of being an engineering student
presented obstacles that were tough to face.
Ruth noted that she remembered "being
overwhelmed with how being thrown into
engineering meant being thrown into, 'Okay.
Now you gotta get an internship. You gotta
get a co-op. You gotta do career showcase.'"
Carrie revealed that the feeling of being overwhelmed felt "like we're drowning. I can't do
any more. We're not gonna make it. There's
no more for us to do. Deﬁnitely it's really hard
to get through."
Regardless of how overwhelmed they
felt, the women found a coping mechanism:
relying on each other to help them overcome
any obstacles. Ruth felt solace in knowing that

she was not alone. "I found it useful. It actually really did make me feel really included and
like, 'Hey we're all drowning together in engineering.'" Bess agreed that "it's a lot harder to
force yourself to study on your own."
Several of the women noted the role that
the engineering LLP played in helping them
face the competitive nature of engineering.
Carrie coped by knowing she was not alone in
this competition. She realized that she gained
strength and conﬁdence from her fellow competitors in the LLP: "If you felt alone in your
classes, wouldn't that drag you down? You
would just feel bad. Not feel, but your psyche
wouldn't be as strong because you just feel
alone. That's why I think the engineering hall
really helps." Lizzie agreed that she gained a
sense of teamwork and togetherness from the
other female engineers in her hall. As she put
it, "We wanna beat these classes that most of
us are taking together. You don't get that in
another hall. I feel like the priorities sometimes are different."
The interpretive metaphor of the Engineering Classes as Challenges reﬂects the level of
difﬁculty of the classes the women were taking.
While these classes were hard and there were
obstacles to overcome, the women saw this as
a normal part of the engineering path. While
most of them were able to overcome the obstacles, some decided to change paths or try a
new direction. Regardless of what they chose
to do, each of them found strategies to help
them achieve their goals. For some this meant
working hard, while others found strength in
a sense of teamwork with the other women
of the engineering LLP that could help them
compete in engineering.

THE JOURNAL OF COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY STUDENT HOUSING

The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 45, No. 1

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 45, No. 1