Dozens of students gathered in the Fireplace Lounge in Living/Learning Feb. 24 for this year’s program fair.

L/L program members tabled and spread the word about the various communities students can apply to live with next year.

“The focus of the Living/Learning Center are the 40 academic programs, each of which is a year-long plan of coursework, independent study, seminars, field trips and other special activities which support a specific program theme,” according to the L/L Information and Resource guide.

Students live together in a suite and learn about a specific theme that corresponds to the program they live in, according to the guide.

There are several new programs this year in the Arts Initiative, Global Village and Living/Learning Communities.

New as of the 2015-2016 academic year are the Freestyle Ski, Ecological Art, Animal Welfare and Ecology as well as  World Music houses.

The Global Village will be adding India House.

Also new this year are the Hiking and Climbing houses.

For academic year 2016-2017, first-years Maddy Hoy and Michaela McDonough are starting a UVM Moth: Storytelling House.

The program is based on The Moth Radio Hour, which is a weekly podcast based in New York City. The community will focus on the craft of story construction and presentation, according to the L/L website.

“We found this website and fell in love with the idea,” Hoy said. “We wanted to create a community where sharing stories is safe and open.”

For students interested in nature, there will be a new Save the Trees House, started by first-years Mack Baker and Sammy Hedlund.

The community will focus on nature appreciation, as well as sustainability and conservation, Baker said. It will incorporate nature walks, tree climbing and environmental art.

“We were tree climbing with our friends and looked around and decided people didn’t appreciate nature enough, and we wanted to share the great experience with everyone,” Baker said.

First-year Sara Casparian, who lived in the LGBTQA Collaborative this year, said she was interested in the new Our Minds Matter House.

This new program will focus on maintaining and promoting mental health as well as teaching students about mental illness, according to the L/L website.

First-years Julia Hyman and Kayla Freischlag are starting the program based on a similar one Hyman started at her high school.

“We’re going to do a screening of the movie ‘Silver Linings Playbook,’” participate in charity and awareness walks, and hopefully collaborate with the ALANA House at some point to talk about how different cultures view mental health,” Hyman said.  

The deadline to apply for L/L housing is March 14, according to the L/L website.