This academic year, fifty-Seven Lakeland Students are living in a dorm-style apartment building, known as the Founder’s Club. After previously demolishing Muehlmeier to make way for the new on-campus dorms, Lakeland expanded residence life by renting the first two floors for the Founder’s Club in Sheboygan, WI. The Founder’s Club is available to Lakeland students now through the spring semester of 2022. Students housed at The Founder’s Club must be Juniors or Seniors.

The Founder’s Club features two kitchens on each floor, two sundecks, each with a grill, a 26-seat movie theater, a fitness center, and an arcade room in the basement. Every room also includes its own bathroom, which has been a big selling point for students wanting to live at The Founder’s Club. Located on 6th Street and Ontario Avenue in Sheboygan, The Founder’s Club is within walking distance from Riverfront Drive, just by the Sheboygan River where most restaurants and pubs are found. These features make the Founder’s Club the perfect place for a college student to live until the completion of the new on-campus dorms.

Despite the impressive amenities, there are elements of living at the Founder’s club that many students find challenging. The 20-minute commute to Lakeland’s campus is challenging for students, especially student-athletes who now must wake up earlier for morning practices. This includes student-athlete, Aaron Smith, who explained how the commute has been difficult when getting ready for soccer practice. Students are worried their commuting time will increase to 30-40 minutes during the harsh Wisconsin winters. Another inconvenience found at The Founder’s Club is the lack of free laundry for students.

However, Lakeland’s Residence Life is committed to helping students at The Founder’s Club this academic year by supplying $10 a week to use on laundry. The Founder’s Club Hall Director, Jaliyah Henderson, detailed Residence Life’s plans to put together programming each week that fosters student community and makes students’ experiences as memorable as they can. Students currently living at the Founder’s Club love their independence, being able to go out into the Sheboygan community, visiting the local farmers markets, having easy access to local restaurants, the beach, the YMCA, and more.

Residence Life at The Founder’s Club have created programs throughout October to provide Lakeland students opportunities to bond, relax, and participate in different activities. Check out pumpkin painting on October 21, 2021, a cooking and door decorating contest on October 30, 2021, and many more activities throughout the semester.