A Look Into the Life of the Prezcos: Wesleyan’s Resident Presidents Craft a Vibrant Social Scene

West College (WestCo), one of the six Community Based Living options at the University, accommodates both first-year and sophomore students and is known for its artsy culture, which serves as a comforting hub for countless students across campus. Within this community, WestCo residents elect four presidents (affectionately known as PrezCos) at the end of each semester. This semester, Miranda Factor ’29, Jonah Tritter ’29, Anya Biggs ’29, and Cole Corper ’29 will serve in the position. 

Leading up to the PrezCo election, Factor said her hope to expand community throughout the different realms of art represented by WestCo residents encouraged her to apply.

“I do theater, film, and visual arts,” Factor said. “A lot of WestCo tends to be a little bit more centered on music. I thought it might be nice to see if we could build more community in those [other] spaces too.”

For Tritter, being elected PrezCo meant working behind the scenes of events that shaped his core college memories.

“A big reason I wanted to [apply] was because I’m a musician, and [PrezCos] plan out the two music festivals during the year,” Tritter said. “We have Duke Day and Zonker Harris, and Zonker Harris was one of the greatest days of my life.” 

Biggs came into her position from a different situation. With an open seat for PrezCo at the start of the Fall semester, Biggs was chosen through an emergency election. Despite not living in WestCo her first year, Biggs said that the depth of connection she developed with both her fellow residents and the WestCo lifestyle pushed her to apply.  

“One of the reasons I wanted to be a PrezCo is that I love this community,” Biggs said. “I lived in the [Butterfields] my freshman year, [but] I really bonded with the [WestCo] community, to the point where I was spending every single day in WestCo. It offered something that I was lacking…a little bit more structure [than traditional dorms].”

Instead of acting as Residential Advisors (RAs), PrezCos serve specifically as social facilitators. WestCo’s RAs, who report to the Area Coordinator, take on the same responsibilities as other residential houses: providing support and addressing issues in their residential communities and the area as a whole. RAs align more closely with the housing goals the University prescribes; they operate in a more official vein than PrezCos. Still, PrezCos meet with their Area Coordinator twice a month to check in on their contributions.

Tritter explained the distinguishing points between the PrezCo role and RAs. “We have more [than just] responsibility for the space and making sure everything’s tidy,” he said. “[The role] is more about maintaining the sense of calm and good.”

As a dorm that prides itself on its integrated community, Factor said PrezCos specifically work to unite residents of each year.

“PrezCos [are] a social position,” she said. “Specifically in the beginning of the year, we’re there to facilitate [first-year] and sophomore intermingling.” 

According to Biggs, this social scene functions like a family.

“It almost is a big-sibling little-sibling program,” she said. “You get to meet these people not in a way where the sophomores [have] power over the freshmen, but in a way where we are equals.”

Despite their role as social facilitators, Tritter noted that a lack of community has never been an issue, thanks to the residents themselves.

“As PrezCos, we plan things, and we put on these events, [but] we don’t really need to help people foster this community,” he said. “It exists within itself already.”

Every Thursday, PrezCos run social events called “Guidance” as an opportunity to bond. These events also welcome students who live outside of WestCo in other residence halls.

WestCo resident of two years, Charlotte Fishman ’29, said these events have added another layer to the residents’ identity.

“There is a beauty with WestCo and how the PrezCos run [Guidance] and create these events for the entire community to come together,” Fishman said. “They have a very warm aura and are very welcoming.” 

In planning Guidance, Biggs found fulfillment through continuing the legacy of past PrezCos and bringing fresh perspectives to the table as leadership changes.

“Once a week, the four of us get to come together and pay homage to old PrezCos who have done fun stuff in the past,” she said. “Because [leadership] is constantly changing, it’s fluid in terms of including everyone [and] bringing in ideas.”

Tritter echoed Biggs’ ideas about carrying on the environment that past PrezCos fostered.

“[Through] the community and the people who lived here last year, [the PrezCos] learned how cool [WestCo] was when we were [first-years], and now [as sophomores] we pass it down,” he said. “The space has a vibe that has been here, and everyone buys into it.”

Ultimately, Tritter said, in spite of their label, being PrezCo isn’t a role only suited for certain people.

“Anyone in WestCo could do the job of a PrezCo well. We are just fortunate to be the ones that get to represent it,” he said.

Chloe Crowther can be reached at crappaportcr@wesleyan.edu.

Hana Futai can be reached at hfutai@wesleyan.edu.