Student Life

Mass is offered at three locations in the area:

Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem
Charles Town, West Virginia
https://canonsregular.com/

Carmel of Jesus, Mary and Joseph
Fairfield, Pennsylvania
https://www.fairfieldcarmelites.org/

St. Alphonsus Church
Baltimore, Maryland
https://stalphonsusbalt.org/

St. Mary’s is two blocks away from the student residence, 2.5 blocks away from the classrooms, and 2.75 blocks away from the dining facility.
https://saintmarysonline.org/adoration/

Residency Requirements

All students will live in Collegium housing with the following exceptions:

• students living at home;
• students living with relatives;
• students living in a home approved by their parents and by the Collegium.

Location

The Hamilton Hotel, once Hagerstown’s largest hotel, serves as Collegium housing. It is located at 92 W. Washington St. in downtown Hagerstown.  It is next to the University of Maryland’s Hagerstown campus (a hub for various colleges of the University of Maryland system to offer distance curricula), where the Collegium holds classes.

Housing Arrangements

The Collegium occupies the third and fourth floors of the Hamilton Hotel.

• The men live on one wing on each floor; the wing is separated by a secured door.
• The women live on another wing of each floor; the wing is also separated by a secured door.
• Currently, several faculty members also live in the building.
• There is no inter-wing visitation. (Students entering the wing designated for students of the opposite sex will be expelled.)

Security

Access to the building and to the student residence wings is by key card.

The building is monitored 24 hours/day.

Alcohol, Drugs, and Smoking/Vaping

The legal drinking age in Maryland is 21.  Therefore, alcohol is forbidden at all Collegium activities that involve students, on- or off-campus.  Alcohol and drugs are forbidden in the residence hall.   Smoking/vaping is forbidden on all Collegium sites.

Students using forbidden substances (alcohol, drugs, tobacco, vaping materials) will be fined and/or expelled.

Students entering the wing designated for members of the opposite sex will be expelled.

Meals

 Breakfast is a self-serve meal, similar to what you might experience in a hotel.

Lunch and Dinner are taken together as a community, with grace before and after.

Locations

We utilize a total of ten different restaurants downtown for meals. All the different menus and venues give the students a healthy variety in their daily routine! To order, students go to a link before each meal and pick whatever they’d like off the menu. The meals are ready when we arrive. (Pretzel & Pizza Creations, China King Chinese Kitchen, 28 South, Bulls & Bears, Rice Thai Dining, Los Amigos Mexican Restaurant, Provision & Supply Co District Hagerstown, The Broad Axe, Schmankerl Stube Bavarian Restaurant.)

Description

Every student is required to give at least eight hours/week to service/work to The Collegium.  There are four reasons for this:

1. to gain the spiritual benefits of work;
2. to offset some of the costs and to help keep the cost of The Collegium as low as possible; (NOTE: this program does not reduce your tuition/room & board charges; it keeps us from having to raise them.)
3. to give students work experience that will help you connect the skills attained in the class room to real-life work experience;
4. to give you experiences that will enhance your resume upon graduation.

Normally, students are not paid by our partners.  Rather, students fulfill their hour of service in these positions and the partners make donations to support The Collegium.  However, depending on the number of hours worked, it is possible that students could earn some income for hours worked beyond their service requirements.

(Students can be assigned to any work position. We try to be sensitive to your wishes, but we cannot guarantee any particular position.

See more about Ora et Labora here.

Here is our current booklet describing the benefits of our Ora et labora program and our current placements:

Like us, many colleges extol the many extra-curricular opportunities in their areas.  However, what often happens is that students get so involved in the intensity of campus life, that they never take advantage of everything the area has to offer.

We have a fix for that!

Every third week, we “shift gears” and take class on the road.  We will, together, explore one of the opportunities in the area.  It might be something cultural, like a museum, or a music concert, or something happening in DC.  It might be a hike along the Appalachian Trail.  It might be something that you, as students, plan, or it might just be a surprise!

Whatever it is, it will be a built-in break from the routine of campus life.  It will give you an opportunity to “reboot and recharge,” and it will help you live in a way where learning is more than just the classroom.