Pierce Hall was once the go-to residence hall for incoming male freshman or sophomores attending Midwestern State. Now, since the addition of Legacy Hall, Pierce is no longer the first option for incoming male students. Pierce has seen drastic changes in the past couple of years and it shows now with the rotting furniture and the stain-infested carpets.

“Legacy is the new building, so there is some attractiveness to students who are looking for something that is a little more modern. It doesn’t necessarily mean Pierce, Killingsworth, or McCullough-Trig are being overlooked or forgotten, but it does change the dynamic of those communities because with more demand for Legacy then we have fewer students living in Pierce and Killingworth at this time,” Kristi Schulte, director of residence life and housing, said.

Pierce Hall is a three-story all male, 227-bed facility built around a central courtyard.

“One of the things we are working on in terms of Pierce, Killingsworth, McCullough-Trig, Sunwatcher, Sundance, and to an extent Legacy, is to look at our renewal in placement schedule and what a renewal in placement schedule is identifying how long the lifespan of things in a particular area are. So if we have lounge furniture in Pierce we should be able to expect that to last X number of years based on the type of products we’re putting in there,” Schulte said.

Pierce hall includes two lounges, one on the first floor that has a television, a full-size kitchen, and two vending machines. There is another lounge on the second floor that also has a television, a ping-pong table, and two pool tables, but this lounge does not include a kitchen.

“One of the changes that we have made as a department and this was very intentional with the idea of community development in mind, is that before legacy came in line you were not allowed as a sophomore to return to your room if you lived in a residence hall. You basically had to move to either McCullough-Trig or the apartments, and those were your options. We decided that it makes more sense that if you feel connected to your community, you should be able to stay with that community. So we want to see a mix of sophomore and freshman in Pierce and Killingsworth,” Schulte said.

This year, only two floors are occupied by students. The third floor is not in use due to a shortage of students.

“When we did our projections for Pierce this year, we only expected to house students on the first floor. And we were pleasantly surprised, we were getting closer and closer to August and we didn’t see our cancelations coming in for Pierce and that’s when we went ahead and hired additional staff. So it was very nice to see Pierce continue to grow and I love that we are at a point where Pierce is small enough to feel like a family with residents who are getting to know one another versus when you get the entire building filled its hard to know all of the guys in the building,” Schulte said.

Last year Pierce was closed for the spring semester because of renovations. Every male was relocated to Killingsworth Hall. The all-female residence hall.

“Honestly, I would have hated Pierce if it weren’t for the people in my hall. I made a lot of friends right away and most of us went greek so we’re still friends to this day. I think every freshman should experience some sort of campus residency,” Tyler Browning, business management senior, said

Pierce hall has four Resident Assistants and a hall director.

“I think what made pierce great back then was the community, I mean almost every day we were doing something dumb in Pierce. It was just a great place to live at years ago, everybody knew each other and we always had events going on throughout the week,” Browning said.

Without a meal plan, Pierce Hall cost a total of $4,500 for the whole year without a meal plan. With the 150 block and $250.00 declining balance the total cost for the year to stay in Pierce is $7,600.

“Hearing about past memories in Pierce is always pretty cool. I mean there’s so much tradition here in Pierce like the wall of champions I know that’s been going on for years now and it’s really cool to see that, that is still happening. I made a lot of friendships and memories here already and its only been one semester. A lot of the guys in here want to continue the traditions of Pierce because we know the potential Pierce could have and we know that if we can all work together and do weekly events together, maybe they can turn into traditions and the next group of guys can carry out those traditions and we can keep it going,” Jacob Summerline, general business freshman, said.