K-Ville & The ARC Study Tent
“Tenting” has been a tradition at Duke for 40 years now and is still a quintessential experience for many Duke students. Of course, students who tent still have plenty of classwork to complete and exams to study for, even while camping out with their friends in K-Ville. So how do they manage to work amongst the chaos? The answer is they do so within a study tent sponsored by Duke’s Academic Resources Center (the ARC).
“Generally, I try to design my schedule around K-Ville. It’s pretty easy to work here,” said Terry Gershman, Trinity sophomore. “We have pretty good WiFi. We have the study tent.”
The origins of Duke’s tenting culture began when a senior and her friends set up a tent outside of Cameron Stadium to wait in line for tickets to a Duke-UNC basketball game. Now each year Duke students set up their own tents in “K-Ville”, which is named after Duke’s former basketball coach, Coach Mike Krzyzewski, for the chance to get tickets to the popular Duke-UNC game. Students camp out in groups for any length from 2-6 weeks leading up to the rivalry basketball game. Groups take shifts occupying in the tent, as K-Ville rules require a certain amount of individuals per group in the tent at every given time. These occupancy rules are observed and enforced through regular checks performed by students known as “line monitors.”
The ARC study tent, as the name implies, is a tent in which tenting students can take a break from the energy of K-Ville in order to get work done in a more studious environment. The ARC’s study tent is officially within K-Ville bounds, allowing for stress-free studying. The large tent is home to power strips, tables, and insulation from the weather. These benefits, alongside the freedom from distractions, provide a perfect spot for K-Ville-tethered Cameron Crazies to focus on their academics.
In 2020, line monitors first invited the ARC to sponsor the study tent, hoping to provide more resources for students in K-Ville. The ARC outfits the study tent with resources and support for students. This includes informational signs with study resources and QR codes to the ARC’s website. There are future plans for the study tent in work as well, including themed snacks and an online portal through which students can share study tips with each other.
Reed Colver, an Associate Director and Learning Consultant at the ARC, additionally emphasized that students can always Zoom call with staff at the ARC while tenting, “I’ve definitely had more than one learning consultation with a student in their tent,” she said. “Wherever the students are located, we will continue to work with them.”