The Archive of the Magazine for the George Mason University Community

Mason Cribs: All in the Family

By Leah Kerkman Fogarty on May 6, 2011


Forget everything you’ve heard about the dorms at Mason. Now considered a “primarily residential” university, Mason has a thriving campus life. Peek into how undergraduates are living large on campus with this take on MTV Cribs—but with a little Mason flavor. From singles to suites, here are some of the best “cribs” around.

Visitors to Trevor Hughes’s single in the recently opened Hampton Roads residence hall are greeted by an aesthetic he describes as “hodgepodge.” But there’s definitely an underlying theme to the senior civil, environmental, and infrastructure engineering major’s décor: Family is first.

Even though he left them behind in Frederick, Maryland, Hughes has surrounded himself with items from his loved ones in his residence hall room. Prints of artwork created by his grandfather, who was a cartoonist and sculptor, hang above his bed. Stained-glass pieces crafted by his grandmother hang in his window. Antiquities from his great-grandfather, a traveling doctor, include a vivid rug and a couple of steamer trunks—a far cry from the Ikea specials found in many college student rooms.

Even the lamp hanging above his bed, which was a cast-off from an elderly couple he helped move last summer, is a reflection of the room’s inhabitant. Hughes used a little bit of his engineering studies to jerry rig the lamp stand.

As a resident advisor, he plans events and offers guidance for the 33 students on his floor. Hughes also is involved in Mason’s newly formed Engineers Without Borders club. He hopes to visit Peru this summer as part of the club’s work on a water tank project. On graduation, he hopes to work in third world countries, solving their water and infrastructure problems.

For fun, Hughes enjoys a good game of soccer. He plays with Mason’s club soccer team and also hits the fields on Friday afternoons for pick-up games. “A lot of people play here because Mason is such an international school and soccer is definitely an international sport,” he says.

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Hughes is an avid surfer. He picked this shell up near his grandmother’s house in coastal Delaware.

Ever the recycler, Hughes made a stand for his favorite hats out of an old floor lamp. A lover of chess, another steamer trunk that belonged to his great-grandfather holds his set.

One of his great-grandfather’s steamer trunks displays drawings that Hughes created, as well as the headgear he crafted for part of his Halloween costume when he went as the Greek mythological hero Achilles.

One of his great-grandfather’s steamer trunks displays drawings that Hughes created, as well as the headgear he crafted for part of his Halloween costume when he went as the Greek mythological hero Achilles.


1 Comment »

  1. Fantastic room, Trevor! So nice you have a single as well!

    Comment by Jarrod Brown — July 6, 2011 @ 2:23 pm

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