In the fall of 2013 I was living in an apartment with four other people and things weren't going very well, I was unhappy with my living arrangement. I had gotten so low that I was looking for a place to move. Just as I was packing my bags to go home for the winter break I desperately needed, my phone rang. A friend of mine said she knew of a vacancy in a house full of motivated, goal-oriented people. After taking a tour of the newly renovated home in the heart of State College, I knew I would be happy here, in this new home developed to allow change makers to come together and achieve one goal: to make the world a better place. The name of the house: Co.Space.Co.Space just opened its doors in July 2013 and since then the house of 20 has been working hard in the local community, on campus and also around the world. When the two people who hatched the idea for the house were developing it, they decided that having a Co.Space house wouldn't be enough. They are now building more homes in college towns across America and even across the sea. The residents don't just live in this house and you can tell once you walk through the front door just by looking at the layout of the house (Figure 1). Everything was planned to have organic conversations and the founders took key suggestions from Google and other companies that have similar approaches to “Theory Y”. There are chalkboards everywhere and the coffee tables were chalkboard tables, so no matter where you are in the house you can leave a note or have a conversation and write things down for yourself or the house. The dining room table is custom made with outlets under the table for anyone to sit and plug in and with...half of paper...because the students are already guided. They already have some ideas in place or are actively looking for ideas. Taking motivated students and putting them under one roof and telling them to work together to accomplish what they believe will make the world better only motivates them even more. In the future, Co.Space's goal is to expand outside of Penn State to open houses across the country and world and have houses work together to further motivate people. The open atmosphere and the way people start planning and collaborating together to motivate everyone else organically is great and there are just a few areas that just need minor adjustments. But overall, Co.Space is an amazing, innovative and inspiring home where already motivated students can meet and increase their motivation and make a change in the world together..
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