Everyone remembers the excitement and anxiety of leaving for college. Little do they know what awaits them! For many, dorm room living is the biggest surprise. Some roommates turn into lifelong friends, but most dorm rooms are crowded and smaller than expected. One student may be an early riser, while the other is a night owl. After binge drinking and student debt, roommate issues and the sleep health are the #1 problem in college life.
The topic of sleep health and dorm room privacy is especially timely this year. The U.S. had more incoming college freshmen than ever before, yet they are living in the same number of dorm rooms. Many colleges, and especially universities, have resorted to forced triples, in which three students live in a room that was designed for two, or forced fours, which is a triple turned into a quad.
Not surprisingly, many students in dorm rooms are sleep-deprived. Even the best intentions cannot make up for the roommate who writes a term paper or streams Netflix at all hours of the night. Compatibility is an issue even before the topic of boyfriends or girlfriends arises.
And yet, according to Arianna Huffington and the New York Times, a good night’s sleep may be the most important factor in a college student’s well-being and academic and social success.
Campus Canopies, a new health and wellness product for dorm room living, is one solution for this problem.
Campus Canopies is the first freestanding structure that fits around a college dorm room bed with designer curtain panels that tie back and can be open or shut, depending on whether the student wants to study motherboard configuration or to relax in their bed and sleep.
The curtain panels come in four solid colours or two modern print designs in two colourways and are made by Kravet, which owns Brunschwig & Fils, Lee Jofa, and other leading interior design brands. The lightweight canopy structure comes in four powder-coated colours. The effect is stunning. Campus Canopies allows the student — male or female — to personalize their space with a seven-foot zone of privacy, a “room within a room” where they spend the most time.
Safety is critical to fire marshals and college administrators, so the curtain panels are manufactured to the highest flame-retardant standard (NFPA 701). I DIY’d the first Campus Canopies when my two daughters went off to school. All of their friends flipped out and said they wanted one. That led me to turn my idea into a business.
Campus Canopies is now sold online at campuscanopies.com and through 1,200 campus bookstores that Follett manages around the country.
The response from students so far has been amazing. Everyone who buys the product loves it. It personalizes the dorm room. It gives students the privacy they need. It allows them to sleep better, study smarter, and transform their living space.
No one product can solve the crisis in dorm room living, but Campus Canopies is a big step in the right direction. I was a stay-at-home mom, taking care of my children before I launched this company. My mission as a CEO is the same as it was as a mother: to make students in dorm rooms happier.