Core Teams talk raising kids at Rice

By Emily Nguyen     4/15/25 10:27pm

At most colleges, resident assistants are students juggling their residential responsibilities alongside homework. At Rice, students aren’t the only ones who call the residential colleges home – RAs could be anything from a professor to a dean living down the hall along with their children.

Bryn Dugre, department coordinator and executive assistant to the provost, has been a Hanszen College RA since spring 2020. Dugre lives on-campus with her husband and their two children, Georgina and Ambrose Dugre. Dugre said a big factor in her decision to raise her children at Rice was its diverse cultural interactions.

Dugre grew up in a small town in Virginia, a location she said did not have a lot of diversity, so being an RA at Hanszen helps her and her children learn more about different cultures.

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“When I was in high school, I kind of heard about Diwali, but I didn't really know very much about it,” Dugre said. “It was mostly when we started having the celebration here that I learned more about it. Now my kids ask about it, like, ‘Can we go to Diwali?’”

Dugre’s daughter, Georgina, said that she also likes taking part in student-led traditions like Beer Bike.

“I filled water balloons, and I bounced on the bouncy house,” Georgina said. “We saw the races, and it was a lot of fun.”

Leonardo Dueñas-Osorio, professor of civil and environmental engineering, lives with his wife, Cassy Romano, their three daughters, Daphne, Colette and Margot, their dog, Ruby and their cat, Muisca. Dueñas-Osorio and Romano have been the Baker magisters since fall of 2023. All three of the girls have been enrolled in the Rice Children’s Campus. 

The Rice Children’s Campus, operated by the Center for Early Childhood Education, offers a Montessori education to children of Rice students, faculty and staff through age 5. However, Dueñas-Osorio also said he wishes there was more support for Rice families in terms of childcare. 

RCC’s program prices range from $1,640 to $1,790 per month, and offers no tuition assistance, unlike other programs such as the University of Houston’s Child Care Center. The RCC declined to comment on its tuition when asked by the Thresher. 

“When you have three kids, it adds up, financially,” Dueñas-Osorio said. “For us, as professors, we might be able to weather the situation fine, but I know some graduate students or postdocs [are parents], and I feel that it's a big hit for them.”

Romano said the benefits that RCC provides outweigh the cost.

“There are cheaper daycares, but [RCC] is such good quality, and it’s so close to campus,” Romano said.

Dugre, whose daughter graduated from RCC and whose son has been enrolled since he was 14 months old, said the program is particularly valuable because of its alignment with Rice’s calendar.

“[During] spring break or midterm recess or spring recess or the summer, staff still have to work,” Dugre said. “RCC is open every one of those days, and that's really appealing because there's a lot of preschools and child care in the Houston area that will follow the HISD calendar, and they’re closed [on those days].”

At Sid Richardson College, Bianca Lopez lives with her husband Carlos, their two children Lucas and Olivia, and their dogs, Casper and Nala. Lopez is the endowment counsel and minerals manager for the Rice Management Company. Lopez said she was first introduced to the residential college system upon joining Rice in 2019 and became an RA in fall 2022.

“One of the things that came up [during employee orientation] was the residential college system and how the RAs are the adults that work at Rice,” Lopez said. “So we talked to [our son] Lucas about it … and he thought it would be great because he had friends that lived on campus and we thought, why not?”

Lopez said that she sees being an RA as an opportunity to develop connections with Rice students.

“I'm not a professor, so I didn't get a lot of face time with the students,” Lopez said. “So, for me, the rewarding thing is just having the opportunity to interact with students and watching them interact with my kids, and I think that they've really helped them develop.”

Lucas Escobedo, Lopez’s son, said that he likes spending time with his family on campus.

“I like taking a walk with Nala, Casper, my mom, my sister and my dad,” Lucas said. “I wish there were more friends that were my age at Rice.”

Lopez said she and her husband often include their children in college events. 

“We did a slime-making event last week,” Lopez said. “Next week, we’re going to watch ‘Ratatouille,’ and we’re going to eat all the food they eat in the movie with the students.”

Gabriela Garcia, associate director of the Humanities Research Center, lives with her husband, humanities lecturer Liam Mayes and their son, Oscar Mayes at Martel College. They have been RAs since January 2025.

Garcia said they chose to raise their son on campus because of the Rice community. 

“It’s such a unique opportunity to have Oscar grow up among college-age people and be part of a larger community,” Garcia said. “As academics, we move a lot, but this way, we get to be a part of a community.”

Mayes and Garcia said Oscar has developed a relationship with Martel students. 

“We live on the ground floor of Martel, and [Oscar] just opens the door and rolls out onto the quad, where we play soccer, and the students come to play with us,” Mayes said. “He has his own independent relationship with all of them.”

Mayes said the family also receives support from students who volunteer to watch Oscar when he and Garcia are busy. 

“We didn’t know the extent to which the students were so eager to help,” Mayes said. “We have a long list of people who volunteered to babysit.”

Lopez said that although there are challenges when it comes to childcare, the support she receives from the other adults at Sid Rich makes a significant difference.

“The [Sid Rich] core team is amazing, and they are so supportive and are always there if we need anything,” Lopez said. “They love our kids, and we love them, so it really is like a family.”

Ultimately, she said the benefits of raising her kids on campus far outweigh the costs.

“My husband and I joke that [the kids] are smarter by osmosis, just being around so many intelligent students who treat them with respect and kindness,” Lopez said.

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