End of an Amazing job called RA

So yes it is august and I haven't written on here since Christmas cause at times when i wanted to something came up or i had no desire cause of events. Now that i have changed this blog a bit I thought i might let you all know about the job.

It's a fun great exciting job that i will treasure for the rest of my life. Yet at time it was difficult i had tough times with some situations that i did not understand at the time and i have learned from it or let it go and maybe someday i will understand.

Winter quarter is always fun in college this was a time where many people find out who they have as there friends or figure out how they life this college life. We got a lot of roommate problems and drama around the hall. everyone liked to stay in since it was cold and your only outside for a bit when you are outside. We had a few newcomers that came later on so they met new friends and in a hall winter quarter you really start seeing the cliques of friends. In a way its like high school but different hard to explain. Even among the staff we had our differences but I'm happy to say by the end of year it was all resolved and we are great friends.

2 of my favorite programs that quarter was the SUPERBOWL! and a sleep over night in the lounge! lots of food games and fun.

SPRING BREAK!
MINION THEMED OF COURSE! ( I had so much fun making decor for this theme)

People come back and start to realize oh wow i move in 3 months, leave this hall and don't see most these people i live with now ever again that much. people start wondering what they are doing in the next year, realize they are living in a apartment or back in the halls. We the staff of course informed them many of times that they needed to find out what they were doing.
I start to realize oh wow this is the last quarter with "my baby residents" last time as an RA for a while as I'm living off campus for the first time and on my own.

Of course there was the usual drama and few things i got to help figure out and stay neutral to . but mostly this quarter i just wanted to enjoy my time with the residents who are now really close friends to me make sure that they have a great time at there last bit of there freshman year and encourage them on the next year.

I am leaving out so much since its been awhile and plus i don't want to get in to detail and that be bad cause who knows.

spring quarter i wanted to have everyone enjoy the outdoors before it was windy or steaming hot. One program i did with a co-RA was "Outdoor fun!"
First one we played 4-square and it was a hit! everyone loved it and had so much fun!
also had a few more but the end of the year banquet was fun we all did events alot of people came out and it was a last hurray for everyone. though it was sad everyone was leaving we had a great time.
water balloon fights/toss, volleyball, BBQ, Paint twister and lots of pictures.

I had made a video of the year for everyone to see and be able to remember their great year!
here's the link if you wanna see it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-pATEYh7No

Like i said I'm leaving alot out but i may update more about it.
The last week was finals and checkouts. I felt so sad/happy it was interesting. Yes i cried a little as a few were leaving. people giving hugs and people rushing out it was alot but also many memories and great friends made over the year.

I was so happy to be able to be a friend, mentor, counselor, really anything to my residents and most of all Mama J ha ha i love it.

That job was so great i loved it and i hope if anyone gets even the chance of being an RA that they would take it. if they don't get it at least they tried. it was a wonderful experience and who knows maybe ill go back. just gotta figure some stuff out first.

Well bye for now and ill update soon! :)

Nearing the end of the quarter and CHRISTMAS!

So today was the last class day of the quarter and now many of the residents are ready to get finals done and leave for winter break.

As a staff member for res life we are required to stay till the last day the 14th of December. All of our residents have to be gone out of the hall and are not able to come back till Jan 3rd.

This next week will be filled with 24 hour quiet hours and residence leaving.
Personally my finals are over on Monday and a paper due tuesday. I CAN NOT WAIT!
I wouldn't mind leaving and going back home to help with my mothers last season of her store. But I know I will miss my hall, staff team and residents.

One thing we tend to see as first years are coming back from thanksgiving break and getting ready to go home for winter break is a lot of undecided residents. They like being here at school but now since they have been home are starting to get anxious and want to leave. (I understand the feeling) :p
Some residents are going home this winter break and after being on their ow for 3 months are going to either have the same treatment at home where they abide by rules but do have alot more freedom or they will go home and find out they have a curfew, chores and not so on their own anymore. We hear of this many times.

I know as the days go on Kamola Hall is going to get quieter and quieter with all my friends leaving the hall.

Our staff team has filled the hall with Xmas decorations and even have had many programs to make sure the residents are having a good time here.

I have loved being and RA for the past quarter it has been one of the BEST experiences i have had.
I have picked up different names such as " MAMA J" and have become close with my awesome staff teams.
Learned soooo many skills that i will for sure have to use in the future. Administrative skills, Interpersonal/counseling skills, Programming skills, confrontation skills and Presentation skills. along with so many other.

I Have learned from my experiences, mistakes and even things from my residents.

I'm excited for next quarter where there will be SNOW!! And the many things i have planned to do, along with starting some of my pre- major classes!

It has been a great ride so far and cant wait to keep on riding on!

Staff team

I have been putting off so many posts lately. I have many subjects to go over but one of the most important ones is...

My Staff Team! 

First off if you want the best support system you most likely will get it with your job! :)

When I first was offered this job I was so exited just about being an RA that I forgot about who I'll be working with. In the spring I went to "meet your staff" and met most of them just to get to know my RHC (resident hall coordinator) and the rest of the RA's and CP's ( community programmers)

Over the summer we got the final list if staff members and of course I went on Facebook and added them. 

First day of moving in I knew 3 out of 12 of my staff team pretty well when the other 9 staff memebers I pretty much just heard of. 

The day before training a couple of us all sat around in the lounge making decorations and just talking with the rest of the staff getting to know them before all the craziness of training started. 

As training went on I got to know about each and everyone. How they deal with certain things and how we are all different from one another. Along with what happens with one another if we get stressed out and what we need if that means that one of us needs to be being left alone or just needs to talk it out with someone. 

We took at strengths test as part of our training where we learned each of out big "strengths". With me my big strength is I'm a "includer" I want everyone to be involved or find a way for people to enjoy themselves by not leaving them out. 

On my staff team we have people who's big strengths are communication, competition, input, analyzer, harmony, woo along with many others.

Each of these strengths makes us unique to each other and we grow on them. 

This helped my staff team realize we are each different in certain ways but also similar with our top 5 strengths. 

As the first quarter has gone on. Our staff team meets once a week to talk about upcoming things along with things needing to be discussed and figured out as a team. 

Our staff team has hung out a lot around the hall and out of the hall and we rely on each other In our own ways.

One thig that makes a community great is when there isn't drama or tension between the Staff team. I've heard in the past it doesn't help with community. 

I personally look forward to seeing my staff team when ever I leave or am having a hard day and needs to just talk or get a hug from someone. Also just to have a good time and hang out.

I love my staff team and that's one of the big things that makes this job so amazing! 

Some reasons reason i'm here... in remembrance of my grandfather.

2 weeks ago I found out that my Grandfather has past away after a long, courageous battle with Alzheimer's for 9 years. Today I am flying back to Cody Wyoming to lay him to rest.

If you didn't know 2 Years ago I went to Auction school to learn to become an auctioneer. My grandfather went to auction school when he was young and ended up teaching auction school where my dad learned and became an auctioneer. My family runs and operates "Musser Brothers Auctions" along with "Yellow Iron Auctions". I grew up almost every fall & spring going to farm auctions and helping my uncles and dad out. I started out as a ticket runner and as i became older I got to do "Bigger" jobs, such as checking in people, ringman, clerking and now auctioneering and helping run the online portion of the auctions. My family also does Charity auctions which I LOVE! Raising money for a cause at fun events put on to raise big amounts or just simple quilt auctions too. 

Every summer since i was little my family flew  to where ever the NAA (National Auctioneers Association) Convention was in July. It became a yearly thing and almost the whole Musser crew would be there. I remember watching contestants go up and compete every year and seeing those who came back every year to try and win the Championship.  The NAA became part of our family and every year it was a reunion. As all the grandchildren grew older we didn't go as much. I got to compete in the Junior International contest in 2012 and ended up getting 2nd Runner-Up. 

My Grandfather Robert E. Musser was inducted in to the NAA Hall of Fame which is a GREAT honor. That very same year my dad won the Championship with our friend Jill Marie.

My dad and uncles took off in the auction career because of my grandfather and I hope to continue doing so. 

Now why am at school? Well I've gone back and forth with a certain degree but no matter what I have pursued that at least my minor will be business and with that ifs a Major or a Minor I hope to bring more knowledge back to our family auctions and help in some way. 

If its running auctions or even setting the charity auctions up. I plan to pursue in this and hope to be as successful as the generations before me.

I am very thankful for my Grandpa Musser he brought many memories for me to remember. With his Musical ear where he would play the harmonica everywhere! He always had a wink in his eye and a smile on his face when ever I saw him. One thing he always said was the I was his favorite JAM. (My initials)

RIP Grandpa

BECOMING THE RA

I moved in Friday September 6 in to a empty hall with 12 other staff members who I didn't know that well. I had only met a few of them before from being in RHA and 2 of them I knew from my hall last year.

Training started that next monday. Now since this was over a month ago I'm giving you all a short version.

Training is for 2 weeks for all the Housing staff on campus. We get to meet each other, learn in depth of how to be an RA or CP. Training practically went from 8 or 9 am to 8 or 9 pm. That didn't include the time where we made decorations and door tags for our hall.

We got taught how to act in situations, how to use the money we have available for our programs and hall, how to interact with residents and get them excited about being here and living on campus. We went over move in day and freshman weekend. Had a lot of area time which was when staff members would go to their halls area for instance we have (North, Central, East Besseties, West besseties and South) These areas usually included many halls. In area time we went over things that our staff who we will work with mainly the whole year, these things being like, setting up the rooms and doing inventories in each room (documenting broken blinds,chips in walls, lights broken. basically things that we didn't want the residences to pay for when they didn't do it) Our staff worked great and got really close with one another.

Did i mention staying up till 3am quite a few nights during training to get hall decorations done?

Training is tough but it is ALOT of fun and I have met some life long friends here who I am glad I have met. I would explain more but its ALOT ha ha :p

MOVE IN DAY! Residents are here yay!!!! My hall is not empty and we have over 200 residents in my hall alone. My area of responsibility is about 30 residents who I get to know well and if they need anything or want to talk I'm their RA. 

During the first weekend before school started we had alot of school and Hall pride where we participated in events and tried to become the Best Hall on campus! Residents met new people and started making friendships! I met over 200 residents this weekend and yes i tried to know every ones names but yet I am still struggling haha!

South Campus has been known the past couple years as the quiet freshman hall. Many of the people on my staff came from halls with alot of spirit and it was one of our goals to make sure we have an AWESOME Community! I can Proudly say South Campus is succeeding in that goal!

School started! Yay???? haha

I was defiantly caught off guard forgetting and kept reminding myself to get books, read teachers syllabus, and do homework. 

I finally got in the hang of things and am thankful that I decided to take later classes this year so I can be productive late at night and in the morning if I want to.

Juggling RA job and Going to class can be tough and I will not deny being frustrated, overwhelmed at times but I have a great Support system with my staff team and people I can talk to. And in all honesty being busy keeps me focused and keeps me more involved rather than sitting around just focused on school all the time. 

One of the main things I have heard from all my Supervisors is "Be a Student First" that can be tough but that is what we were trained on also. How to manage our time and shoot I got a PLANNER! Best thing to have so its physical and I have everything planned out and know what I will be doing most of my day! After 7 I'm pretty much in the hall talking/hanging out with residents and/or doing homework. 

As an RA we are assigned a "Duty Night" this is where 2 of our staff does office hours( Distributes the mail, has the office open for residents to come borrow tools like vacuums and other cleaning supplies from us) along with Rounds( where we walk around both of our buildings at 8pm, 10pm, 12pm and on weekends 2am) After 10 it is quiet hours so we are responsible to make sure those rules are being taken seriously and along with making sure our halls is safe and everyone is ok.) ALSO one of the 2 staff members keep the "Duty Phone" on them from 7pm to 7am on weekdays and 24 hours on weekends in case someone needs assistance and cant find another staff member.

As an RA also we get to deal with Lock-outs where residents leave their doors locked and forget to take their keys. This means they have to call the Duty phone or find an RA to lend them the spare key so they can get their key out.

Yes this may sound like quite a bit of work but you get to help many students of the university enjoy their time here at school. Have an AWESOME experience and meet SOOOOO many new friends!

I ENJOY this job every day and I could go ON AND ON about it which if you want email me if you have questions. 

I love being able to hep my residents and get to know them personally I know my RA's made a difference in what I decided to do the next couple of year. So I am so hoping to do the same.

Why I became an RA and how I did.

Last year I LOVED my RA's in my hall. They made events fun, they showed me where to go, what i needed to do on certain things and even just hung out with me when ever! 

As a Freshman I was involved in the Residence Hall Leadership Council where I was the Publicity Coordinator. My council planned programs and events for the residents to attend and got to be apart of RHA! (Residence Hall Association)

 

RHA meant a lot to me and led me to this position. I got involved in Regional and National conferences Residence halls all of the world go to such as PACURH and NACURH. At these conferences I met a lot of new people from all sorts of places and got to go to meetings where other schools would share their ideas on programs and what to do in halls or campus-wide. I had an AWESOME experience and am hoping to attend NACURH this next year just depends on how it all goes!

In my hall last year i learned about what RA's job's were and how we were able to become one. I talked to my RA's about it and when it came time to apply I got in the Hiring pool. Some people got hired for this year 2013-14 right away but I didn't. I didn't give up and sure enough I received a letter saying i will be an RA in Kamola Hall!

Over the summer we got newsletters on how to get ready to come back to school and get ready for 2 weeks of training before the residents move in. Along with choosing our hall theme! Our fall hall theme became "90's theme"

Why a blog?

So warning to those who love grammar!
I am not at all great a grammar or spelling!

I decided I have filled my Facebook posts way to much up to where im pretty much writing a story. So those who want to read my stories or see how being an RA or going to college is in my point of view here it is!

I love to tell people about my experience and so far being an RA and going to college has been the best experience in my life!

Soooo here it goes.....