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.