Housing and Residence Life: Community & Engagement | Competencies & Learning | Care & Case Management | Assessment
It's August and all the RAs are creating their door decorations from their floor rosters. Just lists of names with no faces or descriptions to go with them. Like the participants of Love is Blind, they are hopeful they will find people they connect with, sight unseen. The RAs start to imagine what their floors... Continue Reading →
The title of this article may have you a little confused, however student leaders in housing have responsibilities that can be compared (and maybe even confused with) what winter olympians are up to. Take this quiz to see if you are able to distinguish if it’s a description of a Resident Assistant (RA) doing their... Continue Reading →
Students with chronic illnesses deal with many additional stressors that other college students would struggle to imagine. As someone who went through cancer while in college, this topic is important to me, especially as I haven’t seen it talked much about in Higher Education circles. Resident Assistants (RAs) and student leaders won’t always know which... Continue Reading →
It’s always around the holiday times that I find myself pondering the things in my life that I am grateful for. As a student leader in housing or a Resident Assistant, it is important to reflect on the things you are grateful for as well because the job can be demanding and stressful. While I... Continue Reading →
Many students are originally interested in an RA or student leadership position because they love being with people. Often they have good, healthy friendships, people like them right off the bat, and they don’t cause a lot of conflict. These are great things! However, it does mean that many RAs are not as used to... Continue Reading →
My blog post for Roompact this month is a reflection on my past few weeks, which have frankly been one of the most difficult times of my life. A close family member of mine suddenly passed away with no warning. I was thrown into planning a funeral a couple states away from my home, a... Continue Reading →
Do you love video games? Me too, and I am willing to bet a lot of your residents do as well. Instead of fearing video games as something that takes residents away from meeting others or getting out of their rooms, you can use video games to your advantage - by involving them in programming!... Continue Reading →
What houseplant are you? Identify your plant self and find some care tips to help you thrive in your Student Leader role. Snake Plant This student leader needs no extra attention from their supervisor. They will get their work done. Their one on ones are quick because they don’t have questions and they don’t like... Continue Reading →
Sometimes in life, you have a supervisor who is not supporting you well. Your boss isn’t always perfect, so what do you do when they mess up or their supervisory style does not support you well? It may be difficult to approach someone with more power than you, but it is their job to support... Continue Reading →
Residence Life and Housing offices do not function within a bubble. If you have worked in a residence life office, you’re probably nodding your head, maybe thinking about the other staff you’ve had to work with. It can be frustrating, fun, different, interesting, and logistically confusing sometimes working with staff who come from a different... Continue Reading →
You’ve done your first, maybe second year as an RA and you’re starting to think, “hmmm, maybe I want to do this another year.” If that is you, let me give you some advice. The Student Affairs field is a little torn on whether RAs and student leadership positions should have to reapply every year... Continue Reading →
The year of and after an election can be especially tense and full of big feelings. With the current administration making changes and throwing out new decisions what feels like everyday, things can feel unstable and uncertain. Whether you support the current president, detest him, or don’t have strong feelings, so much change is hard... Continue Reading →
When I was a new RA, I was placed in a hall with a majority of international students. Being from a small town I had little experience with people from other countries. I was intimidated by my residents. I was scared I would not pronounce their names correctly, that I wouldn’t understand their accent, that... Continue Reading →
Residence Life needs to let go of the live-on requirement for all professional staff in their department. I’ve been living on campus for a handful of years at a few universities as a professional in Residence Life. In the last few years, I’ve started to question the reasons for me to be required to live... Continue Reading →
