Being a resident assistant is harder than it seems. You have a weight of responsibility always on top of you, and you never get to clock out. You live where you work and work where you live. We've heard college students refer to us as college cops, but the truth is, we're students just like you. The RA job is a big gig, however, we are not here to ruin your college experience. We are here to protect, guide, support, love, and help you. Here are 10 things your RA might want you to know:
1. We are not babysitters.
We are here to help, not to watch over everyone like a hawk. We prefer to treat you like adults, so act like them.
2. We have lives too.
Just because the title RA comes before our names, doesn't mean we don't have lives to enjoy as well. You'll see us shopping for clothes, hanging out with our friends, in the dining hall and much more. Just because we have a huge responsibility carried with us wherever we go, it doesn't mean we don't have a life to enjoy.
3. We work harder than you might notice.
We ask you not to rip our door decorations down because for most of the time we put our blood, sweat and tears into it. We try and trick our residents with pizza and snacks to come to our programs. It may seem like we don't do much but, get on residents nerves. But we do work very hard, and we hope that our residents appreciate our effort in trying.
4. The perks of the RA job is what keeps us coming back for more.
Besides the free room and board, we have way many more perks than that. We love seeing our residents grow from the beginning to end of the semester, we love the appreciation we get for doing our job, we love seeing our residents find who they are and where they belong and we love gaining a new friendship with our residents.
5. We do NOT enjoy documenting you.
Honestly, documenting our residents is more annoying to us then you because of all the paperwork. C'mon who would really enjoy doing that anyways? Yes, we have to enforce the rules since we do work for the college, but it does not make us happy to do so.
6. We genuinely care about our residents.
Most people think we have to genuinely care about our residents because it's our job. But the truth is, we don't have to. We just do because we establish a different type of friendship with each and every one of you. That is what makes us care.
7. We are here for you.
This is our job and if we didn't love it, we wouldn't be doing it. So, just know that we are here for you every second of the day for whatever you may need.
8. RESPECT us.
Bottom line is to treat your RA with respect because we do a lot for you.
9. Don't vandalize.
We spend so much time making your hallway look nice: from coming up with a theme, door decorations and bulletin boards. It really hurts us when you vandalize our hard work.
10. We want to see you grow from the first day to the last day.
Seeing all of you grow is our biggest reward.
