Being a student staff is one of the most rewarding positions you can have as a college student. Being an RA gives you a lot of responsibility, grief, and stress; but also growth, memories, and fun. Those of us who end of being RAs during our college years are going to talk about it till we're old. We can't help it, too many great stories come out of the experience. However, there are so many things that RAs understand that residents often don't, and it's really hard to get it through to them. Here are 10 things RAs really wish residents would understand.
1. We Are Students Too.
It may not seem like it, but we're students just like you. While being your RAs, we're taking a full course-load, participating in extracurriculars, working part-time jobs, and dealing with family and friends outside of school. Please don't be upset when we're not available 24 hours a day for you.
2. We Know What We're Doing.
We've gone through an extensive amount of training for this position. While you're tanning at the beach, cuddling your dogs, or picking up extra hours at your summer job in the last weeks of summer, we're already moved into school. We partake in hours upon hours of training, multiple times a year. So please come to us when you're dealing with something. If we don't have the answer, we'll try and find it. We really do want to help you.
3. Our Boards Are Our Babies, Please Don't Wreck Them.
It may just seem like some paper stapled up onto a bulletin board to you, but we put a lot of work into them. We do all of the planning, drawing, cutting, stapling, and crafting for all of the components that go into them. We make the boards for you all, so please don't rip them down in your half-drunken stupor.
4. We Actually Hate Having to Write You Up.
Yes, there might be that one sadistic RA on staff that actually enjoys getting people in trouble, but the majority of us don't. There's nothing more awkward than having to confront someone and tell them they messed up. No one really wants to be THAT guy, but it's our job to enforce policy when necessary, so bare with us. Also the paperwork involved in writing you up is lengthy and annoying, we really hate doing it.
5. Your Room Is Not Sound Proof.
When we knock on your door and you scramble to hide all your alcohol, the sound of glass clicking together is pretty obvious. Same goes for the sound of ping-pong balls on desks, loud music, and your buddies chanting "Chug." We're not deaf, so don't pretend like you're innocent when we mention we can hear what's going on. Just fess up, odds are if we have to write an incident report, we'll probably mention how cooperative you were in the situation.
6. We're Not Just in it For Free Room And Board.
Being an RA is a lot of work. We knew this from the get go, and so do the professional staff that hires us. They can see through people who actually just want a free single during the hiring process. We love being in Residence Life, because we love to help. We want to make your college experience living on campus the best it can possibly be.
7. You're Not as Clever As You Think.
We know when you're up to no good. We were all in your place at one point in our college lives. As RAs, we've heard and seen all of the tricks to trying to get away with things, so don't think we're oblivious. We know how people try and sneak alcohol into the building and how people try and break guest policies, so just don't do it.
8. There is an RA on Duty For a Reason.
If it's 3 a.m. and you need your door unlocked, for the love of god, please don't wake us up if we're not on duty. Obviously profusely bleeding, someone being straight up unconscious, or some other kind of emergency makes it 100 percent acceptable to wake us up, but if it's something much less serious, please go find the RA on duty. You don't know if we have an 8 a.m. class or a big exam the next day. Most of us schedule the nights we're on duty around important dates because there's nothing worse than being up till 2 a.m. the night before an important exam. So walk down to the front desk to find out who committed to being available for the building all night.
9. You Can Actually Be Our Friends.
Even though we're your RA, often times we like to become friends with residents who have similar interests and personalities as us. We're not your teachers, we're students like you. Sometimes we want you to come to dinner or events with us because we actually enjoy your company. But just remember, if we do become friends, we still need to enforce policy at the end of the day as your RA, so respect that we still have our jobs to think of.
10. We Are Genuinely Proud of You.
Being with the same group of students for a full-year, we develop special connections with them. Something about seeing our residents succeed, makes us feel really proud. So tell us about your successes and accomplishments. If you're playing in a sports game, have a performance you are in, or something of that nature, invite us to cheer you on. You know you want to tell someone, so please tell us!
