Resident Advisors live on your floor, hang all of the posters and make you come to all of their boring floor meetings. They are the ones that bust you when you've had a little too much on a weekend or are playing your music too loudly after quiet hours. You probably think your RA is one of the most annoying people you've ever met. But have you ever stopped to think about the work that goes into being an RA? Spoiler alert: It's a lot of work.
Here are the things you should be thanking your RA for doing for you.
1. Planning Programs
RAs have to plan at least one program a month that will: A) get you to come and B) teach you something. Often, this can be a challenge. The RA is responsible for thinking of their own programs, budgeting for them, advertising for them and then running the event. And when residents don't come, it's almost hurtful. The RAs did this program because they thought you would like it, and they put so much work into it. The next time you see a flyer for a program held by an RA, stop by. It might end up being fun, and you'll probably make that RA's night.
2. Duty
In every building across campus, there has to be at least one RA on duty each night. Duty can go late into the night (or early into the morning) depending on what's happening in the building. Duty happens to make sure that the residents in the building are safe, happy and generally following the rules. The RAs work really hard on duty to keep the peace, especially if it's a nice weekend outside or a sports team is playing a big game. It's exhausting, and they put up with a lot of crap, so give them some slack.
3. Training
Did you know RAs move on to campus usually two weeks before the rest of the student body so they can complete training? It's two weeks of intense (but extremely fun) training so that they can learn how to best keep students safe and make their experience at the school positive and fun. There's a lot of material to cover in those two weeks. It's like taking a master class in residence life.
4. Working and Going to Class
Being an RA is a full-time job. It's a 24/7 gig that makes the RA available to any residents that have a question or problem. RAs still have to go to class, but they're also expected to be at weekly staff meetings, fill out incident reports and weekly reports, and put in any extra work for residence life that's asked of them. RAs are still college students who are going to class and are often involved with other groups on campus. They're pretty much college superheroes.
5. Working with Peers
Have you ever had an RA your age or younger than you? My first year as an RA, I was a sophomore living among juniors and seniors. I had to work like a dog to earn their respect because they didn't see me as someone with any authority over them. RAs aren't power hungry in any way, but they're given a responsibility to keep the residence hall safe and to take action when someone isn't following school policies. And sometimes that means documenting a friend, and that's a really hard situation.
Next time you see your RA, keep in mind how much work went into that door tag, bulletin board or duty round. Giving them a high five or trying to make their job easier by coming to programs and meetings would make them very happy!
