People often think that being a Resident Assistant means signing off your social life to a department that will monitor your every move and force you to monitor the rest of campus’ moves. Now, depending on the school you attend and the type of organizational culture of residence life on your campus, that may be the case. More times than not, however, it doesn’t go down like that. I guess I can only speak for Bryant when I say that residence life actually does care about the wellbeing of its students, but I’m sure this is true at several other schools.
Being an RA has allowed me to connect with people on a different level and through a different perspective. Residents, or students in general for that matter, see you as the problem solver, someone who knows the right answer, someone to go to. At first this can be really overwhelming, especially when you really don’t know what the hell to do in the moment. Once you get the hang of it you realize you actually do know the right answer and you can solve the problem. It’s just not all on you. You learn to rely on your resident director, campus safety and fellow RA’s to get the job done. The kind of support and cohesion present in residence life at Bryant isn’t like any other team I’ve ever been on. I love them.
Having residence life be this in sync is good not just for us the RA’s but also residents of course. When we work as a team we can get things done and serve campus as best as possible. In a sense, we’re a jack of all trades, doing everything we can to keep residents happy, healthy and successful. One night I could be putting on a dreamcatcher program and the next night I could be preventing a sexual assault. This role really isn’t a joke and so many people see it as just that. It’s quite sad honestly. Many students don’t value the resource we are to them.
Don’t get me wrong, in the past residence life has handled situations in a way I haven’t agreed with. It’s made me feel inadequate as an RA and upset about our representation. When these emotions and situations arise, it’s important to keep in mind that residence life is just one department in a network of departments that compose a university. Residence life doesn’t set the rules, they just enforce it on a bigger scale than RA’s do.
Enforcing policy is probably one of the less than glamorous parts of the job. But I’ll be honest, I don’t do it too often. I don’t think I’m a bad RA, I just think that my residents respect me more than the typical RA. Maybe it’s my face, I really don’t know. But I do know that residents and I have an understanding where they know to not put me in a tough position where I might have to document them and tarnish our relationship. They know it’s better to avoid a problem with me than to be belligerent about causing trouble.
Being an RA has taught me so much about people’s behavior, how to handle difficult situations, make quick decisions, communicate effectively and prioritize my time. Residence life is almost like another 3 credit class in my life. I pull lessons from my role often, specifically this year that I am in a freshmen hall. I feel useful and active and available. Residence life keeps me aware and doesn’t let me sleep on my goals. It reminds me of my strengths and pushes me to step out of my comfort zone. It’s one of the best things I’ve done as a college student so far.
