Now that a few weeks have passed since students moved into the
residence halls, resident assistants are applying what they have
learned in training to confront various situations and challenges
that arise.
Assistant Director of the Office of Residential Life Susan
Swarts said RAs were confronted with the annual challenge of
helping their residents adjust to life on campus and to build
community on their floor during the first couple weeks of the
quarter.
Swarts said RAs are shifting their focus to dealing with
homesickness, now that students have been away from home for about
a month.
She added that RAs are also dealing with residents who are
looking to “test boundaries.”
RAs manage situations involving students partying and alcohol
consumption, and also work with students to prevent a lack of
studying, Swarts said.
“Sometimes (students) make successful choices and
sometimes they make choices that they won’t repeat
again,” Swarts said.
But Swarts said she is not aware of any extraordinary challenges
that any RAs have been faced with so far this quarter.
Even though myriad issues may face RAs, they have been working
to prepare themselves for the worst.
RAs have been training together since spring quarter 2005, and
training continued until the end of September when students began
to move in.
During this time, RAs attended “hands-on” training
called “Behind Closed Doors,” said Vivian Chen, a
third-year economics and sociology student and a new RA at Canyon
Point.
Behind Closed Doors is a series of simulated situations in which
returning RAs act out realistic incidents, such as alcohol
consumption in the dorms.
New RAs are expected to respond to each situation appropriately,
said Matt Crosby, a fourth-year business economics and political
science student and returning RA.
Crosby said that training was divided into two parts ““ one
part dealt with behavior and the other part dealt with
counseling.
Chen said it was a very intense process.
“We basically went from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day with a
one-hour break for lunch and dinner,” Chen said.
Although the training helped RAs to become familiar with
policies, procedures and approaches to various situations, some RAs
say confronting the real-life situations as they arise is an
experience that can never really be fully prepared for.
As an RA, it is difficult to predict what will happen in the
dorms and how to approach each situation, Chen said.
“It’s something you get better at with
experience,” Chen said. “We have to be such a resource,
so we have to be the best RAs we can be.”
Despite the many problems that can arise, some RAs say the
interaction they have with students is one of the most positive
parts of their job.
Crosby said he enjoys helping all the first-year students with
whatever they need and enjoys the fresh perspective that they
bring.
“I think it’s a really rewarding job,” Crosby
said.
Swarts also said that resident directors have reported that
residents this year are more involved than in the past.
“I have heard anecdotally that we have been noticing a
positive, engaging, energetic sense from students,” Swarts
said.
She said such a trend has been observed through high levels of
involvement in various programs, such as all the Welcome Week
activities, but that there is no known reason for the change of
energy on the Hill.
The positive energy may be attributed to ORL programming, new
housing, new ORL staffing models, Welcome Week programming or a
quality this group of students has that is making the difference,
Swarts said.