Megan Hayes | Editor-in-Chief
Without Resident Assistants, college may very well turn into a "Lord of the Flies" situation of sorts -- with no governing amongst a group of young adults, it quickly can turn into a savage mess. Luckily, this is not the case, as the housing team at Eastern Connecticut State University ensures their students are supported by someone their own age; Resident Assistants, or RA's. In each residential building on Eastern's campus, each floor (or "block" in the case of Low Rise Apartments) assigns an RA to direct, guide, and inspire their students. Enter three Resident Assistants – Matt Walton, Dan Lombard, and Katelyn DeNunzio. These three students are Resident Assistants of the freshman hall “Constitution”, and are some amazing examples of how RA’s exemplify Eastern’s core values through their work. In the short time observing these three RA’s, it is clear how much they mean to Constitution’s community — there is a near-constant flow of first-year students across the worn down blue and yellow checkered floor, bee-lining to the desk.
Matt Walton, a senior at Eastern, shared about his love for his line of work while talking about the responsibilities of the job. Resident Assistants, especially in first-year halls like Constitution, have a very important job of ensuring that college freshmen have a smooth transition into residential life. To make this possible, RA’s are responsible for many things — including running programs for resident involvement, providing residents with resources and information about campus, mediating roommate conflicts, and to provide a listening ear and be a mentor for the students. Without the guiding light of Resident Assistants, many first years may feel lost, unsure of their college choice, and not sure of where to turn to when they inevitably need help. Having positive influences close in age as well as proximity allows for freshmen to have the assistance they need in important transitory periods that occur during their first year.
Katelyn DeNunzio, who is a first-time RA, shares enthusiastically about her experience, and it is clear to see that the job is something she holds near to her heart. She states that other than keeping everyone safe, the job goes deeper into forming connections with residents so that they feel seen, heard, and feel that they have someone that they can come and talk to and support them when they need. She shares that her biggest goal is to be a support system for anyone, regardless of what building they are in, to feel comfortable coming to her if they need to.
Getting residents involved by pushing out programs, especially within the first six weeks of school, is a crucial part of the Resident Assistant position. “It is proven, within the first six weeks of classes, the more things they get involved with, the more comfortable they get to feeling on campus – and the more likely they will want to stay in school and have an overall more positive experience as a student,” Katelyn states.
Within the job, there is plenty of time for bonding between the staff, allowing Resident Assistants to form bonds with each other so they can in turn form a better team to assist students in their residential halls. In the two weeks prior to the start of the semester, all RA’s move in to their housing assignments early and spend two weeks training as well as bonding to prepare for the upcoming school year. The bonds formed in the formative weeks of RA training continue to strengthen as the academic year continues on, allowing for close interpersonal connections to be created and maintained among the staff. Having this familiarity in coworkers is crucial, as it allows trust and vulnerability to be fostered, and ensures that RA’s will be able to go to each other for help when needed.
Dan Lombard, who is a returning RA for his second year, shares that it is crucial, and his first priority, to make sure all of his residents are safe. Additionally, he mentions the importance of knowing others on the job, stating that “...we spend an insane amount of hours together… every week in staff meetings doing a staff development activity, different staff outings and group trips we go on, the first full two weeks before the first day of school to spend with each other and work on helping each other out… we also sit five or six hours at the desk two or three times a week, and it promotes getting to know someone on a deeper level than just knowing that you work together”.
“We have a lot of staff bonding opportunities… you are spending so much time together that you really learn how to be there for each other and have each other’s backs, which carries over into the school year. Just being there as a support system… if you don’t know something you can always refer to another RA,” Walton states.
Lombard says that the interpersonal skills being an RA has helped him develop are the most important to him, and most effective in college life. He says it is very important to be able to talk to people to communicate things, clearly and concisely. When thinking of future fields that one will go into like leadership, management, and similar skills – it is crucial to be able to effectively communicate. Being able to build connections and form bridges to opportunities, as well as broadening one’s perspective are some other skills being an RA has taught Dan.
“Obviously, the quote ‘your network is your net worth’ and being able to talk to people… and perspective is a really important skill. When growing up you tend to see things one way, but when you are talking to residents and they see things a little bit differently, being able to put yourself in their shoes and see what they’re seeing is really important. Everyone grew up a different way, everyone has a different background, and you have to respect that,” Dan says.
Matt says that the job has heavily influenced his college experience as well as how he looks at his future. Being a Resident Assistant allows Walton to improve his listening skills, empathy, and knowledge of resources, and has taught him many new skills as well, like being able to be a leader and how to genuinely listen and help with someone’s problems. In the future, he wants to use the skills that he learned while being an RA to interact with all different types of people, be able to handle situations when they may get out of hand, and avoid workplace conflicts as well as establish leadership.
DeNunzio, who plans to be a teacher in the future, says that the job provides her with ample practice for things she will need to do, like planning parent teacher conferences, lesson planning, collaborating with other teachers teaching the same grade, working with office staff and supervisors. She says within the RA position, she says it not only helps her begin to practice lesson planning from designing resident programs, but she also says another skill she is building is making bulletin boards, since teachers make so many. She also says that communication skills are necessary to be able to talk to people with different backgrounds and those who understand things differently. The Resident Assistant position provides her with firsthand experience working with people who have different perspectives, backgrounds and understandings, and also ample practice communicating with what she means effectively.
She says she has the same goals for her residents as she does for her future students, “I want all my students and residents to be successful… I care so much about my residents, and I know I am going to care about my students like they are my own children as well. Figuring out different ways to support different people is going to help me both in my future career, and everyday life.”
Taking all of this into consideration, we must thank those who keep us organized, and support us through both our best and worst times. College is a turbulent place, and as a student like many others, I can name a multitude of times I would have felt lost without my Resident Assistants… THANK YOU RA’S!
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