So I know I said I'd tell funny stories about my job and today I'll do a little of that. But first I wanna give a little behind the scenes info on what our job requirements are. I saw in most of the comments where most of you talked about how you had lived in the residence halls at some point so some of you will know what I'm talking about. Every month we have requirements for our job. Do you remember all those name tags, or as we call them, door decs? We have to create a new one of those every month, along with a new bulletin board. They don't have to be connected in theme but the bulletin board does have to be creative in some way. Whether it be informative or just inspirational or fun they have to look professional, well thought out, and provide something for our residents. I already talked some about our programs but those are our other requirements. Weekly we have to do some type of active program, all hall, or passive program. This is all to help us create a community and connect our residents. There's a schedule that's given to us that tells us what is required for us each week. For example, this week is an active week so tomorrow night while I'm on duty I'm gonna set up a spa night to help them relax after a long week of lots of studies.
Now for a funny story. At least I think it's funny. As everyone knows the first home game of the season means a big party weekend for Pitt. This really impacts the residence halls because everyone goes out and tailgates and then goes to either fraternities or house parties, gets trashed and comes back to the halls. Unfortunately not everyone makes sure they have people to take care of them and make sure they get to bed safely without causing problems. This is where my job comes into play. The first football weekend I got to stay up until 5am Friday and Saturday night because of incidences involving residents. Personally I love drunk people. That's one reason why I'm doing this job for a third year. I love taking care of people when they come back drunk, I love watching them dance around and make fools of themselves, and I love taking care of my girls when they come back crying because of some jerk at the party or some terrible friend. So to me this weekend was a lot of fun. We had all kinds of people that came back drunk. I had one guy that ended up getting in trouble because he refused to quiet down after running through the building and barrel rolling down the hallway in front of me. We had a couple of people that brought alcohol back into the building and didn't seem to understand why they were getting in trouble. Mainly because they were too drunk to understand anything. And last but not least we had another resident who actually tried to throw a party in a room. The funny part about that one was him trying to come up with excuses after he got caught.
We never want to get people into trouble. Going out and getting drunk is fine if that's what you want to do. I totally did that before I became an RA. And we're very big on making sure that the residents know they have a safe home to come back to after they go out. It's just trying to make sure the parties and craziness doesn't come back with them. That's where it becomes tricky.
Hey guys! My name is Nikki and I am a resident assistant at Pitt State. This is my first blog ever so please bear with me as I learn along with the rest of you. In this blog I would like to talk about my experiences with this job as far as my staff, my residents, and my life in general trying to balance all of these things.
I'm sure most of you lived on campus your freshman year so you know what an RA is but many people don't know what we are truly there for. As an RA we are very much seen as the rule enforcer. In reality this is a part of our job but is not the only thing we do. The majority of our job is to be available to the residents as a resource. We are trained to be there for any types of problems and issues that may come up. As an RA we have a basic knowledge of the tutoring available on campus so that we can direct our residents in the right spot of they are having problems in class. On the flip side of that we also have training in how to listen and basically counsel our residents with family problems, friendship problems or relationship problems.
So that's the basics of the job. That's all I really wanted to explain in my first post. Look forward to reading lots of funny stories and craziness that will be happening in the halls this year.
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| So true for Pitt State! |
