[nabs-l] Resident Advisor Experiences

[Brice Smith]

At North Carolina State, Resident Advisors play a fairly significant role in dorm life. The policies and experiences at each school are obviously going to be slightly different, but here is what I know:

Paperwork. You’re going to have a lot of paperwork. RAs are responsible for handing out forms, mediating roommate contracts, posting notices on individual rooms and on hall boards. Active RAs are always putting up fliers for events or posting those annoying sign-out sheets on all resident doors that need to be signed before any hall break. Along with this, RAs do thorough sweep throughs of each room to check and make sure students follow housing guidelines before sign-out. Here, each RA is fully responsible for their own floor, and the RA director overlooks the entire process. Resident Advisors are always the last people to leave the building during any break, and are always the first to arrive back.
 
Lock in. In my hall, there are twelve floors and twelve RAs – one for each floor. Each week RAs are selected for duty or lock-in, where they’ll stay in the lounges and generally watch over the building. It’s not so much a demanding role as it is a time-consuming one. You can play games, watch TV, do homework or just chill – but you can’t leave the building during your time period. The only time this might really be an inconvenience is during a weekend when you’re scheduled for duty and you want to attend some type of event.
 
Events. RAs here are always planning and organizing hall events. This one will probably vary significantly from building to building and campus to campus, but RAs are constantly organizing social events, midnight pancake breakfasts, dessert nights, and a number of other events.
 
Free housing. Here, RAs get housing paid for by the university and gain access to a private room. 
 
I know RAs that are very active and some that just sign up for the free housing and attend the minimum number of events and activities possible. In general, though, most RAs tell me it’s a fun but time-consuming job.
 
There was a blind student at a university who wanted to become an RA and was denied the position. The events were detailed in one of the NFB’s publications – whether Future Reflections, the Braille Monitor, or the Student Slate I’m not sure. I tried to find the article and had no success; but I did pull up some previous chatter on this list about resident advisors from the March 2003 archives. The issue appears to have been discussed at some length before and I’m surprised few people have commented on this one. Anyway, you should be proud of the opportunity to become an RA and make the best of the experience. At any rate, we’re behind you.
 
Brice
 
> From: kolbygarrison at triad.rr.com
> To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [nabs-l] Resident Advisor Experiences
> 
> Hello Everyone,
> I have been hired for the position of a Resident Advisor for a Residence
> Hall on campus for the 2009-2010 academic year. I would like to know if any
> of you have ever been RAs during your collegiate career, and if so what were
> your experiences of serving in this particular capacity like? I have a
> wonderful support system and we are in the process of strategizing,
> accommodating, and modifying everything ahead of time in order for me to be
> ready to perform my job effectively and efficiently from day 1.
> Any input would be grately appreciated.
> Thank you,
> Kolby
> 
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