Deep Dive of RA Life: Elwell Hall Edition

When first moving into your residence hall, who is that smiling face you see ready to help? That would the RA staff. All students who've lived on campus have had an RA, and though you may know who they are and have a general understanding of what they do, you may not know exactly what actively working as a resident's assistant is like. Being an RA of course comes with your obvious benefits: the pay, the housing, but the behind the scenes may not be as obvious. 

Front Desk of Elwell Hall

For each RA in Elwell Hall, their day to day lives all look different. Every week an RA will have a desk shift at night that's 2 hours long. Then they rotate shifts with another RA or go on RA rounds. Where you're most likely to find an RA during later hours, would be at the front desk. Their task at hand during front desk duty consists of just to be there incase any residents have issues like being locked out of their rooms, to change the on call board, and during the end of their shift to do RA rounds. During RA rounds the RAs will go to each floor to check the hallways and bathrooms to make sure everyone's safe and good.  Elwell's RAs also have staff meeting on Tuesday nights and every other weekend they have desk shifts as well. RA's are not only responsible for keeping an eye on their residents but also checking in on them through one on ones. These private chats with your RAs can help to build a comfortable and strong relationship. 

Kaylyn's currently a Junior ASL student who is apart of Elwell Hall's Resident Assistant staff. She has been a RA for two years and unlike what you'd think her responsibilities aren't 24/7. Being a Resident's Assistant you have to learn to manage class and your responsibilities as a RA. 

"I really wanted to be a role model and someone other freshman can look up to, and it was a nice benefit that I got free housing." She says laughing, she then goes on to say, "But it also gave me a way to meet new people, connect with others and I found my best friend through Res Life." 

A huge aspect of the job in specific to working in the largest residential building at Bloomsburg is the large set community of RAs and the relationship that are built between these co-workers. Elwell is well known for their horror stories. Housing athletes can be stereotyped as more of the troublemakers, for instance they might be loud or make questionable choices, but with the sheer out of students in Elwell Hall comes with the perk of having a good large group. Different than other smaller residential buildings, Elwell houses two RAs per wing of the building, so instead of having an entire group kept to just yourself, you get to work with a co-worker in your responsibilities. 

Another tasks RAs are in charge of is their RA events, that are mandatory for each RA to be apart of every month. These events connect the RAs with the residents in fun activities and also these co-workers work together to help make these events alive at active. Through the events creating teamwork, the RAs of Elwell Hall have such a strong bond in their tight knit group. 

Being an RA comes with its challenges, dealing with troubling residents or having to deal with reports, but it can be a very rewarding and fulfilling job. 

When asked about what RA Kaylyn suggest for someone else who's interested in becoming an RA, 

"Do it. But know that it's not an easy job. It does take a special group of people. You have to have a certain mindset, and certain people don't have an understanding of what it is to be an RA. People who don't have the right reasons or boundaries aren't going to be able to do this job."