Radical Rez Lifer: Paige Rumelt

Paige Rumelt, a second-year student at McGill originally from Washington D.C., serves as the Rez Wars coordinator as part of McGill’s Rez Life team. Read on to find out why she believes she has the best job in the world and about why it is so important for students to become involved in life in rez. 

Maya Koparkar for HerCampus McGill (HC McGill): Tell me a bit about what Rez Life does. 

Paige Rumelt (PR): Rez Life is a fantastic group of McGill students and staff (some of whom also attended McGill in their “youth”). The “Rez Lifers”, or the student component of Rez Life, are six second year students who were all members of their respective hall councils last year. We plan events and workshops for students living in residence. We might appear really goofy or zany in our trade-mark tie dye, but we do a lot of really important and valuable programming… we just have a lot of fun while doing it.

HC McGill: What is your specific position on Rez Life? 

PR: I am in charge of planning and organizing Rez Warz, which is a year-long spirit competition between the residences. Students get points for sportspersonship, participation, and spirit. I make sure to plan Rez Warz such that there is a wide variety of events that cater to different interests. This is really important because we want a lot of people with different interests to participate in and enjoy Rez Warz.

HC McGill: How did you decide to get involved with Rez Life and how has the experience been so far?

PR: In my first year at McGill, I was a member of McConnell’s hall council and often worked with Rez Life to promote Rez Warz in my Rez. Even though I worked a lot with them last year, I wasn’t entirely sure who the really cool, accomplished Rez Lifers (who always seemed to be carrying the gigantic Milton the Moose mascot around and eating at RVC together) were. I’ve had an incredible experience so far as a team member and I’ve discovered that there’s far more to the job than just what curious first years like me saw. The hours can be long, and the planning and logistics can be difficult but it is an incredibly rewarding job and it is so incredibly fun. It’s also fun to be recognized as “the (insert event title here) lady”.

HC McGill: What is the most rewarding part of being on the Rez Life team?

PR: It makes me really happy when people see me on campus and tell me how much they enjoyed the last event and ask when the next Rez Warz event is. It feel good to know that all of the work I put into planning and dreaming up fun activities is going to good use and making other people happy. One of my main goals as part of Rez Life is to help ensure that students living in residence have fun and potentially make friends by attending Rez Warz competitions.

HC McGill: What is your favourite memory/favourite event you’ve done as part of the Rez Life team?

PR: As long as I live, I will never forget the hype that Rez Warz Dodgeball created. I’m fairly certain that I will always be known to this year’s students in residence as that girl who dressed up like the dancers in Justin Bieber’s Sorry music video and choreographed a dance-dodgeball routine.

HC McGill: In what ways do you want to stay involved with Rez Wars/Rez Life once you move on from this position? 

PR: I hope to stay involved with Rez until I graduate! Rez is an important community and I want to help make it a more fun and inclusive place for people living there. I will most certainly continue to facilitate Rez Project and I will definitely spend a lot of time getting the new team (applications coming soon!) acquainted with the job. And I’ll still take naps at the office and use it as a second closet (you think I’m kidding).

HC McGill: What advice would you give to students who are interested in becoming more involved with rez life? 

PR: If you’re considering getting involved, know that applying to be a part of Rez Life was one of the best decisions I’ve made during my time at McGill (along with taking Art of Listening with Jerry Cain and spending all of my Flex Dollars at Dispatch). If you have any questions, I am always available to answer them.

Visit the Rez Life page on Facebook for more information about getting involved with Rez Wars and Rez Life in general. 

All images provided by the interviewee. 

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