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As freshman one of the first people you meet is your dorm resident assistant. They can play an important part in your college experience and motivate you as a resident to become involved in campus life, academics or encourage you to have fun. At least this is what the Slater RA Cole Rush attempts to do for his residents. Cole, an English major on the Creative Writing Track, uses his field to feed his motivation to create and applies this to his work.
“Being creative makes everything more fun, and that is the motto I want to use going forward,” Cole said. This is an excellent motto to follow and it shows through in his events! Some of these activities include “…a Super Smash Bros Tournament, The Jingle Bash (a holiday/winter themed party), and A Very Merry Berry Extravaganza (an event focused on nutrition and, of course, berries).”
One of his favorite events that he puts on though is called the Slater 1 Smart Guys program. Cole explained, “Every time a resident received an A on a test, paper, or speech, he had to show me and a yellow ‘1’ was put on the bulletin board. Once they got to 15 A’s, I got them dinner that following Sunday since the dining halls were closed… I like this one the most because it is simple and positive. It isn’t anything extravagant, but it’s effective.” This event presents a fun motivation for the students living on Cole’s floor to participate in class and work for their grades. In fact, the program has been working so well that Cole has decided to raise the number of A’s for the prized dinner.
Cole has aspirations to eventually have a career in some form of media. “I guess my ideal job would be something like writing for The Onion or a similar site.” He is optimistic that the skills he has learned from being an RA will apply to future job opportunities. As an RA, Cole is in charge of managing forty plus residents on his floor, and through this position he has gained many helpful skills for his future. Becoming a resident assistant allows you to work on leadership and communication skills, along with networking.
So, if you’re someone who enjoys expressing their creativity and meeting new people then, like Cole, becoming an RA is definitely something you should look into!