This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UCSB chapter.
In your freshman year of college, you encounter a person who you know as your floor resident assistant. This person is generally extremely nice, very welcoming and most likely, the very first person you meet at the start of your four years here. They are always ready to help and encourage you to engage in residential programs and activities. Sure, they may seem like employees, but people tend to forget that they are also college students experiencing college life just like any other student on campus. Residential assistants tend to get a bad rep for writing people up when they are being too loud, or creating programs that seem a bit too childish for a “grown up” college student. Resident Assistants struggle like any other person. We asked a group of Resident Assistants to gauge what they wish their residents knew about thier job.
What Do You Wish Residents Knew About Your Job as an RA?
1. “I wish my residents know that being an RA does not mean I know everything about UCSB. I welcome all of thier questions but I hope they know that I may not have all the answers.”
2. “I wish they knew that programming is fun, but when they come to a program and complain about this thing or that thing, it really hurts. I feel a lot of residents dont know all that goes into putting on an event, ie making a flyer, making a Facebook page, printing them out, posting them, shipping for a bunch of random stuff, reserving spaces, setting up early, making sure the food is hot/cold, getting reimbursed and having to track down 29472803 people to get everything signed, it’s a lot and residents don’t always see it.”
3. “I wish and hope my residents see me as a real friend, not a fake friend that is forced to hang out with them. Some of my best friends I can honestly say were my residents last year and its a bond like no other. “
4. “There is a lot behind the scenes as an RA. Also we are NOT out here trying to get residents and document them. Residents just need to be smarter and honestly your attitude definitely affects the outcome of your situation.”
5. I wish that residents would understand that part of our job is to be as objective as possible in all aspects of our job. It’s very upsetting when a resident has had a previous affiliation with an RA and expects special treatment, or when they ask us if we would ever document them were we to catch them and then they take it personally when we say yes.
