By Megan Brown
On our website, we talk about how resident assistants serve in many different roles, such as; an educator, a community builder, a role model, a resource, and an administrator. But in practice, what does that mean for our RAs? It means serving on duty to make sure the community is safe and everyone is able to learn productively. It means during duty, walking the area they live in multiple times and answering phone calls to help resident with what they need. It means having programs to build community for their floor or building. It means talking to each resident to check in, have conversations that help them grow, and support them through whatever they are going through. At its core, being an RA really means caring for others and wanting to make a resident’s on campus experience the best possible.
Our RA’s here at UMW have the biggest heart and care so much about each resident they are. They are leaders in every sense of the word. They work hard to help everyone around them and make UMW a second home for everyone. They are involved in so many different facets of UMW, but always make time to ensure all their residents have all the support and resources they need. Out RA’s are an amazing group of students who we are lucky to have employed.
Margaret Mead once said, “Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For, indeed, that’s all who ever have”. When hearing this quote, our RA’s always come to mind. The impact they make on the people they come in contact with is one unmatched. There is no doubt that they have changed the course of people’s journey at UMW.
Sometimes, being an RA in college can be a thankless job, but our professional staff team try to remind them as often as we can how much we appreciate them and that all the hard work they do matters more than anyone knows. February 15th is RA Appreciation day, a national day to tell RA’s across the country thank you for all the hard work they put into the work they do. Remind your students to thank their RA on February 15th, and every day after that for all they do to help them during their time at UMW.
