After spending two solid years living “quad life,” I was stunned finding out that I was chosen to be a Head Resident Assistant in a smaller, more intimate building. I didn’t know too much about Delurey Hall, except that it was in a small cluster of buildings on the Southwest Corner of campus near Campus Corner, which I can say, without shame, has been a major landmark of my last 3 and a half years on campus. I was nervous and excited about what was in store for me, and really had no idea that this job would be one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had as an undergrad.
I wasn’t at all thinking about applying to be a Head RA until my Area Coordinator suggested it to me during a one-on-one meeting. He told me that it would be a great way to expand and strengthen my leadership skills and build upon my already growing passion for residents, especially sophomores. I really loved my job as an RA, but I knew deep down that I had the potential to give a lot more to residence life and to residents. After a little bit more prodding from my Area Coordinator, I decided to apply.
After my interview, I was lucky enough to be afforded the opportunity to become a Head RA. Upon reading the letter, my mind was spinning and I raced down the page to see what residence hall I was going to supervise. Delurey Hall. All I thought to myself was, “Okay, I’ve spent the last year with sophomore residents in a large building, and now they are going to put me in a smaller freshman building? This is bananas (I actually said that)!” Unbeknownst to me at the time, Delurey was about to go through a transformation to an all-sophomore residence hall, and I was lucky enough to be chosen to be a part of it. I have always been a person that loves to be challenged, and my decision to accept the position rested mostly on the knowledge of this transition. I knew that with this change, there was going to be a lot of challenges- dealing with residents who already lived on the Southwest Corner and had expectations and predispositions from the year prior, empathizing with those residents who wanted to experience “quad life,” and creating a totally new dynamic in a building that has housed freshman students for so many years.
While not all Head RAs experience residence hall transitions like I have, all of them are being challenged in different ways. Having these challenges and being able to work through them either on your own or with your staff is an incredibly rewarding experience and an awesome opportunity to learn how to be an effective leader. I am able to supervise two fantastic RAs and have the privilege of interacting with not only 20 of my own residents, but 50 others throughout the building, most of them calling me “mom” which really just makes me chuckle about 100% of the time. I know most of the residents who grace our lovely halls, and have even heard some residents talking about how much they love our building (major score, Delurey FTW).
Being a Head RA means you not only have support from your Area Coordinator and other members of the Residence Life staff, but you are able to give more support to your own staff and watch them grow into their own kind of leaders. It sounds awesome- and it is- so before you brush off the HRA position and say “this is bananas!” think about this opportunity and how you can further expand your involvement in residence life and campus as a whole.
