Road to Being a Resident RA Part 3 (Final)
By SMTDante89 1 Comments
This will be my last blog dedicated to this. When I know for sure whether I am or am not an RA, it will be mentioned in a future blog next month.
The application process of being an RA is essentially over. This past week I had an interview, "Mock Duty" night, and two meetings to go to. I already mentioned my interview in my last blog, so let's talk about Mock Duty. I had to work with an RA at the other male dorm on campus, South Towers. As you can probably tell by the name, it's a fairly tall building. We would start from the 10th floor and go down the the 3rd (or ground) floor. While going from floor to floor, we would briefly step outside twice. Did I mention I was afraid of heights? Yeah, that was a bit of an experience. But I didn't freak out or anything, just tensed up a bit every time until we reached the fifth floor (usually).
Our first meeting (which lasted about 2 1/2 hours) was fairly simple. We went around a circle telling our names, why we want to be an RA, our majors and whatever else. Then you would have to name everyone that had already introduced themselves. Funny story, one guy that sat next to me looks similar to me. Needless to say, people would get our names mixed up. Fun times, really. Then we would listen to a few RAs give stories about their experiences. Then a brief break. During this break, we had to go out and claim a paper on the wall as our own and put our name on a paper. Then people would put positive things about you on your paper. It was nice. Kind of out of order pictures below:
Then we came back and found out our "True Color" which are Green, Orange, Blue and Gold. Greens are the incredibly smart ones, Oranges are the hyperactive/athletic, Blues are the incredibly friendly and peacemakers, and Gold are the ones that follow the rules and need lists for everything. Needless to say, I was:
(Had to find some way to get something Rock Band-related into this blog!)
That was it for the first meeting. The second lasted about five hours. On a Saturday. But it wasn't so bad, really. We heard more stories, many humorous, one that was incredibly tense, and had a few "rules" put up on a wall. Then we split up into groups and had to enact different scenarios. My group got "Someone smells incredibly bad, how do you handle this?" Yeah... but all of the scenarios were fun. After each group performed, the RAs and Resident Directors would say how these scenarios would probably be handled (if we were way off the mark, nobody really was) and sometimes give personal experiences similar to them. After all ten groups performed, we went to lunch.
When we came back, we basically went through a version of Speed Dating. RA applicants would sit with an RA and talk for about five minutes and move on. I sat with one of the RAs in my residence hall and all hell broke loose. "ROB THE MAN!" "GREATEST DESKWORKER EVER!" etc. Yikes, but at the same time, left me feeling humble. And that was about it for this final meeting.
Now I just go about my daily business, where I'll probably be watched closely by current RAs and RDs until around April 11th, then letters should be going out telling us if we were hired or not. Even if someone isn't hired, they shouldn't be discouraged. Someone may decide not to go through with the job or may not come back to the university at all. So even if I'm not picked right now, there's a good chance I may be further down the road. And even then, if I don't get the job, I feel like that's alright. I met a lot of new people (applicants and current RAs in other buildings) and even learned a little about myself in the process.