I guess it's fitting that my very first post in a blog that's dedicated to the insights I gain about my job should be about the people who created my job in the first place:
College Students.
Now it's not very long ago that I was a college student myself...but I wouldn't say I was a typical one. Which shouldn't be surprising to anyone else who's in my particular field of being a residence hall director. I think those of us who make a career out of residence life probably weren't the normal college student...we started out as hall council nerds, and then RHA nerds (remember the conferences with all the cheers, Ride That Pony, and Big Booty?), and then RA nerds and then AHD nerds and then Graduate HD nerds...etc, etc, etc. I'm proud to say...well maybe I'm not so proud to say...that I've been living in residence halls for nine years. NINE YEARS. Even my RAs think that's sad.
But with that being said, I don't know a lot of other people who have quite the amazing job that I do. I create my own hours. I have autonomy over my own projects. I get to hand-pick the students I work closely with every year (my Resident Assistants, Assistant Hall Directors, and Hall Councils). I don't pay for rent, utilities, internet, cable, or parking AND I get a meal plan. I can sit for an hour chatting with a student about whether or not she should break up with her current boyfriend and not get in trouble...in fact, it's expected that I'm having these conversations with students. I get to develop people. REAL people. Not little kids with runny noses and sticky fingers. I get to play with the big kids. And they're a blast.
I'm not supposed to play favorites. But I do have a specific group of college students that I have the most fun working with--Resident Assistants. I would argue that RAs are probably the best-trained group of student leaders on just about any campus. They can make bulletin boards, host an icecream social, talk a student through a bad break-up, and address an alcohol violation--all in the course of one day. And then somewhere in there, they get their homework done, play on their intramural team, go to their student org meeting, and meet up with their significant other for some movie/cuddle time in between hall rounds. They're smart, funny, outgoing, organized, and ready for action. On the flip side, they're stressed, busy, tired, entitled, and sometimes cynical. (This tends to happen more in the second year of the job than the first.)
What surprises me is that reality television hasn't tapped into this resource. An RA staff has the potential to be a living, breathing organism that eats up emotions and spits out DRAMA. There are hook-ups, break-ups, fights with RA partners, frustration with supervisors, etc. etc. Imagine this happening with a group of students who are also expected to be in touch with 25-50 other students' lives and emotional well-being on a day-to-day basis. Oh yeah and they're college students too.
That being said, these are the students I most enjoy spending my time with. This is only my second year doing this job, and it's already going MUCH better than it did last year. I made a lot of mistakes and learned some valuable lessons from my students last year. And now I get to correct the things I did wrong.
I think that makes me pretty lucky.
