YOU KNOW THEM, YOU LOVE THEM, YOU AWKWARDLY PASS BY THEM IN THE HALLS—IT’S YOUR RA! BUT HOW MUCH DO YOU REALLY KNOW ABOUT WHAT IT TAKES TO BE AN RA?
THE OFFICIAL DUTIES OF AN RA ARE WIDE REACHING, FROM COVERING THE AREA DESK TO ENSURING “COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT.” BRYNAE HALL, A THIRD-YEAR IN THE SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATIONS AND SECOND-YEAR FOSTER-WALKER COMPLEX RA, WALKED ME THROUGH THE GENERAL RA RESPONSIBILITIES.
[Brynae Hall] The duties of RA’s are very various—you ran into me at the front desk, which is one of our duties, we do that weekly. So there’s daily interactions like that—super casual—all the way to, like, more formal things like planning events. And then also, like, a couple—quite a few—times a quarter—it turns out to be about, like, once a week—overnight shifts as well. We do a lot of bulletin board decorating, so they have us doing a lot of miscellaneous—anything that falls under the umbrella of residential life tasks.
WITH ALL OF THOSE TASKS TO MANAGE, BEING AN RA IS NO WALK IN THE PARK. IF YOU ADD ALL THE HOURS UP….
[Dayo Babatunde] 10 to 12 at max.
THE COMMITMENT AMOUNTS TO AROUND TAKING AN ENTIRE EXTRA CLASS.
THAT WAS DAYO BABATUNDE, A SENIOR IN MCCORMICK. THIS IS HIS SECOND QUARTER AS AN RA—THIS YEAR, HE IS STATIONED IN ELDER HALL.
GIVEN THE TIME COMMITMENT, IT CAN BE HARD FOR RA’S TO BALANCE THEIR DUTIES WITH THE AT TIMES INTENSE ACADEMIC, EXTRACURRICULAR, AND SOCIAL EXPECTATIONS AT NORTHWESTERN.
[BN] It can be a little difficult, I’m not gonna lie. It’s—It’s hard to, like, take space from the role. When you have a quarter that’s a little bit, like, heavier in terms of classes or heavier in terms of commitment, it’s a little bit more difficult to balance the role. I feel like in some ways it can be flexible, but other ways not so much so. There obviously is a threshold of things that have to get done and it can be more of a time commitment and more of a stressor than you might expect.
[DY] I feel like at the end of the day, you just have to find a balance.
HOWEVER, FOR BABATUNDE, THE POTENTIAL STRESSES OF THE JOB ARE OUTWEIGHED BY THE TANGIBLE GOOD HE PROVIDES FOR HIS COMMUNITY, PARTICULARLY FRESHMEN WHO ARE STRUGGLING TO ACCLIMATE TO THEIR NEW ENVIRONMENT.
[DY] I know for me, when I was a freshman, it was very hard for me to make relationships with people, and, at least for me, it’s just very exciting to be kind of like that proxy for people to like build relationships within, um, within the dorm.
ONE OF THE CENTRAL DUTIES OF AN RA IS TO ORGANIZE COMMUNITY-BUILDING ACTIVITIES—BOTH FORMALLY AND INFORMALLY. THESE CAN TAKE THE FORM OF STUDY NIGHTS, SPORTS TOURNAMENTS, COFFEE CHATS, AND MORE. THE GOAL OF THESE ACTIVITIES ARE FOR THE RESIDENTS TO GET TO KNOW THEIR RA AND EACH OTHER.
[DY] Early in the year, I did a table tennis tournament, which was pretty successful, lots of people turned up. Then I also do, kind of, like, playing basketball and I just invite residents out.
COMING UP WITH CREATIVE NEW WAYS TO MEET RESIDENTS IS A HIGHLIGHT OF THE JOB FOR MANY, LIKE JOANNE LI, A SECOND-YEAR RA IN SCHAPIRO HALL.
[Joanne Li] This year my favorite event has been playing We’re Not Really Strangers with my residents. It’s a card game where you ask each other progressively deeper, uh, questions, and I thought it was a great way to get to know my residents on a deeper level.
BEYOND CREATING A COMMUNITY FOR THEIR RESIDENTS, RA’S HAVE FOUND A COMMUNITY WITH EACH OTHER. THE RESIDENT ASSISTANT PROGRAM ORGANIZES SEVERAL ALL-STAFF BONDING EVENTS.
[DY] As a staff, we actually had a beach party at the North Beach over there. And then, we’re also doing a trick or treating event for Halloween and things like that. So we’ve been pretty active on just bringing the community together, for sure.
RAS ALSO WORK WITH THEIR FLOOR, BUILDING, AND AREA TEAMS FREQUENTLY, CREATING MULTIPLE LAYERS OF SUPPORT AND CAMARADERIE.
[GS] What’s your favorite part about being an RA?
[BN] I would say it is the community aspect of it. I got really lucky with my teammates. All the other RAs on my team are just super supportive and nice and helpful.
[LN] You get to meet so many different kinds of people from across campus and hear about their lives and their backgrounds and everyone has a different perspective on everything but we’re all united by the goal of helping our residents. So it’s a really warm and welcoming community.
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING. FOR WNUR NEWS, I’M GABBY SHELL.
