Personal Narrative: My Role As A Resident Assistant

As a resident assistant, “my community” is my floor and the thirty two residents who reside in my wing. For me, it is almost impossible to properly do my job without fulfilling the citizenship portion of the social change model. I actively help others in my community by sitting at the duty desk, leaving my door open, and being a part of our floor GroupMe. All of these things are ways that I make myself available to my residents to answer their questions and get to know them. Essentially through these forms of communication, my residents can reach me at anytime during the day. Whether it is a resident who had a bad day and wanders down to the lobby to talk, a resident who messages the group to ask what bus to take from College Avenue to Busch,
or a resident stops by my open door to talk about a roommate conflict. The best way for me to be a citizen for my residents is to be present and available for them. The best example of citizenship that I have witnessed in my community since the semester has begun has to do with the quite hours policy. While on duty a group of guys from various floors brought down their gaming system to hook up to the big television in the main lounge. The group was rowdy and playing music as well; however, it was not quite hours yet. I was sitting at the desk thinking about how I was going to have to document the situation later in the night. To my surprise, at eleven o’clock on the dot, the residents packed up their belongings and went to their respective rooms. This act is benefitting all of the residents who live in the residence hall that are trying to sleep or study and need quite. It is a dream come true to have the residents taking care of themselves and I hope this behavior continues as the semester progresses. In addition, residents have been good about alerting maintenance about problems with the public spaces. This shows that the residents care about their public spaces and want to keep them nice for everyone on the floor.