Being a resident assistant - not all fun and games!

Residence building B.  Every dormitory has it's own
resident assistant.
Photo by Ashleigh Mehmed.

Free housing and food for the entire semester.  Sounds pretty good, hey!  Although definitely worth it financially, being a resident assistant isn't nearly as easy going as it sounds.  An abundance of time, energy and patience is consumed in emotionally or physically helping out students in need, as well as ensuring that everybody is behaving themselves in relation to the dormitory rules and social manners towards other dorm occupants.  If that doesn't give you an insight to how exhausting it can be, take it from resident assistants Michelle and Melissa...

Michelle is a 21-year-old art and film major and has learnt just how restricting her job can be.  "The most annoying thing about being an RA would probably be not having the freedom to just go whenever I want and leave campus.  I have certain hours that I have to be here so I can't just leave when I want to.  I always have to check in with someone or check out so everybody knows whether I'm on campus or off campus."  However,not only does she have to stay nearby for a majority of the time but, while she does so, she rarely gets a moment to herself.  "It's pretty much a 24/7 job.  There's not certain hours that I'm working per say, it's just pretty much that I live on campus when I work.  Plus the middle of the night lock outs and getting woken up at all hours."

Melissa Hernando, 20-year-old business management major, completely understands the difficulties of being a resident assistant.  "I would say the biggest thing is that it's hard to get away and find your own space because you're constantly dealing with other people's problems.  A lot of the freshman that come here feel homesick and miss their parents a lot.  I feel like a lot of them think that a resident assistant is their parent and rely on me more than they should so sometimes it gets difficult to deal with every single problem and still have my own issues.  Plus, it's definitely hard to be confidential.  It's hard being the person to vent to and not be able to tell anyone," she says.  What kind of problems does she have to deal with from students?  "A lot of them don't get along with their roommates in the beginning and they fight over such small things that they need to learn how to compromise on because they need to get used to not being on their own anymore.  Also, some of them don't really know how to control themselves at times and they'll come back drunk and doing crazy things.  Usually the freshmen."

The recreation area of Los Cerritos Hall.  Resident
assistants are sure to be found nearby this area.
Photo by Ashleigh Mehmed.

It all sounds a lot harder from a resident assistant's opinion.  However, if you think you can juggle all of these responsibilities without running out of patience then maybe you're just the person for the job!