imported_Terran Starek
Nov 4th, 2003, 03:50:45 PM
Though things have been pretty busy lately for me, I think they've really gotten better lately.
The last couple of months have been especially taxing on me in my job, as the first of the semester always is for a Resident Assistant (RA) of a College Residence Hall. For those of you who don't know exactly what that is, an RA is a student-staff member of a building who lives on the floor or in the building her or she works in. This person is an academic advisor at times, an enforcer of policy at other times, and a counselor and listener to his or her floor most all times.
I'm an RA at Kansas State University, in one of the more typically freshmen, coed residence halls (dorms). My floor consists of about 70 residents--one wing female, one wing male--and they keep me pretty busy day and night. Sometimes, it gets a bit stressful and you have to run out of the Hall screaming and stay away for a few hours, but most of the time it isn't too bad.
I've put alot of work into making my residents feel comfortable around me, making myself an approachable person, and being fair to all of their concerns and needs. Last month, one of my supervisors wrote an "Of the Month (OTM)" award bid for me, and I won RA of the month for KSU. I was very pleased to be recognized, but things got even better.
Once an OTM wins at KSU, and if it is a good bid, the KSU chapter of the National Residence Hall Honorary (NRHH) sends the bid to Regional judges to be consider for the Regional OTM. I was then honored again, in the midwest, as the RA of the month by the Regional Chapter of NRHH. But, it got better!
The Regional Chapter of judges felt that my bid was good enough to go on to the NRHH National board, and I ended up winning the National Resident Assistant of the Month award! I was so excited to hear the news, and it has been a very neat day to be called by everyone and congratulated.
I guess when you do a job that you often get verbally abused, threatened, or chewed out for; when you do a job that keeps you up past 3 AM trying to mediate a conflict between two residents fighting over a boyfriend; when you do a job that requires you to attend over 10 hours of meetings per week, people rarely see the real work you put into it. An award like this, however, makes you realize that you are doing something important, and that people know it. It kinda gives you new energy for the job, even after a pretty worn out month.
It's a very special honor, and I wanted to share it with all of you. Thanks be to SWFans and all of its wonderful people for being a nice release from the stressful world, as I think being here keeps me sane. Thanks also for reading this, and I hope you all have a wonderful day. :)
The last couple of months have been especially taxing on me in my job, as the first of the semester always is for a Resident Assistant (RA) of a College Residence Hall. For those of you who don't know exactly what that is, an RA is a student-staff member of a building who lives on the floor or in the building her or she works in. This person is an academic advisor at times, an enforcer of policy at other times, and a counselor and listener to his or her floor most all times.
I'm an RA at Kansas State University, in one of the more typically freshmen, coed residence halls (dorms). My floor consists of about 70 residents--one wing female, one wing male--and they keep me pretty busy day and night. Sometimes, it gets a bit stressful and you have to run out of the Hall screaming and stay away for a few hours, but most of the time it isn't too bad.
I've put alot of work into making my residents feel comfortable around me, making myself an approachable person, and being fair to all of their concerns and needs. Last month, one of my supervisors wrote an "Of the Month (OTM)" award bid for me, and I won RA of the month for KSU. I was very pleased to be recognized, but things got even better.
Once an OTM wins at KSU, and if it is a good bid, the KSU chapter of the National Residence Hall Honorary (NRHH) sends the bid to Regional judges to be consider for the Regional OTM. I was then honored again, in the midwest, as the RA of the month by the Regional Chapter of NRHH. But, it got better!
The Regional Chapter of judges felt that my bid was good enough to go on to the NRHH National board, and I ended up winning the National Resident Assistant of the Month award! I was so excited to hear the news, and it has been a very neat day to be called by everyone and congratulated.
I guess when you do a job that you often get verbally abused, threatened, or chewed out for; when you do a job that keeps you up past 3 AM trying to mediate a conflict between two residents fighting over a boyfriend; when you do a job that requires you to attend over 10 hours of meetings per week, people rarely see the real work you put into it. An award like this, however, makes you realize that you are doing something important, and that people know it. It kinda gives you new energy for the job, even after a pretty worn out month.
It's a very special honor, and I wanted to share it with all of you. Thanks be to SWFans and all of its wonderful people for being a nice release from the stressful world, as I think being here keeps me sane. Thanks also for reading this, and I hope you all have a wonderful day. :)