According to many Resident Assistants, doing the job well requires a heavy-duty on-call phone, flood resistant clothing, an invariable sense of humor, and a fearlessness of bugs. The job provides opportunities to help Hale residents from all different backgrounds.
RAs said helping residents through problems and dealing with unexpected situations give them experiences in life’s challenges they would not have been exposed to otherwise.
One such experience came as RAs helped the men move the newly refurbished Hales 3 and 5. As told by Hale 5 RA, Paula Vakalahi, a senior majoring in IT from Tonga, the new dorms were big, but RAs had no idea how big the mens’ belongings boxes would be. Similarly, they had no idea how big the moving job would be.
Vakalahi said, “We had to check everybody out of there and make sure everything was ready to go. We had a crew here and there and had to get everyone's stuff over.” While moving, they found unexpected items – like machete collections – and had to deal with flooding in the first few days.
For some RAs, it can be difficult adapting to the job. Hale 8 RA, Miiko Tusan from Idaho, recounted her first on-call weekend experience. “Two sets of guys snuck into the hale. Two. I was freaking out because I was not prepared for it. The first group walked in and we got them out and then literally an hour later, two different guys started running into the hale because they didn’t understand that there were no guys in the Hale.”
Hale 8 resident, Megan Cancienne, a freshman from Texas majoring in medical biology, fainted and was helped by Tusan. Cancienne and her friends had recently celebrated a friend's birthday, and decided to suck the helium out of the remaining party balloons. Cancienne said Tusan was very understanding and acknowledged that it wasn't the best decision, but cared more that she was alright.
“She wasn't mad. She [said] if I needed anything else to come get her, even if I just felt sick.”
Cancienne continued, “It was nice because any of my other friends around could have done that, but because she has authority and knows exactly who to go tell, it was nice to hear it from her.”
Along with gaining experience, other RAs said they enjoy the job because it makes them serve people. Hale 10 RA, Jarene Lee Ying Xuan, a senior majoring in business from Singapore, said she likes serving the residents and “just helping people feel happy and adapt to college life and grow spiritually.”
She said she likes “being that support and a source they can lean on.”
Another RA, Corina Gee, a senior from Kentucky, echoed Xuan’s sentiments saying the best part of being an RA, “besides the housing of course, [is] building relationships with the girls. Just being there for them when they need something.”
Gee is majoring in social work and said because she plans on spending her career helping people. She thinks being an RA will give her a good background.
Gee continued, “Because you have a lot of problems, a lot of stories and a lot of girls come to you because they trust you, just to talk to you. And it’s nice being that person that they can confide in that can help.”