RA*Chat Ep 80: First Impressions: The Crucial Role of RAs and Campus Partners on Move-in Day with Dr. Andy Johnson

Crystal Lay:
Hello and welcome back to Roompact’s ResEdChat podcast where we highlight cool people who do cool things and talk about cool stuff in college, student housing and residence life. I’m your host, Crystal Lay and I use the she/her series pronouns. Today’s episode is geared to our student staff and RAs, so thank you for being here. Our guest today actually is a part of a housing live show at his campus, and I had the opportunity to see a little bit of it. I’ve also had the opportunity to work with this human in the past, and they’re just so dynamic and I thought, why not bring him on to talk more about what does it mean for our students when they live on campus, and how can our student staff be a part of creating a really good first impression, not only for our students, but also their families when they come for move-in. So with that, I’ll start off by having our guest introduce himself.

Andy Johnson:
Oh my goodness. I don’t know if I’m ready to live up to that hype, but I’m very excited. So hello everyone. Welcome. My name is Andy Johnson. I’m the Director for Operations and Outreach with Housing and Residential Education at the University of South Florida here in Tampa and in Sarasota-Manatee. And so I am super excited to be here. So I’ve been working in housing for almost 20 years now, and so worked at a couple of different size campuses, everything from a small startup where I was the very first director of housing and residential education, to where I’m at now. So I’ve got a wide range right in the middle there, but very, very excited to be here with you, Crystal.

Crystal Lay:
Thank you, Andy. Okay, so first can you talk to us about the USF Housing Live show and then how did it come to be?

Andy Johnson:
Yeah, sure. So USF Housing Live is a live broadcast program that we do here in housing and residential education. My assistant director for communications is the primary leader in that project. We’ve been doing it for about 10 years now, which was kind of crazy. We just celebrated the end of our 10th season, and it is all student, well, not all student led, but a majority of our public relations students are videography students and are led by our director who is one of my multimedia coordinators. And so it started, like I said, a little over 10 years ago now, when my assistant director at the time, Gregory Bowers, came into my office during a one-on-one and said, “I kind of had this crazy idea about doing a live broadcast on YouTube.” And this was well before live streams on Twitter or X now, or Facebook or Instagram, any of that.
And I said, “Tell me more.” And he goes, “Well, the whole premise to it was to get students ready before they move into housing or start their academic journey with us.” And I’m like, “Okay, I’m interested.” And so he says, “I’m thinking about we’ll reach out to partners. Obviously I want to start with the assignments …” because we were getting right into the reassignment season for room selection, “… And let’s just have the assistant director for assignments on. We’ll answer live questions about the assignments process, the contract, all of those things. How do we actually do it in the system …” because we were using RMS Mercury at the time, “… And just try to be there for them in their own spaces so they don’t have to call the office. They don’t have to come in. They don’t have to send us an email and then wait for a reply back, but then have a follow-up question. We can answer a lot of these things in real time.”
And I’m like, “Interesting. Okay, now talk to me about the money.” And so he goes, “I think we can do this with most of the stuff that we already have.” And I’m like, “All right, well let’s do some test runs and let’s see how this goes.” And it’s blossomed from there. And so now we have campus partners who every year go, “Are we ready for this season? What’s the dates?” But we’ll have orientation on, we will have the Dean for Students, we’ll have the Office of Multicultural Affairs, we’ll have our Living Learning Community Program director on. Student Health and Wellness, Campus Rec. I’m trying to think of who else, Financial Aid. And everybody has contributed to the success of the show over the last 10 years. And so we’ve redone the set a couple of times. If you look back at our first YouTube, it literally is a banner, just a banner in the back and two bar stool seats having a conversation, before podcasts were a thing.
But I remember one of the most interesting things I ever had to defend was the purchase of makeup for the lights, right? Because when you do professional makeup, it’s very thick and kind of washes you out almost, because of the lights. And Purchasing was like, why are we buying makeup? I’m like, “Well …” But it’s really blossomed into much more. And now we are finding that we are doing very targeted live broadcasts for things, even beyond just that onboarding that we’re supplementing orientation with. And so we do live walkthroughs for Grand Opening. I’m like, “If you’re going to be living in this area of campus, this is what you’re going to experience. This is what you’re going to see.” And we’ll talk a little bit about that. And so we’ve even gotten into where it’s not just students and residents watching, but family members are really engaged in the process as well. And so we’ve really welcomed them with open arms. So that’s kind of a little bit of the history of how it’s come to be.

Crystal Lay:
Wow. And so congratulations on 10 years. That’s huge. And being innovative, right? Because yeah, 10 years ago, we didn’t have a ton of students flocking to go look stuff up online, particularly about the move-in process. So I love that. And then it also sounds like this is beneficial to students, families and then also collaboration with campus partners and maybe even current students to learn some more information about the housing experience. Okay. So tell me, what are the top two to three questions that you get from students and families, about moving or living on campus?

Andy Johnson:
I think with move-in, so for us, we try to publish our website in early summer once we have everything kind of finalized in our plans, making sure that we have that updated regularly, that we’re sending out routine communications with regards to what that move-in logistics and experience will be like. So we do get a lot of very specific questions about “If I’m living in Poplar Hall, do I go to the Marshall Student Center first to check in, then go to Poplar?” And so our entire experience starts in the Marshall Student Center. We rent out the ballrooms and we have all of our campus partners in that space, so that if someone did have a question, we could answer it there. But then once they go to their residence hall, then you don’t come back for anything. You get moved in, you get settled, start meeting at your roommate face-to-face, maybe for the first time. Make sure you take lots of pictures with mom and dad and brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles and whoever accompanies you.
And so we really want that to be an encompassing experience post MSC. I think just some basic logistics that we really haven’t broadcasted yet. Like I said, I’ll typically do, maybe a week or two before move-in, I’ll do some live on the spot stuff, which is great. So that means they’re reading their maps and they’re understanding where they’re going to be living. I also think that we get a lot of sometimes, personalized, questions like, “Oh, my financial aid package was this …” And because of that nature, we want to make sure we redirect them to a more secure path to ask those questions. And so those are some routine ones that we’ll get.
We get a lot about, “I’m interested in Living Learning communities. Tell me more about that, other than what I read online or in the guide.” And so being able to have our partners come on and talk about program specifics or have the program director come in and talk about the statistics of success in the Living Learning communities, has been very, very helpful. So those are a couple that kind of come to mind. And recognizing that because you answer one question in one broadcast, because we do 10 or 12 broadcasts per season, maybe a different person asks the exact same question three episodes later. And so just taking it with the same enthusiasm and sharing the same information is very helpful.

Crystal Lay:
Yeah. Okay. So thinking about the scope of a student staff’s role, let’s say we have a student that’s coming to campus, they did not watch any of the shows, any of the live broadcast, what do you think about student staffs being prepared to answer questions? And then what are the questions you think it’s like, “Oh, you should probably bring in a supervisor or direct them to a campus partner?” How does a student staff member sort through what should I answer versus get some help? Does that question make sense?

Andy Johnson:
It does. It does. So one of the things that I work in operations and outreach, which is separate from my partners in residential education. And so one of the things that they’re so gracious, is to allow me to have a half hour, 45 minutes during RA training and professional staff training, to talk about what the opening experience is going to look like, kind of the expectations that we have from a campus setting. Because as I shared, once someone leaves the Marshall Student Center, we don’t have them return for anything. If you’ve got a key issue, you’ve got an access issue with your ID card, you don’t come back, we go to the field to you. Or we relay that information up to the folks that can actually make those changes. And so we are able to get in front of them and really talk about it, but then it also allows us to answer questions and to receive some feedback.
So for my returning RAs, my third years or fourth years, what are some of the things that you’ve experienced in the past, that you could share with your brand new RAs? Somebody who’s maybe in their second year. And so we try to use that as well. We try to give them as much information and prepare them as much as possible to answer that, but to escalate a question anytime there’s a facilities issue, anytime that there is something that is negatively impacting that first impression, we want to make sure we can address that earlier than when a student’s starting to experience it, so the see something, say something, kind of category of actions. And so we want to make sure that as RAs and student staff are looking at things, that they’re feeling empowered to either resolve it or escalate it if they think it’s going to be a bigger issue.
Because I think we have right around 200 RAs on our campus. We have probably another 65 to 70 student staff members who will help various capacities. And then we have our Bull Haul program, which are volunteers helping students move in. And that program is about 500 students, student volunteers. So there’s a lot of student movement, students helping students, it’s what we like, in that process.
And so making sure that we give them as much information as possible to be successful, but also giving them avenues and channels to communicate up. And it can be as simple as asking a question. You asked me, “Oh, Andy, what do I do? I want to get my bed raised or lowered, right?” That’s a common question that we go through, but we train to say, “Well, if you put in a work order, our facility staff will get it right away.” But if someone comes back and says, “Well, how soon would that be? Because I actually have a little bit of an impairment being able to get to that height or to be able to sit properly on my bed,” things like that, recognizing that, okay, that’s not something we can wait two or three days to address. We need to have someone address it right, and being able to escalate something along that lines,

Crystal Lay:
This is helpful because it sounds like no matter what institution you’re at, that this can really come down to training your student staff to make sure they know, again, whether or not to escalate and/or feel empowered to resolve the issue, and always checking in. And then you also keep, throughout our conversation, validating the importance of partnerships, right? Campus partnerships and communicating. And then this is a large operation. There’s so many pieces that go into move-in, so many humans. And you said over 500 student staff, that’s huge. And so making sure everyone knows the importance of their role, what role they play, and then how we’re working in tandem to provide this experience for the students, so it feels seamless. And fun, exciting. Move-in should be fun, right? So cool.

Andy Johnson:
Oh Yeah. Yeah. I was just going to say, we start planning our August move-in late January, after we move in for the spring. And it is campus partners from emergency management, university, police, parking and transportation. I’m trying to think of all the other folks that are in the initial things. And then we have all of the experiential folks, Dean of students office, and all the offices that report to them, our faculty that want to be involved in it. It’s a very, very large operation. And so grateful for partnerships, because there’s no way we can move in all of our residents without them.

Crystal Lay:
And so I think for student staff, that piece of, everyone’s doing something. And so how do you feel empowered and be in that community? So when that student arrives, you are the face of that community, you’re the face of that floor, you’re getting them excited after whether it’s a long drive, a flight, unpacking stuff, and you’re the friendly face that’s saying, “Hey, I’m going to be your peer throughout this next season of your life. And a big transition too.” So I want to go back. We talked about move-in being fun. In your time, what are some fun or innovative things that you’ve seen to welcome students to their living community? I imagine you probably walk around in move-in day, maybe got your walkie-talkie or something. What are some fun things that you see?

Andy Johnson:
Yeah, absolutely. We always try to kind of do a little bit of a one-up on ourselves each year. What can we do to make it just a little bit better? And so I think it was last year or two years ago, we bought one of the 360 cameras that spin around, and that thing was nonstop. And it is so funny, because the person running it is a tremendous, tremendous, human being, and his name is Aaron Diller, and he is our assistant director for finance. But he’s like, “Let me show you. Let’s get in there.” And he’s pushing the buttons. He’s like, “Okay, stand clear. You ready? All right, here we go. All right, I’m not seeing the fun. Let’s bring the fun.” And it’s spinning around and he goes, “What’s your phone number? Let’s get it in here. You’ll get that text in just a few minutes.”
And he’s such a great guy. But in the finance world, he’s very serious. He’s like, “Andy, we got to talk about budget. All right, you got this and this and this and I need to move this. Are you okay with that?” And I’m like, “Yeah, yeah, go ahead.” And so that was one thing.
This year we’re going to be looking at hiring a vendor to do photos on the spot. So we’ve always had a backdrop and it’s been a selfie station or family members want to take photos and you get the old [inaudible 00:16:40]. And so this time we want to be able to do a photo and print on the spot. And so we actually are looking to use a vendor that was at one of our fundraising things called Brunch on the Bay, down in Sarasota. And so that’s always fun. We always try to have music. I think music just brings a whole other level of energy. And so I’ve even talked about could I get Bulls Radio to blast music from the sixth floor of the garage out over the residential community piece. Unfortunately, we deal with a lot of weather issues, so to be able to break down that quickly is just not going to happen.
But we’ve talked about even bringing in local vendors with food trucks like a Kona Ice or we have a local brewery here called Buddy Brew Coffee, and they do all of their sourcing here in Tampa. And so could we have them in the community as opposed to being in the Honors college in their physical location, just giving out iced coffees or something like that? That is some of the things that we are always thinking about. But again, it’s how can we just one up ourselves? Who did something this year that we could do, and can we do it a little bit better? Because to your point, it’s first impressions. People who have been building up to this for 17, 18 years, they’ve been working hard to get to college, they’re trying to be proud of their work, be proud of … Make themselves proud of their family. And so how can we make sure that when you first step foot, it is the most exciting time of your life, now and for the next four years.
And so we always try to start with a good first impression. And back to the point of student staff training, it is talking to them about that, and being excited in every single thing that you’re talking about and just providing that customer service of, I can do a little bit more each time.

Crystal Lay:
And I think too, for our student staff, and I’m going to ask you about this, but one of the things I like is move-in date, I’m sure there are videos of me someplace outside with the RAs doing a Cha Cha Slide in front of the community, as a family walks by. That is free. Someone get a radio, I’m out here, I’m ready. Because parents like that, I think. Okay. So now, because a lot of the things you talked about are partnerships and also there’s some big ticket items, they can be some big ticket items. Now going back to student staff, are there things that you think they can do to make a good first impression or lasting impression, whether it’s Cha Cha Slide out front, cool door decs, what are some other things you think could be helpful?

Andy Johnson:
I think one of the first things just, and I’m taking it from the same lens that I take from the whole experience, is if I’m in charge of let’s say Alpha Hall and I have three other RAs that are with me on our four floors, walking that space and just taking a different kind of visual inspection of it, would I be excited to show this off to the president of the university or the provost or would I be proud to see this being published somewhere? It’s the little things that I think can build into that. I think some of the things you’ve talked about, having exciting bulletin boards, excited door decs are very important, but I also think it is equally as important, if not more important, that the personality and the interactions you have. Because I remember moving on to my campus and it was, I think, just weird timing, so nothing against the RA or whatever, but I was in one building for a day and then I moved to a different building, and the RA who came to greet me in the second building was so excited that I was there.
I didn’t know her, but she was so excited that I was on her floor. And I’m like, “Cool.” I was a little overwhelmed, but eventually I realized that, and her name was Kim, I was like, Kim is just that excited to do her job and to welcome me, and it made me feel good. And eventually I became an RA because of Kim. And so there are lasting impressions that start on that very first, “Hey Andy, welcome to Alumni Hall. I’m excited you’re here.” That was it. I mean, I instantly felt connected, right? I didn’t know anybody. I showed up not knowing a soul on campus, and instantly I had a connection beyond the small group I had at orientation. And so that was-

Crystal Lay:
Remember the name?

Andy Johnson:
Oh, yeah, yeah, Kim. Kim. I can see her face.

Andy Johnson:
Yeah. Kim, I’m going to look this up later. I’m going to look this up later. It’s got to be on my school’s record.

Crystal Lay:
The impression, the impression all these years you still remember what that felt like, and feeling welcomed. And so I like the personality piece or that smile. My RA was Christine and I didn’t know she was an RA. I just thought there was someone in my building telling me what to do, because I was first gen. So that was a part too. I was like, there’s someone that’s telling me what to do. Why are you here? Why are you knocking at my door? I was like, “Oh, you’re in charge of me.”

Andy Johnson:
Yeah, yeah. And it’s at that same moment you go, “Wait like a parent? So I can ask you for money? Will you bring me food? You said you were in charge.”

Crystal Lay:
Oh my gosh. Oh yeah. I will not tell any more stories from my first year of college. But is there-

Andy Johnson:
Back to my point, back to my point. I was going to say, I think that is the most important first and most impactful thing, is just introducing yourself to your residents and offer them a greeting that they will feel connected to you as a resource, as a friend, sometimes as a policy enforcement person, but they’re going to have that mutual respect. And so I think that’s just one of the most impactful things is just and remembering and calling them by their name, right? Names are very, very important to me. My first name is really Andrew, but I go by Andy, and I know when we don’t … We are not jiving because you’re calling me Andrew and not Andy. And just again, names are so important. And so making sure you take the time to learn someone’s name, what they prefer to be called, how to pronounce it, even if it takes you some practice, that is so important.

Crystal Lay:
This is helpful. And again, I always like to lean into low cost and effective, and a smile is free. How you greet someone, how you make them feel, and then knowing their name, is so powerful. So thank you for sharing that. So we’re going to get ready to wrap up our time together. I do want to ask you first, is there any other advice or tidbits you would like to offer up to any of our students staff who might be watching this, as they think about things to do, not just the opening and moving, but maybe just some sentiments that can carry throughout the academic year?

Andy Johnson:
I would say one of the best sources of information is always going to be your institution’s website. Because what we are publishing outward is exactly what we’re going to practice inward. And so if you have a question about something that, whether it is a move-in, move-out time, whether it is about the timeline for RA, CM selection, when it is hours of a mail center or a desk, or what services they offer, or what is the mailing address for a resident, all of that is always going to be on the website because that’s what we want to give to residents and to families. And so we publicly put it out there, but we’re going to practice it internally. And so I think that is incredible.
I think knowing your limitations. I remember being an RA, you have a lot of excitement. There’s a lot of energy in the front half of the year. You try to rebuild it over the winter break and come back into spring. But recognizing that you are a student first and you have your own academic responsibilities and your own personal responsibilities. And lean into others that are around you, to help you. Just like, I can’t do Grand Opening by myself, you can’t always run a facility by yourself and care for 30 or 40 students by yourself. So lean into your team. I would say that’s going to be another big piece of advice.

Crystal Lay:
That is excellent advice. And then if folks want to learn more about how to connect with students and their families, in addition to checking out the website, working with your supervisor, obviously, do you have resources or things that you use that you would recommend?

Andy Johnson:
I just use, how would I want to be? How do I want to feel? How do I want to be treated? Are my expectations reasonable? I’m a father of two girls. We’re not quite to college yet, but if I looked at it from their perspective as a parent, not as a director, what is it that I would think or want to know, so I can ask those questions? So I would say, I think one of the greatest resources is going to be the team that’s here. I mean, I don’t think there’s anybody who works in education that is not here for students. And so we all have different roles and capacities for that, but that is where the passion is. It’s with the students. And so don’t hesitate to reach out and ask a question, even if you think it’s silly, right? We want you to be well-prepared, have the best experience, and that goes for our current students as well.

Crystal Lay:
Andy, this was such a delightful conversation. Good information. Thank you for joining me today.

Andy Johnson:
Thank you. I was really excited when I got your invitation. I’ve been listening to the podcast for a little while now, so thank you.

Crystal Lay:
You’re welcome. And for you all watching or listening in, thanks for joining us on this episode of ResEdChat, RA edition. If you have an idea of a topic or a person that you’ll like us to have on the show, please let us know by reaching out to Roompact. Take care.