ResEdChat Ep 82: 2024 ACUHO-I Internship Reflections with Seferine Baez!

Dustin Ramsdell:
Welcome back everyone to Roompact’s ResEdChat podcast. If you’re new to the show, every episode we feature a variety of topics of interest to hired professionals who work in and with university housing, residence life, residential education program, whatever you might call it. We have another kind of fun bookend episode here, it’s become a yearly tradition. We have a introduction and a sort of conclusion episode with the summer ACUHO-I intern that Roompact remotely hosts and has been doing so for the past several years. So here we are at the end of another summer with the 2024 ACUHO-I summer intern for Roompact. So we’ll be doing a retrospective and also looking ahead for what’s next for this year’s intern. So Seferine, if you want to just catch folks up on the projects, the things that you have been working on this summer with Roompact, and I guess just anything I guess that you’ve sort of learned through working on those various projects.

Seferine Baez:
Yeah, thanks so much, Dustin. I feel like it really helps me to I guess track how it’s gone, that we’ve done this episode at the end to kind of be the counterpart to the beginning. It feels like a really nice way to end. So I love that this is a tradition, and I’m excited to in years future watch or listen to the future interns and see what they’re getting up to. So it’s sort of fun to stay connected to Roompact in this small way. Or maybe in other ways, who really knows? Yeah, I’m really excited about the work that we’ve been doing, and the RA360 sort of project is definitely nearing completion. So we’ve got just a few weeks left, August is going to be a busy time, as it always is, so it’ll be really fun to put the finishing touches on all the pages.
So in general, I guess the snapshot is that we’ve got 40 topics that we first selected and curated, and wanted it to be this really comprehensive, holistic view of professional development. Especially from the student perspective, which was… There’s so many resources already on the Roompact site that are just available for anyone to click on and look through. But this was really the first time that we wanted to go deeper for the students and offer something that was worded for them. And I think that was the theme that really got more full figured as we kept working through it, is, well, what’s the attention span of this young professional who is doing this as part-time work? It’s great work, great experience for them, but it’s a little bit I guess optimistic to think that your staff member is going to click on a page that is several scrolls of reading and maybe worded at this intellectual level, where some of us have degrees in higher education and we’re operating as professionals that have chosen this line of work.
What does it look like for someone who is doing it for now or who’s doing it temporarily to get something really great out of that work? Which I think we all hope for. And I’ve had a staff of people that they actually might change their mind and be really into higher ed, but sometimes they’re just going to be a lawyer, a doctor, an engineer, they’re doing something else later, but residence life can really offer some really interesting experience that they can take with them anywhere. But knowing that they’re busy, knowing that they’re in school, knowing that they really have a lot on their plate most of the time. And the sort of student that you most see in the applicant pool tends to be a really involved student who also then has social life clubs and all these other things going on. So the balance I remember being really hard to strike. When you need a little tidbit of something more for professional development in this really specific context, what do you look for?
So that was the lens through which we picked the 40 topics, but also as we went through each one, really fun to say, “Of course there’s a really, really thorough detailed way to go all the way with this topic, but how do we make it concise? How do we make it a little fun? And how do we capture the attention of this student staff member, or the every man, the every RA, who do we write this for?” It’s the person who had a one-on-one with their supervisor who’s trying to bring up, “Maybe an area of improvement for you is X. I’ve noticed that you’re really good at a lot of things, but maybe public speaking is not as fun for you. It isn’t something that you easily have taken to now that you have the context of having to run a meeting with the 50 residents that live on your floor, it’ll be really valuable for you to work on it because you have to have a meeting once a month.” Or whatever your school does.
And so for that supervisor to gently bring that up and then say, “I have a great resource for you, here’s a quick page, I’m aware of this site. And it just has a couple YouTube videos, it has a couple articles, it has a couple things that you can scroll through, take what you need, it’s an intro to the topic, let’s talk about it next one-on-one.” And I think that idea of how it would go also helped inform me when I was making it, it was definitely a collaborative effort. Of course there was already blogs that were published through Roompact that were under the umbrella of certain topics, and so we were actually able to almost catalog the content that already was there, and organize it in a new way, and link it back to itself. And so that was also really fun. I felt like I could see that this would have an impact for the other resources on the page as well.
And then at some point we were able to do outcomes and learning outcomes. And so there is one place where you can go and you can have a long scroll through all 40 topics, all their outcomes. And that might be the one that me as a professional or anyone in that situation could look at and be like, “Can this help me with winter training in January? Can this help me with my staff meetings once a week?”
If I notice my whole team maybe needs a chat about ethics of the job and stuff like that, then maybe I can use some of these resources to deliver that content to my team in a way that they get to go right in, and it starts them thinking about something that maybe they want to explore on their own or bring back to their future career as well. So that’s I think the overview. It’ll be really exciting, it starts to feel at the end like a portfolio that I’ve put together, and it’s something that we’re going to be really proud of when it’s totally final in just a couple weeks. Maybe by the time the episode is out and people are listening to this, they’ll be able to look at it.

Dustin Ramsdell:
Yeah, I think so. I think just to place everything in time and space, which I like to do just for folks. We recorded the intro episode, it was a couple of weeks I think, or maybe the first or second week of when you had started, so that was back in May. We’re recording this the final days of July, so like you said, a couple more weeks getting into a busy August. So I wanted to catch you before all of that to do this episode and reflect on having most of the internship instead of the [inaudible 00:08:29]. But yeah, when this episode comes out, folks should be able to find that or should be able to find it very soon, because we’ll post this in a couple of weeks.
But yeah, and I think it is interesting, just writ large if folks are noticing, in this feed and certainly just through the blogs and different things. Like Roompact building up that portfolio, that library of content that is speaking directly to an RA audience versus it being for the folks who supervise them or work with them and everything. Which is all well and good, but I think there is plenty of that, and it’s great just to see that. I think there has been really good response to the content that is written for a student staff member audience, and that you’ve helped to double down on that and really build that out.
Because I think it is really powerful, I mean, like you said, whether those folks are pursuing a career in higher education or education in any kind of role or organization, it’s just good stuff of being an RA is such a meaningful and developmental experience. So you want to harness and maximize that potential, because I think a lot of it is sort of… It’s going to rub off anyway, of just being put in that position to run a floor meeting or whatever. And you’ll kind of hopefully be able to get better at that over time, and reflect on what worked well, and what didn’t, and everything. But then having something that can really speak to, “Well, hopefully your first floor meeting will go as effectively as possible, and then you can keep getting even better from there.” Versus fumbling your way through it.
And that’s fine, that’s part of the learning process. But building these professional development resources that could help an RA do their job better day to day, but also really crystallize the learning and development that they’re having to help them further in higher ed as a full-time career for them or whatever it is that they do. Because I think the communication skills, organizational skills, teamwork, all that kind of stuff, yeah, you want to really harness all this good stuff that’s happening however long they would be an RA. So with I guess all… I’d appreciate you going into the full detail of what you’re working on. Is there an aspect of what you did that you were just really proud that you’ve been able to accomplish, or that you were able to learn, or an issue that you were able to overcome or something? Just anything I guess, sort of like a milestone or a really just proud moment I guess of all that you had worked on curating all that and creating all that content.

Seferine Baez:
Yeah, absolutely. I thought of something while you were talking too. Another great road in for me is, well, what about your returner staff, who actually a lot of these things to them might feel like they’ve got a grasp on it, even the things they’ve worked on during their first year. But just kicking it back to what I was saying about using it throughout the year, it might be really fun to see what a second year that you’re asking to take a larger role on the team, like, “Root yourself in this page. And I think you’re really good at this actually, would you mind talking about it at a staff meeting to the first years, to the people who are just starting? Who see you automatically as a sort of mentor because you can answer some of their questions. When they don’t want to go to their supervisor, they might go to you instead.”
So that’s really fun. I think along the same lines, to answer your question, I was really proud because there was a moment where a former colleague who I had just mentioned, what my summer gig was, had said, “Oh, I just found this page on the site, is this you? Is this what you’re doing?” And just the tone of it was just… I was like, “Oh, it’s not ready. Don’t look at it, please. I’ll tell you when it’s done.” It made me think of when someone’s an artist and they’re working on a painting, and it’s like, “Not yet.” Or a poem or something like that, where, “I don’t want you to read it yet.” And just the excitement. And before I said any of the things that I just said at the beginning of this episode, they said something that was so specifically right. They said something that was just, “I can’t wait to use this. I can’t wait to send this to a team member who needs that particular topic.”
And maybe that’s sort of a really loose way to answer the question, but the impact that it will have. That I might not see it now, I don’t know that I’m going to get all the statistics of how many clicks on the page later. We were just talking about that recently. But there’s an immeasurable feeling that it will continue to be used, but also continue to be updated. So if I added a YouTube video about service learning now, but in a year or two someone’s like, “Oh, here’s a recent one that didn’t exist when Seferine was working on this.” It can just be popped right in.
And so there’s sort of this living, breathing module style learning for the students. And res life will continue to change, I think it sometimes feels like as long as living on campus has existed, living on campus has been somewhat the same, but the student population has changed. The new generation is so fun, and I’m looking forward to the impact they have on the world. But it’s also really interesting the conversations around being in college and providing what they provide as RAs. So many new conversations that even 10 years ago when I was in school, people weren’t talking about mental health the same way or gender and all sorts of things, and it’s just going to be really exciting to see it grow. So I’m looking forward to what it will be as much as I’m looking forward to what it is now.

Dustin Ramsdell:
Yeah, that’s a great way to answer the question. I think that idea of… It seems like I guess I assume pursuing this project you were like, “I know this will be valuable, I know this will be great, so many people will find it useful.” And sometimes when you’re working on stuff like this, you do want to almost show that prototype and be like, “Does this make sense? I’ve been thinking about this.” And somebody will be like, “Oh, my gosh, you made that? That’s incredible. Yeah, that’s amazing.” And then other times, yeah, it’s like you’re guarding it like, “No, no, no, no, hold on. I know this could be amazing, I want you to see it when it’s fully 100%.” But regardless, it is great when you’re having that interaction of somebody sees it like, “Oh, my gosh, you made this?” And be like, “Yes.” It’s like, “That’s incredible, [inaudible 00:15:18].” It’s like, “Oh, okay, okay, it wasn’t finished, I was kind of worried.”
But yeah, I mean, it’s just really amazing I guess to get that validation to reinforce and affirm what you already knew, and what was sort of guiding what you were doing. And then I think proud to know that this will exist and be sort of a landmark resource that’ll be able to evolve, and mature, and grow over time. And I think that is definitely something to be proud of with something like this, is that it’s great now and it can continue to be great by maintaining it, and growing it, and evolving it, and all those sort of things. So I think that’s definitely a really good call out.

Seferine Baez:
And I’m not possessive of it in a way. I think sometimes we do projects and it’s sort of like, “This for me, this is for my staff.” Or we start to share it, but only with the colleagues we most talk to. But this feels like it was immediately something that was very social and very shared by, dare I say, the industry at large. Anyone could click on this. And the initial sort of, “How do I make this not about my particular institution? How do I talk about this topic outside of the context of where I work and how things really function there?” And that ended up being one of my favorite parts as well, is that it didn’t have this identity of my role in my building, my area at my school. It really is meant to be that anyone, regardless of size, of their team, or their area of their residence, how many residents, anyone could use this. And that sort of anonymity of the resource feels really, really cool as well.

Dustin Ramsdell:
Yeah. I mean I think that it’s definitely something to be proud of. Because I think that obviously it’s a great part of working in education, certainly higher education specifically, that people are very open and willing to do the show and tell at conferences or wherever else, and talk about what’s working for them. And people know that it’s like, “Okay, well, likely if they’re a similar institution type or size and all that, it’s going to be maybe a little bit more relevant, and I can adapt it from there.” But I think if we can build upon that and create resources that are sort of agnostic of a particular context, I’m sure some people are going to be very particular where it’s like, “Well, I work at this kind of institution, and I’ve defined something that’s immediately relevant or speaks very specifically to my environment.”
But I think just broadly where there are just generally things that we know are best practices for residential education programs and everything. So if we try to not get in our own way of assuming that, well, this came out of X, Y, Z university, it’s only going to work for large public. So I’m not that, so I’m maybe going to read it with a grain of salt or something, or maybe even completely ignore it. I think it is important to try to… And certainly the organizing professional communities and associations sort of serve a similar role to this. But I mean, I think the more, the better of just generally just creating good educational professional development kind of content, and trying to strike as broad of an audience as we can just to make sure that everyone knows, “Hey, here are just great resources for your student staff members, and we’re not going to get in our way of anchoring around an institution type or something.”
So yeah, again, folks should be able to check it out as of the release of this episode. So we’ll have links and things to do that in the description for the episode. But moving on from that, I always like to talk about… Because obviously, summer, often time for travel and fun stuff as well, as much as any of us are working on strategic projects and things like this. So what is something fun that you were able to do, whether it was just catching up on a show, or traveling the world, or spending time with people? What’s something fun that you did that you’d want to share with folks?

Seferine Baez:
Absolutely. And we may have even talked about this last time, I’m realizing I should have re-listened to the last one, I only remember some of it, the summer’s gone by so fast. But one of the things that I was able to do, especially with the remote nature of this role, is work from anywhere. And so when I visited my dad who’s in New York and my little nephew’s out there, I was working not the whole time, went over a weekend as well, but was able to physically move somewhere, and be working from there, and see family.
I also was on a staycation kick the past few years, so just the idea that I’m in Boston most of the time, but instead of just being bored at home once in a while, it’s like, “Well, let me stay at a hotel nearby.” And so that was sort of fun in designing a weekend around the things that are right by the hotel and not having the stress of, “I have to go all the way home after.” Was really fun. And same thing with Providence, I had my closest friend in Providence all summer, and so I was able to visit him a handful of times. Sometimes a day trip because it was close, and sometimes with overnights at a hotel. So that was really fun. And I don’t know, I’m all about the food and the art museums, and if you are familiar with Providence, WaterFire tomorrow will be really fun.

Dustin Ramsdell:
Yeah. Well, it’s almost kind of funny, it’s almost a good thing of not going back and listening to that, because you almost don’t want to force make those two puzzle pieces fit together. Because you are here right now, and what is on your mind and reflecting of like, “Oh, these are the fun things.” Versus being like, “Oh, I didn’t do all those things I thought I was going to do two months ago.” Whatever. It’s like, “What’s going on right now?” You’re here, we’re talking about where your head’s at, reflecting, and learnings, and all that kind of stuff. And yeah, I mean, I think that’s honestly… This month for me, this month of July recording here, I took it easy. From the first half of the year I was going out to a conference or so each month on average and kind of was just getting a little bit burnt out at the end.
And then I’ve taken the opportunity for different sort of summer series of different fun outdoor things that were happening locally here in Delaware where I live. And it’s reaffirmed to me, it’s like, “Oh, yeah, there’s so many cool things going on.” And you’re trying to plan ahead more for these next year, and anticipate things, and knowing the kind of things that we like to do that are right here versus feeling like you always have to go far and away to enjoy good food and all those kind of things.
So yeah, I think that is always a smart move. And even just that idea that staying in a hotel locally is sort of peak staycation, because you could be like, “Oh, I’m going to museums or something in my town.” And it’s like, “Yeah, that’s it.” But then it’s like, “I’m literally being pampered or something.” Where it’s just like, “Oh, I’m staying [inaudible 00:22:27] don’t have to worry about laundry or whatever for a day or two.” So yeah, that’s great I guess getting to see folks, family and friends that are close by, it’s always time well spent for summer. But as we close out, like I said, we’ll give a brief look to the future. Certainly the academic year is coming upon us quickly, and like I said, August will be a busy month and everything. But just broadly, whatever, again, just is top of mind for you in this moment, what is next for you? What are you excited about that is coming up on the horizon?

Seferine Baez:
Growing up I was always really jealous of people who had their birthday during the year, but I think now I really appreciate that it signals the end of summer that I had a birthday 10 days ago. And that really also feels like the bookend of like, “Oh, no, it’s almost over.” But as I return to my day job back at my institution, I’m really excited for the handful of positions that were open. It almost feels like the first day of school in a way, where it’s like, “Oh, there’s new faces in the room.” And I think at a large school in a large department, there’s something really fun about the people who’ve worked there 30 years, 25 years, 15 years, five years and one day. And kind of mixing those folks together, and just all those different perspectives, just supporting our massive 12,000 student campus. So that’ll be really exciting.
And New Year comes with a new president, so our institution just did a search and that person started on July 1st. So I haven’t had much of a chance to read up on what’s already been going on as we plan for the inauguration of the next era I guess of an institution is how I’d like to think of it. So that’ll be really fun. But in general, August is a time to be rooted in self-care, because it’s sort of the worst slash best time of the year. Just really busy, really sometimes late night, sometimes weekend work, and just sort of resigning yourself to it a little bit and being dedicated because eventually it will be over. And just it’s an exciting time, and to be part of the education system in general is to think of these peaks and falls of the year, where everyone is sort of buzzing with excitement at this time, and it’s such a pivotal moment in the life of a person that they’ve gone away to school.
So when they’re moving in and their parents are crying, and even when they’re mad at you about something that’s not your fault specifically, you also understand why it’s such a big deal on that day that that small inconvenience happened and you’re the person who’s there to help fix it. And so even the moments that are like, “I need to decompress the day after having that conversation with that parent for 45 minutes.” It’s still really fun to be part of that process and just be the friendly face that handed them their keys, and that’s a really important moment for them that they might remember for a long time. So kind of trying to balance the, “I’m tired, this is a lot.” With the, “This is really fun.” And when it’s midterm season and they’re all sad, and I don’t have to take a midterm anymore because I graduated grad school, I still get to be the friendly face that’s like, “I don’t want you to worry about this random elevator problem in the building while you’re studying.”
And being there for the worst times and being there for the best times is so classic res life, that just trying to have that positive outlook when everyone else is a little stressed, that’s part of the job. So really excited to meet the new crop of students. Their birthdays, the year of their birthdays get further and further. For those of you that might be listening and aren’t in res life yet, you’re just starting out like, “Ooh.” When it starts to say 05, 06, and you’re like, “How old was I that year?” It’s very strange.
So it’s exciting to get another little group to see them grow. And especially, this is actually the fourth year that I’ve been in my institution, so I had a really weird moment of when I started, those freshmen just graduated this past May, and then I also happened to graduate with them with my master’s. And so it was a really full circle kind of… Not my pandemic job panning out and I’m still here, and these students that went through so much craziness. And some of them they voted for the first time then, some of them are voting for the first time now. It’s really intense, but really beautiful.

Dustin Ramsdell:
Yeah, you’re just striking on all the very existential chords here. Yeah, and that’s great, I think just that perspective of those little moments for you or big moments for other people looking at that sort of challenge as an opportunity. And certainly taking this month of August, which like you said, it’s certainly a busy month, but it is the start of a new chapter in so many different ways. Even the president, where yeah, I mean, I have this whole month of July, I’m sure that president was busy, but the start of their first academic year, that’s a big deal. And certainly I guess the existential chords of… Sounds like it is a new era for you in terms of those first students who graduated, you closed one book your starting a new book of… I mean, I guess it’s always going to be now students who are graduating every year that you’ve worked with. But then with that new president and all that, it’s just this tangled nod of existential emotional kind of stuff.
But I guess it’s good to have that awareness and all that, and also know that this month of August is this sort of transition into a lot of newness, a lot of opportunity, and trying to center yourself around all those sort of broader forces in the context and everything. And just knowing better now I guess how important it is to take care of yourself and all that, so that you can give those meaningful experiences that other people. And so a lot of good stuff to look forward to, and a lot of awesome stuff it sounds like happening for you in this upcoming academic year.
But yeah, I just appreciate you so much for doing these episodes, and for being the intern this summer, and working on a great resource for student staff members and for those professional staff that support them. And yeah, like I said, we’ll have ways connect with what you’ve been working on, and you, and all that in the description show notes for this episode. But yeah, this has just been great. I mean, it is really just a treat for me to now have been able to do this a few times now, and speak with the interns and everything, and just hear about your journey. So just really appreciate your time and willingness to share.

Seferine Baez:
Yeah, thanks for having me once again. And let’s have a great year, everyone, right?