In the world of residence life, we spend a lot of time encouraging students to “get involved,” “build community,” and “live their values.” We organize programming, lead dialogues, and guide residents toward civic engagement with the hope that these experiences will help shape them into thoughtful, connected members of the broader society. But how often do we pause to ask: are we doing the same? How often are we finding ourselves trapped within the “bubble” of campus too?
Over the past three years, I’ve had the privilege of serving as a member of, and then the vice president of, the board of directors for a local nonprofit centered around nonviolence. This role—entirely separate from my campus responsibilities—has become one of the most grounding and generative parts of my life. It’s reminded me of the importance of finding community not just for our students, but for ourselves.
Beyond the Campus Bubble
Higher education can easily become insular. As residence life professionals, we’re on call, emotionally attuned to crises, and deeply embedded in student life. It’s meaningful work, but it can be consuming. Getting involved off campus gave me the space to breathe outside the university bubble and reconnect with the world around me—not as a professional, but as a neighbor, an advocate, and a human being.
Joining the board of a local nonprofit focused on nonviolence gave me a new kind of community: one rooted in shared values but free of job titles and institutional expectations. I met artists, educators, and activists who brought new perspectives and energy into my life. I found myself having deep, restorative conversations that had nothing to do with housing assignments or duty logs—and everything to do with hope, justice, and building a better world.
Creativity with a Purpose
Professionally, I’m often creative within certain parameters—crafting bulletin boards or facilitating workshops. But my board service invited a different kind of creativity. I contributed to campaign planning, helped shape organizational messaging, and even planned events that aligned with the nonprofit’s mission of peace and justice.
This kind of creative work reminded me how vital it is to stay intellectually and emotionally engaged outside the boundaries of our jobs. It refueled my energy in a way that burnout-weary professionals will understand. Importantly, it wasn’t just self-care—it was values-based care. I was actively helping shape a community I believed in, through creative and strategic input that felt authentic to me.
Walking the Talk
We encourage our residents to be engaged citizens: to vote, volunteer, speak up, show up, and build bridges. I realized that my nonprofit board role wasn’t just good for me—it modeled the very values I’m trying to instill in others.
It’s easy to talk about civic responsibility and connection in theory. But showing up every month for board meetings, advocating for local initiatives, and building relationships gave me lived experience that informs how I talk to students about leadership and community. When I facilitate dialogues or mentor student leaders, I’m drawing not just from campus best practices, but from real, grounded experience working in my own city alongside passionate changemakers.
Finding Your Own Way In
If you’re a residence life professional wondering how to stay engaged beyond campus, consider finding a cause or organization that speaks to your values. Maybe it’s food justice, arts education, mutual aid, environmental work, or—in my case—non-violence. Getting involved locally helps you build friendships, foster creativity, and stay in touch with the very essence of the community you’re working to create on campus.Ultimately, we teach better when we’re practicing what we preach. My involvement off campus hasn’t taken away from my professional work—it’s enriched it. It’s helped me feel more rooted, more resilient, and more inspired. There are some pretty clear connections between residence life work and conflict resolution/nonviolence work, ones that I have been able to bring into residential experience, like restorative practices in RA development. However, even in other spaces where I volunteer (from an urban farm to fostering dogs), I am growing as a leader. Peter Block, in his book Community: The Structure of Belonging, talks about how every gathering is an opportunity to deepen accountability and commitment through engagement, no matter what the stated purpose is. By putting ourselves in spaces to be in more community, we grow in our understanding that we are all mutually responsible for the collective. And it’s a reminder that building community doesn’t stop at the campus gate. It starts with each of us, exactly where we are.
