Summer is a time to rest and recharge from the school year, even if you are still going to classes or working. This is the time to recharge from your residence life responsibilities, and hopefully, begin to prepare for the coming Fall. While it may feel unnecessary to begin planning before the semester begins, taking a moment now (while you have the time) can make training and move-in a much easier experience. Additionally, now is the best time for you to reflect on what you would like to do differently. The past year and its challenges are still relatively fresh in your mind, as well as any feedback you received from your supervisor and peers. This is also the opportunity to do some personal reflection if you haven’t done so. Ask yourself “What did you find particularly challenging about work this year? What can you do differently to improve or alleviate those issues?” Doing this reflection is an important sign of growth that your supervisor will be looking for at your first meeting of the academic year.
Identify Resident Challenges
There are several different stages to the residential experience (especially for freshman and first year residents), and each of these stages have corresponding anxieties. Understanding these phases and anxieties is extremely helpful when connecting with your residents and planning programing and events. The first phase is move-in, and this can either be incredibly exciting for your residents or they may be experiencing homesickness and anxiety about being in an unfamiliar environment. Plan to take advantage of this high energy time in your programming, but also be prepared for the opposite reaction.
Next, there is the adjustment period that occurs after move-in and before midterms. This is when residents will be having the most trouble with their academic, social, and personal lives. It can be a good idea to have calmer, lower energy events during this time to help give your residents a place to de-stress. Think about what helps you. That can be a guide.
And then… midterms, which is naturally a period of high academic stress. Planning low stress or exam related programming during this phase can be helpful to you and your residents. Between midterms and finals is often when you begin to see burnout crop up in your residents. Having a really fun or energizing program can distract from these feelings and give residents the boost they need to keep going.
Finally there are finals and the end of the semester, another period of high stress. While it may be primarily academic stress, some residents will experience anxiety over the semester ending. This can be due to them having to stay on campus while most students are leaving, or they could be anxious about returning home. As you think about programming, this is another phase where de-stress events do well. Additionally this is a good time to refresh yourself on the mental health resources offered by your university, so that you can discuss them with your residents if they appear to be struggling.
Schedule! Schedule! Schedule!
Taking the time early on to block out what your academic semester will look like will make planning your duty schedule far easier. Check what your weekly class schedule looks like, and make a note of anything that could impact your duty schedule such as evening classes or early mornings. Block out times for any extracurriculars you participate in, or if you don’t know what the time commitment is, make a list of those activities. This will serve as a reminder of your time commitments, which can help prevent you from overcommitting yourself. Finally, try and get an idea about which holidays you don’t mind working, and which holidays you want to leave campus for. Having a plan ahead of time for your duty schedule will make it less likely that you have to scramble to reschedule shifts.
Front Load Your Work!
The start of the Fall semester is an incredibly busy time in residence life, due to all of the preparations that need to happen for move-in. This is especially true for RA’s and other student staff, as training and move-in preparations occur simultaneously. While you aren’t likely required to do work in the Summer to get ready for Fall, you might be feeling bored at home and want to do something that your future self will thank you for. Using your summer free time to brainstorm and plan out your door decs and bulletin boards will cut down the amount of time you have to spend on those things during training. Something to consider when planning your door decs is the medium and whether you’ll make them by hand or design them digitally. Handmade door decs allow for greater customization, but digital designs are easier to create and produce.
Just remember that taking some time now will make your life easier in the future. Have a great summer and know that you’ve got this!
