A post-break reset for RAs focused on rebuilding momentum, re-establishing expectations, and reconnecting with residents after winter break, with Assistant Director Chasten Conway. This episode covers strategies for addressing burnout, re-engaging residents, and setting a strong tone for the semester ahead.
Guest: Chasten Conway (he/him), Assistant Director of Residential Life and Conduct, University of Texas at San Antonio
Host: Anthony Martinez
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Transcript:
Anthony Martinez:
Welcome back to the Roompact Podcast and welcome back to your spring semester. If you’re listening to this while you are back in your apartment or your residence hall and you’re unlocking that duty phone for the first time in weeks, or starting to enter into an empty hallway, this episode is for you. And again, this is our special RA Chat edition. So I am very excited today. And again, today’s episode is called the Spring Reset because spring isn’t a restart, it’s just a recalibration.
And we’re talking about how RAs can re-energize their communities, reset expectations, and reconnect with residents after the winter break without burning themselves out, especially in week one. And I am joined by a very special guest today, and we were talking prior, so I’m very excited to see what he has to say. And I will let him introduce himself right now.
Chasten Conway:
Hello. My name is Chasten Conway and I’m the current Assistant Director of Res Life and Conduct at UTSA or University of Texas at San Antonio. Yeah, love being on video. It’s really fun and refreshing. Not nervous at all, but I’m so glad to be a part of this episode with someone just as amazing as Anthony Martinez.
Anthony Martinez:
Yes, Chasten is amazing. He has a lot of student knowledge, and I’m sure you have a lot of students who will be fangirling, seeing you on video right now, as well as part of the podcast. We’re going to go on ahead and get started with our first question, which is to start us off from your perspective, Chasten, what do you think feels different about the residence halls after winter break compared to fall move-in? I know with your experience in higher education, you’ve seen a lot of move-ins, a lot of move-outs, and a lot of winter breaks. So again, what do you think are those differences that you see when we’re coming back from the winter break compared to the fall?
Chasten Conway:
Yeah. With my experience within Res Life, with working at multiple SCC schools, Ole Miss, LSU and all that, you see different types of students and different demeanors and stuff like that. And I think for me, the big thing that you see differences, maybe students’ ability to focus and everything, because a lot of them, maybe they didn’t pull out the grades they needed to in the first semester. So they’re trying to refocus or recalibrate, okay, how do I keep my scholarship? How I do these things? Another thing is change. Change naturally happens, whether it’s passing of someone really close to them, which is really hard. Or if it’s maybe they didn’t get that PS5 that they really wanted for Christmas. So it’s those different types of change that they can’t really control. So coming back to college is something that they feel like they have control of, but now they have to recalibrate and figure out what is their goals for the year.
I am the type of person, I hate New Year’s resolutions because I’m like, you’re setting unrealistic goals. However, I think New Year’s resolutions can be well. And that’s related to what we’ll talk about later on about setting up actual obtainable goals and saying, “I’m going to go to the gym every day.” Probably not realistic if you haven’t been to the gym once this year. So let’s reel that in. What is actually obtainable? So maybe going to the gym two times out of the week. I think that’s something realistic and I think it relates back to what has changed. People are trying to find routines. And I think the same thing can be said for RAs or RHCs. Maybe someone you had as a supervisor or a coworker or someone like that has either graduated or they left or changes just naturally happening within higher ed.
I mean, for complex coordinators and all that, most of the time those jobs are for three, four years. And the same thing for a RA. You’re not going to be an RA for the rest of your life. I hope not. Get a degree. And you have to start navigating that while you’re also trying to be a resource. And I hope that you listen to that, a resource. You’re not the only resource for these residents to make sure that they have those connections. And yeah, I think the spring semester is, in my honest opinion, harder than the fall because you have these relationships with some of your residents. And maybe Billy Bob is not one of your favorite residents, but you still have to interact with him. And so how do you do that? And that’s something me and Anthony will talk about today is like, how do you reestablish those kind of things?
And yeah, I think the big thing is just change and the unknowing nature or what is my degree? What are these things that you don’t really have control over? But a lot of times they try to take control and then sometimes you have to let it go.
Anthony Martinez:
Yeah. I like that you talk about those realistic goals, those smart goals that you’ll hear people mention. It’s like, “Oh, I have a resolution. Let’s go every day.” Okay, well, let’s set a smart goal. How many times are you going and everything? And so that’s really good to keep in mind when doing that with your residents and talking about the focus on academics. And sometimes it may be quieter in the residence halls in a different way and students may come back tired because again, you’ve already established things. And so they’re like, “Oh, okay, back into my routine again.” And so mentioning that I think is really important along with those resources. We leave for the winter, but sometimes we forget to refer those individuals to those resources because it’s been a second. And so all of that together, I think, and tying it with the bow of sometimes the spring can be harder due to the fact that we’re coming back from all of this and now we need to get into the groove once again.
And so I love your take on that and what you had to say. I know we are going to move into our second question, which are what are some common challenges RAs experience personally during this return that maybe don’t get talked about enough?
Chasten Conway:
Yeah. I think realistically, the first thing I think about is I think they have the doom and gloom of the fall semester of a previous, and maybe they didn’t do grades, like I mentioned earlier, maybe they didn’t meet those grades or those expectations they set for themselves. So it’s kind of like that doom and gloom of like, okay, now I have to do it. Or, we have staff members that are about to graduate and now not only do I have to do my classes and I’m an RA, but I also have to job search because job searching is like another job. It truly is, and you don’t get paid for it. So you have to figure out how to balance all those things and the ever-changing nature of Res Life because no semester is the same. I’ve been doing this for over 10 years, no semester is the same, and it’s very challenging, but I enjoy that ever-changing because it makes it exciting and you have to rethink of strategies and stuff.
But I think that’s a big challenge that a lot of people don’t talk about as an RA is that you’re trying to balance all these different aspects of your life while also trying to be a resource for other people. And that can sometimes be tiring and stuff because another thing that relates directly to that is compassion fatigue. Maybe you’ve had to tell Billy Bob to stop being noisy for every on-call that you’ve done. And now you’re at the point where you’re like, “I don’t want to talk to Billy Bob. I would rather him just be quiet.” So it’s like knowing when to tap into your supervisor and be like, “This is not me, sweetie.” Or in a polite way and ask, “Can you assist me or do you have any resources that might help lead that conversation?” Because I think again, we as professionals know that we’ve also been on-call. So we understand getting multiple calls in a night and sometimes you’re tired and it’s like you can still ask for help, but also being respectful and also using what you can and what you can’t do.
So I think that’s one thing that I think a lot of times supervisors or even in higher ed we forget is that it’s not like we just had a huge break. It’s two weeks. So two weeks doesn’t account for multiple months of that. And then some of these students have been student staff members during the summer. And so it’s important to keep that in mind that maybe they haven’t really gotten a break and this is their first break. So actually being realistic of what does training look like to help battle that and what team builders… I’m not a big icebreaker fan, but what are some things that what we can do to build that camaraderie with each other?
Anthony Martinez:
Yes. Yes. I love that you talked about the doom and gloom for the RAs, how no semester’s the same, and even compassion fatigue. And I think this kind of also ties into your previous point of where you mentioned resources. And so we are resources for the RAs. And so the RAs reaching out to us as a resource, different resources on their campus. I know we had a podcast last month talking about career research and what does it look like to start looking for your career. And so if RAs are listening now and want to go take a listen to that, Roompact is a resource for you. And so yes, agree with all of that, but knowing most importantly for pro staff if they’re listening too of how can we support our students. So thank you for that. We’re going to switch up the questions here and move into more of some maybe tips for the resident assistants that are listening.
So one thing that RAs often ask is, how do I reset expectations with my residents without sounding like I’m lecturing everyone again? And so do you have any advice on that of what that looks like for the RAs when they come back and some of them may do a floor meeting or want to meet with their residents?
Chasten Conway:
Yeah, that’s something I think about often whenever I think about supervising RAs or supervising people that supervise the RAs is you have to think of fresh new ways. I think of the saying, and we’re going to count how many times in this podcast that I just say random sayings, but an apple a day keeps the doctor away. I think it’s in that, but also realizing you have to change it up. If you’re only having apples for lunch, dinner, and breakfast, you’re not getting the nutrients you need. So thinking about it in that aspect of how can I still get the information with them, but also getting their engagement. Because if they’re engaged, they’re learning. So I think instead of doing a lecture style, maybe do jeopardy or maybe think about the things that are relevant right now. Heated Rivalry, Bridgerton’s about to have a new season on. Think about things that maybe you can pull for that that can do questions on the policies that are within the hall.
Maybe show a scene of the thing, copyright, watch out for that. But copyright [inaudible 00:10:56] policies. Does this work with the policies that we set for this university? And I think it’s relating it back to that. For IR writing, I pull up videos and we’ll watch, of Harry Potter, different scenes and have them write the incident out and be like, “Tell me what happened,” and all that. So it’s being realistic and also doing things that they’re going to remember. They’re not going to remember you lecturing them, but they will remember, oh, you showed that funny video, and I remember that. So it’s like those little things and also realizing no one’s ever going to learn all the policies in one of those sittings.
Most of the time it is, sadly, whenever you’re having to respond to a call and you’re having to be like, “Hey, my supervisor will be in touch because of a conduct violation or X, Y, and Z.” So realistic guidelines, because I also think you have to flip it on the script, “Do you actually know your RA agreement that you signed at the beginning of the year?” And most of the time, no, until you’re deep in it and you’re like, “Oh, you are right. I didn’t know that that was in our contract.” So I think it’s also being realistic to yourself and being like, if I’m realistically, during RA training, I’m not listening. The residents probably are also like, “Bro, I just got done dealing with my family for two weeks. I’m good.”
Anthony Martinez:
No, that is good. I love that you talk about meeting students where they’re at and also staying relevant. I know sometimes we will provide information as professional staff. And although a lot of us live in the residence halls and around the students, that doesn’t mean we exactly know what the students are listening to are watching. And so really tying it in and being relevant I think is really important. I know I’ve seen my residents do Labubus, and I was like, I don’t know what this is, but sure. And people loved it and they ate it up. That’s great. They’re paying attention. It was based around keys. And so talking about the relevancy I think is really important and students applying that so that way it doesn’t feel like a lecture. And you kind of answered the second question. And so I really want to move on to the next one, which is talking about what are some things you think RAs should avoid doing when setting these expectations? And you kind of touched on it a little bit.
Chasten Conway:
Yeah, I think for me, the things to stop doing, just because when you’re a resident, your RA did this amazing program of ice, they did a ice cream social, doesn’t mean you have to do that. I think a lot of times in Res Life, we think rinse and repeat, but sometimes you can only wash a garment so many times until it starts breaking apart or it loses its color and all that. So just making sure you’re being realistic of what actually works and what doesn’t, it goes back to what you just said, knowing what’s relevant and what’s not. If you know that you’ve never had any noise complaints, maybe not focusing on a noise complaint program. Or if you are having noise complaints, okay, let’s do… I used to do a program called Unquiet Hours where we would go throughout the hall and do pots and pans and bang and make noise.
And when the residents came out, we would give them a snack and be like, “Hi, this is just a reminder to follow the policy of noise. That was annoying, so don’t be annoying.” In a more polite way, but, it still gets the point across like, “Hey, that is annoying.” So having that conversation, making the programs more relevant than just being like, “Okay, here’s a lecture or here’s a pamphlet,” because we know they’re not reading them, we are killing the trees and let’s not kill the trees. Let’s be sustainable. So thinking what’s relevant, what’s actually going on, because different halls have different things. So if they have an LLC, maybe partnering with that LLC, I think sometimes RAs feel like they have to wait for their pro staff to make these amazing program ideas or they want to make partnerships, but loop in your supervisor, I guarantee you they’re not going to say no to you wanting to make those connections.
So thinking outside of the box. But I think another thing to stop doing is when you get potentially mid-year new hires or all that, making sure you’re looping them in because maybe that’s their first time ever being an RA. So helping them see, oh, maybe this is, maybe do a collaborative program and also stop just collaborating with the same people you know. I think that’s when you grow the most is when you’re putting yourself in a challenge of like, I don’t know how they work well with other people or maybe I work with another building to make that collaboration happen and stuff because I think that goes a long way.
Anthony Martinez:
Yeah, most definitely. With that, I’m going to switch gears a little bit and talk a little bit about engagement and with RAs. So thank you for those final points on that. But my next question for you is how do RAs manage the discouragement when engagement doesn’t look the way it hoped? And so if they’re having these floor meetings or new programs at the beginning of the year or they’re trying to interact with residents, how do they manage that possible discouragement of like, oh no, it’s not like how it was when they came in in the fall?
Chasten Conway:
Yeah, I think the big thing is taking a moment to reflect and see what went well, what did not go well. I think a lot of times you need to just sit back and be like, okay, so only five people came to the program. So maybe it’s the time of the program. Did we think about maybe they all have class, maybe the program wasn’t well planned out. That’s always an option. Maybe you waited last minute to get your supplies so you were rushing. That’s always a thing. But I think stop blaming yourself in that aspect that it all lays on you because we’ve all thrown programs that have flopped and that we thought were going to be the greatest thing. And then whenever it happens, you’re like, “Oh, that was not it.”
And I think you have to be realistic because I think at the end of the day, knowing the size of the program and what the program is, if it’s a physical activity program, you’re kind of making it where someone that has a disability or something that couldn’t be a part of it, yeah, you’re cutting down the amount of people that could do it.
So I’ve thrown a dodgeball event before and not a lot of people came to it, but, you have to look at the event. So if 50 people came to a dodgeball event, that’s pretty good considering not everyone likes to be physical, not everyone likes those things. So when you’re making a program, start assessing, okay, was it something that everyone was into? Because if I’m only having a listening party for every new Taylor Swift album or Beyonce, what if people don’t like Beyonce and Taylor Swift? I think that’s hard to feel that someone wouldn’t like them, but you have to think about it. Maybe that’s not everyone’s cup of tea. So it’s important to really think about what is actually obtainable and then also looking at what area are you having it? Are you having it where no one walks past because no one’s going to see your event if you’re in a corner, you do the lobby or maybe it’s you waited last minute to get that reservation for that space. So now you are.
So I think it’s a lot of things that you can take a lot of the discouragement off of yourself, but also going back to our earlier points we talked about, think of things that are relevant and also using that into it. Because if people love Labubus, why are we not doing a Labubu program? We have those resources. Most programs have money to give the RAs for programming. So thinking about how can I make this relevant and how can I make it fun? Because if you’re not wanting to go to an event there, your residents aren’t going to want to go.
Anthony Martinez:
No, most definitely. Thank you for that. Those are all great points. I have nothing to add on, I think. You really hit the nail on the head with that. So thank you, Chasten.
Chasten Conway:
You’re welcome.
Anthony Martinez:
With that, we’ll move into our final question and then we’ll try and do a quick little rapid round. But what do you think sustainable RA work looks like in the spring? And so we started the conversation talking about how RAs have their own responsibilities and get overwhelmed. And we’ve talked about floor meetings and engaging with residents, how to be relevant, et cetera, so on and so forth. But what does that look like sustainably for RAs to continue through the semester?
Chasten Conway:
Yeah, I think when I was an RA, people would tell me this and I would roll my eyes, but okay. But I think using a planner or Outlook calendar to plan your programs out in advance, I think you know certain deadlines are going to happen. You know attentional interactions, you know that you’re going to have to do programs, you know that you’re going to have staff meetings. So planning out your semester, especially if you’re graduating, making sure you’re planning ahead of, okay, I need to set time aside to be able to not only be an RA, but also to be a person. So I think that’s a lot of times where I see a lot of burnout or frustration within the spring semester is because it’s not the same as the fall. To me, I feel like the spring is a mad dash. You’re running for the finish line and then you just got back and we’re going to hit Fire Life Safety.
You’re going to do all those different things that are routine. And if you haven’t set up all of the things you need to do within your job responsibilities, it’s hard. And it’s not one of those easy things that you teach. And I always say that being an RA is very unique. And even RHC, that’s very unique within you’re going to school full-time, but you’re also technically, you’re living where you work. And sometimes it’s hard to turn off whenever a resident always needs you, but you have to start thinking, okay, how am I going to plan out these meetings? How am I going to do these different things? So if you, from RA training, you’re just sit down and you open up your thing, okay, I’m going to do a program this day, I’m going to do that, and then start planning it out and then already putting in your request to have those things ordered well in advance.
It’s going to make your life easier. You can literally just be like, okay, I’m done with programming because I’ve already planned out what I’m going to do, when I need to put in the request. So just being realistic and also knowing your budget and all that with your supervisor. But I also think sometimes RAs forget, if you’re going through it, ask your supervisor for an extension or ask your supervisor for assistance with like, “I am out of fresh ideas. What can I do for a program?” That’s something I really appreciate about RAs that were real with me and they’re like, “I don’t like programming.” I’m like, “Okay, cool. So we still have to do it. It’s a part of your job, but what can we do realistically that would be fun?” And most of the time I just ask them, “What do you enjoy doing?” And for example, someone was like, “I like Taylor Swift and she was having a new album out.” And I’m like, “That’s relevant. Do it. Have a listening party.”
And I think you know with media and all that, there’s always going to be something new out there. So even if you just are like, “We’re going to do a little watch party or we’re going to paint something and talk about or listen to.” It’s like those different aspects that it’s a very easy low-hanging fruit that you’re able to be like, “Okay, this is relevant.” But also life skills, I’m sure there’s something in college that you did not know how to do. So think about that, myself as a first-gen student, I didn’t know how to do FAFSA. So maybe you have a FAFSA workshop or God forbid I have to change a tire. So there’s different things that if you know how to do, I guarantee you some of your residents do not know how to do and that can be relevant.
Anthony Martinez:
Yeah, most definitely. Thank you. Thank you for that. And with that, we’ll move into our rapid round questions. And so this is something we really like to do around here, but Chasten, we’re going to move through some questions really fast and then I’ll let you talk about any final resources that you may have or how students can get in contact with you. And so with that, some quick hit questions. One thing you think RAs should start doing this spring?
Chasten Conway:
Yeah, start planning. Start planning ahead. I’m telling you, that’s the one thing whenever you graduate and get your degree because you’re all going to do great things in this world, start planning, because I love how people are like, “I have time management down.” I promise you, post grad school or post bachelor’s, you do not have it down. You think you have an aspect of it down and then you get added these responsibilities, you’re like, “Oh, okay.” And you realize maybe your supervisors were pretty great about reminding you, because I guarantee you my supervisor love her to death. She’s not always going to remind me on things because that’s my responsibility as a professional to do that. So it’s like start setting reminders for yourself. You will thank me later. I think start being nice to yourself in that aspect. I think a lot of times RAs beat up on themselves because their residents didn’t come to this or they have ghost residents that don’t want to interact with them, know that as long as you’re putting in an effort, your supervisor sees that and that’s all that matters.
And also knowing that you have to pour into your cup because if you have an empty cup, you can only give so much. So knowing what signs of your burnout, and making sure you’re paying attention to that. Because at the end of the day as supervisors, we love to be able to be like, “Hey, you need support and all that,” but know that support can’t just be a word. You have to tell, “Hey, this is what I need.” And so I think that’s something that I really would love for student staff to start doing more of is like, “Hey, I’m really struggling with X, Y, and Z.” And then helping that conversation, because we know you’re real people. It’s not like you’re just here for being an RA, because again, we want you to get a degree, make the world better.
Anthony Martinez:
Perfect. Next question is one thing they should stop doing?
Chasten Conway:
Stop giving out your phone number to these residents. I promise you, they can go to the front desk and call the on-call phone. They don’t need your number. I’m not even the biggest fan of GroupMe, but we got to have some communication with them, so sure. But also, I think sometimes RAs make themselves too available and I’m like, “Do they really need you at 3:00 AM whenever there’s someone else on-call?” No. I think obviously there’s some moments where if you feel your heart tells you, “Yes, I need to help them.” Awesome. But knowing if you set that expectation, and it goes back to our original conversation, you have to set realistic expectations. Because if you’re always available at 3:00, and then you’re trying to change it, it’s hard to change because that’s the expectation you gave them.
Anthony Martinez:
Yeah. Setting those boundaries, very important, very important. And then my final question for you is one thing they should continue from the fall.
Chasten Conway:
I think continue challenging yourself, continuing making time for yourself also to study, to think about outside of the box, think about things that you love about this position. A lot of times we think about just the positive of the job, but we also have to realistically think about the other aspect. Continually thinking whether this job pours into you. I think a lot of times in Res Life, we don’t want to talk about that, but I think it’s real. If you are always drained and it’s because of the RA position or whatever, maybe there is a better position for you. Don’t feel like just because this is working right now doesn’t mean that you can’t find something better or that’s better suited for you. Obviously, we want you all to stay in the position. We love having staff that we adore and stuff. But at the end of the day, as a complex coordinator or used to be a complex coordinator, and I can pretty much pretty sure say Anthony feels the same way.
We would rather see you be happy in another thing if this is not it. So I think continually think about yourself instead of the weight of someone else, because at the end of the day, y’all graduate, you’re going to leave, you’re going to do all these things. So you don’t want to regret, oh, I didn’t do this in my undergrad. So if you want to be all right, slay, apply. But if you don’t, it’s okay. Some people are like, after they do it for a year, they’re like, “This is not for me.” And I’m like, “Hey, I’m glad you had that realization.”
Anthony Martinez:
Yes, agreed, agreed. We definitely want you happy at the end of the day here. And with that, Chasten, do you have any final words or how you would like students to connect with you or anyone listening to connect with you after?
Chasten Conway:
Yeah. So I think if you want to connect, LinkedIn, my name, if you type it in, I guarantee you you’ll find all of me because yeah, my name is unique. Thanks, mom. But I also, the last thing I want to say is what you allow will continue. I think that’s the biggest thing that I’ve learned in my career is what you allow will continue. So if you don’t want them knocking on your door, having that open and honest conversation, being like, “Hey, whenever it’s after hours, please go to the front desk.” Or maybe I’m always submitting assignments last minute. Okay. So if you’re allowing yourself to do that, you need to stop. So I think just going back to you have the control of your life, so making sure you’re controlling it, but also making sure you’re plugging in that controller to get charged because if it’s not and it’s dead, how can you control your life if you’re running on fumes? You can’t.
So there’s always resources like counseling and all that different things that works for you. And colleges, they also have different programs that you can get into. I know for me, I’m not the best at technology, so sometimes I’ll do Excel classes where I can learn something else. So making sure you’re pouring into yourself not only within your career focus, but also thinking about, oh, how can I better myself as a human being? Maybe I’m taking classes on knitting. I don’t know. So just making sure you’re being realistic and also making sure that you’re making yourself a whole person.
Anthony Martinez:
Yes, agreed. Thank you, Chasten. And thank you to every RA, every student staff member listening right now. Your community as a reminder doesn’t need you to be perfect this semester as Chasten has been alluding to. They need you to just be present, consistent, and human. And so if you take one thing from this episode today, please try it out this week. And if the semester feels heavy really early on, just know you’re not alone and there are a ton of resources and staff members, your supervisors and even your peers that you can reach out to. And so again, thank you so much for listening, and we’ll see you next time here at Roompact.
