By Austin Korynta
In the (highly unlikely) event that nobody has told you this yet, congratulations on accepting the RA role! Being an RA is such an integral part to so many students’ lives. Throughout your time, you will make a significant impact on your community of residents’ lives, providing care in critical moments, outlets for connection, and inspiration to better themselves and pursue their own goals. Of course, in the same way that your role will impact others, it will also significantly impact you. You’ll learn collaboration with your fellow RAs, you’ll learn prioritization and balancing of multiple priorities, and there will be growing pains along the way. Nobody just snaps their fingers and turns into the perfect RA, so I wanted to provide a piece of advice for you to remember as you begin this journey yourself: trust your support. Support comes in all shapes and sizes, and I want to remind you and highlight the importance of two specific support pieces that are built-in for your role.
Your supervisor(s) will always be a significant source of support for you, make sure to lean into that connection! Your supervisor(s) will be around to provide you with feedback, answer your questions about the role, and provide care and support to you as a student under their purview. Oftentimes, your supervisor lives somewhere in your community themselves and might have experienced being an RA themselves. Rely on them to be a source of support for you throughout your time, and trust that they know what they’re doing. As supervisors, we know that you can’t take on everything, and we don’t expect that of you. Your supervisor is a trained professional with the skills to support you and handle concerns and issues that you might face in the RA role. Embrace their perspective and see what connection the two of you can make!
Another important, built-in piece of support for you is your team of RA peers. This may be shocking to you, but my experience shows that at the end of a year, most RAs will say that their favorite part of the job is being on the RA staff with their peers. It is a truly unique opportunity to live where you work, with your peers all being your neighbors. This built-in support system includes people in your own shoes of being new, to folks who are seasoned returners who aren’t here for their first rodeo. Together, you’ll make memories staying up late for duty rounds, encountering interesting situations, and making runs to campus convenience stores for late night snacks and adventures. Early on, when you are provided with opportunities to connect with your team, dive in! You don’t have to be best friends, or even friends at all with the people you work with, but if you can all get along and enjoy each other, this will in turn create a greater sense of community within your hall. Your residents will see it, and you will feel it!
Support will always look different for everyone. Know that while your supervisor(s) and your RA peers are examples of support right inside of your role and community, never shy away from your support outside of these people. Having a balance of support in and out of the role is always important, and it’s good for you to have different people that you can talk about different things with. All the same, trust in your built-in support network and make connections early on. The old cliché remains that “you cannot pour from an empty cup,” so don’t try! Your peers and supervisor(s) are here for you, and there’s no doubt that you’ll be there for them too.
