Resident assistants, on top of their classes and social lives, are regularly helping out their residents. Because of this, RA’s tend to develop some pet peeves.
RaShawn Flowers, a sophomore social science major from Daleville and an RA in Trojan Village 300, recalled being asked by female residents to kill a cockroach in their dorm room.
“I walked into the room to find that it was humongous, and the moment I go towards it, all the girls in the room just ran screaming in fear that it was going to get them,” Flowers said.
Other than being called by the residents to solve meager problems, he said his biggest pet peeve was residents being unprepared for room checks.
“As a matter of fact, I would not be surprised to say ‘Oh look, I can’t seem to open your door because of the tsunami of clothes falling on me as I try it,’ ” Flowers said. “Although we give our residents a warning ahead of time that there will be a room check the next week, I will walk in and still be astonished to find out that the room is not clean.”
Indiana Poret, a junior social science and pre-law major from Nice, France, and an RA in Pace Hall, has a few pet peeves of her own.
“The most annoying thing is when they keep the lights on all the time,” Poret said.
She acknowledges that many students have not had to think of this responsibility before, but she would appreciate more environmentally conscious attitudes.
“It is most of their first time living away from home, and they probably did not have to care about it before but, you know, it wastes energy,” Poret said.
When asked about her pet peeves with residents, Camri Martin-Bowen, a junior nursing major from Wetumpka and the resident director of Hamil Hall, expressed her frustration over residents not considering that RA’s are students, too.
“They think we are not students, but we are,” Martin-Bowen said. “That kind of hurts a little bit when we need to get things done.”
Martin-Bowen also said she has now become a great planner, as she has to juggle clinical experience, school, social life and her responsibilities as an RD.
Sahil Hamal, a junior computer science major from Kathmandu, Nepal, and an RA at Gardner Hall, hates it when residents mess up his bulletin board.
“I put a lot of effort to make my bulletin board, and if somebody messes it up, then I get mad,” Hamal said.
From checking the residents in on move-in day to helping them adjust to their new life and walking through dirty rooms, RA’s manage to become caretakers, confidants and saviors.
RA’s are not only given great responsibilities over other students but are also given the opportunity to lead, succeed, help and inspire their residents.
Perhaps RA’s don’t get enough credit for all that they do. After all, helping students become more responsible, keeping a watchful eye on the dorms and maintaining bulletin boards all while juggling other respsonsilibites is quite a feat.
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