Nathalie Moreau is a junior communication studies major and is a residential senator for Undergraduate Student Government and a member of the Sharkettes. Her hobbies include reading, watching Netflix and hanging out with family and friends. She hopes to someday work for an entertainment news station.
It’s is 1:45 a.m. and I just woke up with my heart pounding because of the startling ring, which is comparable to a fire truck siren, emitting from the duty phone. By the second ring, I pick up the phone and answer, “RA on call. This is Nathalie.”
This is usually the start of a long Saturday night because I am a residential assistant. Yes, I’m that person who sits at the front desk and asks you to scan your SharkCard and sign in your guest when you walk into the residential halls after 6 p.m. I am also the person who hands you your key the day you move in and answers every question your parents can think to ask before they leave their baby at college. And, I’m the person who says, “Hi!” when I see you on campus and asks you how you’re doing. These are only a few of the parts that make up my job as a resident assistant.
All of it starts with a call taken on the infamous duty phone. The sound of the duty phone ringing is one of the most startling and unpredictable things to wake up to while I’m sleeping and on call for my residential building. It usually leads to opening a room door for a resident who lost both her SharkCard and room key in the same night.
It can also lead to an interesting night of tiptoeing through the hallway because a resident’s toilet overflowed and the water is leaking into his/her room and out the door I may even come across a cage with a furry animal that is not supposed to be in the building but has somehow scurried its way into a resident’s room. There are also the nights when I’ll have to break up a party in one of the resident’s rooms, and, if I’m lucky, there are also the nights that residents will bring the party back with them and leave it all over the bushes or in the nearest trash can or toilet. I also come across those more serious nights when a resident may be going through a lot of stuff in his or her life and needs to talk to someone. Those nights can get emotional and a little scary, but I feel prepared enough to handle those incidents from everything I learned in training along with my own experience working as an RA.
Whatever the case may be, a call usually follows with me grabbing my glasses, slipping on some shoes and throwing on a staff shirt and a hoodie. I will either keep my pajama bottoms on or, depending on how much time I have to respond to the incident, I will throw on a pair of jeans and find my way to the bathroom and turn on the light and make sure I look presentable to make my way downstairs. I grab my cell, keys, the duty phone, a pencil and paper and head out the door.
Once downstairs, I put on one of the many hats that I’ve accumulated as a residential assistant. I never know which one I’ll be wearing. It could be the, “My roommate and I just had a fight and I need somebody to talk to” beanie; the “There is probably a party going on in that room with the loud music and I’m going to have to check it out even though I’d rather be watching Netflix in bed” snapback; the, “My toilet is overflowing’ hard hat; the “I have a roach in my room. Can you help me kill it?” fedora; the “The people upstairs are making too much noise. Can you tell them to please stop?” sombrero; the “I lost my phone, my wallet and keys and my roommate’s not home. Can you please let me into my room?” sunhat; and, finally, the one hat I always have on–the reporter cap: “it is two in the morning. I’m half asleep. Thank goodness the creators of the iPhone Notes app were born because I wouldn’t be able to remember everything that just happened on my own.” As an RA, I have to document every incident, as well as anything that may be a cause for concern, and whatever I can’t remember off hand, I have to write down.
I’ve grown so much from my experience as a residential assistant. I’ve matured and gotten over a lot of obstacles that had set me back in the past. For example, because I’m a shy person, talking in front of an audience, and even in class, used to be very nerve racking and intimidating. Through this position, I have learned how to talk in front of large groups, how to be a leader, how to make my voice heard and how to plan and organize events and programs successfully. I’ve also learned to balance my academics, extracurricular activities and my social life. I have been able to lead a group of exceptional individuals that I get to call my residents–a group of students I may have never gotten the chance to talk to because I’m not involved in recreational sports or a theater major or even a biology major. Because I am a residential assistant, I’ve gotten to make connections with students from across campus who have come from all over the country and outside of it. This group of students, along with my RA staff and area coordinator, are all different yet extraordinary in their own way. They have really made the residence hall into my home away from home for the year.
It is hard to sum up what I do in a few paragraphs because this is such a unique position. It is one of those jobs that will never leave me. I’m not an RA from 6 to 11 p.m. when I sit at the front desk. Things happen 24/7. In my mind an RA is always on call. It is true when they say, “Once an RA, always an RA and proud of it!”
