RAs get ready for new school year

Resident assistants check out a resource fair in the Trabant University Center.

4:46 p.m., Aug. 25, 2004--On Saturday, Aug. 28, students will begin moving into UD residence halls for the beginning of the academic year. For almost two weeks, a dedicated team of more than 200 graduate and undergraduate students has been on campus working behind the scenes to make move-in day as pleasant an experience as possible for the more than 7,500 students who will call UD home this semester.

Included in this group are 183 resident assistants (RAs), 30 hall directors, a graduate assistant for diversity initiatives and a graduate assistant for residential community standards. Working with Office of Residence Life staff members, the resident assistant team fosters student success by encouraging, empowering and educating fellow students about important issues they may face during the school year.

“Students need somebody to assist them and help them get where they are going,” Cathy Skelley, assistant director for community standards in the Office of Residence Life, said. “The job of a good RA or hall director is to help students to make good choices. It’s a 24-hour-a-day job.”

Helping students to make the transition from living at home to living in a university setting begins when residence life staff members meet in July to discuss issues, review new programming models and listen to speakers from other units on campus.

In mid-August the new resident assistant team gets down to business by participating in a training program that addresses the various aspects of life on campus at UD.

“Our training focuses on providing our RAs with the skills they need to help students make the transition to independence while living in a residence hall community,” Skelley said. “We want our students to be successful, and our staff training and student programming is centered on achieving this goal.”

Issues discussed during training—including a three-day resident assistant training (RAT) camp held away from campus—include ethics and integrity, creating personal relationships and building inclusive communities. Also included in the training is information on dealing with confrontational situations through the development of listening, mediation and conflict-resolution skills.

Other subjects covered in the two-week training session are diversity training, student behavior, policy review and crisis management, all in preparation for new student check-in day, which begins on Saturday, Aug. 28. Halls open for returning students on Sunday, Aug. 29. Academic orientation and New Student Convocation on Monday, Aug. 30, mark the formal beginning of the 2004-05 academic year, with classes starting on Tuesday, Aug. 31.

Resident assistants are recruited by word of mouth, through recommendations of current and past RAs and hall directors and through advertisements in The Review, the student-operated newspaper.

“We are looking for people to lead, and who are qualified and dedicated, and we are looking for people who are interested in helping other people,” Skelley said. “This is more than just a job—it’s a life-style.”

Frank Newton, assistant director for staff selection and training in the Office of Residence Life, said that this commitment to serving the needs of other students reflects a yearlong commitment on the part of resident assistants, hall directors and graduate student assistants.

“As members of the residence life team, it is our job to help students acclimate to the UD environment,” Newton said. “It is great to see more than 200 students working with other students to accomplish this.”

For more information on move-in activities and the services provided by the Office of Residence Life visit [www.udel.edu/reslife].

Article by Jerry Rhodes
Photos by Kathy Atkinson and Kevin Quinlan

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