Every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, a group of students meets in class to learn how to become an RA, or resident adviser.
This RA training class is mandatory for students who want to be an RA in charge of a hall in the dorms on campus or part of Safewalk--a program that provides escorts to students who do not want to walk across campus at night alone.
'The RA training class is designed to help future RAs develop the skills necessary to be successful in the RA position,' said Amy Davenport, director of Housing and Food Services in an e-mail.
Jim Johnson, history senior, is in his second year as the RA for Walker 7 West.
'The biggest help [in the RA class] was effective programming and ideas for how to do that, and the class laid down some good guidelines for how to be an effective RA,' he said.
One perk to being an RA is receiving free room and board in the dorms.
'I enjoyed living in the dorms,' Johnson said. 'I felt that I could make it a little easier for freshmen to adjust. Having my room and board paid for was one of the attracting features, but not the only attracting feature.'
RAs have duties ranging from programming events in their individual halls and across campus to going on rounds at night to citing people for various offenses.
'It has its ups and downs,' Johnson said. 'Most of the time it"s very good because you get to be in a position to get to know a lot of people you wouldn"t generally meet as an upper classman, like the freshmen that live in the dorms.'
Johnson said the negative part about being an RA comes when having to deal with various problems that arise.
'It"s not fun to cite people,' he said.
Each student who wants to be in the class must go through an application process by sending in a resume and essay.
Acceptance into the class is based on the effort and care placed into writing the essay, cover letter and resume, as well as having at least a 2.5 grade-point average for the last semester and a cumulative 2.5 GPA, Davenport said.
Once students are accepted into the class, they learn about being an RA.
'We"re learning different theories of development, how people change during their first and all their years of college, and when to help and when to refer them to someone else because we"re not professionals,' said Kristen Hudec, psychology junior, who is in the class this semester. 'We"re just there to help when people need it.'
The class also teaches the students about programming events, communication skills and how to be a resource for students.
'Students are expected to leave the class at the end of the semester with a better understanding of student development, community development, programming, peer advising and policy enforcement,' Davenport said.
Students who complete the RA training class with a 'B' or higher fill out an additional application and go through an interview process.
'RA applicants will be interviewed by a selection committee and will be asked questions that relate to the class and the RA position,' Davenport said. 'Students are scored for selection on a variety of factors from their interview responses to their application packet.'
Students selected to be an RA will either be in charge of a floor in the dorms or be a Safewalk RA, which involves helping run Safewalk, planning programs, registering bicycles and performing other duties.
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