My Experience As A Resident Integrator

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A Status that I currently hold is that of a Resident Advisor on campus. This status comes with the prestige of being an MSU Residence LIfe employee, after going through a competitive hiring process. There is also power derived from that status. As an RA we are uphold the student code of conduct and enforce policy by way of documentation. In this environment, an RA is acutely aware of their roles in a team. There were eighteen people on my staff my first year as an RA, and sixteen on my staff in my second year. Being a second year RA is its own unique achieved status, as we are typically more experienced with conduct, have previous in-job experience, and know more about the unexpected strains it can place on first years. None of the lessons …show more content…

I waited in line for an hour to get the key to my new home, my dorm room. When I finally got to the front of the line, there was a table of smiling RAs who introduced themselves, and gave me more paperwork and names than I could keep track of, when I turned it all back in, I was given a key and a tee-shirt. In that moment, I had no idea those faces on the other side of the table of the table would become my most reliable friends. Over the course of that year, I noticed that my own values fell well within those of an RA’s responsibilities. The following Fall, I attended RA training, which can be described as falling just short of a total institution. The trainings have been consistent for the last two years, spend 10-12 hours in seminars learning about conduct, procedure, and paperwork, and the remaining time in staffs preparing the building for residents. Time outside of residence life in the two week fall training is limited to about two hours a day, if you get all of your work done. In training, professional staff tries to teach RAs about proper language and requires that RAs conform to the regulations put in place. The majority of socialization occurs when residents arrive on campus. On the job training comprises a large part of the learning curve, as being in situations is what truly shapes how we respond. When confronted with a conduct situation, meaning anything from noise to drug use, I quickly learned how to approach residents in a way that did not demean them, but made it clear that I had to perform my role as a conduct enforcer. There were multiple factors that helped the process of socialization in this role, one being the hoards of angry freshmen, irritated with me and scared that they got in trouble for underage drinking. The formal sanction of having a meeting with my superior about being less blunt was important, but not as helpful. The informal sanctions by

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