Resident Advisor Reflection

< 350 Words per response
Resident Advisors serve in a variety of roles in their community. What experiences have you had that prepared you for the RA role? Through those experiences, what have you learned about yourself that makes you a strong RA candidate?

Resident Advisors are resources for their residents and are knowledgeable about the four pillars of housing: Inclusion, Community, Learning and Wellness. In my two years at OSU, I have received many opportunities to explore the pillars of housing and the resources on campus. These experiences have shown me that I am prepared to take on an RA position and share my knowledge with other students.
I have been on my hall counsel’s executive board for the past two years. Both years I served as

I will give all of them “about me” sheets to hang on their doors so they can get to know some basic aspects of each other, like whether they prefer coffee or tea. That allows them to start communicating and hopefully begin forming relationships. That is just one element of an inviting community but the major aspect is inclusive behavior. Within my community I will reinforce inclusive behavior by confronting any exclusive language and respecting each resident’s identities. This is as simple as asking their preferred pronouns and understanding that each resident has different background experiences. Respecting someone’s identity helps them feel more welcome and comfortable which helps them integrate into their community.
Wellness is important to the success of OSU students. That being said, I will structure my community to be relaxing because college can be stressful and we all need a break from time to time. I hope to put on programs educating my residents on the 9 dimensions of wellness and different resources to help them strengthen them. Additionally, I plan on having a regular event that my residents can go to and unwind, like a movie night. I will also point any resident struggling academically to the appropriate resources or encourage multiple residents to study together because the transition into college classes often leaves students academically dissatisfied. Hopefully my residents can use these

The meetings teach me a lot about black culture in the United States, stuff that I wouldn’t necessarily notice as a white person. There was a discussion on taboo topics within the black community and one topic resulted in a heated debate between two members. The topic was “acting white vs acting black.” “Acting white” is, to paraphrase the presentation, when black people talk formally at work or in an interview. It resulted in two members arguing their positions. The one member believed that acting white isn’t an issue because they’ve never experienced it. The other member argued that denying an issue that a minority faces, like acting white, when you’re a member of that minority belittles the issue. These two members grew up in similar areas with similar families and had very similar life experiences, according to what they brought up, but they were polar opposites on a topic as critical as “acting