By: Leila Alarcon and Erika Figueroa
Out of the 3,200 students living in the three dormitory villages at Long Beach State, there are 88 students who take on the role of Residential Assistant. Residential Assistants, or RA’s, enforce rules, hold events, and assist students with adjusting to dorm life.
After a positive freshman dorm experience herself, Melanie Vo, a third year graphic design major, decided to become an RA. This is Vo’s second year as an RA and she currently resides in the J building at Parkside Village.
“I feel like it’s [living on campus] something that people look back on and it’s a special time in your life,” said Vo. “I like knowing that I played a part in that.”
Vo went into the job with a “pay-it-forward” mentality hoping to create a welcoming community, especially for students who may be homesick or living on their own for the first time. However, creating fun events is only part of the responsibilities RA’s have.
In the two weeks prior to students moving in, RA’s have intensive training where they attend presentations from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Monday to Friday. They also have a refresher training a week before winter break ends, and a refresher training once a month throughout the school year.
RA training focuses on everything including planning community events, who to call in emergencies, decorating the building, and one-on-one conversations with students. These conversations can touch on suicidal ideation and Title IX cases.
According to Vo, the hours of training are important in situations that require a lot of emotional durability from RA’s to properly handle. RA’s must be prepared to refer residents to the proper resources when necessary.
“I would get a knock on my door at like 10 a.m. and someone’s life is falling apart and they’re crying in my room,” Vo said. “I just have to take a step back, because I’m not a licensed therapist, and offer that compassion and support and empathy, but also know that this goes beyond what I’m trained to do.”
In these situations RA’s “call up”, call the people above them, to take over the situation. Afterward RA’s receive support from other Housing and Residential Life staff, as well as an in-residence counselor provided by CAPS available to all RA’s.
All RA’s have a Residential Life Coordinator (RLC) as their direct supervisor whom they have one-on-one meetings with. These meetings allow Vo to decompress and process heavy situations.
According to Vo, staff does a great job emphasizing that RA’s are humans first, students second, and then RA’s.
RA’s are “on call” at least once a week in which during the night they assist residents throughout the village, mostly with residents locking themselves out of their rooms. Vo says the team of RA’s in the village work together to pick the night they work.
The flexibility of the job being scheduled around classes has been beneficial for Vo who has a heavily impacted schedule. She has five classes, including a three hour studio art class twice a week, and she works a second job for 10 hours a week.
This past summer, Vo’s supervisor offered her a position as housing’s marketing and social media assistant after she saw Vo’s graphic design work during her shifts at the Parkside Service Center.
“It’s just been really cool to feel like they’re paying attention to what my career goals are,” said Vo. “And now I have a graphic design job under my resume.”
Last year, Vo proposed creating a free library in the Parkside Service Center. She painted a sign and added some books to a shelf with the intention of creating something for Parkside residents to do, as well as create a place where old textbooks could be repurposed.
“She’s just so intentional with everything that she does, not only so that it’s done to the best of her ability, but so that students can actually appreciate it,” said Assistant Director of Residential Curriculum and Leadership Hannah Elliott.
One of her proudest moments of being an RA last year was hosting a listening party for Taylor Swift’s album Midnights, which won program of the year. Vo says she was approached by people who didn’t live in her building telling her they loved attending her event.
“I wanted to be an RA because I love residents and I love just interacting with other people constantly,” Vo said. “I’d advise incoming RA’s to be adaptable and open-minded and do it out of a deep sense of compassion for people who are new to college.”