Assistant Resident Director... Take One

How can I describe my first week of training? Hard, stressful, sad, informational, fun, exciting, and supportive. It was a whirlwind of emotions all while trying to learn what it takes to work here. Let me take you through the week.

I'm official!

My office! 

We started on the very first day with a ROPES COURSE!! If you know me, you know that I hate being outdoors and bugs absolutely freak me out!! Not only was I going to be outside all day, but I had to do it with complete strangers. I was terrified the first day, but that all went away very quickly as I got to interact with the staff. People were friendly and really open to talk to anyone. We had to do challenges together, get to know each other, and try to take lessons home from the experience. It was a great experience and left me feeling like I'd really fit in here.

Photo Credit: Jackie

Day 2 and 3 are days that I've always dreaded during housing training, Diversity Day. I was in complete shock that we were doing it so early in training. I mean come on, I didn't know any of these people well enough to be sharing my life with them. I had decided before the day even started that I wasn't going to talk. Well, we all know I love talking so that plan didn't work out well. There was so much sharing and emotions in those two days that I felt much closer to my staff after them. Like all days talking about diversity and social justice, we had our moments of disagreement and anger. Things got messy but we worked through best we could. I believe if it didn't get emotional and messy then we would have been doing something wrong.

On Thursday, day 4, we participated in the university's faculty and staff service day. I went to the Lifelong AIDS Alliance where I put together cake boxes and sorted onions. I learned a lot about the importance of helping those with AIDS. Lastly, on Friday we got into some procedures for housing. I learned about duty protocol, my role in SLT training (RA training), and how to utilize CAPS on campus. This was just the beginning of my information overload.

Photo Credit: Kathi

Overall my first week of training was great. I really believe I'll have a great experience as an ARD here. I'm not quite ready today, but after the next 2 weeks of training I think I'll be prepared. More than anything I am thankful for the supportive staff that I am a piece of!!

Photo Credit: Jackie