Final Staff Development

Last night was the final time that my dorm would participate in staff development. So, we all went out and ate together at cookout! Obviously it is inexpensive and delicious! We had a great time hanging out and just spending time with each other. Also, eating food together is a great way to build a staff and community. Thus it is beneficial to know what local food is near by. I have attached a link to a site with some great local eats in the Shelby, NC area.

Enjoy! http://www.urbanspoon.com/n/230/26523/North-Carolina/Shelby-restaurants

Super Summer In...

Summer is drawing near and this is the time to try and get in one final bulletin board. To go along with the super hero theme of my door decs, I chose to make my board a count down. It is entitled "Super Sumer In..." Each day a number that corresponds with a hero logo with be ripped off of the board to show how many days are left until school lets out. This is a great way to stay motivated and prepare for the summer.

Final Door Decs!

These are the last of them! My final set of door decs for the semester are super hero masks! I created each of them by simply cutting paper. They are by far my favorites and the residents love them as well. Anything hero themed works great in an all guys dorm. I made Batman, Ironman, The Hulk, Captain America, Wolverine and Spiderman. The masks were hard to make but the final product made the effort worth every second.

RA movie night!

Tonight several of us RA's are going to get together and watch a movie. Now, where is the best place to watch a movie? The drive-in of course!! We are stoked that it is finally warm enough to take a truck to the movies and watch while sitting in the bed with snacks and good friends. The drive-in is a great place to go with residents as well and it could make a fun and inexpensive event. If you wold like to know what is playing you can check out the link below for show times.

Here are tonight's movies:http://www.google.com/movies?hl=es&near=Boiling+Springs,+Carolina+del+Norte&dq=sunset+drive+in&tid=fd5e66c4befba667&sa=X&ei=7Z9pUcTpLoWk8QS5ioCoDg&ved=0CCgQxQMoAA

Deaf Mall Dinner

Last night two other RA's and myself attended a deaf dinner at Haywood mall in South Carolina. This was an amazing experience! We are required to participate in deaf events as part of our class grade. We went and ended up having a great time and we met some truly inspirational people. The event itself was  great and it gave us a great opportunity to practice signing because everyone that was there was deaf. We were the only hearing people. After we left the even we went and played mini golf and raced go carts. All in all it was a great way to spend a Friday night RA style.

GRD Placement!

As of this evening all of the GRD's for next school year have been selected! It is still unknown as to who is where but everyone is very excited! As this week goes on we will slowly know who is where but until then it will remain a mystery. Regardless, next years staff is going to be awesome. Our first official meeting as a staff is next week. Get excited!

Moving on to bigger and better things...

The Southern Regional Honors Conference is over and all of our RA's did a fantastic job! It was an amazing experience and we all had a blast! In moving forward we will all also be presenting at the national level in November! These conferences are a great way for us to show off GWU. Furthermore, honors is a great way to meet new people and to make new friends! If you would be interested in how you could become a part of the honors program please check out the website below and see if you like what you see. I am proud of our program and I hope that you will consider joining us! 

Check us out: http://gardner-webb.edu/academics/academic-excellence-programs/honors-program/index

Even More RA's!!

Well everyone, it's over. All of the RA's for next year have finally been selected. This is a very exciting and relaxing time. Congratulations to all of our new staff members! The new members will actually be attending our April meeting evaluate this is when we will begin planning for next year. I hope they are all as excited as we are. Next seems very promising! So with that in mind, once again I say congratulations!

And We Are Off!

Today marks the beginning of the Southern Regional Honors Conference and I am pleased to announce that we have four Honors RA's participating in the conference. The four of us will be making presentations about different aspects of our Honors experience and others will be presenting on research that they have conducted. This is an amazing experience for all of us because it provides us with an opportunity to interact in a professional manner and gain vital skills that will help us in the future. Well, almost time to present. Wish us luck!

Happy Easter!

Holidays are always great motivation for RA's. Since Easter is tomorrow many RA's took advantage of using the holiday as a way to create a fun program for their residents. Many RA's across campus scheduled Easter themed programs that ranged from baking food to dying eggs. All of the programs were great ideas and had excellent turnouts. When holidays come around the programs in all of the buildings tend to be amazing and successful. There is something about them that helps bring the residents within the dorms closer together. Happy Easter!

Lets go to the Beach!

It's Easter break and several of the RA's got together and we decided that we were going to head to Myrtle Beach at the beginning of the break before we went home to our families. Hanging out with other RA's off of campus is a great way to create strong bonds amongst staff members and friends. We had an amazing trip! We spent a lot of time on the beach but we also took in some of the tourist attractions. They are hard to resist. We ended up spending a decent amount of time at Broadway at the Beach. There were so many different things to do and the restaurants were amazing! This is  must for anybody who is traveling to Myrtle Beach. All of the RA's on the trip truly enjoyed the time that we were able to spend with one another and memories were made that will not soon be forgotten.

Check out this link for more information on all of the fun that you can have on your trip to Myrtle Beach!! : http://www.broadwayatthebeach.com/

Lutz Night of Worship

Last night was the first annual Lutz Night of Worship. It was by far one of my favorite experiences as not only an RA but as a student as well. The evening consisted of music, the sharing of testimonies and gifts, communion and a small sermon. The night was amazing. Also, several people from the dorm came to the event and were asking for another one some time soon. Worshiping with a room filled with college guys was also a unique experience. It is programs like this one that remind me of how great it is to be an RA and that there are several ways in which you can engage your residents. This one can be marked as a success!

Astronomy Night

Several of the RA's who are members of the Honors Student Association held an Astronomy Night event on Thursday. It was a huge success! Tons of residents came out and had a great time. There was a bon fire, s'mores, awesome music provided by Dr. Olive and we even got to look through the telescopes. Everybody was able to come out and just relax under the stars. We also had the opportunity to share some cool information about the stars and some of the constellations that we had learned about in our Honors Astronomy class. Check out the link below for some information about the constellations and stars that we had the opportunity to view up close.

Enjoy!! http://www.topastronomer.com/ 

GRD Probs

Each year there are interviews help for new applicants for the RA positions. However, returning RA's do not have to go through another interview process. The same can not be said for the GRD's. As a GRD you must go through a rehire interview. Those also happen to be taking place right now! Best of luck to all of the GRD 's who are applying to be on staff again next year!

More RA's?!?

Well everyone, it seems like our department is always hiring new people. The interview process has started for summer RA's and for some people to fill the remaining slots that are needed for the next school year. Interviews are well underway and it seems that everyone is doing a great job. Those individuals that will be receiving the job will be notified in the near future. I'm excited to learn who all will be joining our staff next year!

International RA

This RA's life is about to get turned upside down! In less than 10 hours I will be boarding a plane to Guatemala. This will be my first time leaving the country let alone the east coast. I am beyond blessed to have this opportunity and I cannot wait to see what God has in store. This is a mission trip that I am going on through Gardner-Webb University. I am also very pleased to announce that my fellow RA Samantha Allen will also be going on this trip. Its time to be international!!

Spring Break

Spring Break is only a few short days away! Everybody is ready to leave and just relax for a few days. However, some people are looking to have a bit more fun on their break. With that in mind, this is a great time of the year for RA's to hand out some passive information or to make an Education Board about making smart life choices. This covers a very broad set of topics but serves as great way to get out some last minute safety reminders. RA's are supposed to be looking out for their residents and this is another way to express that.

Check out this site and keep yourself informed about how to stay safe on spring break:
http://www.safespringbreak.org/safety-tips/

The Fish

One thing that is very interesting about living on campus is the animals that you are allowed to have in your room. The only living pet that you can have in your door room on campus is a fish. That means that you can not have a frog or hermit crab living in a fish tank. Only a fish. Now I know that this is sort of a bummer, but there are some positives. Beta fish are very popular and they come in a variety of colors so you don't ever have to worry about having the same one as someone else. Some buildings even have competitions amongst their fish. You just kind of have to look at the positives. You can have any stuffed animal that you want!

Everybody Knows Everybody

As an RA one  of the things that can be most beneficial to you and something that will aid you in more ways than one is to know who your on campus resources are. If you know of staff members on campus that are heavily involved or are in charge of departments. Having that connection can help tremendously. Knowing the people in Student Activities, Community Engagement and so many other departments will allow you to have programs that will not only be interesting but effective. These people know how to get students to events and they are always willing to help. With that in mind, get out there! Find out who the people are on campus that can help you in a way that helps them.

Visit the link to see all of the awesome resources we have at GWU. Simply select one of the drop down options! http://gardner-webb.edu/

Running for a Cause

This morning two of our awesome RA's here at Gardner-Webb ran their first official 5K! The race was actually a fundraiser to raise awareness for eating disorders. Samantha Allen and Ellen Huneycutt made the decision to run this race without knowing that it was going to snow the morning of. However, despite the freezing cold temperature and the snow, the two still completed the race. They each displayed an enormous amount of endurance and dedication. I am pleased to call them my friends and I am than proud of the both of them! Way to go!!

Mixing It Up

A major part of being an RA is finding ways to relay information to your residents. However, this is something that can begin to get boring and repetitive. Because of this RA's have to search to find new and different ways to inform their residents. One approach that I am currently using is posting my information on my bulletins boards. My door decs to for this month are the characters from Pac man. In an effort to include useful information with my theme, my bulletin board is entitled "Make Good Choices." On the board there is an above average size Pac man that is eating the dots from the game that have nutritional facts on them that serve as guides for making smart choices in relation to food. This for me was a cool way to mix things up and to potentially inform my residents without them eve realizing that I am distributing information.

Community Service

We all know that being an RA means that you are going to find ways for you to participate in events with the people from your hall. Well, an excellent way to be involved is through community service. Today, yes Saturday, me a fellow RA and 7 of our residents went to a trail service day at the Broad River Greenway. We were there from 10-12 and we spent the time digging runoff paths on the trails so that when it rains the water will not puddle up on the trails. This was an excellent bonding time for the guys on my floor. Doing service work together can truly strengthen friendships. Also, to top it all off when we got back to the ranger station, we were informed that someone had bought all of us lunch from Subway! It's cool how people love to serve one another and how giving back is so beneficial.

If you would like to learn more about the Broad River Greenway feel free to check out there site:
http://www.broadrivergreenway.com/

Do you have a minute?

There are times when you may just be walking through your hall to get to another location on campus and someone will stop you to ask you a quick question. When you are an RA this is something that may occur regularly. Personally, I find that this is a great opportunity to hang out with the people on your hall and to show that you are actually invested in their lives. This is something that happened to me this evening. I was swinging by my room to drop off my books before I went to hang out with some friends. When I was heading out one of my residents stopped me to see how my day went. Before I knew it 30 minutes had passed and there were seven of us total that were now talking with one another in the hall way. This was an awesome experience and just a fun time in general. It is moments like these in which you have to remember that being an RA is a job that requires flexibility and it requires you to be someone that loves spending time with people. Regardless, these are some of the best experiences in residence halls.

New RA's

The interviews have happened and the results are in! The RA's for next year have been selected and we are very excited about this upcoming year. All of the applicants were excellent but like in every decision making process not everyone can be selected. However, I can speak on behalf of all the staff when I say that next year is going to be a blast. Once again. Congratulations to all of the new RA's and I look forward to all of the fun that we are going to have next year!

Pardon The Interruption

I have decided that due to the fact that it snowed today in Boiling Springs it is worth me sharing with you all. Now, I know that this is not directly related to Res Life but snow is a huge deal. The weather has forecasted snow for our are several times this school year and this is the first time that we have actually seen any! Today was beyond amazing. All lot of my friends and myself got together and we had an awesome snow ball fight and then we decided to go sledding down a steep hill that we have on campus. After all of that we decided that today was the perfect day to go for a polar bear plunge. We wore jeans and t shirts and jumped into the freezing cold water. I'm not too sure as to why we thought this was a great idea but it was a lot of fun. Aside from what we did, there are several other things that you can do with your friends on a snow day.

To check out some other awesome ideas you can visit: http://www.discoverfun.com/freeinfo/500fun/winter.html

Rounds With the Queen!

This evening I had the privilege of going on Rounds with Sara Phillips! She was our Homecoming Queen and one of my great friends here at Gardner-Webb. As I have mentioned before, rounds is when two RA's walk through all of the residence halls on campus to ensure that everything is going smoothly. This is also a great time to build some campus wide community. Sara ( the Queen as most like to call her) and I had a great time walking around and talking with some of the residents. It was also a great night to have rounds. The weather was perfect! There were no clouds in the sky and the temperature was just right. This was definitely one of my favorite rounds!

Cultural Diversity Game Show

As I have mentioned several times before, programming is a major part of being an RA. Yesterday, my entire building hosted a Cultural Diversity Game Show to test our residents knowledge of foreign countries and their cultures. This was a great opportunity for the guys to bond and work as a team. The winning team received awesome certificates and legit bragging rights for the rest of forever. This was an awesome time!

Today Was The Day!

As I mentioned before, Carousel Day is the day when students who wish to be an RA are interviewed and evaluated. That day was today. We started bright and early at 7:45 and did not finish until almost 2. This may sound long and hard but it was a blast! It was great to have the opportunity to see several students express an interest in being part of Res Life. All of the candidates did a great job and we will know who was hired in about a weeks time. I look forward to what is in store!

Creativity

RA's are constantly having to come up with new ways to engage the residents on their halls. This can require a lot of creative thinking. It is easy to say that you are going to have an ice cream social every month but sooner, rather than later, that starts to get boring. So, as RA's we are encouraged to start thinking creatively and to try and come up with fun and interesting ways to interact with our residents. There are times when this can seem like a difficult task but after some brain storming and a little help from friends or other online resources the fun starts to begin. A good way to creatively plan is to have a nice mix of different programs. Doing things with your residents spontaneously is awesome and tends to have great results but you can also reach a larger audience by creating large hall events that will attract more residents. Regardless, once you get the hang of it everything is smooth sailing.

If you would like to here more about how to be creative with your hall, here is a link that has some great examples:http://www.residentassistant.com/resources/creativity.htm This site has several different tabs that you can choose that will lead you to great creative ideas!

The Roommate

Everybody knows that one of the most vital aspects of the college experience is the roommate. The majority of the time, individuals are placed with another incoming freshman that they have never met before and they are informed that they will be living together. Strange right. Well, as RA's it is our job to do all that we can to make this new transition as smooth as possible. We hand out roommate agreement forms that allow roommates to lay down ground rules for the room from the get go. RA's also initiated random events on the hall that allow the roommates to interact not only with each other but with the other people on the hall as well. Most importantly, RA's are around to help roommates solve conflicts and determine if they will still be a good fit for one another as roommates. It is cool to have the opportunity to work one on one with all of the guys on your hall and being able to help them in many ways other than just having events.

What Makes A Great RA?

Being an RA can be considered one of the most interesting and exciting jobs that someone could have during their time in college. With that in mind, you want to be an RA that is relatable and that people want to spend time with. So, what makes a great RA? There are several different factors that play into this role. You have to get a feel for your residents and the different things that they are interested in and you must have the personality that will allow you to interact with them so that you can figure out what they like. You also have to be willing to talk with your residents about more than just school work. Residents want an RA that is available and friendly. Even still, there are so many different factors that go into being a great RA and those can vary dependent upon the type of residents that you have.

For some other RA's answers to this question check out: http://www.residentassistant.com/advice/onekey.htm

Carousel Day

The time has come! Applications have been submitted, and it is time for the interviews. Carousel Day is when the current Res Life staff members interview the interested applicants and get a feel for the way that they will handle specific situations. This is the process that is used in determining who will be hired for the next year. This is a great way of creating a more relaxed and comfortable environment for the applicants. I look forward to what is going to be in store for this upcoming year as we make the decisions for who will be new on the staff.

Rounds!

One of the most intense parts of being an RA is going on rounds. Rain, sleet, or snow, RA's will be on rounds. This is a time for us to build a campus wide community through interacting with the residents in all of the different dorms. Rounds are also important for safety reasons as well, but they are designed for community building. At GWU two RA's go on rounds each night of the week and go to all residents halls. Other universities have different ways of performing rounds but we have found this to be the most efficient way. Rounds are great not only for the RA's but for all of the residents on campus.

Nanney Probs.

It has come to the attention of several individuals on campus that there is a chance that Nanney Hall (currently and all girls dorm) may be shifted into a guys dorm. The ground floor of Nanney currently houses the Honors Girls. A proposal has been placed to have the top floor converted into the Honors Guys floor. The plans for this change have been discussed but a  final decision has not yet been made. There is a chance that all of the current Nanney residents will have to move to somewhere else on campus so that the guys can move in. This is in no way a bad thing but it is most definitely a shift in the dorm life dynamic on campus. I will continue to keep you all posted on this matter. Also, this topic does address the issue of Honors Housing on a college campus.

For more information on Honors Housing check out these links that displays how other universities approach this matter: http://www.honorscollege.pitt.edu/housing, http://www.bc.edu/offices/reslife/honorshouse.html

GRD Sarah Rome

Sarah Rome attended Wingate University for her undergrad where she received her degree in Psychology. She is now attending Gardner-Webb University and is enrolled in the Divinity School. Along with school, Sarah works as a GRD as a part of Res. Life here at GWU. She is the GRD in Stroup Hall where she loves to find ways to build community with ladies that are on her staff. They all are able to get together and chill while working at the same time, which allows for an awesome work environment. Sarah is a great asset to the Res. Life staff and many people all over campus love having the opportunity to talk and hang out with her. 

Wanna be an RA?

It's that time of year once again. Its the time when universities begin to start handing out applications for jobs on campus and applying to be an RA is no exception. Gardner-Webb is looking for students who are interested in building a community with residents here at the university. If anybody is interested in becoming an RA feel free to check out the information and application table that is set up in front of the cafeteria during lunch. being an RA is an awesome experience that will not only help you in preparation for the real world, but it also looks nice when you are applying for jobs in the future. If this is something that you are interested in don't hesitate to learn more and apply!

Door Decs!

When it come to being an RA, there a few things that are a must! One of the best is door decorations (decs for short). These are placed on everyones doors with their names on them so that people will be aware of who lives in that room. Normally RA's make new door decs monthly or on a seasonal basis. Plus, they make your door look awesome! As an RA I enjoy making door decs and receiving new one's from my fellow RA's. They almost serve as a way to surprise a friend with a gift. Regardless, any RA will tell you that when it comes to being the best, door decs are a must!

For some examples of awesome door dec ideas check out:http://reslife.net/html/doortag_ideas.html

Pro Staff Spotlight: Tyler Davis

Tyler Davis is a member of the Professional Staff for Housing and Residence Education. He works as the office manager and performs several different tasks that ensure that everything runs smoothly within the department. Tyler is in charge of sending out all of the Res Life emails as well as assisting with housing assignments and check-ins. Aside from the above, Tyler is an awesome guy who truly has a passion for working with people. Not a day goes by when I enter the office and he is not smiling. When asked about his favorite part about Res Life, Tyler said, "he loves the interaction with the students and the RA's." Tyler serves as a great asset  to the staff and we are all thankful for what he does to help us in our endeavors as RA's.

Cookie Time

Everyone knows that when it comes to being an RA (Resident Assistant) the best way to create involvement with your residents is through food. Well, at least that is the case in the boys dorms. I am the RA on the First and Ground floors of Lutz Hall at Gardner-Webb University. I have found that anytime that I want to have a program, food is at the top of my list! Even still, sometimes its just nice to have some random food for no reason at all. Spontaneous times on the hall can be some of the best. For that reason, I always make sure that anytime I am at another campus event I always bring the left overs back to the guys. Today I was able to bring a ton of leftover cookies back to the guys on the hall. It was great! I mean who doesn't like a good cookie? We are guys, and guys are not the best cooks. For that reason it is awesome when we have the opportunity to eat something that is homemade and delicious! The guys loved the food and it provided a time for community to built amongst the guys that live on my floors in Lutz.