RA applicants commence interview process
(Left to right: Resident Assistant Seth Flores, Resident Directors Kim Tuttle, Beth Hale, Karie Harpest, Resident Assistant Anna Rustabbake and Resident Director Matt Williaims) Residence life staff meet to plan the upcoming RA group interviews./Triangle photo by Krissy Proctor
by Krissy Proctor
Copy Editor
Heart-thumping, throat lumping, mouth dry – beginning this week, 43 applicants will each take a turn filing into a room with a handful of fellow students, ready to answer any questions or meet any challenge their interviewers might throw at them.
“I’m incredibly nervous,” sophomore Japhet Townsend said with a jittery laugh. “I really believe this is somewhere God wants me to be, but I don’t want to mess anything up.”
Whether you love them or you hate them, everyone can agree there is a certain need for resident assistants on campus. After all, who else would pull together the crazy hall themes and activities, leave cookies outside dorm rooms during finals or even quiet those noisy neighbors at 2 a.m.? With this in mind, the resident life staff will start group interviews to fill next year’s 11 openings Wednesday afternoon and will be continuing the process two weeks from now with individual callbacks.
“There are actually several reasons I wanted to do this…. But mainly my RA was really great my freshman year,” sophomore applicant Chloe Nardone said. “This gives me a chance to help the new students coming in and give them a similar experience.”
While some applicants, like Townsend, understandably struggle with nerves in the days leading up to their first interview, current RAs like junior Carlin Nasiatka assure them that the experience is enjoyable more than anything else.
“There are lots of leadership games and good conversations in that first interview,” she said. “ Some of the questions are serious, but some are goofy. Honestly, I had tons of fun. I thought, ‘If this is what being an RA is like, it will be great.”
But the position is certainly a demanding one, according to senior RAs Anna Rustebakke and Seth Flores.
“Some people have a hard time adjusting their schedules and others struggle with enforcing the rules. I mean, no one wants to be the bad guy, right?” Rustebakke said.
Flores agreed.
“It’s an overwhelming responsibility sometimes. And then there’s the fear of the unknown. You want to do what’s best for the people on your hall, but you never know what kind of people you’ll get. Sometimes you have to make dynamic changes to your personal life,” he said.
This makes beginning the process of selecting next year’s additions to the RA team all the more difficult.
“We’re looking for flexibility and we tailor each situation to the individual,” explained Matt Williams, resident director of Long. “There are definitely qualities you need, but that looks different for different people.”
Potential applicants should have a firm love of God and people, along with a desire to serve, according to Tim Shetter, assistant dean of community life.
“But Matt is right,” he said. “If you could line up all the current members on the team and analyze their personalities, it would hit you that these people are nothing alike. They might wear the same t-shirt a couple of the days out of the year, but that’s where the similarities end.”
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