LAS CRUCES, N.M. — New Mexico State University has many valuable on-campus housing options. To help it flow better, residential assistants (RA’s) are there for students’ needs.
There are multiple tasks that come with being an RA, such as organizing events, frequently checking up on students and walking around their respective dorm hall to make sure everything is running smoothly. At NMSU, RA’s are required to take resident quizzes, which tests their knowledge of their residents’ names, majors and fun facts about them. They also must attend a training prior to the start of the school year, which lasts about two weeks.
NMSU student Lani Martinez was an RA last year at Garcia Hall and built many memories.
“We got to make door decks and decorate our bulletin boards to get involved with our residents,” Martinez said. “We also had weekly meetings about safety and protocols about situations that could happen at the dorms.”
Martinez has a number of experiences with different tasks she performed regularly.
“Once or twice a week, we got assigned to have the duty phone, which is when we are available 24 hours to help around the dorms with anything,” Martinez said. “I liked it because it helped me with organizing my schedule and it led me to new connections around school.”
Herbert Benge was an RA last school year at Piñon Hall, but only for the first semester.
“Something I liked about the job was the community involvement with incoming freshman,” Benge said. “I loved being able to help them through their first year of college as well as getting to know them on a personal level.”
Despite enjoying a variety of details about the job, there is a reason Benge only lasted a semester.
“I didn’t really like the requirements imposed on the RA to meet a certain attendee record for each weekly and monthly event they are required to organize,” Benge said. “Just because everyone has their own life and schedule, so requiring such a thing is just a lot of stress.”
Martinez and Benge are prime examples of RA’s who worked hard and made sure every task was met on time and with care.
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