Academic Programming

Well well well your time has finally come… Muah ha ha!

Sorry, just felt like changing how I started the conversation. Anyways. Focus. Game face.

So you are about to start to planning your next All Area in academics and it has you feeling similarly to Emperor Kuzco here. 

And i'm here to tell you that the building block of Academics actually is a lot broader than a lot of people think.  Whenever we ask someone to plan a program about academics (at Ripon, at Kenyon, at Colostate, at whatever school Jill went to) the first thing that instantly comes up… we all know it; STUDY SESSION WITH PIZZA. Or some sort of variation where students can come do homework in a somewhat relaxed environment. Or maybe we instantly jump to talking about how important it is to go to class. And this isn’t to say that those things are not important to talk about. But I’m guessing it probably has your residents looking a little bit like this? 

So we want to move beyond the simplest form of academic programming and start brainstorming outside of the box. So here are some great ideas that I’ve found about academic programs that have been successful!

1.     What does a liberal arts degree even mean?

A.) See you’re now focusing on the broader context of education; you bring in Jody Roy or Prez Mez to talk about the value of a liberal arts degree.

2.     What is Grad School?

 A.)    Bring in the wonderful people from the McNairs Scholars program to learn about different graduate programs. Learn what the GRE is, how to study, when to start looking. Great program for your sophomores and juniors.

3.     What is text anxiety?

A.)  Do some research about what test anxiety is and how to work through it? You could research ways in which to combat anxiety before an exam. 

4.  Tutor hot spot during finals week

A.) Why don’t you use some of the programming budget and bring in like five                 tutors into your common lounge? During finals week students could come in and have quick access to a tutor in a variety of subjects.

5.) Syllabus planning party 

A.)  This could be a cool opportunity at the beginning of the school. You get all of          your residents together and map out all of the important dates. 

See those are just fives examples that are quick and easy. Don't pigeon hole your programming block to just a "study party," when there is SO many things you can do with this programming block.

Room Lottery 2015

Hello RAs-
When we get back from Spring Break things sort of turn into a WHIRLWIND of classes, RA obligations, and prep for next year.

Some RAs find it helpful to create a Bulletin Board about Room Lottery for their FY students who are confused about finding a room for next year or what the heck Room Lottery is and most of you have never been there either!

If you want to make that part of a passive program by using your BB and also posting information from the College's website with room dimensions and other things posted in the bathrooms or in the hallway to help your residents decide where to live- then you should! Contact Jessica Joanis for more information if you want to pick her brain.

Here is some Room Lottery info for you all!

Thanks everyone! Get geared up! It is going to be warmer soon and we will all be celebrating with sweatshirts and sandals!

Jessica 

What dogs can teach us about being RAs

There's just something about dogs. Like there really is. And this isn't just because I'm biased and my spirit animal is a dog. Like legit is. See this dog... yeah. That's me.

I mean I would love to just sleep all day, eat whatever I want, and anytime I get messy it's revered as cute instead of, "unprofessional." But it's more than that. Dogs can teach us so much about life. Sometimes it really is the little things that we take for granted. Imagine coming home from a long day and having someone so excited to see you. The only thing that matters in that moment is that their person is home. Why don't we do that to the people we love? Why don't we jump up and down when our loved one walks in the door?

I mean just look at that face. Can you really want more in your life? 

Now I think this is actually a really good lesson for how we are as Resident Assistants, Programmers, SAHD, RHDs, or Directors. Sometimes the little things can be the difference maker for your residents. Sometimes when we think of being impactful, we think of these large extravagant gestures when really that's not what it's about. That can be part of it. But the real work is in the small things. Noticing when a resident is having an off day... Remembering your residents birthday... Making sure to invite the quieter resident when you go out to dinner with a group of your residents... If you want to be a mentor or a positive influence to your residents, start with the little things. Trust me.  

I want to end with this quote from the Movie, Marley and Me, "A dog has no use for fancy cars, big homes, or designer clothes. A water log stick will do just fine. A dog doesn't care if your rich or poor, clever or dull, smart or dumb. Give him your heart and he'll give you his. How many people can you say that about? How many people can make you feel rare and pure and special? How many people can make you feel extraordinary?"

Paws & Reflect

Hey Reslifers,

So the RHDs have noticed this trend where we think that cute animals are the PERFECT solution to basically any concern, conundrum, or quandary.  

Seriously, puppies fix everything.

Jessica does not agree, and seems to think that fuzzy things of the animal variety have no place in Reslife matters.  To a certain extent, this is very true and completely understandable.  After all, a residence hall is no place for a pet (besides aquatic fish in one 10-gallon aquarium per resident), and pet policies exist as they do for very, very good reasons.

However.

Julie would like to assert that while animals have no place in the residence halls, they do have a place in Residence Life.  After all, we can learn quite a bit from the animal kingdom, and what better way to utilize an internet-based tool for continued training and education (read: the Reslife Reader) than by doing what the internet does best: finding pictures of cute and funny animals and sharing them with those we love.

With that, I introduce you to a new feature of the Reslife Reader: Paws & Reflect

Issue 1: Scout

This is Scout.  Scout is a pit bull from Ontario, and proud mascot of "Stuff on Scout's Head," a blog on Tumblr that you should probably bookmark, or whatever it is you do on Tumblr when you find something cool to share.

Aside from being cute as can be, Scout has a particular talent that I think all of us could learn from.

Scout is very good at balancing things.

He balances time, and the so-few hours in a day.

He balances his health, the things that are good for him....

....and things that are less good, but super enjoyable at the time.  (This requires a bit of will power, as I'm sure you can imagine.)

 He balances times when he needs to be a bit more professional, along with times when he can cut loose and enjoy the party.

The things that he balances can vary depending on the time of the year, as seasons change and our commitments, priorities, and interests evolve.

No matter what he balances, a couple things stay consistent.  Scout keeps his focus,  eyes directly on the motivation in front of him.  He's balancing things for a reason, and doesn't get distracted from the thing that's keeping him going - in this case, his owner.

That's something else that's important.  All over the blog, it's clear that Scout's human thinks the world of him.  He has found a place full of love and support, and it's that encouragement that helps him to balance so well.  There's no pressure to balance, only cheerful praise when he takes on one of these challenges and succeeds.

So for today's Paws & Reflect, Scout and I encourage you to think about your own sense of balance, and what helps you to juggle everything on the tip of your metaphorical doggy nose.  What sorts of things do you balance each day, and what people and tools help you to keep your footing?  When you start to loose balance, what things do you set aside first as you regain your equilibrium?  Is it a commitment? Your health? Your studies? Your friends? Who do you have who, like Scout's human, is rooting for you in your journey to find balance, and what motivation do you keep your eye on to help yourself stay stable?

Scout has a thing or two to teach about balance.  But as RAs, you guys have plenty of your own experience to bring to the table.  Take a few minutes today to think about how things balance out in your life, and how you manage keep things steady.  What do you have perched at the tip of your nose these days, and what sorts of things might you need to set aside?  How do you keep your focus, and how can the RA position, your staff, and your Hall Director help you in that juggling act?  And for the record, take a moment to recognize what a rockstar you are for balancing all that you do.  Because you guys are pretty awesome, and Scout thinks so too.

Much love, 

Julie

Staff Shout Outs!

Heya Staff!

As we close out another cold but fabulous Monday, the prostaff wants to take a moment and recognize these Really Awesome staff members for going above and beyond lately.  Email Julie to submit your own for next week, or be on the lookout for a super nifty "Staff Shoutout" form coming to each RA office!

To any who haven't gotten the memo, we have TWO brand new super awesome RAs on staff who deserve your notice and recognition.  Airianna Beard has joined the Quad staff down in Mapes, and Jessica Almaraz just hopped on the TAJ bandwagon up on 3rd floor Johnson.  The prostaff is SO excited to welcome these lovely ladies on board, and we can't wait to get to know and work with each of them!

In fact, we're almost as excited as this sloth.

Hailey Mischler has really stepped up in the past couple weeks filling some spur-of-the-moment duty spots.  Twice now she's volunteered to help TAJ staff out, and her dedication is truly appreciated!

Shout out to Michael Anderson for GETTING INTO LAW SCHOOL!  HOLY WOW that's so exciting!!

On a similar note, Raymond Allen has finished up his grad school interviews!  Time to take a breather and relish some time NOT traveling!  You go Ray!

Kari Brown gets major props from Big Boss Jessica for all her help in preparing for the Oshkosh Placement Exchange.  (And double props from the RHDs for managing to MAKE Jessica let you help her!)

Shout out to Jason Winkelmann for rallying and leading the Quad staff helm in their fearless leader's absence (see the previous post from David about grad school interviews).  Jason has successfully run a full-length staff meeting, schedule break duty, and generally keep things ship shape in David's absence. 

Jason also gets a shout out from Jessica for his super cool Bowser shell at ExtravaGAMEza.

And another shout out from Julie for being so good at reading Julie's mind all throughout GAMEza.

Jason's just been rocking it, people.

Speaking of GAMEza, Jessica particularly noticed Karla Perez's wonderful attitude all throughout set up and the event itself on Friday, and would like to thank her for going above in beyond in making the event successful.

And finally, Mherete Mherete beat his own personal record at the track meet this past weekend.  Great job, Mheretekins! (Is that how you spell it, Jill??)

Thanks for being fantastic, peeps.  Be on the lookout for our next round of shout outs, and remember to submit your own!

<3 DJ3

Travel and Interviews and Grad School OH MY!

Hello RAs!

David here wanting to explain just a little bit about what I’ve been up to and why my graduate school interviews are sort of consuming my life right now. So first let me tell you what I’m going to graduate school for. Student Affairs and Higher Education. If you ever want to be a Kyonna, or a Jessica, or a Melissa Bemus, you have to get your masters in student affairs. Some programs are called different things, some are called, College Student Personnel, or Higher Education and Student Affairs, it really all means the same thing. So I applied to five programs, got interviews at four and am traveling to three.

When I say I am interviewing at a certain program, let me clarify that this does not mean having one interview and then returning. Student Affairs is a much more hands on process. What generally happens, emphasis on generally because it varies program to program, is that you’ll apply, that program will narrow that number down to maybe 60 people and invite them to campus for a two day experience. What you do is you get a rundown of the program, curriculum, etc. Then you have a faculty interview. Which is usually an hour long and those are tough. Then the rest of day 1 is touring campus, asking current student questions, and lots of socializing with other candidates.

Then there’s assistantships. So here is what I mean by assistantships. A Graduate Asissistant is someone who works part time, usually 20 hours a week, in a functional area of the University/College. So for example, a graduate assistant could work in the Career Center or could be an Academic Advisor. These assistantships provide some amount, (depends on each program) of credit scholarships. Could be a full 42 credit scholarship or could be a 30 credit scholarship. Again, depends on the program. And at a large university, there are usually a lot of opportunities and offices to interview with. So typically Day 2 of the interview consists of interviewing with these assistantship providers. Sometimes you interview with 9 different offices, sometimes you interview with 7. So it really depends.This is the big reason why these visits take up so much time out of my schedule. It’s not just a faculty interview, it’s like 10 interviews in two days and then multiple socials and second interviews and all that jazz. 

One of the cool parts of this job is that I do find a lot of transferable skills from my time as an RA to the time here. The same things you do now are the same things that are going to make you marketable in your next interview. Event planning... marketing... interpersonal skills... You all are putting in serious work that will pay off. 

See you soon! 

David! 

Publicity: It Ain't No Thang

How many of us struggle to make awesome flyers for our events? Sometimes you just cannot get the juices flowing.

I thought today I would share some examples of not only good publicity but good use of resources.

This ExtravaGamesZa flyer was made in about 20 minutes by our very own Julie Weiner. Not only does it take advantage of using color printing by making the cost per page worth it- it also is super eye catching. It looks like a professional put that together. If you see Julie give her a high five for her effort. 

Speaking of hands- look at them all over this flyer. Not only is white paper FREE to the College from the Ripon Area Printers, it also makes an awesome back drop for these hand prints which tie into the theme of the event and provide an eye catching way to advertise. 

This flyer does not have any fantastic imagery or anything like that. But it does get straight to the point- it covers the entire page, it has a logo to tie it to other RAD events, and it uses the Guitar Hero logo. Simple but sweet.

One year the theme for TOTU was Boot Scootin' TOTU. A western theme- obviously. Well above someone did draw this- quite cool if you ask me. A great way to add some talent into things. But below they just crumpled up some paper and took a black and white print out of my face to make a wanted poster. This was pasted with butcher block paper with the details for the event. It was not difficult or time consuming- it was just thinking outside of a piece of paper and a marker. 

The pro staff and the SAHDs want to challenge all of you to think outside the box- the RA with the best publicity for their first program after Spring Break will be awarded a prize and $20 gift card. Jessica is the ultimate judge. She wants you to IMPRESS her! Submit to her, via email, a copy of your publicity by March 31 to be considered.

Thanks RA world!
Jessica