The Musings of a Freshman Dorm RA

Being a freshman at Lyndon State can be hard, but being an RA in a freshman dorm can be harder.

An RA in a freshman dorm takes the opportunity to help improve first-year students

experiences on a daily basis.  There is usually a lot more time put into making sure they have success as the freshmen are in an unfamiliar setting. After talking to an RA anonymously, it was clear that their job in a freshman building is a bit different than in other dorms.

"The need of the [freshman] is greater than the need of the upperclassmen--you have to be more giving because they need more from you--," the RA said.

Also, there is the factor that they may haven't lived away from home before, so living independently at a young age like 18 may cause problems.

"They can be immature,

because they haven't become adults yet--upperclassmen know the difference between right and wrong better than freshmen do," the RA said.

"The added stress of the immaturity, dealing with people who aren't as adult as you are, you have more issues, a lot more than an upperclassman building, which causes more stress"

There was a recent article in The Critic talking about the constant issue of alcohol

violations.  The RA noted this problem because the freshman dorms are dry dorms.

"Any alcohol as all is a violation, whereas at upperclassmen dorms the alcohol policies are different" the RA said. "There is the possibility to be more [violations], it's the immaturity factor that causes the most problems, not the alcohol or drugs."

But just because the job is difficult, the RA also enjoys the possible difficulties that may be associated with dealing with first year students.

"I like the challenge, I like to be able to have more of an effect on the freshmen, where the

upperclassmen don't need you as much, you don't have as much of an impact on them," The RA said.  "You get a chance to help lives, and better people and help them get started in college"

Being an RA in a freshman dorm has its potential downfalls, but if you're not busy busting kids with a 12 pack of Natural Ice, you could really have some positive, long-term effects on these young adults.