Welcome Back to Residence Life

It might seem crazy to most people that as a member of the Residence Life Staff, I have to return to the Hill two weeks before most upperclassmen.  While I hate leaving my home, my family, my puppy, and most importantly, my bed that early, Resident Assistant Training is always fun and exciting.  Every year, we have a theme that carries us through the year.  When I moved into my apartment and saw my door, I was so excited for our theme.  There was a big Green Monkey on my door, which could only mean one thing: Legends of the Hidden Temple.  When I was younger, I loved watching that show.  It was so cheesy, but it was entertaining.  It was my dream as a little kid to be on that show with my best friend.  The best part? Our favorite team was always the Green Monkeys, even though they didn’t win that much.  I instantly called her and she shared in my excitement for this throwback to our childhood.  Once I got to my first training session, my observations were confirmed.  Our training was a spin-off of a great show, except we were calling it Legends of the Hidden Arch.  Each area across campus had their own team name and all of the Area Coordinators entered training wearing the corresponding t-shirts.

For me, the most exciting part of RA training is getting to know new people, especially the new RAs.  Some of them are familiar faces since they are rising sophomores and lived in the same building as I did last year, but some are completely new.  Other people in the room are people that I’ve known, but RA training gives me a chance to really get to know them.  One thing is always consistent about RA training: you’re going to spend a lot of time with these people for 10 days, so it’s best to go in with a positive attitude and to try to make new friends, which is exactly what I did.

One of the things I love about McDaniel is that no matter how many people you think you know on campus, there are always new people to meet.  The fact that you can always make new friends, just by getting involved in something different keeps life at McDaniel exciting.