Personal Narrative: My Experience As A Resident Assistant

Henry Ford once said, “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” This quote represents the events that followed my Resident Assistant (RA) process of 2016-2017. After not being offered and RA position last year I was devastated, but the lessons I have learned, opportunities that have risen, and growth I have made are the reasons why I believe that this year I am a more qualified candidate for an RA position. As a freshman, I applied to be an RA because the jobs’ description was quite appealing. The position description focuses on building a community and fostering student learning and growth. This description explains exactly what I want to do in life. As a Psychology and Marketing double major, I have

After winning the election, a spark if excitement and passion for hall council hit me. I very much enjoyed hall council being an RHA Rep, but being able to be the face of hall council and be a role model to the hall was something I could not wait to do. As hall council president, I have learned so much about myself. I have learned that I have a true passion and commitment to residence life and the benefits it offers. I have learned how to work with a team but also be the team leader, I have again improved time management skills, I have learned how to put on a program, make bulletin boards, delegate tasks to my executive board, and most importantly ask for help. When the school year began, I thought that I had to do everything myself to make hall council run smoothly, but I quickly learned that my vice president, RHD, and rest of the executive board are there to help because they too have a passion for hall council and bettering both Trout Hall and CMU. Also, being the president of hall council has allowed me to strengthen my leadership skills immensely. Being a leader has always been something that I thrived in, but being a leader in a higher position was something new and I have come to find that I very much love being able to change the future. As president, I implemented monthly team building activities. I believe that these team building activities have had a large and positive impact on the success of Trout Hall Council. Learning how to be a team but also a family was something I wanted as soon as I was named hall council president, and I think I have successfully done that and that has created so much growth in my ability to be a leader and a role model. The best opportunity I have been given as Trout Hall Council President is Legends of the Dark. Legends of the Dark is haunted campus tours that has been put on by Trout Hall for 23 years and the