Meredith Stafford, staff writer

Over the past year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, resident assistants (RA) have faced a number of challenges, leading to reduced numbers in applicants. Residence Life is hopeful about the prospect of new applicants and the future of RAs.

According to Karen DiRuggiero, area coordinator for residence life, RAs are student staff members hired to live in or around residents to aid community development and policy enforcement. The position has a minimum requirement of a 2.5 semester and cumulative GPA, which students must retain through the year.

Lindsay Norman, associate dean of students, said that RAs have the dual responsibility of being a leader and a role model for students as well as ensuring that residence life is safe and comfortable for residents. 

“Ultimately, they’re people who care about Berry and want to make it a great place to live,” Norman said. 

Norman explained that the recruiting process for RAs occurs each fall semester with interviews in the following January and February. According to Norman, the selection cycle during the spring semester of 2021 was very difficult and had fewer applicants and returning RAs due to COVID-19 related issues of the fall semester of 2020. RAs had to implement the changing policies in terms of masking and visitations and were unable to host large events, normally used for hall bonding.

“Part of their identity is being able to put on these big late night programs and creating a lot of energy there and, when they couldn’t do that, it reduced their role more to the enforcer,” Norman said. 

This past fall semester was easier for RAs because of the flexibility of the RA team, allowing them to do programming said Norman. 

The response to mid-year applications for this spring semester was greater in comparison, according to Norman and she hopes that the total number of RAs will have increased when they are able to view the final numbers in early February. 

Kaitlyn Kosten, head resident for Dana, believes that RAs have become more adaptable and better communicators over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Luckily, I feel like we have a really strong staff of RAs across the board this year, which is amazing because it’s been a tough year,” Kosten said. 

DiRuggiero explained that Berry is looking for flexible students who enjoy planning large scale events to apply for the RA position.

“I think students who benefitted from their own RA experience, whether it was a positive experience or a negative experience, want to build and make it better,” DiRuggiero said. “So, if they’re into building community, helping new students and being able to better navigate their time here at Berry, that’s the type of student we’re looking for.”

DiRuggiero also encourages self-motivated, team player students to apply and emphasized that the skills involved with being an RA are transferable to future career skills. According to her, the skills students will gain from the position are leadership, organization, teamwork, time management and policy enforcement among peers. DiRuggiero believes that a variety of students should apply. 

“It’s a common misconception that you need to be an extrovert to be an RA and, actually, the data shows that most people who work in the teaching profession or the residence life profession are introverts,” DiRuggiero said. 

Norman added that the RA staff should reflect the diversity among the student body and wants people to apply that will work to maintain and improve Berry. 

“The two things I think are super important: that they’re empathetic to others and that they can be a role model,” Norman said. 

Kosten encourages students with a passion for connecting with people to pursue the RA position. 

“I would encourage anyone who has an interest to just apply, go through the interview process and see how it goes, meet the professional staff and possibly some of the head residents and other RAs and then just see how they’re feeling from there,” Kosten said. 

Kosten is excited at the prospect of new staff members and said that joining Residence Life was a great way to incite change on campus through its leadership aspect. 

“I just hope that we have a really great group of students that apply who really are passionate about the job,” Kosten said.