By Michael Nurmi
From educational activities to hosting pizza parties, resident assistant Dan Fallon says it’s all part of an important job.
As a two-year veteran RA, Fallon says, “It’s a big responsibility as a resident assistant but it’s a quite fulfilling job to say the least. You get to build a sense of community where you live with the residents you look over. People think that because we do so much that we don’t have time for academic work, but you do still have plenty of time to get your homework done.”
Fallon adds, “When going on duty it really depends on the building you’re living in and shift changes often, but the hours we are on duty are weekdays during 7 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. and then during weekends 7 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. You also have to host programs that can help people with issues or just have a fun night to help bring people together like pizza and video games. While on duty we are in charge of anything else that comes up, like lock out, fire drills and emergencies.”
Fallon says organizing activities is another part of the job. “As a resident assistant we do educational activities that range from academic topics to spiritual topics and we also help with school connections to allow resident to get to know the people around campus, this is to help build a community and a sense of security and safety. When safety is a priority and issues up, we gauge issue with safety for our resident in mind, we do all we can to keep our residents safe.”
Fallon says, “It’s been pretty satisfying job but I’m used to living in a resident hall that has an open layout but this year I’m living in Mara which is a suite style, which is new and exciting for me. It’s very difficult because people are more likely to stay in their room but it has been just as satisfying so far this year as any other year.”