RA= Really Awesome (experience)

In a conversation with Cassie the other night, a fantastic RA in her own right, she asked what I felt was the most rewarding experience from being an RA this past year. To be honest, I was initially caught off guard with her question which sort of surprised me as I had been thinking over the past week how much I loved being an RA and looked forward to coming back as the student house director next year. I realized that it was not so much the question that caught me off guard, but the "where do I even begin?" response.

You really have to want to be an RA. The money is nice, but definitely not worth it if you are doing a good job and enjoying the benefits it offers. There is no way you could put a quantitative amount of compensation on a job in which the best rewards are unable to be measured by any artificial, empirical standard.

With that said, I learned this year how to listen on a fundamental level. Not listening for what I want to hear, but to actually hear what is being said and communicated. This is a simple part of conversation but is badly missing from our culture today. I learned how to care for the guys regardless of their attitude, grades, fraternity association, etc. I did not do this perfectly and this is something I want to improve on next year. But the best way I can serve them is by first caring for them. Finally, I most enjoyed watching freshmen grow over the course of a year. Many of them changed so much and became much more the human beings they are meant to be. What a privilege and honor to experience that journey with so many special guys.