Here are a few of my residents–all grown up!
The college freshmen in Sheehan Hall are no longer so fresh. Let me explain that statement–I mean, their first semester is coming to an end and it has gone by way too fast. As a first year RA, it feels like just yesterday I was prepping my floor for my incoming residents. I was so nervous, but also excited to meet my residents. I just wanted to see what this year had in store. And now that the semester is almost over, I can look fondly back on the experiences my residents have had.
Being a freshmen RA this semester has reminded me so much of my own freshman year. In fact, it’s as if I just arrived. I will never forget my first time living with a roommate, my first community bathroom experience and my first college class. These moments flashed before me so quickly and it is so hard to believe it is already my third year here.
Those first few weeks are always a bit awkward and scary for incoming freshmen. Most of my girls were experiencing those same feelings of fear and anxiety that I and all other freshman in history struggled with too. After those feelings wore off a little, they begin going anywhere and everywhere with their roommates to start their friendship, learning about each other and learning about their interests through classes, clubs and events.
But now, here we are almost at the end of their first semester and I cannot believe how much they’ve grown. The once shy, lost, and scared girls are now much more confident in their surroundings. They have established their friends, study habits and extra curricular activities. They have made WSU their home.
With the semester ending, my girls have grown into the women that I knew–even back in the first weeks of classes– that they could be. And that is all that this RA can ask for.
