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IN THIS ISSUE:
o Help!
Please share this site with your incoming RAs!
o Please support our sponsors!
o Site Updates - Free webpages,
New discussion boards, Improved email and much more!
o Stay Motivated! (RA Poems)
o April Calendar
o Issues and
programming ideas for April
o Call for Articles
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PLEASE SHARE THIS SITE WITH YOUR CAMPUS RA STAFF!
I NEED YOUR HELP! In
order to keep this site growing as a resource, I need you to
help to share it with other RAs and residence life staff. If you
have an email list or a listserv of the RAs on your campus
(and/or the incoming RAs for next year), please take a moment to
send them an email informing them about this site and it's
growing resources, including:
- Hundreds of
programming ideas
- Advice Articles
- Bulletin boards (Ready-Made!)
- Door dec ideas
- Free ResidentAssistant.com email
- Free ResidentAssistant.com web pages
- Discussion boards
- Email discussion lists
- Email newsletter and
- Links to other great resources!
Thanks for helping
this site continue to grow as a resource!
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o SPONSORS
Sponsors are what keep
ResidentAssistant.com a free resource. Please support them by
visiting their sites
through the links in the newsletter and on ResidentAssistant.com!
JOBS! - The Summer Placement Exchange (SPE) is getting closer and
closer! If you are thinking about pursuing a residence life job,
check out the Summer Placement Exchange (SPE)! It's a great
opportunity to connect with potential employers in residence life.
For more information, go to:
http://www.residentassistant.com/spe/index.htm
or you can call (605) 688-5148 or email: sdsu_spe@sdstate.edu.
Grad School! - Many of
you are planning on continuing your education by going on to
graduate school. For a
comprehensive listing of graduate school programs, as links to
higher education graduate programs, visit:
http://www.residentassistant.com/gradschool/index.htm.
Please click on the gradschool resource site links!! That's how
this site is paid for!
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o
SITE UPDATES
During the month of
March, I was able to add some great features and content to
ResidentAssistant.com… Check it out:
- Free web
based email… there is a new and improved web based
email solution. Get youremail@residentassistant.com,
now with a new and improved list of features!
- New and improved
discussion boards! http://www.residentassistant.com/cgi-bin/forums/ikonboard.cgi
- Over 30 new pre-made
bulletin boards, 50 new programming ideas, new additions to the
advice page.
http://www.residentassistant.com/programming/bulletinboard/index.htm
- Added an expanded
ResidentAssistant.com bookstore - http://www.residentassistant.com/bookstore/Default.htm
- For a full list of
recent additions to the site, see http://www.residentassistant.com/whatsnew.htm
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MOTIVATION
With the weeks counting
down until the end of this semester, it is increasingly difficult,
yet increasingly important to stay motivated and beat burnout! I
believe one of the most important keys to doing this is
remembering why you are doing this job!
I am
including two encouraging and inspiring poems (both from "InspiRAtion
for RAs") that I hope will help you to remember what is most
important about your job:
JUST
ANOTHER DAY - by Amy Connolly
Each
morning as I roll from bed
I wonder what will lie ahead
What will I face out there today?
Welcome to the life of an RA.
Tornado
warnings, fire drills
Someone who took a chance with sleeping pills
Broken glass and broken hearts,
Roommate friendships torn apart.
Another
party down the hall
Another game of floor football
"Hey who began that water fight?"
"Who put in that porn on movie night?"
A
six-page paper still to write,
Four different meetings, all tonight,
Another one where I'm up late,
Oh well I'll sleep after I graduate!
I often
laugh, I sometimes cry,
I almost daily wonder "why?"
Why do I take on all this stuff?
An RAs job is just too tough!!
But when
I think I've been stretched thin,
Someone asks, "Can I come in?"
"Thank you so much" they shyly say
"You really helped me out today."
Then
suddenly my mind is clear
And I remember why I'm here.
It's so much more than room and board,
My staff
My floor
The best rewards.
Hopes
of an RA
If you
enter my room feeling lost
My hope is to show you direction.
If you
enter my room full of tears
My hope is that you will leave with a smile.
If you
enter my room feeling like a stranger
My hope is that when you leave,
We will know each other.
If you
enter my room full of happiness
My hope is to share your excitement.
If you
enter my room bothered by worry
My hope is that you will leave feeling at ease.
If you
enter my room glowing with love
My hope is to share in your warmth.
If you
enter my room bubbling with dreams
My hope is to watch them develop for you.
If you
enter my room with a troubling problem
My hope is that you can confide in me.
If you
enter my room
My hope is that we will both grow stronger.
Josh
Feinblum
West Nottingham Academy
Both of
these poems are excerpts from "InspiRAtion for RAs."
If you are interested in ordering a copy for yourself or
your staff, please visit:
http://www.residentassistant.com/inspiration
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o
APRIL CALENDAR!
I'll bet you didn't know…
April is Grass Month, Pets Are Wonderful Month, Uh-huh Month,
Cancer Control Month, Child Abuse Prevention Month, Keep America
Beautiful Month, Listening Awareness Month, Multicultural
Communication Month, National Humor Month, International Guitar
Month, National Poetry Month National Food Month, Stress Awareness
Month, Alcohol Awareness Month, International Twit Award Month and
National Sexually Transmitted Diseases Education and Awareness
Month
April
1-7 Nat'l. Library Week
1 April Fool's Day
2 Children's Book Day
4 School Librarian's Day
5 Fun at Work Day
7 California Poppy Day
7 No Housework Day
8-14 Garden Week
8 Astronomy Day
8 Birthday of the Buddha
8 Full Moon Day
8 Palm Sunday
8 Passover
12 Holy Thursday
13 Good Friday
13 Baisakhi
13 Holy Friday (Ortho.)
13 T. Jefferson's Bday
13 Blame Someone Else
15 Easter
15 Pascha
15-21 Medical Lab Week
15-21 Organize Your Files
16 Tax Day
17 Stress Awareness
20 Holocaust Remembrance
21-5/2 Ridván
22 Earth Day
22-29 Jewish Heritage Wk.
22-28 Karaoke Week
22 Volunteer Week
23 St. George's Day
25 St. Mark (Ortho.)
26 Hug An Australian
26 Tanzania
27 Arbor Day
28 Astronomy Day
28 Yom Ha'atzma'ut
28 Kiss Your Mate Day
29-5/25 Science/Tech. Wk.
Check out http://www.residentassistant.com/calendar/
for a ton of information on April holidays and student issues.
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STUDENT ISSUES AND PROGRAMMING -O-
Some of the issues
your students may be facing this month include:
o Increasing job
worries
o Increased sicknesses
o High academic pressures (finals, papers, etc)
o Warmer weather may increase the fear and realistic threat
of sexual assault (though it can strike at any time...not
just in the spring)
o Burn out, lack of motivation, spring fever
o Health problems and physical appearance problems arise
with warmer weather
o Social pressures increase (formals, parties)
o Spring brings out love....everyone wants to be in it.
This brings issues for those who are, AND those who aren't.
(dating/relationship programming, or alternative activities)
o Class scheduling anxiety
o Easter/Passover break--pressures to go home, depression if
you can't go home
o Homesickness
o First-year readjustment to home
o Senior-itis
o Financial strain from spring break effects social life
o Registration for summer/fall classes
Programming Ideas:
o Safety and
Security
o Counseling/Vocational
o Health and Wellness
o Motivational Techniques
o Recreational Activities
o Class information session
o Spring Social
o Coping with Curfews
o Spring break bulletin boards (See bulletin board page)
o Skin cancer awareness bulletin boards (See bulletin board
page)
o
CALL FOR ARTICLES!
If you have written an advice article for RAs or you are
interested in writing one, please email it to me so it can be
posted on the site!
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