What being a first-year RA taught me

By Abigail Scardelletti
April 22, 2019

As the 2018-2019 academic year at Cabrini University comes to a close and everyone is making plans for the future, I find myself reflecting on the rollercoaster that was this past school year. It was quite the adventure for me as a member of the editorial staff for the Loquitur, a writing tutor, a student and, of course, a resident assistant.

Even though I feel as though I never get to sleep, I would not change this year for a second as it has taught me so much about myself, has allowed me to grow as a person and has set up a lot of opportunities for my future.

One of my biggest teachers was not in the classroom. It was the role of RA on Cabrini’s beautiful campus.

Taken from the Residence Life Facebook Group at the RA Banquet

I was lucky enough to earn a position on the residence life staff for this year and from the start I was given unique opportunities I would not have had otherwise. Over the summer, I was one of a few RAs who was asked to be a part of the hiring process of a brand new professional staff that is currently working at the school. It was exciting to be a part of that process and to see what they have been able to do in their first year.

I was also placed on a floor of more than 30 residents in East Residence Hall for the year, as the only RA of the floor, but with support from five other RAs in the building. My job is and was to create programs, floor meetings and an overall positive community and atmosphere for these students. I was terrified.

But I quickly learned how to not be intimidated by the 30 residents staring blankly at me at floor meetings and was able to use my platform of planning programs to teach self-love and promote diversity or to cheer residents up by putting inspirational sticky notes in the hallways to get them through finals week.

Cabrini Residence Life

An RA’s job is never finished and you are never really off the clock. It’s not all fun and games either. There are situations while on duty or in general that I had to step in and not be the “good guy” and enforce policy or mediate between friends or roommates. There were also nights where I wanted to cry because residents were struggling and I could only do so much.

But, through those difficult situations I was able to put my training from the Residence Life into practice and learned that my insecurity of not being able to handle the role was easy for me to overcome and I was able to help my residents.

Now going into my second year as an RA, I feel even more proud to say that I am one and I am ecstatic to see that not only do I get to continue my journey next school year, but I get to share my experience and knowledge with residents of mine who will be stepping into the role alongside me and my fellow current RAs.   

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Abigail Scardelletti

Abigail is in the Cabrini Class of 2020 as well as the Circulation Manager for the 2018-2019 school year. She is also the social media coordinator for the Body Image Coalition on campus and a Writing Tutor for Cabrini's Writing Center.

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