Welcome!

Welcome to the Towers Community!!

In August you will make your way to the Towers to start training. It will be a very busy and intense time and I want to prepare you all so you won’t be so overwhelmed. Feel free to comment, ask questions, and give ideas and feedback!

Here are a few things to think about before you come back to campus:

1. What are your goals and expectation for your floors, small staff, and large staff?
2. Why did you become an RA and what do you hope to get out of being an RA for this year?
3. Start thinking about what you would like to do for door decorations and bulletin boards. It may even be good to have these things ready to put up because of the small amount of time given for this.
- Door decorations are decals you make for each resident to post on their door as a sort of welcome gift for them. Last year I did puzzle pieces with each resident's name and room number. Some choose to put birthdays on there as well. These can be purchased at the dollar store and all teaching stores such as Beckers on Kirkwood Highway and the Learning Station on Main Street. Don't forget to keep all receipts we usually have a small budget for opening and may be able to get reimbursed if you hand in your receipts! We usually do not get the roster until late so just having these ready to be written up will be one less thing to worry about during training.

Here is a list of resources for bulletin boards and door decorations:
• http://www.residentassistant.com/one/index.php
• http://www.reslife.net/html/bboard.html
• http://www.rahelper.com/Bulletin%20Boards/Bulletin_Health.php

The following websites should be bookmarked because you will use them frequently with the job:
• http://www.udel.edu/webforms
• http://www.udel.edu/reslife
• http://www.udel.edu/reslife/staff/phonelists.html
• http://www.facilities.udel.edu/

Now that you have you website resources covered here are a few things I found useful to bring to help do the RA job:
• Stapler with plenty of extra staples
• Staple remover
• Backing paper for bulletin boards (to enhance pictures and such)
• Extra sticky tac to post flyers in strategic locations (next to the elevator button!)
• Scissors and even fancy scissors to spice up bulletin boards!

Please feel free to add to all my lists. I want to help make your transition as easy as possible and this blog is here for you. It is going to be a fabulous year and I am extremely excited to start it off right. Don’t hesitate to call, text, or email me with questions or comments, but I’m sure others have the same questions so post them and we can get you your answers. :)

Lorin Walls
lwalls@udel.edu
302-530-9780