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ZEB THE RA.RAs pose with Zeb the RA, the zebra mascot for the RA conference. 

By: Claire McKenna
Staff-Writer

The 34th annual University of Northern Iowa Resident Assistant Conference: Find Your Rhythm was held over the weekend, and IU South Bend was able to send four resident assistants to attend. First-year RAs Amanda Quigg, Grace Leffert, Claire McKenna and Noah Robinson attended, as well as advisers Jennifer Brisco (resident coordinator) and Loni Oehlwein (assistant director of housing).

On Jan. 31, the group made the six-hour drive down to Cedar Falls, Iowa. Once the RAs had checked in, they were allowed to explore UNI’s campus and take part in the activities, meet other RAs and use UNI’s Wellness and Recreation Center, which had games, a pool, a rock-climbing wall and food.

“Their gym is incredible,” Leffert said. “Their track, their bikes, their ergonomic treadmill. They have a weight room with their school’s name on the plates!”

“I went rock climbing!” Robinson said excitedly.

“We walked around and saw some cool and interesting statues,” Quigg said.

They also had a Swag Swap Shop, where schools could bring different swag like shirts, key chains, pins and RA paraphernalia like door decorations and trade them with other schools.

“It was interesting to watch people go back and forth with trading,” Quigg said.

“They were like ‘We are only doing shirts for shirts.’” Leffert continued. “It was intense.”

The next morning, after a UNI-provided breakfast, the RAs prepared for case study presentations. Although IU South Bend did not apply in time to submit a case study, they were able to sit in on one by two students from Grinnell College presenting on roommate mediations.

After this, the RAs saw keynote speaker Jen Manly discuss burnout and how to prioritize their wellbeing. She said that it is often expected of leaders to sacrifice themselves entirely for the people they lead, but it shouldn’t be that way.

“Me trying to be selfless was actually ego centered,” Manly said about her experience with teaching. “The best way to impact more is by doing less, better.”

After a Q&A session with Manly, the RAs were released to view information sessions put on by the other schools attending, many of which focused on prioritizing RA mental health.

The RAs then attended the awards ceremony, with prizes given for the best informational sessions, best case study, best door decoration and bulletin board competitions, and winners of the Goosechase, an interactive picture scavenger hunt app. Unfortunately, IU South Bend RAs did not rank on any of these competitions, but they had a great time cheering on the other schools.

When asked what their biggest takeaway from this conference was, they said this:

Amanda Quigg: “It is okay to step away from being an RA, and it isn’t our whole personality. A lot of the information sessions were about taking off being an RA, and it definitely gets hard to not.”

Grace Leffert: “I think balance, they talked about that in a lot of sessions, too. Balance and boundaries with your times, your energy and your spaces.”

Noah Robinson: “I learned that we all deal with the same issues, but we have different ways to resolve them. We are very similar in some ways, but also have huge differences between us.”

Claire McKenna: “I liked how even with all the difficulties with being an RA, everyone was trying to find positive ways to see things and deal with everything.”