Have not written for this blog since last summer when I arrived at SIUC and wrote about our wonderful arrival. Since then we have been busy! Was asked to write a blog about “A Day in the Life...” So, here goes!
Each day is full of adventure. I often use the phrase that I learned from a colleague of mine a few jobs ago. He used to say that he spent the day “as a fireman, putting out fires.” Sometimes I think this is pretty realistic to what I do each day! Granted the building itself has not burned down at all…(yet) but, I do feel like I’m always investigating things and always trying to figure out what is really going on with a given situation.
For those who need the context, I am a Hall Director in a building that houses around 750 students. Our model is set up that there are two full-time Hall Directors (HDs) in the building, two Assistant Hall Directors (AHDs), 32 Resident Assistants (RAs), and a bunch of Desk Assistants (DAs).
So, a typical day starts at 9am in the office. However, usually I’m up earlier at the Rec Center working out, checking Twitter, checking the work email, and making sure the various Facebook groups that I’m part of organizing are all set.
At 9am, I arrive in the office and check the RA duty log from the previous night as well as grab the log from the front desk. These two documents can really dictate the rest of my day. If there were things that occurred overnight, I will end up being busy tracking them down. Otherwise, I generally schedule my week so that Mondays I can focus on weekly reports from RAs, preparing for the week ahead, scheduling conduct meetings (from the weekend), and meetings in the afternoon. Typically Monday afternoons I meet with my supervisor for a 1:1 and with a committee that I serve on.
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays hold the bulk of my 1:1 meetings with my RAs. I supervise 16 RAs and one AHD. I meet with ½ of the RAs weekly while my AHD meets with the other half. Every fourth week or so, we meet in a joint 1:1 - both RAs with myself and the AHD.
Tuesday afternoons we have our departmental “Residence Life” staff meetings in the afternoon. This meeting is full of updates and information to assist us as we move forward. We get lots of information in this meeting that we turn around and use in our building staff meetings Tuesday night. Tuesday evening at 8:30pm I typically meet with the other Hall Director and the two AHDs in my building. We call this our “Schneider Senior Staff Meeting” – there is a Twitter hash tag. During this meeting the four of us really talk about what is happening in our building. We have a standing agenda that includes “what’s happening in your neck of the woods,” “RAs of concern,” & “students of concern.” We also have been known to listen to songs & there has been a dancing competition.
Tuesday from 9:30-11:30pm is our weekly building staff meeting. All of the RAs, AHDs, and the two HDs are present. Twice a month this meeting includes some sort of team building or diversity activity.
Wednesday is when I typically start to hear conduct cases. Each week is different; usually I try to spread my conduct out over Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. In a busy week I might meet with 35 students, while in a quieter week it might be as few as one or two. Most weeks are quieter though.
Thursday we often have a second Residence Life staff meeting - typically this meeting is much more focused on meeting about a given topic. So, we might meet to discuss the Living Learning Communities or how to write an “Of the Month” for the National Residence Hall Honorary (NRHH).
Thursday afternoons I meet with my AHD for her 1:1. This was a great time for me to spend learning about her experiences here at SIU Carbondale, helping her to process her experiences, and talking about the RAs we supervise.
My duty night this year was Thursday night. I picked up the phone at 4pm and met the duty RAs at 6:45pm. Typically I went on rounds with the RAs at 6:45p – and the rest of the night was spent relaxing with my partner, watching a movie, and answering phone calls.
Fridays generally consist of RAs dropping by to ask questions, conduct meetings, getting ‘caught up’ from the week, and working on special projects. I also used time monthly on Fridays to watch a webinar or read a book in the Student Affairs or Residence Life field. I found some amazing webinars on the GLACUHO (the regional Housing Professional Organization) website that have really enhanced how I work.
Most days I leave the office between 4:30 and 5pm.
Highlights of my week are the moments when my RAs just randomly drop by to share a piece of good news, ask a question, or help me solve one of those mysteries or put out one of those fires that I talked about earlier.
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