It’s 9:30 PM, my body aches, my mind is fried, and my attention span is shot—all signs that today was an especially long day of RA training, a season of learning and growth residence life professionals know all too well.
I moved to Seattle exactly one month ago today, which seems kind of hard to believe. Was it really just one month ago that I stepped off my plane from San Francisco and stepped into this new chapter? In some ways, it feels like this was just yesterday, but in other ways, it feels like this happened an eon ago. So much has transpired since my last post to this blog—we wrapped up pro-staff training, whirled through desk coordinator training, and then this week, launched into desk assistant and RA training simultaneously. On Monday night, I finally met the RAs we’ve been preparing so long for and that I’ve been so eager to meet. On Tuesday we had our first of many full days of training, and this morning, I co-presented my first big group session as a senior staff member.
As I diligently try to memorize the names and faces of my 21 RAs, I can’t help but remember my first days on their end of this experience—it doesn’t feel so long ago that I was a first-year RA, barely 18 years old and itching for a chance to be a leader in the residence hall. Being with my staff takes me back in time to my own experience as an RA years ago and how impactful that was for me. That was my debut into the student affairs profession, and I didn’t even know it yet.
My RAs, whether they know it or not, remind me that I’ve come a long way and that there are bigger things to come that I cannot predict. And so on nights like tonight when I’m exhausted from a long day of RA training, I still come out feeling like I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Thankfully, I know I have many more monthiversaries to celebrate in my student affairs journey.
MATT NAZARIO-MILLER 