Busy bees: Resident Assistants on the go at HutchCC

By Brenna Eller

Opinion Page Editor

On visitations and check in days for Hutchinson Community College, the Resident Assistants usually help show future students around campus and help them get their rooms situated. But that’s not all the RA’s do.

They are also very involved in the activities on campus and often run certain clubs.

There are currently 22 RA’s at HutchCC and each is assigned a resident hall to watch over. You know when the popcorn burns and residents are supposed to evacuate the dorms? Well the RA’s get to report it and make sure everyone is out of the building.

Resident Assistants are sophomores who characterize a responsible, achieving student and are the “role models” on campus.

Both Elland Hall and Kent Hall have RA’s living in the buildings. The Resident Assistants are to make sure that the rules of the dorms are kept and are being followed.

Another task RA’s do is help residents get back into their rooms if they get locked out. The numbers for the Resident Assistants are shared in your dorms in case you need to call the RA on duty. Or they usually have an RA sticker on their dorm doors.

Lane Wiens is an RA for Kent Hall. He is also the president of the Student Government Association on campus.

“As an RA, we are responsible for all of the residents on our floor and we also encourage our residents to go to the different activities that the Campus Activities Board and the dorms promote, such as bowling at The Alley, Homecoming activities, and a variety of others.”

With such a busy schedule, one might think Resident Assistants are overloaded with tasks. Lane Wiens said,”No, it’s really not too bad. Sometimes it may seem like a lot to do, but it really isn’t.”

As mentioned earlier, the RA’s deal with fire alarms quite often. Some caused by burnt foods, candles, and other hazardous items. Wiens gave his input on what his job is during those fire alarm drills.

“When the fire alarms go off, it is our job to try and get everyone out of the building as quickly as possible and keep them out of the building until the fire department or the adult on duty says we can go back in,” Wiens said.

There is a lot of responsibility held on the RA’s shoulders, so they deserve some appreciation from time to time.

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