Throughout my junior year of college, I served as a Resident Assistant (RA) in an all-freshman dormitory named Sally Ride House, formally known as Serra House. With my team of undergraduate staff, I developed a residential community, planned all educational and recreational activities, and even participated in an initiative to rename the dormitory. Additionally, in one-on-one conversations with residents, I provided for their holistic wellbeing by not only offering personal and academic advice but also connecting them to other campus resources.

 

As an RA, I especially enjoyed coordinating events that fostered cross-cultural discussions and promoted social learning within the dorm. One of the best examples of this was the series of "Culture and Community Cook Nights" that I organized throughout the year. After obtaining a six thousand dollar grant for Sally Ride House, I organized bi-quarterly dinners for which residents cooked foods that reminded them of their home backgrounds and then shared them with their peers. Additionally, I complemented these dinners with educational discussions that strove to broaden residents' horizons in understanding certain cultures, religions, and political viewpoints. 

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Staffing in Sally Ride House was quite a formative year for me because I was working where I was living. In striving to define a work-life balance, I developed a solid understanding of my self and my leadership style.