With my freshman year coming to an end, everything seems different to me then when I first arrived. I’ve made new friends, have taken some challenging classes and lived in a nice dorm room with a cool roommate. But with that being said, there are a few things that have bugged me, but I’m just going to focus on one for now.

I’ve noticed that most RA’s plan socials without really asking fellow dorm residents if they would be interested in said events or not.

I feel like if they went more out of their way to ask around what we as students would be interested in and would like to see in a social, then we could and would be more involved and less secluded.

My own floor RA is pretty good about this, but I’ve noticed throughout the rest of the dorm hall I live in, that doesn’t always tend to be the case.

I was lucky to get an RA that at least attempts to talk to everyone on our floor and asks us what kind of socials or events we might like to attend.

But watching the rest of the dorms, it feels more like they’re there to just babysit students half the time compared to getting to know some of us on a more personal level.

I understand a lot of the time students can be busy, including the RA’s, but it still feels like they have a floor monitor attitude compared to a friend who wants to get to know you better.

The RA members in my hall are very friendly overall, but at times it feels like I only really know my own floor RA. I wish we as residents could get to know another RA without them having to be our own personal floor RA.

I think maybe a good way to involve the floor with activities would be to start a group chat of some sorts using whatever social platform everyone could agree on.

That way if a social is going on, we could be notified, or we could all share ideas for a social and plan for one accordingly.

Obviously, this could be a problem for those who don’t want to be a part of group messaging, but it’d be at least a good way to be notified and get together. Maybe some form a poll system could be implemented.

A movie night could really get some of us together just for the hall compared to the entire campus going to an actual movie event. Alongside that, I feel like some of the events that go on campus could be brought to the halls more.

One idea is an art day, where we could have themed projects. An example would be during the fall we could have a pumpkin design contest.

Also, for people who work late hours, or who work often, I feel like an RA should find a way to involve those coming back to the dorms late.

Maybe by adjusting the schedule or planning for something in the middle of the day rather than closer to the night. Planning something around 3 PM wouldn’t be a problem for most people aside from those doing lab projects, or so I would think.

I can’t think of too many good solutions or alternatives without hearing the opinions and thoughts of the RA students obviously, but these are just some thoughts I figured I could share.