1. What are some of the challenges that you think face a Resident Advisor? What qualities must a good Resident Advisor possess in order to meet those challenges?
One of the challenges that RAs meet is that the RA has to be in between friends and dorm parents. In other words, RA is sometimes a friend of the dorm mates and is sometimes a dorm parent. As a dorm parent, the RA should speak up and even yell at them in order to keep them in order. It can be very annoying and bothering to others, since they may think that what RA is to order them even though she is not even a teacher!. I believe that as a RA, I need some courage to speak up because I know if I ordered them, they would dislike it and even talk back about me. Nobody wants to be hated but since it is RA’s job, I should be bold and tell them the right thing to do. Moreover, I need to be respected by others. First of all, I have to respect others in order to be respected by others. If they respected me and admitted my position as a RA, they would listen to me without complaining.
2. Diversity is one of the hallmarks of dormitory living. What role do you think diversity plays in the residence halls? Describe an experience or situation in which you found yourself in a multicultural environment and its impact on you.
Diversity is very significant in dormitory life. The reason is that students all around the world live together in a dormitory. The students have lived in different cultures, environments, families, and thoughts. Thus, no one can claim that herself is the best and right since it can make no sense in some culture and totally okay in other. Thanks to my experience in a multicultural environment, in my dorm for 6 months, I learned and became able to understand other cultures better.