Resident assistants train over summer to prep for duty
By Antonio Gonzalez
Sept. 23, 2012 8:11 a.m.
Heart pounding, Shelby Schemerhorn crawled through the smoke-filled hallway on her knees and elbows, pounding on doors, screaming for everyone to get out.
Somewhere within the swirling fog, a fire marshal yelled at her to scream louder.
Reaching the end of the hallway, she ran out to an applauding team.
The fourth-year gender studies student was one of 199 students who participated in similar activities as part of a month-long summer training program for resident assistants.
Resident assistants are trained in a variety of topics such as emergency management, program planning, and counseling and peer mentoring, said Marsh-Allen Smith, the resident director of Hedrick Hall.
During their natural disaster training, RAs received hands-on experience with fire extinguishers by putting out controlled fires and participating in simulated scenarios such as the smoke-filled hallway Schemerhorn participated in.
The trainees learned how to properly respond to natural disasters such as fires or earthquakes similar to the ones that rattled Los Angeles earlier this month, said Ericka Jones, a second-year world arts and culture and Russian language and literature student.
James Luby, a fourth-year anthropology student who is returning for his third year as an RA, said that in his three years as a member of the Office of Residential Life he has noticed little overall change in materials presented during training.
Suicide prevention skills are also part of RA training.
UCLA Counseling and Psychological Services teams up with the Hill every year to provide peer certification programs in subjects like suicide prevention and sexual assault prevention, Smith said.
But returning and new RAs do not necessarily go through the same training activities.
Returning resident assistants attended several different training sessions, where they learned first aid and CPR.
The newer resident assistants learned more of the introductory basics about being on duty.
After their lessons, the RAs broke up into “team time,” in which the RAs applied what they learned to their individual residences.
Toward the end of their training, the new RAs took part in “Behind Closed Doors,” a role-playing exercise where new RAs dealt with an extreme scenario acted out by returning RAs.
Jones, who is a new RA, was called to investigate a suspicious aroma suspected of being marijuana in this activity.
Before knocking on the door, Jones said she requested back-up because of the possible illegal nature of the situation.
Schemerhorn, also a new RA, said she was called to respond to a noise complaint and then had to deal with a large and rowdy group of people in a room that exceeded the number of allowed guests in a dorm room.
To learn the ropes of running residential life, the assistants are grouped into teams based on their housing assignments, Smith said. The groups are a way to build a sense of community among the RAs, he added.
Luby’s team did a challenge course at the Sunset Canyon Recreation Center for their training development activity, he said.
“(Team building) gives you a clear idea on how each person on your team functions and how an individual can add something of their personality to their team,” Luby said, “I personally learned a lot about my team in the challenge course.”
Sahar Bagheri, a fourth-year biology student and returning RA in Hedrick Hall, said the most remarkable thing about her training was the degree of intimacy she developed with people she recently met in training.
“You meet these people in training and you are like, “˜Hi, this is my name, what is your name?’ and then a week later you are telling them your deepest, darkest secrets.”
By being part of a close-knit community, Luby gets to learn how his team thinks and how they communicate, he said. He knows that if a situation arises he can depend on his team.
Jones said the training was more intense than she expected but added that she is grateful for it because she knows it will be helpful during the year.
“We know training is long … but we want it to be fun and educational, we want (RAs) to be invested, we want (them) to make ORL (their) family,” Smith said.
