This (Haunting), That (parking), and the Other (RA)

By Erik Squire

What do haunted houses, bad parking, and RAs have in common? They’re all being covered in this issue of Campus Exposed, so buckle your seatbelts and strap in your Chihuahuas (exaggeration absolutely necessary).

The Campus is about to be Halloween-ed out, and it’s going to be Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! Pending approval of a decent sized budget by the Student Senate, SMCC is going to turn into Dante’s inferno. Also, as if the Captains House wasn’t haunted enough already (and it is) it will be super haunted by time our students are through with it. A bunch of hella-good campus volunteers are planning on hosting a tour that will most likely start by the graveyard (yeah, SMCC has a grave yard), and end at the Captains House. It should be nothing less than legendary, so make sure you’re a part of it!
The dates are to be determined, but keep your heads up and an eye out (but not too far out; you don’t want it to get mixed up with all the fake eyes rolling around).

On the matter of parking, the Student Senate (SS) has been discussing the issue of students parking where they shouldn’t and racking up fines. The Representatives of the SS understand how paying a $25 fine can be a struggle to a lot of SMCC goers who run a tight budget as it is. To that end, they will be meeting on Oct 22nd to make some decisions on your behalf to address this problem. One idea being thrown around is painting the tar with a “Do Not Park” sign where students typically park the most (but shouldn’t). If you would like to help address this issue, please come to the meeting held in the Jewett Hall Auditorium.

Finally, the Beacon thought you should know about some people who do a lot for the students on campus; the Resident Assistants. On that note, let us introduce one of Spring Point Hall’s RAs, Ian Rixon. Ian is a Behavioral Health and Human Services Major; this is his 3rd semester and first month as an RA. We at the Beacon asked him a few questions about what an RA does.

RAs offer support services to residents, whether they live at Spring Point or Surfsite. These services consist of: general assistance for the residents, mediation for roommate conflicts, assistance with homework, and hosting a monthly activity. The activities that RAs put on are developed to get residents involved, increase learning, and have fun. In fact, Ian is working right now with another RA to host a soccer tournament (details yet to be set), so look out for that!
He further went on to describe an RA’s duty as one of keeping residents safe. Some of the difficulties that RAs have to deal with are vandalisms, inappropriate conduct, and tough situations that may arise between different residents. As all of you should know, SMCC is a dry campus, which can further present challenging situations for our Residential Assistants.
In semesters past, Ian got the sense that residents considered RAs as inhuman; strict leaders who enforce policy, and were expected to know everything. However, Ian would like to remind students that RAs are just regular people doing the best they can.

Ian considers the ability to help others as the best part of his job. Along that line, he would also like to let residents know, “even if you are not on our floor, or not in our building, feel free to approach any of us (RAs) with your questions.”