Resident assistants more diverse thanks to special programming
Shauna Allen
Issue date: 2/2/01 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
The resident assistants of WIU started off the semester with various training programs, mainly focusing on diversity Jan. 21 in the University Union Grand Ballroom.
During a mandatory six-hour program, RAs were trained in handling different situations with people of diverse religions, racial backgrounds and cultures by participating in various activities.
The event started with guest speaker Michael Herrington, formerly from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, expressed his vast diversity experience from starting out as resident assistant and later as a complex director.
There were about 160 people in attendance aside from RAs, resident managers of graduate/family housing, graduate students and professional staff, who were also participating.
"The idea of (this year's diversity training) came from efforts of last year's staff," Alma Sealine, administrative assistant director of residence life, said. "We made a commitment to bring in an outside motivator to show the importance of understanding our differences. Herrington proved to be an intricate training tool for the January spring RA training," she added.
In one of the initial activities, the staff showed parts of a documentary video, "The Color of Fear," to give RAs a better perspective of various cultural barriers in society. After the video, RAs broke off into small sections to discuss the video and created questions of how to deal with different situations.
Another activity involved the RAs sitting in groups of three asking each other three questions: "Who are you?" "Who do you think I am?" and " Who do you think I pretend to be?"
Also, the Union Grand Ballroom had "columns" set up around the room.
"The main purpose of the diversity training is to promote awareness and understanding of being different and what the RAs can bring to their residents," Jennifer Stanley, RA at Thompson Hall, said.
"The columns were a series of social and personal questions answered by all the RAs and displayed where everyone could identify with their ideas," Sealine said.
Not everyone will have the same motivation for training sessions in any job, especially if it's a mandatory event.
"I just thought that some of the activities were repetitious because we went through the same training last year," Aaron Nowakowski, RA at Washington Hall, said. "The video we watched and the small discussion groups proved to be effective in that we came up with different programs to share with our residents," he added.
Members of the higher staff said the diversity training challenged thought processes and challenged participants to think "outside of the box" and analyze situations from the outside looking in and coming up with a positive solution.
"I thought it was conducive to the resident assistants planning of events for the rest of the semester," Sealine said.
During a mandatory six-hour program, RAs were trained in handling different situations with people of diverse religions, racial backgrounds and cultures by participating in various activities.
The event started with guest speaker Michael Herrington, formerly from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, expressed his vast diversity experience from starting out as resident assistant and later as a complex director.
There were about 160 people in attendance aside from RAs, resident managers of graduate/family housing, graduate students and professional staff, who were also participating.
"The idea of (this year's diversity training) came from efforts of last year's staff," Alma Sealine, administrative assistant director of residence life, said. "We made a commitment to bring in an outside motivator to show the importance of understanding our differences. Herrington proved to be an intricate training tool for the January spring RA training," she added.
In one of the initial activities, the staff showed parts of a documentary video, "The Color of Fear," to give RAs a better perspective of various cultural barriers in society. After the video, RAs broke off into small sections to discuss the video and created questions of how to deal with different situations.
Another activity involved the RAs sitting in groups of three asking each other three questions: "Who are you?" "Who do you think I am?" and " Who do you think I pretend to be?"
Also, the Union Grand Ballroom had "columns" set up around the room.
"The main purpose of the diversity training is to promote awareness and understanding of being different and what the RAs can bring to their residents," Jennifer Stanley, RA at Thompson Hall, said.
"The columns were a series of social and personal questions answered by all the RAs and displayed where everyone could identify with their ideas," Sealine said.
Not everyone will have the same motivation for training sessions in any job, especially if it's a mandatory event.
"I just thought that some of the activities were repetitious because we went through the same training last year," Aaron Nowakowski, RA at Washington Hall, said. "The video we watched and the small discussion groups proved to be effective in that we came up with different programs to share with our residents," he added.
Members of the higher staff said the diversity training challenged thought processes and challenged participants to think "outside of the box" and analyze situations from the outside looking in and coming up with a positive solution.
"I thought it was conducive to the resident assistants planning of events for the rest of the semester," Sealine said.