Tag Archives: Res Life

Announcements, Events / Programs

Room Selection Info Session

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Come one, come all! It’s time to start thinking about where you want to live during the 2020-2021 school year. If you are unsure of how to prepare for room selection then join us for the Room Selection Info Session! Here you can get tutorials and help from the Department of Housing and Residential Programs as well as the RAs in the room selection process.  If you need a few pointers for how to prepare then stop on by.

Even if you don’t think you need help you can still join us! We will be having games, treats and a photo booth for all those who come. Who knows maybe you will think of questions while spending time hearing about the room selection process or other people’s questions.

There will be some big prizes such as, entering to win a $200 waiver on your housing deposit or Early Room Selection!

The Room Selection Info Session will be from 6 pm – 8 pm on February 5th. It will be held in South Village’s Great Room.

We hope to see you all there!

Announcements, Lifestyle / Hall Life

2020-2021 Resident Assistant Information Sessions

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Interested in becoming a Resident Assistant for the 2020–2021 school year? You must attend one info session, and you have 3 more chances of attending one!

At these info sessions, Residential Area Directors will be leading the meetings, and you’ll learn what being an RA has to offer both personally and professionally. There will also be a panel of current RAs who will be available for any questions regarding the job description of an RA.

The Resident Assistant application will open November 25, 2019, and the interview process will begin in February of Spring 2020.

Lifestyle / Hall Life, RA Spotlight

Meet the Resident Assistants — Phil Romansky

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Meet your RA: Phil Romansky, West Village

  • Name/Year/Hometown
      • Phil Romansky / Senior / Stroudsburg, PA
  • Do you have any hobbies?
      • Biking, drinking coffee, and telling dad jokes.
  • Why did you want to become an RA?
      • I wanted to become an RA to teach residents that college is something to be taken seriously. I also want to model what it is like to be a successful non-traditional student. I’m thankful to have a lot of other transfer students I can connect with.
  • What is the most valuable part of being an RA?
      • The most valuable part of being an RA is being able to mentor students. The access that we have and our responsibility with it is incredible. RAs really are creating a community, everything we do is intentional, and I love that.
  • What is your favorite program you held for your residents?
      • My favorite program was our MTO Acai Bowl program that I put on with the help of RA Quinn and RA Larry. We made a really great team, and a lot of people came out!
  • What do you hope your residents get out of you being their RA?
      • I hope that my residents learn that there is a balance to college and that they find their own balance. I am really honest with my residents, and I want them to have a realistic vision of the world before they graduate. Hopefully, I can impart that foresight onto them.
  • Do you have any valuable tips or tricks that you have learned from your time here at MU to pass on to other students?
      • Free printing at the ELC and get a BIKE!
  • What is your favorite part of living in the residence halls?
      • There’s always someone to get lunch with.
  • Why did you choose to come to Millersville?
      • Anything was better than East Stroudsburg University!
  • What is your favorite class you have taken at Millersville?
      • Public Relations Issues and Cases.
Announcements

Meet the Resident Assistants — Sarah Hagen

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Meet your RA: Sarah Hagen, Shenks Hall

  • Name/Year/Hometown/Major(s) and Minor(s)
      • Sarah Hagen / Senior / Enola, PA / Social Work major, Psychology minor
  • Do you have any hobbies?
      • I love spending time with family and friends, reading, traveling, and anything involving music or art.
  • Why did you want to become an RA?
      • I wanted to become an RA to gain leadership experience and have an opportunity to get to know people and be more involved in the Millersville community.
  • What is the most valuable part of being an RA?
      • I think it’s really valuable to be in a position where I have the opportunity to help fellow students make more of their time at Millersville. Whether it’s working out a roommate conflict, helping learn more about available resources, or just talking about how their week is going, I really value being able to have a role in creating a positive experience for my residents.
  • What is your favorite program you held for your residents?
      • Probably the finger painting one I held at the beginning of this semester! There was an excellent turnout, and everyone seemed to have a really good time. It was a great opportunity for people to take a break and relax doing something fun and meet other people in the building, and it was really neat to see how creative people got with it.
  • What do you hope your residents get out of you being their RA?
      • I hope that I can be a source of encouragement and support.
  • Do you have any valuable tips or tricks that you have learned from your time here at MU to pass on to other students?
      • Don’t worry about what other people are doing. Everyone in college is having a different experience and takes a different path to reach their goals. Focusing on what other people are doing makes it too easy to lose sight of your own progress, and you don’t want to do that! Figure out what system works for you, and don’t be afraid to do some trial and error. And reach out — there are so many people here who are willing to help you with whatever you might be struggling with if you speak up.
  • What is your favorite part of living in the residence halls?
      • I like how many people it’s allowed me to meet who I might not have otherwise and how easy it is to get involved.
  • Why did you choose to come to Millersville?
      • When I visited, I fell in love with the campus and immediately felt at home. I felt like there was a strong sense of community here and wanted to be able to be a part of it.
  • What is your favorite class you have taken at Millersville?
      • Perspectives on Poverty with Dr. Frank. This class was so eye-opening and really solidified that I wanted to be working in social work.
  • Do you have any upcoming events?
      • Yes! I have an event called Think Pink tonight (10/29). Residents will be able to stop by and write notes of encouragement to be sent to Girls Love Mail, which is an organization working to provide handwritten letters to women who have recently received a breast cancer diagnosis.
Lifestyle / Hall Life, RA Spotlight

Meet the Resident Assistants — Maddie Feeman

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Meet your RA: Maddie Feeman, South Village

  • Name/Hometown/Major(s)
      • Madison Feeman / Duel Early Childhood and Special Education / Wyomissing, PA
  • Do you have any hobbies?
      • When I have some free time, I love to read.
  • Why did you want to become an RA?
      • I wanted to become an RA to have the opportunity to gain leadership experience. I also wanted to be able to make connections with more students while also helping them reach their personal goals.
  • What is the most valuable part of being an RA?
      • The most valuable part of being an RA is being able to gain life-long friendships with the staff and the residents.
  • What is your favorite program you held for your residents?
      • My favorite program that I’ve held was “Pie an RA!” This program was held with RAs CJ and Jack, and we raised $255 for the Millersville Relay for Life!
  • What do you hope your residents get out of you being their RA?
      • I hope my residents are able to feel like if they’re struggling, or if they feel alone, they always have me supporting them and cheering them on.
  • Do you have any valuable tips or tricks that you have learned from your time here at MU to pass on to other students?
      • Do the things that YOU want to do. If you only do what other people want you to do, you won’t be able to become the best version of yourself. Find a new club or organization or department that intrigues you, and do what makes you happy.
  • What is your favorite part of living in the residence halls?
      • My favorite part of living in the Residence Halls is all of the programming and community-building that happens to build bonds and relationships.
  • Why did you choose to come to Millersville?
      • I chose to come to Millersville for a lot of reasons. However, for me, the most important reason is that, as soon as I stepped on campus, I felt a sense of community and family, and Millersville felt like home.
  • What is your favorite class you have taken at Millersville?
      • So far, my favorite class at Millersville is Dr. Himmele’s ERCH 485—Teaching English Language Learners.
  • Do you have any upcoming events?
      • I currently have Identi-TEA and Stress Ball Making on October 30th, where students can come drink some hot tea, make stress balls, and work on making goals. Later this semester, RA Connor and I will have some more Relay for Life fundraisers for students to participate in!
Lifestyle / Hall Life, RA Spotlight

Meet the Resident Assistants — CJ Longo

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Meet your RA: CJ Longo, South Village

  • Name/Year/Hometown/Major(s)
      • CJ Longo / Sophomore / Freehold, NJ / Environmental Hazards & Emergency Management, and Geography: Environmental Studies
  • Do you have any hobbies?
      • I love being outside in the sun, going to the shore, traveling, watching Netflix, Hulu, & YouTube.
  • Why did you want to become an RA?
      • I wanted to become an RA to gain leadership skills and to make a positive impact on my resident’s lives.
  • What is the most valuable part of being an RA?
      • The most valuable part of being an RA to me is just being there for a resident in need or just simply putting a smile on their face.
  • What is your favorite program you held for your residents?
      • My favorite program that I’ve held with my residents was Pie an RA (organized by RAs Maddie, Jack, and I). The RAs of South and I got pied in the face by our residents with a small donation to Relay For Life, and I was pied 8 times by my residents. As a staff, we raised over $250!
  • What do you hope your residents get out of you being their RA?
      • I want my residents to know that they can come to me with any questions or concerns and that I can point them in the right direction to different campus resources.
  • Do you have any valuable tips or tricks that you have learned from your time here at MU to pass on to other students?
      • Grilled Cheese from the Upper Deck is heaven on Earth.
  • What is your favorite part of living in the residence halls?
      • My favorite part of living in the residence halls is that you get to meet so many different people from so many different backgrounds.
  • Why did you choose to come to Millersville?
      • I initially chose Millersville because of its outstanding meteorology program, but I recently changed my major to emergency management, which is something I am more interested in. I also chose Millersville because of its luxurious residence halls compared to other schools with more traditional residence halls. Overall, Millersville was the perfect school for me because it’s not too far from home, has excellent academic programs, and it’s a beautiful campus.
  • What is your favorite class you have taken at Millersville?
      • My favorite class that I’ve taken so far here is Intro to Emergency Management with Professor Benyeda. This class opened my eyes to the emergency management field and was just such an interesting class to take. I also got to skip the midterm and final if I took the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) course offered on campus, which was a fantastic course to take as well!
  • Do you have any upcoming events?
        • Yes! I am hosting a Halloween door decorating contest on my floor! The suite with the best-decorated door will win a free Chick-fil-A meal, doors will be judged on October 24th!
Intern Spotlight

Meet the Marketing Intern

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My name is Gabi Slucki and for the Fall 2018 Spring 2019 school year I have had the pleasure of being the Marketing Intern for Housing and Residential Programs. Throughout this time, I have learned a lot about marketing and more importantly the importance of using a blog to implement content marketing. Through these past two semesters this internship has challenged me to learn more about myself and shows me how far I have grown over this past school year. As time gets closer and closer to graduation, I am very happy I had the opportunity this year to participate in this rewarding internship that helped me develop skills for future jobs.

What did you learn about marketing and blogging?

Through this experience I was able to have hands on experience using concepts and techniques I have learned in my marketing classes. Having this hands-on experience helps me to understand marketing concepts better and marketing as a whole because I am not just learning it in the classroom, but I was actually able to apply them to real life situations. For example, by understanding my target audience better and knowing what they want to see, I was able to tailor and direct my social media and print materials to them in a more direct way to generate exposure and engagement.

As for blogging, I learned a great amount of information about this type of marketing as well. Before I was the intern, I actually wrote for the Odyssey Online community so the idea of blogging wasn’t new to me. The idea of writing a blog for business was newer to me because that meant I had to understand my audience better and make sure to use a consistent tone from post to post. This also meant I had to create topics within my market, this was a struggle for me at first, but once I fully understood the department and what they stood for I was able to implement more ideas to show their values, but also implement fun post ideas.

What did you learn about yourself?

Throughout this process I was able to learn more about myself. From the beginning of my internship to now, I have noticed a big change in my confidence as well as the content of my writing. Also, through the process I have learned more information on what makes a print ad like a flyer successful and how to design one to gain attention. During this internship, I was able to use my design skills I have developed through my business courses at Millersville and the experience showed me that I am capable of creating content that others will like. This internship also showed me that I know more about marketing as I thought and I should be more confident in my skills. The blog was a huge part of my experience as the intern and it actually showed me that I do love to write and I highly enjoy it, so I have actually been looking into jobs that involve blogging and writing after graduation.

What is your favorite blog post that you wrote?

Out of all of the different blog posts I have written over the course of two semesters, 43 to be exact, I think the post I wrote titled, “What Makes You Prideful?” was my favorite. This post was about the Pride Fest that Millersville had in October. I thought this was a great event and showed the amazing community we have here on campus as well as the cool events we have to offer students. Housing and Residential Programs had a table at this event where we asked people to write down what made them most prideful. Throughout the event, we received many different responses that I was able to analyze to create infographics for my blog post. I really liked the fact I was able to gather measurable data and add it to my written content to make for a great post. You can find the post here if you would like to read it!

A close second would have to be the post I wrote called “Barista Picks My Drink for a School Week” because it was fun to take part in and because I personally love coffee. If you want to check this one out as well you can click here !

What was your most memorable project?

The most memorable project I worked on during my time at Housing and Residential Programs was the long project I completed regarding the room selection process. In order to get the word out about the room selection process for next school year, I was tasked with creating a theme and connecting activities and events to help students learn more information. This was the most memorable project I had because a lot of my time went into it, but it was also a very fun project I worked on. For this project I was able to plan out events with Saxbys, the Upper Deck and also create an event for students to attend to learn more information on the process in the South Great Room. One of the coolest things I did for this project was help my coworker create a design for a candy bar that we can give to students to remind them to pick their rooms. This was an interesting idea we came up with to market the room selection process in a way that students would enjoy.

Overall, this was a great learning experience and one I will remember when I think about my time spent as Millersville for years to come!

Health & Wellness, Lifestyle / Hall Life

Stress and Time Management Skills

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It is getting to the point of the semester where deadlines keep coming up faster than you expected. Semester projects are in full swing and maybe some of the procrastination you have been doing is catching up to you. I know for me personally, I have group projects in all of my courses, so my schedule has been hectic trying to coordinate what times I can meet with each group in order for us to work on our project effectively. I know this is the case for many of my friends and I think college students as a whole, which causes stress making the situation worse. To combat this, we can try to participate in stress and time management techniques. Here is a list of effective time management skills that also help with stress management. 

 

Photo courtesy of Canva.

 

  1. Use a planner.

A planner can help you to remember deadlines for projects and days that exams will be held. At the start of each semester, I like to write in the days that projects are due for each of my courses that way I do not forget. My favorite brand of planners are the Happy Planners because they have big blocks to put all of your daily tasks!

2. Learn to say “No”.

Being in college sometimes it is hard to say “no” in some situations because you may experience ‘FOMO’ or the fear of missing out. Your friends may ask you to do something fun, but you may have a test the next day which may lead you to say “no” even though you really want to say yes. Saying “no” sometimes can benefit you and save your grade. Trust me, you will be happier not going than getting a bad grade.

3. Plan “me” time to de-stress for a small amount of time each day.

Having a time set away each day to do something you like will give you the break you are in need of, but will also keep you on track. This time will help you to relax and participate in an activity you find joy in. For example, during this time you could take a walk outside, exercise, read or watch a movie!

4. If you have free time, work ahead on assignments.

If you somehow come across free time, use it to your advantage! Spend this time getting ahead on your assignments and studies. By getting ahead, you will be more prepared for class which can help to alleviate your stress.

5. Break up big tasks into a couple smaller achievable tasks.

Sometimes working on very large projects can be intimidating and can lead to procrastination. To avoid this, split your projects into smaller sections and work on it little by little.

6. Talk to a friend or family member.

If you have stress about an assignment or something else, try talking to a friend or family member about it. They can give you advice on how to approach the assignment or maybe even make you feel a little less worried about it.

7. Keep a time log.

Keeping a time log can give you insights on what exactly you are using your time on during the day. This can also help to show you where you are using your time unproductively and things you may need to do less of each day.

8. Prioritize more important tasks or projects that are due sooner.

If you have a lot on your plate, try to prioritize the assignments or projects that are due sooner to make sure you get them done on time!

9. At the end of the day use 5-10 minutes to clean up your space whether it be your desk or bedroom.

By decluttering your desk or bedroom at the end of the night, you will be able to start off the morning with a fresh perspective and a clean space.

10. Put your phone on “Do Not Disturb” if you are completing homework, studying or working.

If you are completing an important assignment or project, it may be a good idea to put your phone on “Do Not Disturb.” When your phone is buzzing and constantly illuminating with new notifications, you can easily get distracted which can lead to being unproductive. If you make the switch to putting your phone on DND, you will be able to get more work done and be able to fully focus on your task.

By trying new techniques and managing our time better, we can be less stressed and more productive. If we missed any of your top time management skills make sure to tweet us! Our username is @VilleHousing .

 

Events / Programs

“Turn Up Tuesday” Event

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On Tuesday, March 19th, East Village held an event they called “Turn Up Tuesday.” During this event, students were given the chance to participate in a lip sync battle and put their lip syncing skills to the test. All of the East Village A RAs collaborated on the event to make it run smoothly. The RAs involved included RA Alexandra, Evelyn, Lucas, Michael, Alexis, Kyre and David. The event had many students in attendance and provided an experience where students can have fun and take a break  from their stressful class and work schedules.

The lip sync battle did not have a winner, however there were over 10 different performances. Even the RAs joined in on the fun and provided a group performance of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing.” The event also had free snacks and drinks for those who performed or came out to watch the performances. Overall, many students enjoyed this event and had a great time. Many students even stayed  a longer time to socialize and meet other students who lived in the building.

RA events can be a great way for students to meet new friends and have a great time. Make sure to look for similar or other events that are going on in your residence hall!