Building a Community

Lindsay Boggess has been a Resident Assistant at Fort Lewis College for two years, and she is the president of the National Residence Hall Honorary. She has a lot of experience working in the housing department and building community in the residence halls.

BECCA: So, Lindsay, what motivated you to work in the Housing Department?

LINDSAY: When I came into college I knew what a resident assistant was, just from my sister going to college and stuff like that. So my parents were always like “Oh, you should totally do that because then you can get free room and board,” and that definitely was the first motivation which I think is true for most. I mean it isn’t exactly what you should want to get out of it, but at the same time I think that it’s more important that we do get more out of it and learn more about it, like crisis management skills and being able to have those hard conversations about the things we learn about like sexual assault and how to deal with that and how to be a friend to people in those situations.

B: Yeah, RA’s definitely have to learn some crisis management skills, but what residence halls have you worked in and what have the communities been like in those halls?

L: I worked in Cooper last year and I am in Crofton this year. They’re actually very different I think it is slightly because of the fact that last year Cooper really liked to party. To be honest, in both places I think there was a strong sense of community and whatnot because there’s always a group of residents that just really want to hang out. Cooper is a lot different than the U-shapes and because you can’t see you them as well. When you walk into the room you can’t see them as well because of how its built. In Crofton, you see everything and it’s primarily freshman.

B: Both of the halls you’ve worked on have been on the west side of campus. Why do you enjoy working in the residence halls on the west side, with mostly freshman and first-time students?

L: In high school I did a peer mentor program when I was a senior with freshman in high school who were at risk to graduate. I really enjoyed it. I was able to connect with them and try to help them out. Usually they came from at risk backgrounds and stuff.

B: That’s awesome to have that experience, tell me how do you go about trying to build a community in a residence hall?

L: You, definitely, at first put your boundaries down at the beginning of the year. Last year my residents got to see me as a student, which now they don’t think I even do homework, but it was really because we could be academically successful together and it felt like they were closer to me and they were they type of residents who would yell at me from across the quad or across the hall, they just yell at me all the time.

B: So, you mentioned earlier that in both of your house you kind of felt a strong sense of community, where does that come from?

L: Well, I think that I’ve gotten really lucky with the halls I’ve had. They just kinda seemed to find each other. At first, they find each other, and this is something that I talked about with my Residence Director last year, they find each other and then they find similar people. Being available to residents and leaving your door open so they know who I am helps build that community. I think that people feel a lot more comfortable with me, and then they can come to me, they leave their doors open, and then they start talking and stuff, which I feel is a lot more like inclusive which is definitely what I like to go for because inclusive communities are are happy communities.