RA application
RA Application Questions
Evan Mowry
Box 248
Mowry017@mrs.umn.edu
320.589.6641
1: My resident advisor this last year, Mike Rhodes, was fabulous at getting the floor talking in small groups. He was the link between the kids who were nerds in high school and the kids who were jocks, and we have a really wonderful dynamic on our floor because of it.
To be honest, that sort of positive meddling is what attracted me at first. I like being the one who can talk to everyone, and generally that’s lost within the first few weeks for students while the RAs retain that openness. After a while of getting to know each other Mike suggested that I consider applying for the position next year, which decided it.
2: I’ve been involved in DI (Destination Imagination, previously known as Odyssey of the Mind), which is a creative problem-solving challenge program. I was on the Eau Claire Memorial High School Men’s Swimming and Diving Team for my four years there, three of which were Varsity. I was involved in Forensics my senior year, and I’ve remained involved in Youth Group, both with my home church and at the district level on the Youth Adult Committee, since middle school.
The summer before senior year I volunteered with the Student Conservation Association and spent a month doing trail maintenance in Ouchita State Park in Arkansas. I was president of the Memorial Gay/Straight Alliance my Senior year, and was involved in Eco (local recycling and ecological awareness), Amnesty International, and Art Club throughout high school.
For two years during the summer I’ve worked at the Gemini Drive-In movie theater in my hometown. In addition, last summer I was hired as a lifeguard.
3: The single most important, long-term experience I’ve had that has determined how I think and act was growing up in a Unitarian Universalist congregation. An educational, democratic environment that treated me, and my ideas, with respect while preaching tolerance, understanding, empathy and goodwill towards all have unquestionably been the greatest influence on how I live my life.
The single most influential single moment is perhaps impossible to pinpoint, but I’ll say my experience with the Ouichita Womble Trail Crew. Up until that point in my life, there had been pressure to perform to meet others’ standards, and on the trail we set the standards and pushed ourselves and our crewmates to meet them, without arbitrary, parental consequences. For the first time I was with a group of people, doing simple but essential work for a good cause that we all believed in, with nothing to lose but self-respect and nothing to gain but the respect of others. It was the most pure work environment I’ve ever been in, and it will always remind me to structure my life in a way that applies as much pressure I can bear as long as that pressure is for a reason that I can see, and to not become stressed when I can’t see the reason.
4: Community Building promises to be the most challenging of the five areas. Students, especially those fresh out of high school, seem loathe to get to know each other or participate in activities on anyone’s terms but their own. It’ll be difficult to trick them into thinking they want to do what you want them to do.
I honestly don’t see the other areas as being problematic. If I had to pick, I’d say knowing when to refer a resident to an outside source for personal problems, and completing administrative tasks. The former because it’s tricky to know when to admit that someone is beyond your help in some cases, and the latter because room condition reports sound really tedious.
5: My parents are both social workers, and Eau Claire has a large immigrant Hmong population. Up until High School, there was no real reason or incentive to hang out with Hmong students at school; white kids and Hmong generally hung out with white kids and Hmong, respectively. So, at a time when I was unfamiliar with and uncomfortable around Hmong, my parents were getting to know whole family clans, being invited to weddings, and even learning the language.
My senior year of high school my parents were invited to the wedding of a close Hmong friend of theirs, and I had to go. So, I had to act like you would at a normal wedding, but without breaking any customs (I had no idea what they were) and socializing with a group of people who essentially spoke no English.
It turned out to be quite pleasant, actually. There was no real difference between this and any other wedding, although this was perhaps more dignified a reception than most American ones are. I came out of it slightly amazed that Hmong traditions so closely mirrored our own despite vast cultural and societal differences.
Already I’ve had to remind myself that people aren’t as different as they appear (or are more different than they appear) when getting to know people here at Morris. I feel that this is an important realization to come to before becoming an RA, and I’m glad I feel ready to help form connections in a group of diverse students.
6: I am a very jovial, easy-going person but I do not take chances when it comes to other peoples’ safety. I get along well with everyone, even people I really dislike, and am discreet with social affairs. I am responsible, and fulfill duties on time and well. I am easy to talk to and consider myself level headed and a giver of good advice. I am CPR certified, and I am good under stress. I feel that these qualities are what make a good RA.
Evan Mowry
Box 248
Mowry017@mrs.umn.edu
320.589.6641
1: My resident advisor this last year, Mike Rhodes, was fabulous at getting the floor talking in small groups. He was the link between the kids who were nerds in high school and the kids who were jocks, and we have a really wonderful dynamic on our floor because of it.
To be honest, that sort of positive meddling is what attracted me at first. I like being the one who can talk to everyone, and generally that’s lost within the first few weeks for students while the RAs retain that openness. After a while of getting to know each other Mike suggested that I consider applying for the position next year, which decided it.
2: I’ve been involved in DI (Destination Imagination, previously known as Odyssey of the Mind), which is a creative problem-solving challenge program. I was on the Eau Claire Memorial High School Men’s Swimming and Diving Team for my four years there, three of which were Varsity. I was involved in Forensics my senior year, and I’ve remained involved in Youth Group, both with my home church and at the district level on the Youth Adult Committee, since middle school.
The summer before senior year I volunteered with the Student Conservation Association and spent a month doing trail maintenance in Ouchita State Park in Arkansas. I was president of the Memorial Gay/Straight Alliance my Senior year, and was involved in Eco (local recycling and ecological awareness), Amnesty International, and Art Club throughout high school.
For two years during the summer I’ve worked at the Gemini Drive-In movie theater in my hometown. In addition, last summer I was hired as a lifeguard.
3: The single most important, long-term experience I’ve had that has determined how I think and act was growing up in a Unitarian Universalist congregation. An educational, democratic environment that treated me, and my ideas, with respect while preaching tolerance, understanding, empathy and goodwill towards all have unquestionably been the greatest influence on how I live my life.
The single most influential single moment is perhaps impossible to pinpoint, but I’ll say my experience with the Ouichita Womble Trail Crew. Up until that point in my life, there had been pressure to perform to meet others’ standards, and on the trail we set the standards and pushed ourselves and our crewmates to meet them, without arbitrary, parental consequences. For the first time I was with a group of people, doing simple but essential work for a good cause that we all believed in, with nothing to lose but self-respect and nothing to gain but the respect of others. It was the most pure work environment I’ve ever been in, and it will always remind me to structure my life in a way that applies as much pressure I can bear as long as that pressure is for a reason that I can see, and to not become stressed when I can’t see the reason.
4: Community Building promises to be the most challenging of the five areas. Students, especially those fresh out of high school, seem loathe to get to know each other or participate in activities on anyone’s terms but their own. It’ll be difficult to trick them into thinking they want to do what you want them to do.
I honestly don’t see the other areas as being problematic. If I had to pick, I’d say knowing when to refer a resident to an outside source for personal problems, and completing administrative tasks. The former because it’s tricky to know when to admit that someone is beyond your help in some cases, and the latter because room condition reports sound really tedious.
5: My parents are both social workers, and Eau Claire has a large immigrant Hmong population. Up until High School, there was no real reason or incentive to hang out with Hmong students at school; white kids and Hmong generally hung out with white kids and Hmong, respectively. So, at a time when I was unfamiliar with and uncomfortable around Hmong, my parents were getting to know whole family clans, being invited to weddings, and even learning the language.
My senior year of high school my parents were invited to the wedding of a close Hmong friend of theirs, and I had to go. So, I had to act like you would at a normal wedding, but without breaking any customs (I had no idea what they were) and socializing with a group of people who essentially spoke no English.
It turned out to be quite pleasant, actually. There was no real difference between this and any other wedding, although this was perhaps more dignified a reception than most American ones are. I came out of it slightly amazed that Hmong traditions so closely mirrored our own despite vast cultural and societal differences.
Already I’ve had to remind myself that people aren’t as different as they appear (or are more different than they appear) when getting to know people here at Morris. I feel that this is an important realization to come to before becoming an RA, and I’m glad I feel ready to help form connections in a group of diverse students.
6: I am a very jovial, easy-going person but I do not take chances when it comes to other peoples’ safety. I get along well with everyone, even people I really dislike, and am discreet with social affairs. I am responsible, and fulfill duties on time and well. I am easy to talk to and consider myself level headed and a giver of good advice. I am CPR certified, and I am good under stress. I feel that these qualities are what make a good RA.
posted by evan at 7:59 AM
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