Seton Hall University - Galleon Yearbook (South Orange, NJ)

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The Community Advisor: Counselor, Confidant Companion Service activities of community advisors reach out to the entire University. (Above) Community advisor Roland Werner plays Smokey the Bear and takes matches away from students in the Boland Hall cafeteria. (Right) Craig Grant follows the action during a softball game between the CAs and the ABC-Eyewitness News team. Proceeds of the game were given to the Pat O’Connor memorial fund. (Inset) Planning fire prevention week activities are Elmira Boone, community advisor; Nancy Low, administrative assistant; Tom Ludington, community advisor; Captain Mercedante, South Orange Fire Department; Guy Taylor; and Vincent Burns, assistant dean. By Beth Heutele Who stops the Boland Hall resident from dancing nude to the “beat” of a fire alarm in the middle of the night? Who brings the woman who just fainted in the hallway to the infirmary? The job goes to the community advisor — the dorm supervisor, information service, helper, counselor, confidant and sometimes substitute mother. The CA ' s responsibilities range from turning down blasting stereos to encouraging homesick freshmen to “hang in there.” Basically, a CA has to make sure that the dorms are still standing — more or less in one piece — when checkout time rolls around in May. Officially, the CA is the student representative of the University in the residence halls. He attempts to fulfill the students’ social, academic and emotional needs. Technically, this is considered a part-time job which entails administrative duties, counseling and programming. All CAs emphasize that theirs is a 24-hour-a-day job with more to it than just letting a locked-out student into his room. Aside from the paperwork and administrative meetings, a CA is someone who’s there when he’s needed. In the case of fire alarms, bomb scares, sickness, parties, floods or blackouts, he is responsible for making the decisions that ensure the students’ safety. He is also saddled with the precarious but vital duty of keeping the lines of communication open between the students and administration. Understandably, the University looks for maturity and responsibility in the CA candidates. The selection begins in the spring, just before the room lottery. There is a three-step process of interviews with students, current CAs, administrative assistants and the Assistant Dean of Students. Questions range from the inevitable Why do you want to be a CA?” to the individual’s views on drugs, racism and homosexuality. Training begins four or five days before school opens in September. The staff is assembled for discussions and workshops dealing with roles, responsibilities, expectations, dorm maintenance, emergency procedures, assertiveness and problem solving. Rooms are prepared, the dorm doors open and the CA goes into action. The CA staff agrees that the job is unpredictable and challenging. What do you say to the plumber with whom you’ve been sitting for two hours in a flooded hall waiting for his partner to return — with what turns out to be the wrong part? Or how do you react when someone knocks on your door dramatically announcing “something this big just walked in my window” when you yourself are scared of anything with more than two legs? It’s a lesson in dealing with people that has its rewards and frustrations, an experience that can go from smooth to topsy-turvy with just a knock on the door. But because CAs enjoy people and feel that they have something to offer the residence halls, the job is a growing experience. One CA summed it up saying, “The purpose of a CA is to keep a balance within the school’s system. You have to understand the needs of the school and the needs of the students. We have to help establish and regulate those needs.”

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frequent discomfort to sleeping students, who were roused from their beds because of mischievous pranksters. To alert students to the importance of fire awareness, a Fire Prevention Week was held this year. A committee composed of Assistant Dean of Students Vinnie Burns and community advisors worked with local fire officials to coordinate the week’s activities, which included a Fire Prevention theme contest and visits from Smokey the Bear. Escandon reports that security in the dorms has been good throughout the year. “There have really been no major complaints with thefts, and students seemed fairly pleased with the dorm campus security.” Dorm life is truly a learning experience, reports student Gigi Crane. “It really broadened my personal growth, and I met so many different people. “All of us had to adjust and realize the true meaning of sharing, consideration and compromise. The friends I made here are so very different because we all developed into adults and went through growing pains together,” said Gigi. “The support that emerges when someone has a problem is so sincere and undefineable. I can’t help but be saddened by the end of this beautiful period in my life. But I hope, as many of us do, that the relationships started these past few years will continue to grow and deepen in the years to come,” she said. Dorms 27

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Community Advisors 29