Growing Together

On the morning of freshman move-in in August of 2013, we were one of the first families in the line of cars queuing up to approach my dorm. We were shepherded down Notre Dame Avenue, the Golden Dome gleaming as we passed sign after sign welcoming the ND Class of 2017 to our new home. An usher guided our car onto a sidewalk that looped around in front of my dorm. I remember being overwhelmed as I stepped into the lobby to check in, where I was greeted by joyful music and a team of some of the friendliest women I had ever met. A team of sophomore and junior Freshman Orientation leaders swept my bags upstairs in a cart while I met the senior Resident Assistant of my new section and officially checked into the dorm that would be my home over the next four years.

My first encounter with my college dorm was an important one. That morning, exceptional hospitality was extended to my parents and me. The smiling, reassuring faces, the chorus of “Welcome home,” the sense of community that permeated every action and interaction: each gesture was extremely impactful. I was still the same nervous freshman who had moved my life across the country only a few days prior, but I had the assurance of knowing I belonged here. Though it would take me a while to settle into my new space, I knew I was home.

My freshman self checking into college

Freshman Orientation Staff members bringing my belongings upstairs so my parents and I could meet Hall Staff. Did I mention their incredible cheerfulness despite the 100+ degree weather?

 

Day One under the Dome with my parents

Over the next several years, the Hall Staff and leadership team of my residence hall would continue to amaze me with their love and hospitality. Our rectress became one of my greatest role models and an excellent example and caregiver to us all. Under her leadership, the RA teams in my dorm consistently exhibited grace, poise, and energy. It did not take long for me to look at the confident, charismatic women before me and decide I wanted to be one of them.

Resident Assistants organized section and hall events, chatted and laughed with residents and with one another on rounds, and exhibited a contagious joy that set the tone for the hall. I noticed a similar pattern in other dorms where I spent time: RAs were so full of spirit and a clear desire to care for the residents in their halls. And no matter their varied interests, areas of study, activities, and hometowns, they loved Notre Dame.

The longer I spent at ND, I more recognized the job of a Resident Assistant is not always an easy one. As I grew closer to the age of the RAs around me, I began to witness bits and pieces of the tough parts of the ministry. Through the difficult emotional impact caring so deeply about one’s residents had when things were not going well and the long hours spent attending to challenging situations, the sacrificial aspect of what it means to be a Resident Assistant showed its own colors through the perfect picture I had created in my head of the RA position.

Still, they smiled. Still, they laughed. Still, they lived out the Holy Cross charism of being men and women with hope to bring. RAs attended Residence Hall Masses in community, they took a personal interest in the stories of those around them, and they enriched the campus atmosphere simply by being bold servant leaders and by loving the people they encountered each day.

The eighth Constitution of the Congregation of Holy Cross, "The Cross, Our Only Hope," comments on hope in a way that is strikingly applicable to life on the Notre Dame campus:

"Whether it be unfair treatment, fatigue or frustration at work, a lapse of health, tasks beyond talents, seasons of loneliness, bleakness in prayer, the aloofness of friends; or whether it be the sadness of our having inflicted any of this on others…there will be dying to do on our way to the Father."

There are many circumstances under which we, even as a people faithful to the Lord, may tend to waver in hope. But,

“…we do not grieve as men without hope, for Christ the Lord has risen to die no more. He has taken us into the mystery and the grace of this life that springs up from death. If we, like Him encounter and accept suffering in our discipleship, we will move without awkwardness among others who suffer. We must be men with hope to bring.”

The ministry of presence is an extremely important one to me: walking with people is one of my favorite things to do. The unique position of Resident Assistant at Notre Dame calls on men and women to engage in the very particular ministry of hopeful presence needed to cultivate our residence halls into homes. It will be my immense privilege to serve as a Resident Assistant for the 2016-2017 school year in the hall I have come to call home. It seems impossible that the freshman in the first picture above, checking into my dorm for the first time, has suddenly become old enough to serve as an RA. But I derive much hope from the fact that my Resident Assistants, who I have come to admire so much during my time at Notre Dame, probably felt the same way. This humbling reality is part of being an effective servant leader. As an RA, I hope to bring energizing joy to the residents of my dorm and to campus as a whole, just as my Resident Assistants have done for my classmates and me. I hope to successfully play my small part in creating a home where we will grow together in hope.