The behind-the-scenes nature of the Resident Assistant means that these are people who often go unnoticed.

Now is the time Student Development is searching for people to fill next fall’s R.A. vacancies.

It is also a good time to uncover what goes into taking on the responsibility of this potentially rewarding job.

“Being an R.A. is a great opportunity to build leadership, communication, and mediation skills; things you would use in a job,” Junior Kandi Kew, two-year Kresge R.A., said.

Kew also said that being an R.A. is also a positive experience because you get to know your residents on a personal level.

Steve Anderson, area coordinator for Kresge and Barker, said that you can positively impact students’ lives by being an R.A. Not only do you get to work with great people, but you also get to meet new people, according to Anderson.

While all of this may sound great, there are some drawbacks.

“Being an R.A. is a highly demanding job that doesn’t have typical hours,” Anderson said.

“It can be time-consuming and you need to have very good time management skills,” Kew said.

“R.A.’s are not people that are there just to document incidents,” Kew said.”We do a lot of behind-the-scenes work, including preparing the hall before school starts, planning programs and being a resource when needed.”

Freshmen Sarah Lauterbach said she is aware that there are some restrictions put on R.A.’s, but that will not keep her from going through the application process.

“You’re more restricted on what you can do because of the time requirements and also because more people are looking up to you,” Lauterbach said.

R.A.’s still face the same consequences as anyone else. “The R.A.’s are expected to follow the rules of being a staff member, and we encourage them to be role models,” Anderson said.

If being an R.A. sounds like something you would be interested in doing there’s still time to apply. The deadline for applications is Friday, Feb. 1.