Sweet Life on the 5th Floor

    

    When you first walk in to any dorm complex in Bloomsburg, you are instantly greeted by a warm smile from community assistants.   CA's are a huge part of campus living and resident life.  CA Nadia works in Elwell and watches over the 5th floor west wing.  Students are always embraced with Nadia's beaming smile as she asks in a chipper voice, "Hey! How are you today?" to her passing by residents.

    Nadia Simon is a bright sophomore here at Bloomsburg and studies middle level education with a focus on English.  Her caring demeanor and enthusiasm makes her job seem easy. Some may say that she is the perfect candidate for a CA position.  Her outgoing and approachable personality make it easy to talk to her.  Nadia's plan for next year is to get a higher up CA position, as generosity and vibrance comes easy to her.

    As a CA, Nadia has many important tasks and responsibilities to fulfill.  Most of the time you will run into your CA while they are on desk duty, monitoring the lobby of the dorm, or having quick conversations with passing residents.  She also has IC's (intentional conversations) with her residents every semester for a brief check in.  On the creative side of things, Nadia comes up with new hallway themes and makes matching door decorations to spruce up the lively hallway.  Another major responsibility she has, is to create fun programs for her residents to attend.  These programs are to help her bond with her residents and for her residents to bond with one another.  "I try my best to implement whatever our residents want into a program," Nadia explained while thinking about her previous "Break-fast" and scary movie night programs that some of her residents had requested. 

    To become a CA you have to go through two rounds of interviews, one with CA's and one with a GHD, then you will receive a follow up email stating if you got the job or waitlisted, and another email assigning you to a dorm.  Ironically, Nadia's last choice of a dorm was Elwell.  "I'm not gonna lie, I was not happy about my placement... I was super-duper-duper scared and cried when I got my placement email." Nadia said while laughing because she hoped for a dorm on upper campus and one with a kitchen.  But as the school year goes by, she is starting to love it more and more.

     Nothing but respect and love is shown when Nadia talks about her residents.  "My favorite part about being a CA has honestly been my residents!" she exclaimed with her warm smile.  Nadia mentioned that she did not expect to create any sort of bond with the students that she was assigned to guide through a new experience.  Being a CA is more than just sitting on desk duty and decorating hallways, their job is to be there for their residents and Nadia, with the most caring heart, does just that.  She will gladly sit down with you and let you talk about all of the drama and stress in your life and provides great input to help you lessen or resolve it.

"Nadia! I have so much to tell you." I cry out, and that's all it takes for Nadia to jump right on board.

She eagerly replies with "Meet me in the lounge in a bit." as if she knew what the conversation was going to be about.  I do just that and meet here in our little sanctuary.  The conversations last anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour.   

    Being a CA never crossed Nadia's mind when she was a freshman.  She actually thought that it was "weird" as becoming a CA never seemed like a popular choice among the other students.  But one day she came back to a paper on her door recommending her to be a community assistant, which got her thinking, and helped her realize that this job might be the one for her.  Now she has no regrets!  Nadia, in a sincere way, explained that her position has given her many people skills, conflict management skills, and overall helped her become a better and even more caring person.  Humorously, she added that being a CA has had many impacts on her life as she stated "I've really grown a lot as a person.  August Nadia and February Nadia are two completely different people."  Showing that this position had a noticeable impact on her life right away.

    Nadia's beautiful soul, optimistic personality, and contagious smile has brought so much joy and fun to Elwell and especially the 5th floor.  Nadia and her co-CA David, put so much hard work and creativity into making their residents experience at Bloomsburg memorable and everlasting.  It is apparent through her time and generosity, her goal is to help and support students any way she can.  The way she speaks of her role is proof of that.