Welcome to Schuylkill Hall!

        

        As you enter Schuylkill Hall, you will see a beautifully decorated lobby and an office populated by one or more of our CAs. You will almost always be greeted with a smile and a "Hey! How's your day going?" from one of our staff members. They are always working very hard to make everybody who walks in feel welcome. You may ask yourself, what do CAs really do? Well, twice a semester, the CAs work together on a theme for their hallways and decorate all the residents' doors with their names. Our four, wonderful CAs also take turns on desk shift. This is where they sit at the front desk to greet people as they walk in and make themselves available as a resource for residents. They also hold events for everyone like scavenger hunts, pancake parties and lots of other fun activities!

        "Nothing like a pancake to start your morning right!" Mady says bubbly. "Good morning beautiful! How are we today?" she asks a passing resident. Her smile big and white, Mady offers everyone pancakes before heading to class. 

        "These pancakes aren't too bad." CA Zac says playfully. "Definitely better than those first ones you made." 

        "Hey! I didn't realize they'd cook that fast" Mady laughs. "Just scrape the burnt part off!"

        One face you will see a lot in Schuylkill is Mady's. Madison Light is the core CA of Schuylkill. As a core CA, Mady is responsible for holding desk hours once a week. Being a CA has been a lot of fun for Mady and she is grateful to have been able to do it for two years now! This job has connected her with so many amazing people, including her coworkers whom she adores. "I love the staff dynamic; It gives you someone to go to for sure when you need it. You never have to go through things alone." 

        

         "I wouldn't trade it for the world." she says with a smile. Mady is a Junior here at Bloomsburg and is majoring in early education and special education. Mady is very caring and finds it important that everyone's voice is heard. She loves helping people, "That sense of comfort that they have within you is pretty amazing." Mady was inspired by her CAs as a freshman to become one because she wanted to help others the way that they helped her. Seeing her residents thrive and feel at home at Bloomsburg fills Mady with joy. "It's important to make your best effort to make sure everyone feels at home because this is their home away from home."

        

        Being a CA also comes with its challenges. Since you oversee your floor and your residents, you often need to address conflict. This can happen between roommates or any residents. Mady's freshman year, she had a conflict with her roommate and needed help from her CAs to resolve it. "I wouldn't have been able to even navigate that without them." she states. "I wanted to be that person for someone else." As a CA it is important to be there for your residents as much as possible. If a resident has mental health concerns, it is your job to help them by providing available resources. 

        CAs are not the hallway police! Mady loves making personal connections with her residents and says that she has done that this year more than any other. “I’ve had specific residents tell me how much they like me as a CA but how they also see me as a person, that makes me feel like I’m doing my job, but I’m also validated as a whole person.” Mady wants all her residents to feel like they have a friend to go to. Of course, it can get hard balancing your schoolwork along with all your responsibilities as a CA. Sometimes you will need to stay up late after your desk shift to get homework done or wake up early to do rounds of the building. While it can get hard, Mady says that this job has disciplined her more than anything. "Being a CA I have to manage two different roles, I'm a student and then this is my job, so I have to make time for both." Mady is grateful for all the opportunities this job has given her. 

        Here at Bloomsburg University, we love all our resident life staff! They make Bloomsburg feel like home and guide us through life on campus. CAs are a very important part of our campus community and do so much to bring everybody together!

        

Click Here for a virtual tour of Schuylkill Hall!