An RA shares advice for New Buffs living on campus

Many students will be living on their own for the first time when they move into the residence halls this August. To help during this time of transition, New Buffs can look to their resident advisor (RA) to help guide them. RAs are CU Boulder student leaders with a wide range of knowledge and resources to assist students in their first year at CU. 

Sophie Green is a junior studying musical theatre and works as an RA in Stearns East Hall. Sophie shares advice for new students and some insights into what it's like to live on campus.

What do you wish you had known in your first year at CU?  

I wish coming into my first year I would've realized just how many resources there are on campus that you can utilize. From medical care in Wardenburg Health Center, to therapy at Counseling and Psychiatric Services (CAPS), to fun events put on by clubs and organizations all year round, and even to professors and staff (like your RA!) who are always free to talk if you need help with something—there's places you can go to find support and connection no matter what you're passionate about or dealing with at any given time. Use those resources as much as you can; it'll make life on campus feel so much more enjoyable! 

Where’s your favorite place to study on campus?  

I really love going to the WeatherTech Cafe to study (and for those of you like me who get lost easily, the WeatherTech is on the floor below the dining hall in the C4C!). It's a beautiful space with nice big windows and a cute little fire pit, and I love going to cafes to study because it gives me the perfect amount of background noise to allow me to focus on my work without getting too distracted. Also, since it's a cafe, you can get yourself a fun treat like a little coffee or a croissant, which can be a great dopamine boost to help with motivation. 

What's one thing you wish you would have brought to campus your first year?  

For me, the two big things I wish I'd brought to my residence hall sooner were a box fan and a little step stool/ottoman. The box fan is especially important if you live on central campus, where a lot of the residence halls don't have air conditioning. A lot of times those first few weeks in August can get really toasty, and it's nice to not feel like you're going to bake to a crisp in your room when you haven't even started classes yet. I say a box fan specifically simply because I kept trying to bring smaller fans at first, but for me at least I found them to not provide as much relief as I would've liked. Anything is better than nothing though in terms of fans!  

As for my step stool/ottoman recommendation, this may very well just be because I'm short. However, I found that the beds in the residence hall here (at least when set to their standard height) are kind of hard to get up into, since they're rather tall to allow for some nice under bed space. While this wasn't exactly an insurmountable obstacle, on super long days when I had just done a really hard workout or had an evening event on top of classes it did make trying to go to sleep feel like a bit of a chore, as I'd always have to try and do some kind of weird parkour in order to even get up into my bed.  

What advice do you have for New Buffs?  

Two things: one, actually do your roommate agreement! Your RA should tell you more about this when you get here, but this is a really helpful tool for if your roommate and you ever have a disagreement throughout the year, as it helps you to lay out what you want life in your room to look like and how you'd like to communicate with each other right from the beginning. Even if your roommate is your best friend since diapers, sharing a room this tiny can sometimes cause frustration with one another simply because you're right in each other's faces all the time— which is totally okay! But having done that roommate agreement at the beginning of the year means that you can already be way more on the same page with each other, and you'll likely solve any disagreements that do come up a lot easier.  

Thing number two: ask for help when you need it! I'm sure this isn't the first time you've heard someone say this to you, but it really is so incredibly important. Transitioning from high school to college can be really difficult, whether that be in an academic way, a social way, or even just in that it takes a toll on your immune system cause you're in a new place with new people. (That last one was me; I got sick sooo much my first semester here.) And while it's easy to get caught up in just trying to forge ahead, it's important to remember that you're not the only one going through this.  

Looking for support in a friend who's having to figure out how to adjust as well or reaching out to somebody who can help with whatever you're struggling with (be it an RA, a professor, a doctor or someone else) can make a world of difference between feeling like you can handle things as they come versus feeling dragged down by the weight of every new potential stressor you encounter. There are so many wonderful people here who care about you and want to see you succeed (including me!), but we don't know how to help you if you don't ask. So please, don't be afraid to reach out! Everyone needs a shoulder to lean on sometimes. 

Okay, with all that serious stuff out of the way, I just want to say: I am so excited for you to be here! Being an RA is truly one of my favorite things to do because it means I get a chance to meet all you lovely people, so I'll be looking forward to when you all move in! I hope you can find people and things here that bring you as much joy as those I've found, and I'm wishing you all a wonderful first year here at CU! Sko Buffs!!!