On Thursday, August 21st Chi Alpha participated in a Scavenger hunt for all 129ish Residential Advisers at UVM. Residential Advisers (aka RA’s) are college students who work in the residence halls and have the awesome yet challenging job of being camp counselor types to their residents. Both Joe and I (Rachel) served as RA’s during our undergrad years and it’s definitely lots of fun, but it’s also quite the responsibility. The RA’s arrive at the beginning of the semester before other students to decorate their halls, catch up with their supervisors and colleagues, and receive job training. RA’s tend to be highly motivated, people oriented, and compassionate. Two of the hardest aspects of the job are disciplining your residents and the planning and executing of hall programs.

Joe worked really hard to network with the Residential Life department so that the campus ministries could participate in this scavenger hunt which familiarizes RA’s with the campus resources which they can refer to their residents. It was great fun meeting all of the RA’s and giving them information about Chi Alpha. We especially let them know about hall programming topics that we could help with. We also gave them Chi Alpha “mood magnets” because it seemed like something an RA would appreciate. They loved it!

We were encouraged that several RA’s had heard about Chi Alpha. That’s no small thing seeing as that we’re a new group on campus! Also, some RA’s seemed really open to posting information about spiritual life programs on campus. One RA told me, “I know for sure that I’m going to post at least one Religion poster on my floor!” It may seem like a small thing, but an RA willing to post a “Religion” poster becomes an advocate for students seeking spiritual life during their college years. With 80% of churched youth falling away from Christ in college, every little bit can help.