{"id":136408,"date":"2020-10-08T14:08:25","date_gmt":"2020-10-08T18:08:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=136408"},"modified":"2026-01-13T12:03:46","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T17:03:46","slug":"inside-the-residences-student-leaders-strive-to-support-bates-newest-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2020\/10\/08\/inside-the-residences-student-leaders-strive-to-support-bates-newest-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the residences, student leaders strive to support Bates’ newest students"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When Kama Boswell \u201923 of Seattle, Wash., came to Bates last year, the culture shock of moving across the country was eased by the Junior Advisor in her residence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inspired by her experience, last winter Boswell applied to be a Junior Advisor for fall 2020 to help another new group of first-years discover their own \u201chome away from home.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boswell envisioned doing what her JA in Rand Hall had done for her: sharing meals with first-year students, planning movie nights in common rooms, throwing ice cream parties, and having one-on-one \u201ccat chats\u201d to make sure the daunting process of settling in at college wasn\u2019t too overwhelming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what she didn\u2019t expect when she happily accepted the job was how COVID-19 protocols would make her role that much more challenging. How she\u2019d be tasked with creating a community for 14 new Bates students who could not go into other residence halls, hang out with more than 10 people at a time, or even leave their bedrooms without their masks on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kama
Outside Page Hall, Junior Advisor Kama Boswell ’23 (right) of Bellevue, Wash, plays a game of Battleship with Julia Johnson ’24 of Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Boswell is using the game as a way to get to know her first-year students in Page while staying physically distant, per public health protocols. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Boswell is one of about five dozen or so Junior Advisors and Residence Coordinators who live and work with students in the college\u2019s 30 residences, ranging from large halls like Wentworth Adams Hall (which sleeps 175 students) to tiny wood-frame houses around campus, like Stillman House on Wood Street, which is home to just seven students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Usually older students, Residence Coordinators focus on the living experiences of sophomores, juniors and seniors. JAs, on the other hand, live and work closely with groups of 12 to 20 new students in what are called First-Year Centers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trained extensively by the Office of Student Affairs, JAs (the word “junior” refers to their paraprofessional status, not class year), they are mentors, guides, role models, and organizers who “help connect students, especially first-years, to the Bates experience in whatever way is authentic to them,\u201d says Assistant Director of Residence Life Eddie Szeman. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even in a normal year, it\u2019s \u201ca really tall order,” he says, “when you get a group of 12 first-year students from across the country, to find a way to authentically welcome each of them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a JA in Kalperis Hall, Ken Williams \u201923 of Phenix City, Ala., is trying to deliver that tall order. Before an interview, he\u2019d just finished a protocol-compliant event with his 14 first-year students, a game where each student, armed with their own chalkboard, created designs based on categories that Williams and other JAs came up with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a deceptively simple activity: \u201ca way for first-year students to get to know each other through their artwork and creativity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ken
Junior Advisor Ken Williams ’23 of Phenix City, Ala., poses outside Kalperis Hall. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Like many of us who are learning to navigate our lives during a pandemic, Williams has developed his coping strategies as a Bates JA. “COVID has only altered the space,\u201d he says. \u201cIt doesn’t mean that you can’t make friends or try new things. It’s just that the way you approach those things is different.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, the residence protocols add another layer of responsibility and, at times, stress to the work of these JAs. Sometimes, Williams says he wishes he could just focus on schoolwork. Then he thinks about his first-year students. \u201cI keep my head above water by thinking of how I can support my students. I feel like I’m experiencing my first year again but in another light.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He says he and other student Residence Life staff members feel well-supported by the older Residence Coordinators and the college\u2019s professional staff. \u201cFrom those different levels you can receive different amounts of support,\u201d he explains. \u201cIf I ever have a problem, I can send a text over to my RC or knock on her door. I know she’s there if I need her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And he knows he can stop by Szeman\u2019s office any time. \u201cIt’s nice to be able to chat for an extended period of time and know that a person is there and I can stop by whenever I want to openly communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four weeks into an unprecedented fall semester, \u201cthere still are similarities to last year,\u201d says Jared O\u2019Hare \u201923 of Middletown, Conn., a JA in Adams Hall. \u201cThere are still key pillars that we have to focus on to make sure kids can transition smoothly. But there are things I never could have envisioned having to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Jared
Junior Advisor Jared O’Hare \u201823 of Middletown, Conn., poses outside Wentworth Adams Hall on Oct. 7. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That includes trying to hold most programs outside since the college\u2019s physical distancing protocols \u2014 6 feet apart nearly all the time \u2014 makes it difficult to host indoor events with everyone in attendance. (Campuswide, indoor events are limited to 50 persons, and no food is allowed.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to warm and mostly dry weather, O\u2019Hare\u2019s First-Year Center has been able to eat meals outside, often in the now-popular Adirondack chairs around campus. And there are time-tested bonding activities that he and other JAs can offer, such as the traditional walk to Dairy Joy for ice cream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the roles of JA and RC are non-punitive, meaning they do not enact disciplinary measures, they do have broad responsibility for upholding community standards. The same goes for COVID protocols. JAs and RCs are there to help uphold the guidance, but not take names.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was relieved to find out it wouldn\u2019t be our job to micromanage our students because that would tarnish relationships more than help them come closer together,\u201d says Boswell, a JA in Page Hall. \u201cBut if you see people breaking the rules you can\u2019t just be OK with it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On their own, this fall\u2019s JAs and RCs have developed a kind of bystander-intervention approach to helping students follow COVID protocols. \u201cIt’s trying to get at how peers and other students can respond when they see folks who are not acting out public health behaviors that we know are important, what to do when they see folks taking risks that put other people into risk,\u201d says Szeman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis goes back to the RCs and JAs being a mission-driven group,\u201d adds Molly Newton \u201911, associate dean of students for residence life and health education. \u201cWhat they’re not saying is, \u2018Hey, this is the rule. You have to follow it.\u2019 They’re saying, ‘What\u2019s our goal here?’ And the answer is, \u2018To be able to stay here.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning students who lived through everyone going home in March are particularly invested in staying, she says, and first-years who experienced the shutdown in their high schools know it too. \u201cSo it’s not about writing someone up or calling security, it’s about working towards the common goals that are underlying everyone’s experience here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Page, Boswell\u2019s first-years have luckily settled into their new routine without any hitches. \u201cThey get along with each other really well,\u201d she says. So far, her programming has included communal picnic-style meals outside Commons to get to know each other and one-on-one games of Battleship between Boswell and each of her students. (Battleship is, she insists, the best board game ever.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides offering programs to help their students bond, JAs are also charged with passing along Bates lore, knowledge about activities, and what the coming year will bring. Here again, these sophomores are at another COVID-caused disadvantage: They\u2019ve never experienced a full Bates year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, says Boswell, \u201cI feel kind of lacking when first-years ask me about Short Term. I don\u2019t know what Short Term is like because I haven\u2019t been here for one. I can wishfully tell them that I think it\u2019s really fun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kama
Junior Advisor Kama Boswell ’23 of Bellevue, Wash., poses outside Page Hall of Oct. 8. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Looking ahead, she plans to make her first-years Halloween-themed self-care kits \u201cas a final push to get through the module.\u201d (This fall, the semester is broken into two 7.5-week \u201cmodules,\u201d in which students take two classes for more time each week, rather than four courses for a semester. The change effectively de-densifies academic buildings.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boswell\u2019s Battleship example typifies a type of activity, very much one-on-one, that suggests that there are different ways for a student to be an excellent JA or RC, says Newton. For years, a key JA requirement has been to offer programs \u2014 from laser tag to orchard trips \u2014 for their First-Year Centers. Students who were good at presenting these programs were often deemed to be excellent JAs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome people’s skill sets really shine in those marquee programs that everyone loves,\u201d says Newton. \u201cBut it\u2019s not everyone’s skill set.\u201d Now that larger events aren’t possible, the value of other interpersonal skills among JAs \u2014 ones perhaps more associated with introversion \u2014 are coming to the fore, says Newton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those include \u201cbeing comfortable creating spaces for deeper conversations, and being comfortable in silence during those moments. Those moments are unlikely to happen during laser tag, but more likely when you go around knocking on doors and checking in with your first-years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

All of this \u201chas implications for racial justice,\u201d says Newton, who notes that residence life, as a professional field, skews white and female.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s all about having different strategies for helping students \u201cfeel like they belong here, and to catch those challenging things that come up sometimes around mental health or negative outcomes associated with not feeling like you belong,\u201d Newton says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pandemic or not, the Residence Life program at Bates has been recognizing leadership skills among JAs and RCs that go beyond programming ability. \u201cIt\u2019s something we’ve been working on for a long time,\u201d Newton says. \u201cIt\u2019s given us more diversity in the types of ways that you can be a good JA.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Due to COVID-19 public health protocols, it’s a challenge for JAs and other student leaders to hold events and activities. Here, the Discordians hold a socially distanced meeting in the Little Room in Chase Hall on Oct. 2. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

All of this \u201chas implications for racial justice,\u201d says Newton, who notes that residence life, as a professional field, skews white and female, as do some of the student-life events often depicted in marketing materials, like apple orchard trips or spa night. Valuing different ways to lead, program, and mentor \u201cis critical to how we engage men and how we engage in recruiting people of color. And we’ve been really lucky that our students have jumped at those opportunities and done such a great job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While larger residences like Page or Parker halls can have multiple First-year Centers, the smaller, wood-frame houses on and around Frye Street might have just one. That\u2019s the case at Stillman House, where Ali Manning \u201923 of Sydney, Australia, is a JA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike her peers in larger residences, Manning\u2019s First-Year Center in Stillman House, the college\u2019s substance-free residential living center, numbers just seven students \u2014 the total number of students in the entire house. With so few students, \u201cwe are interacting more than most First-Year Centers,\u201d says Manning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far, Manning and her students have watched a lot of movies together (\u201cwhatever\u2019s on Netflix or Disney Plus,\u201d she says) and have had organized game nights. With so few people in one house, the First-Year Center can easily hold indoor events with enough room for everyone to socially distance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ali
Junior Advisor Ali Manning \u201823 of Sydney, Australia, poses outside Stillman House on Oct. 6. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Like Boswell, she feels somewhat ill-equipped by not being able to tell first-year students what a full Bates year is like. \u201cThe thing that makes me feel better is that everyone is in the same boat,\u201d she says. \u201cIt’s not like I’m the only one who’s had a warped sense of my first year at college. I also think that as sophomores who haven’t exactly had the perfect year of college, it’s a really good lens to be able to help first-year students through.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For these JAs, it\u2019s more than fun and games. For example, much of this year\u2019s Orientation was delivered to first-years online, including an introduction to the college\u2019s Green Dot program<\/a>, which empowers bystanders to intervene in potentially violent situations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe knew how important these discussions are and how they impacted us when we first came to campus,\u201d says Evan Ma \u201923 of North Attleboro, Mass., a JA in Parker. \u201cBut we observed how when you do this stuff online, it\u2019s sometimes easy to just click the right answers and move on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To reinforce the online introduction, Ma and two fellow JAs developed real-life scenarios that fellow JAs could use to teach their first-years how to intervene when they witnessed social interactions that looked unsafe. \u201cThey all thought it was a necessary conversation that we needed, and they all thought it went great,\u201d says Ma. \u201cI was very happy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the newness and uncertainty of fall semester, the JAs agree that their first-years are making the most out of the unusual circumstances. \u201cThey\u2019ve all really taken it in stride,\u201d says O\u2019Hare, who is now trying to come up with programs for when cold weather forces his first-year center to socialize indoors. \u201cI can imagine if I was a first-year I\u2019d be really frustrated, but they seem to all be doing really well managing the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maeve McSloy \u201924 of Old Greenwich, Conn., says that despite COVID regulations, she\u2019s still found a sense of community in her center with the help of her JA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ali
Junior Advisor Ali Manning \u201823 plays spike ball outside Stillman House with a few of her first-year students. Public health protocols that restrict indoor activities (plus great weather) have put a premium on outside activities (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe\u2019s been so nice and bubbly, which is really important when you\u2019re coming into a new situation,\u201d she says. A resident of Parker, McSloy also appreciates that her JA prioritizes her students\u2019 safety but isn\u2019t \u201cout to get anyone in trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cAs an institution, we owe a debt of gratitude to them for carrying forward a student experience at a time when it’s harder than ever.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

As they continue to make their first-year students\u2019 homes away from home as inviting as they can, one of the biggest rewards for the JAs is witnessing a community being built.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSeeing my first-year students hanging out together around campus really warms my heart,\u201d says Boswell. \u201cI feel like I had some sort of piece in helping that connection happen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it\u2019s not going unnoticed. \u201cAs an institution, we owe a debt of gratitude to them for carrying forward a student experience at a time when it’s harder than ever,\u201d says Newton. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe all think about the positive side of building community and how great it feels. But sometimes community can feel really bad. In both ways, this year\u2019s JAs and RCs are in it with each other more so than ever before.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Meet these talented and devoted Junior Advisors who are, in a pandemic, bringing their first-year students into the Bates community. “We owe them<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":148,"featured_media":136412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[130,11012,11009],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-136408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-collaboration","category-student-life","category-the-college"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/148"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136408"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":171662,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136408\/revisions\/171662"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}