“I wanted to help people and to make sure people have a voice when they don’t feel like they do and just be someone’s biggest advocate,” Pride said. “Just knowing that you’re having an impact on someone and that they’ll cherish that for the rest of their life is huge.”

International relations fifth-year Abraham Yum said his residential assistant position in Bailey Hall is about sharing the on-campus culture he experienced in his underclassmen years before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I just wanted to connect and to pour back into the younger generation of MSU students,” Yum said.

Residential assistants, or RAs, live on each floor of every on-campus housing option. Their role is to maintain residents’ safety and respond to emergencies, host social events and act as a resource for their residents, environmental economics and management junior Noelle Chan, who is an RA in Shaw Hall, said. 

“Making sure that the residents feel safe, feel welcome ... it sounds silly, but I do think it makes a difference,” Chan said. “College is such a culture shock to a lot of people and talking to people is hard.”

The RA position does not come without challenges. As an authority figure, Chan considers safety to be the number one priority, but she said there is sometimes a barrier between RAs and their residents.

“It’s hard because I want to love my residents so much and I want to be their friend, but also there’s a line between friend and mentee,” Chan said.

Pride said the reasoning behind the disciplinary actions that RAs take are often misunderstood.

“At the end of the day, you’re helping someone,” Pride said. “You’re making sure they feel comfortable living in their home and being a mentor and being a friend. That’s the biggest thing we want to do, but if that doesn’t happen, and we’re more seen as that figure that just disciplines, that sucks, but sometimes it’s reality.” 

For Yum, being an authority figure to fellow undergraduates has taught him to become more patient.

“We’re all students here together,” Yum said. “It helps hone my own skills to be more patient as an individual.”

In addition to late-night rounds and emergency situation management, RAs are confided in for mental health crises and cases of sexual assault. Pride said he considers the other Brody neighborhood RAs to be an integral support system for the heaviness of the job.

“Honestly it’s the connections and the lifelong friends I’ve made ... they’re my go-to people,” Pride said. “We laugh with each other, sometimes we cry with each other. We’re all there for each other and I think that’s the biggest benefit ever.”

As a financial incentive, room and board expenses are covered for RAs. This benefit takes a large amount of stress out of the housing process, Chan said. 

“As someone who is very involved on campus and is juggling many balls in the air, not having to come home and necessarily prepare a meal for myself or pay the electricity bill ... it’s just something that doesn’t have to cross my mind at all and this is going to be the only time in my life that that’s ever going to be the case,” Chan said.

The RA position is open to students who have lived on campus for at least one year and meet certain academic requirements. Candidates then undergo an interview process. The Residential Education and Housing Services, or REHS, team looks for students who are highly involved and enjoy engaging with other students, REHS Associate Director of Communications Bethany Balks said.

“We have a diverse campus and we want to make sure that our RAs are able to support all the students that live with us,” Balks said.

Pride said he encourages students to apply for the RA program only if they genuinely want to advocate for and support their peers.

“This job is so rewarding,” Pride said. “You can change someone’s life by just being their RA and being their friend.”