COLUMN: Campus housing doesn’t end after graduation

It’s a pleasantly cool Saturday afternoon at Bear Lake, as 75 USU students tumble together into the top floor of a cabin after two days of team-building activities, gathering leadership skills and bonding with each other.

These are the two days that students, mainly on-campus residents, who volunteer as representatives for their respective housing complexes, come to learn their responsibilities and the importance of being an upstanding example to those around them.

Mid-afternoon of the first day, Matt Anderson stands before the volunteers on the top floor and culminates everything shared over the weekend.

Anderson, adviser for the USU Resident Hall Association, said he feels grateful for opportunities akin to this. After all, it’s been his life as a USU student all the way to now.

“It’s been mind opening,” said Anderson, who is in his first year in the position after spending a year as a graduate resident director with the professional housing staff on campus. “The overall experience has made me feel like I fill a role — that I feel needed. I feel like I have a purpose in residence life.”

Anderson, 26, said he began his stint with residence life as a sophomore at USU. He was a secondary education major studying history and geography, living on campus.

At the time he said he was considering moving off campus in an effort to save money, when his roommate, also his resident assistant, approached him to encourage him to apply for a job as an RA.

He took the opportunity and was hired as an RA in Richards Hall during spring 2008.  From there he went on to serve as a member of the National Residence Hall Honorary, an academic honor and service-oriented housing organization, and later became the president of the organization.

He has since served as student president on the executive board of RHA, which has led him to his experience with the housing professional staff.

 Not one to take all the credit, the Lyman, Wyoming, native said he has been humbled at the privileges in his field that he feels he was lucky to have at the time.

“Doors just kept opening,” Anderson said, “and I walked through them. I never thought I’d be working (professionally) for housing, but now I get to work with people and do something I love and can do forever.”

Doing his best to gather the energy needed for the field, Anderson said much of his job can be unpredictable, as it gathers a lot of responsibilities.

As an adviser, Anderson said he oversees the student executive boards, attending meetings and holding regular one-on-one interviews with the six members of his board.

He said he also coordinates budgetary needs, planning and executing events on campus, organizing plans for regional and national housing conferences abroad, as well as leadership retreats and trainings for volunteer and paid staff. He said he also works hand in hand with his fellow professional staff members, who oversee specific areas on campus.

When he has time in his schedule, he said he attends meetings with volunteer leaders on campus in an effort to offer aid. This doesn’t factor in all the evenings of mandatory meetings and travel obligations, which, he said, occur frequently.

Anderson said the unpredictability takes a great toll over time, as most days start early around 8:30 a.m. and end as late as 11 p.m.

“This isn’t a nine-to-five type of thing,” Anderson said, “but that’s what it takes to make things successful.”

Anderson said he is pleased with the work that has been accomplished in his time in housing. He strongly credits his wife, Erin, whom he married in 2008, as well as Tempe, the family dog for the well-needed support in a job that most of all requires his time, he said.

“It’s said a lot, but I literally wouldn’t be near where I am without my wife and family,” Anderson said. “She understands some days are shot and we can’t always do much, but she is always willing to help ease slack and be a support. She is just awesome and motivational for me and is just as important to me as anything.”

In a field that requires time, patience, energy and constant improvement, Anderson said, firmly, this is an experience that has been a great reward for him.

“I love my job — love it,” Anderson said. “I love that I can influence young leaders and help them see their future. Life just seems easier when you can do something you love and consistently become more motivated to do it.”

– steve.schwartzman@aggiemail.usu.edu