By Roza Panos

Quincy University’s Residence Life members have always been committed to providing opportunities that further enhance students’ experience and contribute to their learning and development.

Recently, though, sophomore Genesis Torrens, who works in Residence Life, has felt a little overwhelmed; there are few staff assistants, which means students who work as resident assistants are doing a lot of work.

Torrens felt that being in the dorms and facing other problems was way too much work for a student worker to handle. She felt that there was no foundation and that the school needed to come up with a new plan to meet students’ needs through communication, safety and better supervision.

To help solve this problem, QU recently hired  29 resident assistants and six resident directors for next year.

“The purpose of this new plan is to have more communication, support and community within the staff. I’m very excited for next year,” Torrens said.

Director of Residence Life Crystal Sutter wants to have more programs where students can freely interact with one another. She feels that having residence halls’ directors would not only benefit the resident assistants but also the university as a whole.

“We want the residence halls to remain a safe environment for students to live in,” Sutter said.

Sutter feels that having more staff around will help the members maintain a safe environment. She hopes that making some of the changes will change the culture enough that the students will have a desire to be involved in what’s happening on campus.

“We want our students to want to be here, not go somewhere else,” she said.

Sophomore Jasmine Luckett, who is one of the new resident directors, feels that having assistants working with directors under them will be a good way to connect with the residents; it will help students have an enjoyable experience in the residence halls.

“Working with others opens doors for communication and builds relationships. I think it’s a great job to have on campus,” Luckett said.

Luckett also says she wants students to come to her or any of the other Residence Life members with any of the problems they may have. She not only wants to build relationships with students on campus as a new resident director, but she also wants to have relationships with her assistants.

Kristen Liesen, the director of career services, feels that both resident assistants and resident directors are valuable.

“From my experience, I loved both of them and they assisted me in different ways. They were very active when it came to my needs when I was a student,” Liesen said.

The residence life team hopes that with the new staff next year, there will be better communication,  a safer environment and a plan to keep moving forward.