Washington & Jefferson College

Students on Amanda's Residence Hall Floor

The Residence Hall Experience: Why Dorm Living is Good Living

When I moved in to W&J my freshman year, I had no idea what to expect of dorm living and frankly, it terrified me. As an only child, four hours away from home, knowing absolutely no one, I wondered how I would survive SHARING, yes SHARING, my things and my life with a complete stranger.

I was placed in a room with two strangers and soon found the joys of navigating a triple. Add in a few suitemates and a couple of girls from the floor, and I found that I was living not just in a dorm, but in a community.

My Resident Advisor (known as the RA, this is the student who is “in charge” of the floor) made us all feel welcome and truly helped us “get our feet wet.”

This year, I’m a senior, and I decided that I wanted to be the girl who made everyone feel welcomed and appreciated. That’s why I became an RA. I soon learned that being the RA is not like a mother-child relationship (or shouldn’t be, anyway); rather it is like a sibling relationship. My residents keep me on my toes, keep me laughing, and have become good friends.

I’m happy with the community I’ve created, and they make all the hard work worthwhile. That’s the joy of dorm living—an experience that I will never let my own kids skip out on—having a community, being forced to get along, and realizing that the world is bigger than you ever thought it could be.

Amanda Bundick
W&J Class of 2010