Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Nervous about starting at Michigan State? Worried about your class schedule, living away from home, or where to even start? The Spartan Orientation Station (SOS) is a podcast hosted by New Student Orientation staff and was created by students for students. This podcast will launch twice a week throughout the summer, and each episode will feature a unique interview with campus departments discussing their services, common misconceptions, and fun Spartan engagement opportunities. When you need help at Michigan State, it is okay to signal SOS! Don’t worry – MSU is there for you.
You're listening to the Spartan Orientation Station on Impact 89 fm, the podcast by students or students. Now, this week's
Eva Ignash:episode. Welcome back future Spartans to the Spartan Orientation Station. For many new students, the idea of living on campus is just as exciting as it is overwhelming. From maintenance requests to roommate and suite mate arrangements, there are plenty of new experiences when living on. To give students an idea of what to expect, today we are joined by live on representatives who will share some tips and tricks on how to make settling into your new home away from home just as easy as ever.
Eva Ignash:My name is Eva Ignash. I'm a rising senior, studying international relations and political science pre law with a minor in political economy. And my first year, I lived in Bailey Hall, Brody neighborhood. Hi, all. My name is Emily Hill, and I am a rising sophomore majoring in environmental studies and sustainability.
Eva Ignash:My
Emily Hill:first year, I lived in East MacDonnell, and this coming year, I will be living in, East Holden. Today, we are joined by Chloe Weigel, a former RA and assistant community director, and Alyssa Johnson, the assistant director of residence education and housing services. Could you both introduce yourself and your role at MSU?
Chloe Weigel:Yeah. Hello. My name is Chloe Weigel. As you already mentioned, I was a former RA on campus for 2 years where I lived in East Holmes Hall, so over in the east neighborhood. And I recently graduated, and I'm going to be staying with Residence Education and Housing Services, as an assistant community director for the next 2 years.
Chloe Weigel:So I'm very excited to get started with that. Thank you for having me today.
Allysa Johnson:And hello. My name is Allyssa Johnson. I use sheher pronouns. I am the assistant director for the Brody Apartments West Circle neighborhood. So shout out to Brody.
Allysa Johnson:Previously, I was the community director of Wilson Hall and then was promoted and received a new opportunity to serve residents' education in a new capacity, now supervising community directors and creating a neighborhood experience for a lot of residents.
Eva Ignash:Well, that just makes me more excited. Another former Brodie resident. Okay, so we're just gonna get right into it and what advice would you give an incoming student coming to live on campus?
Chloe Weigel:I would say, 1st and foremost, lean into the resources. I would say this podcast, 1st and foremost, is a really great example. All of these things are offered to you, but make the most of them. You know, it may seem tedious at first to follow all of the Instagram accounts and listen to your resources, and, you know, follow all the new story and orientation things. But if you do these things and you kind of create this like toolbox essentially of resources for you to use when you come on campus.
Chloe Weigel:It's going to make your experience so well rounded and very supportive. So you have access to these things, and you know about, all of the different resources and communities that are going to be provided to you and be offered to you, especially because welcome, fall welcome can be so overwhelming for new students. It's really great to prepare yourself so you know about all of these things, and you can be ready to make the most of Fall Welcome in the beginning of your semester.
Allysa Johnson:Yeah. I think I would say that from the minute you become a Spartan, we're saying we're telling you welcome home. And it's important to name that this may not immediately feel like home. It's gonna be uncomfy. It's gonna be hard.
Allysa Johnson:It's gonna be scary. And so, lean in to that fear. Lean into it because there's a lot of, magic that can happen when we push ourselves out of our comfort zone. But also honor and show yourself a lot of grace amidst this transition. It it's hard to make a place home.
Allysa Johnson:And so it takes time. It takes effort. It takes community and connection. But all in all, it also takes grace for yourself through that process.
Emily Hill:Yeah. We've mentioned a little bit about fear and this, like, transition that incoming students are going to be going through. And I know I, like, as a 1st year student last year, I was, like, looking at all the TikToks and, like, seeing, like, what should I bring? What shouldn't I bring? What's helpful?
Emily Hill:So, what is included in a room, and like what should incoming students bring on campus and what should they not bring on campus?
Allysa Johnson:Yeah, all of our rooms are gonna come with a pretty standard configuration. So you're gonna have 2 beds, 2 dressers, 2 desks, 2 chairs, everything for 2 folks for the most part to, be residing unless you were to be placed in a transitional housing space, where that configuration might look a little bit different. So we're gonna give you the structure of what you need to sleep, to study, and to store your belongings. You should bring anything that you need to add on to that. And so what's gonna make it feel functional for you?
Allysa Johnson:Different storage things that you might use. What's gonna make it feel comfortable for you? Decorations, that make your space feel like a space you're proud of and want to come back to, that's what I would recommend bringing. Make sure you know what you can't bring, so you don't bring those things and then end up dealing with some some negative stuff on the other side of that.
Eva Ignash:Yeah. When I moved in, I became an interior designer. I guess to get all of that stuff that you want to bring into your dorm, you have to move in. So what would you describe to be the typical move in process? How is it different for different students such as international students?
Allysa Johnson:Yeah. Move in is pretty standard, for domestic students and international students. Domestic students are gonna sign up for their
Eva Ignash:move in time via their My
Allysa Johnson:Housing portal. So they'll go in and they'll select what day and time they'd like to move in on. International students move in a little bit earlier than domestic students do. But for the most part, when you arrive outside of your hall, there's gonna be green move in carts that are readily available for you to use. Staff will likely be there to assist with unloading vehicles and getting all of your belongings loaded into those green carts.
Allysa Johnson:And then from there, you'll park your vehicles if you've brought one to campus, in a specially designated lot. You'll take your cart up to your room and you'll start unpacking and send those carts back down for other neighbors to come and get their stuff unloaded too.
Chloe Weigel:Yeah. Absolutely. And with that, just a couple of quick tips to make the move in process easy, and as, good as it can go. It's really important to make sure you bring, like, hydration and snacks. The student that is moving in as well as their support group, will they will be able to go eat a meal.
Chloe Weigel:I think it's the student and 2 other individuals get meal passes, but on top of that, you are gonna wanna bring lots of water to stay hydrated and also make sure that you are coming in with a positive mindset with a lot of patience and a lot of grace, for yourself and for others. It can take a long time because there is you know, it varies every year, but there is thousands of students moving in alongside you, and so you have to remember that, you know, you have to share the green move in carts and you have to kind of work together because at the end of the day, we're all Spartan.
Emily Hill:I was gonna say, like, my move in process was, like, pretty smooth sailing, but I know the day before, it was, like, it was a little hectic. So for sure, like, making sure you're, like, prepared and in the right mindset is definitely important. And as you mentioned, there's gonna be a lot of different, like, friendly faces around. So, I would like to touch on a couple of those, like, faces you might be seeing within your residence hall. So, Chloe, if you wanna go into a little bit of the difference between an RA and an ICA, what they are, how they support, residents on campus, that would be awesome.
Chloe Weigel:Yeah. Absolutely. So RA stands for resident assistant, and these are, current undergraduate students who work in the residence halls as student employees, and they live on the floors, with undergraduate residents, and they're there as a support process and kind of a support individual who oversees and helps residents as they navigate their on campus life, their own Spartan journey, as well as helping with conduct. And with that, with conduct, yes, they are there to make sure you are safe and make sure that everybody is having a great positive live on experience. And with that, ICA stands for Intercultural Aid, and that is another student position, student live in position in our residence halls across campus.
Chloe Weigel:Now there are not ICAs located in every building, but there are ICAs in every neighborhood, and they as intercultural aids host rural roundtable discussions for students to participate in, and they also live in the residence halls to help support students as they navigate their own social identities, intersectionality, as part of their Spartan journey on campus. So they are both really important roles and really friendly faces that we encourage incoming students to kind of look to and talk to as they navigate, their incoming student journey.
Eva Ignash:Besides RAs and ICAs, what other type of staff live and work in the residence halls?
Allysa Johnson:Yeah. We have the RAs, who are working a position and so they have supervisors. And their super supervisors are most typically graduate students who are, assistant community directors. And so that means that they are supervising the RAs. They are advising the hall governing bodies that, all residents can participate in and decide, what events take place and what resources are brought into the hall during that year.
Allysa Johnson:They are facilitators of the community that they reside and work in. And then in addition to those graduate students, we also have some full time staff that live full time in the residence hall and work full time in the residence hall. So those are gonna be our residence directors, who also help supervise resident assistants and, advise the hall governments. And then community directors who supervise the assistant community directors and residence directors and really design a community building plan for each community that makes it a unique living experience for each resident. They're there during the workdays.
Allysa Johnson:It's an 8 to 5 position, but then they're also supporting the building in a duty capacity. So they are on call. If there are students who are going through challenging things outside of business hours, which does happen because, again, we're facilitating a place that people call home, not just during the business day. Our full time and graduate staff are readily available and prepared to assist, students to navigate building issues, maintenance issues at all hours of the day and night.
Emily Hill:So some of the people that you also might meet within your residence hall are your roommate and your suite mate. And, as far as like connecting with them, what are some of, like, the duties that the RAs help you out with? And, like, what are roommate and suite mate agreements? And how do you fill one of those out?
Chloe Weigel:Yes. So, in July when every incoming student receives their housing placement, they will also get notified of who their roommate is. And upon moving in in August, they will also find out who their suitemates are. And these are the people, that you are going to live with for the next year. And you, you know, have really great experiences with these people, spending time living together, eating together, doing these things, when you choose to spend time together, but, also, you're living in a room or kind of set space with each other.
Chloe Weigel:And so with these shared spaces with people you may have known for a while or may be just meeting, it is really important, to set boundaries and set expectations with each other to make sure that everybody feels safe and at home in their living space. And that's why resident assistants facilitate roommate and suite mate agreements for all of their residents, on campus. And this is something that the RAs, depending on the residence hall community, will either facilitate or not facilitate or facilitate at the request of the residents. But they sit down with roommates and suitemates or they sit down without their RA and they discuss their own expectations and boundaries for the space. And this may seem tedious, but as, you know, to all incoming students, we encourage this and it's something that is really necessary to making the most of your space and making sure you feel safe and at home in your space.
Eva Ignash:Yeah, that is really important, but just going beyond that, I know personally my roommate was someone who I had known before, but especially for those who don't know their roommates at all, maybe just met their roommates recently, got matched with them. What is a good way to get to know them and bond with your roommates, suite mates, or just your neighbors on your floor? It starts with a little
Allysa Johnson:bit of self work. I'll be very honest. You are living with a stranger. You're living with someone you maybe don't know or maybe thought you knew, but are learning in very different ways. And so taking a minute to say, this person may live different than I do, the way that they live is still valid and valuable.
Allysa Johnson:And we have to create a room space where both of us are can conducively live our lives as we need to and want to. And then once you do that self work, then you can bridge out, and branch out and make those connections. Try to find some common interests. Try to, identify some areas that you can express your common interests on campus, off campus, and the local East Lansing and Lansing areas. You're adjusting to the area that you're living in and you're in and you're adjusting to the people that you're living this life with now.
Allysa Johnson:And so, go out, put again, push yourself out of your comfort zone. Find opportunities to do things together whether that's attending events or going to the dining hall and just sharing a meal together. And then center yourself when you need to, to to continue building that relationship on a positive base for everyone.
Emily Hill:For sure. So we've thrown this word transitional out a little bit. Could we talk about like what is transitional housing and what it means for students?
Allysa Johnson:Yeah. Transitional housing is, it means that we have a lot of students that want to live on campus. And so, it means that an additional student is being housed in a room that has been identified as a transitional room. It is meant to be temporary. So we confirm who's living on campus.
Allysa Johnson:Folks show up, students show up, they start classes, and some students opt not to attend Michigan State, or opt not to live on campus for a variety of reasons, which means that we don't necessarily know what our, who's gonna be living where until about the 2nd or 3rd week of campus. And so we utilize this temporary transitional housing to house people, in rooms until we can identify who didn't show up, what beds are vacant, and then move, those folks who are currently in the temporary transitional housing into those confirmed vacant beds. We add an additional bed and a desk to a room. All roommates pay a reduced amount of money, while the room is over assigned. And then, once we are able to reassign folks to the vacancies that we've been able to confirm, we do that, and and I hope to do that by, be done with that by middle to end of September.
Allysa Johnson:That's not a hard and fast
Eva Ignash:rule. Great. Thank you for explaining that. I felt like, even for myself, it made it a lot easier to understand. But now, in my opinion, I have the most important question for you guys.
Eva Ignash:How does a new student or any student film out a maintenance request? What would they fill out a maintenance request for and can they loft their bed on move in day?
Chloe Weigel:That's a great question. And I think that is the most asked question during move in weekend or move in, the move in period, depending on the year. But, I would say, 1st and foremost, maintenance requests, you know, it really varies. They any kind of problem that students experience, be it physically in the residence hall from a dripping faucet, or an issue with, like, the toilet not flushing or just, like, a broken mirror or a chipped wall. Like, anything like that, you're gonna file a maintenance request, and facilities are gonna come out and help you do that.
Chloe Weigel:And one of those things, as you mentioned, that you also fill out a maintenance request for is your bed adjustment, and you do all of these things in your My Housing account. It's the same location where incoming students, logged in to sign their housing contract, and do all of their kind of, you know, housing, tasks. And that's also where students are gonna refer back to throughout their entire live on experience to fill out those maintenance requests. And the question about bed adjustments during move in is that facilities does have the tools to do that, but not during move in because there's a lot more pressing issues going on during move in and there's a lot going on in general. So, facilities and all residence hall staff advise students to wait and leave the beds as they are as, facilities will start accepting maintenance requests and fulfilling those maintenance requests for bed adjustments starting mid September.
Emily Hill:So sort of a follow-up on that question, but a little bit different is, like, if I have a problem where I need accommodations, during the middle of the semester or, like, middle of the year, how would I go about, like, getting those accommodations? Would I need to go to maintenance, RCPD, anything like that? Do you have any suggestions or tips on that? Yeah.
Chloe Weigel:So for, AC accommodations, I'll start there specifically. You also are going to request that in your my housing account. And just to, again, go over that, it's only for students who find it medically necessary to have an AC unit in their residence hall space. And with that, you know, documentation is going to be required, and there is a fee for installation in their room. Now for other accommodations, you mentioned RCPD, which is going to be the resource center for persons with disabilities.
Chloe Weigel:That is another really important resource for students. RCPD is there to provide academic accommodations or other living accommodations, and to do that, you would go to the RCBD website and request, you'd fill it's a, I think, a short form where you request to be paired with a specialist. And from there, you get paired with an RCBD specialist and they can help you with accommodations from there.
Eva Ignash:I'm sure a lot of new students are going to be expecting a lot of packages, a lot of mail. Where do they receive this? Where should they go? And how do they get all of that good stuff that comes through the US Postal Service?
Allysa Johnson:So when you get your housing assignment, you will see that it says a building name. Maybe it says Bailey Hall, maybe it says, Wonders Hall. Maybe it says Acres Hall. And so from there, you can Google your residence hall, and you'll get an address. When you are ordering anything, you're getting your mail set up, you're gonna use that mailing address.
Allysa Johnson:So, for example, Wilson Hall is, has, like, a a three digit code, and then it's on Wilson Road, and it's, like, East Lansing. I don't even remember the ZIP code. But if I were, updating my Amazon account, I would load that address in. I would note what my room number is. So, for me, I was in apartment 1.
Allysa Johnson:And then, I would send all of my packages to that address and then the mail is gonna come to campus. We have some lovely service center representatives that work at our service centers, log those packages, log that mail, notify students, and staff when their mail has arrived, then you can go directly to your service center to pick up your mail or to your mailbox where your paper mail is gonna be sorted by service center representatives. But it all starts with memorizing that address and making sure that you include your room number when you are, sending yourself packages and mails so that it makes it easy on the service center reps.
Emily Hill:So we've mentioned you just mentioned service center, Alyssa. So we've mentioned that mail goes there, but what else do the service centers help with?
Allysa Johnson:Yeah. Keyword is service. They provide a lot of services to the residents. So mail and packages being one of those primary services. But you can also loan out equipment.
Allysa Johnson:Maybe you need a vacuum. Maybe you need some cleaning supplies. You can get toilet paper. You can get, garbage bags. They are really just a hub of student support for the typical issues and, concerns that students have on a day to day basis on navigating our residence halls.
Emily Hill:So I loved exploring the neighborhoods my first year, but I know that some of the residence halls on campus house different types of communities. And so one of those communities would be LLCs or living learning communities. So what are, Living Learning Communities and how do students know if they're a part of 1?
Allysa Johnson:Yeah. Living Learning Communities are the way that you can really fuse your academic and professional interests into your living experience. You are surrounded by folks with a shared common living, or academic affiliation. So maybe you're in, Wilson where there's predominantly engineers and you're, living in core. Maybe you're over in Holmes with an RA like Chloe, who is working with the Lyman Briggs College.
Allysa Johnson:Chloe, can you tell us a little bit about your experience working in an LLC community?
Chloe Weigel:Yeah. Absolutely. So as a former student in an LLC, I myself was in James Madison and then an RA for my last two years of undergrad, in Holmes Hall. I would say it's really important to lean into the residential experience and really make those community connections. So, you know, living with, mostly Lyman Briggs students as a resident assistant and really seeing the community that they kind of created, you know, studying together for their exams and study lounges and going to the Lyman Briggs events.
Chloe Weigel:Those are really unique experiences that students in LLCs should really, you know, fully take part in and make the most of. And with that, for students who, you know, may be thinking, am I in an LLC? 1st and foremost, some of them are part of your application process, so you may have directly applied to that major or that LLC when you applied. And some other ones, are part of your housing assignment process. So when incoming students filled out the housing preference form, they would have preferenced those LLCs.
Chloe Weigel:So students at this point should know if they are in an LLC and get prepared for that and be excited.
Eva Ignash:How does LiveOn help students, and what kind of things can students reach out to LiveOn for?
Chloe Weigel:Yeah. So LiveOn helps students, 1st and foremost, make the most of their residential experience and have a great LiveOn experience, here at Michigan State University. So, I myself, being a student who came here as a freshman, I connected immediately to LivOn as I started working on campus. And I would say that the sense of community that LivOn provides in and of itself for incoming students is really great. Beyond that, they're really, you know, there to also help.
Chloe Weigel:You know, there's going to be problems and there's going to be, things that students need help navigating, and LiveOn in every capacity is there to do that. And so keeping in mind that LiveOn is not necessarily just the staff that you see every day. It's also every single facilities worker that's on campus. It's it's all of the different support staff. It's your service center representatives.
Chloe Weigel:It's all of the in hall staff that you may not see every day as a current student, but it's really important to be in mind that to keep in mind, excuse me, that these people are here to help you, and then reach out and use that support staff.
Allysa Johnson:Yeah. And if I can even just jump in there one second, with facilities specifically and these people that are, not necessarily being actively seen but are actively contributing to the living experience for students, I just wanna honor that and uplift that and make sure that, the listeners of this podcast hear that as they prepare to live on campus. Take some time and think of facilities worker when you get to campus, and consider the ways that they are contributing to this life that you get to live here at MSU.
Emily Hill:Those are both super insightful answers. I appreciate you both of you joining us today and talking all about, like, campus and living on campus. Please join us next week for our conversation with Eat at State about MSU dining.
Narrator:Thank you for listening to this episode of the Spartan Orientation Station on Impact 89 FM. Let us know what you think by connecting with us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram atmsu_ns0.