My Graduate Assistantship Experience
By Dylan Kersten, RHAC Graduate Assistant

I am a second year graduate student in the student affairs administration master's program on campus. UW La Crosse (UWL) was appealing to me because the program requires students to have a graduate assistantship in order to gain practical experience in a student affairs functional area. I didn't have a lot of experience in residence life as an undergraduate and was interested in seeing what it had to offer. I joined the department as one of the advisors for the Residence Hall Association Council, in addition to helping out with other assignments when necessary.

There is a balance that needs to be struck as a graduate student of balancing both our academics and our work load. I feel that I have been able to successfully achieve that while working in this department. I feel as though residence life has a bad reputation for being too much work and I haven't found that to be the case in my time here. I feel as though they are understanding and supportive of my academic obligations, and I appreciate that this understanding doesn't come at the expense of my credibility in the department. Even though I am still a student, I feel valued as a professional in the office.

I enjoy UWL because students on this campus tend to be very engaged, especially within their residence halls. They actually enjoy forming connections with the professional staff, and I believe that is in part due everyone being very approachable. ORL places a strong emphasis on the importance of the student voice, which I believe has had a very positive impact on students' willingness to engage.

As a member of the Office of Residence Life, I believe we have high standards of one another because our performance has a strong impact on the experiences of residential students. Due to these high expectations, we hold each other accountable and strive for excellence each and every day. We are dedicated to developmental experiences, which is evident in our support of conference attendance, in addition to the willingness of the department to host conferences, either on campus or in the La Crosse Community.