This past Sunday was Move-In Day for all NYU Freshmen which meant that I acquired about 36 new students to be responsible for. The day ran more smoothly than I think anyone could have imagined and when we had our first floor meeting Sunday evening, I got to meet all of these incredible people. Everyone is so different but has joined our floor with a common interest and goal in mind--to help and serve others.
All week my Co-RA and I have been taking our residents to various Welcome Week events to help them get involved in the NYU community. Wednesday we went to an interactive workshop called Theater for Social Change which was facilitated by an Educational Theater faculty member who demonstrated to us the effectiveness of using theater (games) to open up dialogue about diversity and social justice issues. It was a very powerful session that my Co-RA and I are hoping to bring to our entire floor community this year.
That evening we brought students to a Spoken Word Poetry Slam which everyone seemed to really enjoy. We then learned about the Hip-Hop Theater Festival taking place September 23-October 11. This event was reintroduced to us last evening when we went to a screening of "On the Outs"--an extremely powerful film that follows the lives of three teens who get caught up with drugs, teenage pregnancy, and violence, and end up in and out of juvenile detention centers (definitely watch it). Following the screening, our Faculty Affiliate joined us for a discussion about the issues addressed in the film and it was incredible to see the open dialogue that my residents had. Our conversation touched upon many things and everyone contributed something very valuable to it. My Co-RA and I are extremely excited for this year because after only 5 days of knowing these wonderful people, we see the interest, intellect, and curiosity they are bringing to our floor and we can only what we will be able to learn this year.
I can't wait to see what this year has in store for me (and my residents) because social justice and community service are things I am very interested in and passionate about learning more about and I really think that I will be able to do that this year. But perhaps more importantly, I will be able to do it with a group of students who feel similarly and I (along with my Co-RA and Faculty Affiliate) get to be the person who provides them with this experience.