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The Bennett Hall Staff of RAs are a dedicated group of individuals
that unite to take on the daily trials and triumphs that come with
life and with being a Resident Advisor on the Oklahoma State
University campus. They exhibit versatility, persistence, and
creativity on a regular basis, but particularly in the month of April
2012 they have made good use of these qualities. The Bennett Staff knows how to satisfy whatever role needs to be
filled and is willing to go the distance in order to do so. Sometimes
this means being Batman by taking charge of a situation and hopping in
the bat-mobile in the midst of fear and chaos to keep the Bennett Hall
community safe and strong. Other times this means being Robin by
filling in all of the skills or considerations that Batman lacks or
overlooks, and by always having his back. And even still other times
this means being Alfred by taking on the difficult role as the person
in the background who works to hold the entire team and community
together though he often goes unnoticed. The members of the Bennett
Staff know how to embody all three of these roles, each taking on
which role needs to be filled in a given situation. They make it a
point to know their environment, know their residents, and know each
other in order to be the best leaders and supporters of their
community as possible. The RA Staff of Bennett Hall proves each day that they can work
through anything and maintain a passion and dedication for their jobs
as students, as individuals, and as Resident Advisors. This month has
been difficult for this group of hard-working students in their
competitive and time-consuming degree programs, but they always find
the time to program for their residents and perform other necessary
parts of the job. When they are overwhelmed, they lean on each other
and trade duties with their willing staff members to ensure no one
gets buried under the pressures of college and the life of an RA. When programming for a suite-style residence hall, it is particularly
tricky to convince people to leave their comfy rooms and get involved
with people on their floor and in the rest of the building, and even
with the rest of campus, but the Bennett Staff has met this challenge
head-on. They have not been deterred and continue to crank out
creative programs that they put a ton of thought and heart into. This
month, they put their efforts into a program they called the Bennett
Hunger Games, named after the popular book series that was just made
into a movie. They seized an opportunity to utilize popular culture
as an incentive to get people interested, involved, and communicating
in a healthy way with people they may have passed a dozen times
without ever realizing it. The program had residents compete in teams
in a four-way tug-of-war, an egg toss, a survival trivia match, and a
water-balloon volleyball final round. Each member of the winning team
won a copy of The Hunger Games trilogy. The Bennett Staff may occasionally be forgotten because it is on the
edge of campus, but just remember the following: They are always
there, perched on the edge of campus, watching over Oklahoma State
University and keeping its streets filled with happy, healthy, and
safe students. When you’re in danger: Keep calm and call the Bennett
Staff. They may not wear capes, but they’ve got your backs. Word Count: 584
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