Fall Training

Every fall semesters, all the CAs, both old and new, must under a semesterly ritual: Fall Training.

This happens before school even starts and before residents have left to go to their new dorms. Fall training is basically training and retraining on all things CA and ResLife. Since each year a new staff is put together, mandatory staff bonding must be had. Fall training usually lasts between 1.5 to 3 weeks. 7 days a weeks. From 7am to 10pm, roughly. While there are some days where you get let out early or it's a half day, that's pretty much a CAs life until opening. Very few CAs that I've known actually like fall training. We are run ragged for three weeks and we are very tired by the end of it.

Training goes something like this:
Day one: Get to know your staff. Mandatory staff dinner.
Day two-five: Go to big room with all of the CAs. Have some sort of theme for training. Prostaff urging CAs to earn points for some random prize. Listen to some lectures. Count up points. Award most awesome staff from day before. Break out. Going over basic policies in 1.5 hour sessions. Ice breakers Staff lunch. "Fun time" with staff. Random sessions with Counseling and Consultation. Creative time. Stress Reliever. Staff dinner. More get to know your staff. In bed by 11pm. Desk scheduling. Duty scheduling. Other scheduling
Day six-twelve: JAMS and documentation. Floor set up. Make 60+ door dec and 12 posters for the floor. Possible staff skit, depends on year. More lectures. Lunch. More sessions, more ice breakers. Final tally of most points won on the last day, award ceremony. Go back to dorm.

FALL OPENING
Yes, even after being put through a lot during training, CAs have to go through fall opening. It's basically another week before classes start but with a twist: residents! Not only do to welcome residents and their family to the hall, answer their questions, but we have to take them to events like Passports and the Tiki Luau. It's good for the new freshmen and good for us.

And at the very end.. we can sleep.. for about a day. Cause as soon as classes start, we get busy again.

I never said that being a CA was an easy job.