On a rather gloomy Sunday afternoon, I had the pleasure of interviewing Alex, an RA at Haaland Hall, about his experiences as an RA and his thoughts on leadership. Alex was a little tired, but still cheerful after staying up the previous night for weekend floor duties, which included 2am shifts. Alex has been an RA for two years, first at Christensen Hall and now at Haaland Hall, so she was able to offer me a lot of advice based on years of experience. We started with a short tour of Haaland Hall and what RA the room looks like. We discussed the difference between working in a dorm reserved for freshmen and a dorm open to all undergraduates. He told me that it was sometimes harder to get people out of their rooms, because while freshmen at Christensen are shy, undergraduates at Haaland tend to be introverted and feel very comfortable even just with their roommates. As an RA, he has noticed that different types of problems are encountered in various residence halls. He told me that freshmen usually had concerns about where to park, how to get to class, or how to get home. Haaland's residence of mostly upperclassmen had more complicated issues, often related to mental health, school work and careers. He said he had some freshmen residents, which I was surprised to hear, and he was concerned they didn't have enough opportunities to interact with others. I currently live in Christensen Hall and one of the reasons I chose it was to be in an environment where my peers understood exactly what I was going through and everyone made an effort to socialize with each other. If I were an RA, I would share Alex's concern and make it a priority to check in with them often. Our tour ended in one of the... never had. I thanked her for her time and left Haaland Hall. Returning to Christensen, my mind flooded with thoughts and advice, I felt more at ease. I had become an effective leader in high school and had taken my first year of college to get my bearings. I began the spring semester of my freshman year feeling fairly settled and finally comfortable, as UNH became my home away from home. As an out-of-state student, I know how difficult it is to come in as a freshman and enter a completely new environment without the first clue as to how to find your way. Luckily I had a great RA and roommate, and I soon felt right at home on my own floor. If I could have this kind of impact on my residents, as Alex had said, I would feel like I had done my job, because support in a new situation can be as vital as water or oxygen.