Almont junior David Braidwood’s freshman year didn’t go the way he hoped it would. Instead of giving in to disappointment, he became a resident assistant.
“Being a RA can be stressful, but it’s so much more rewarding than anything else,” he says. “My hall is really close. I love that we didn’t know each other before, but we do now because of Gelston.”
Coming from a small town and a graduating class of roughly 120 people, one of Braidwood’s favorite things about Alma College is its size.
“Even if I don’t know people, I easily recognize them,” he says. “There’s a real sense of community at Alma, and I like that.”
While the biology major admits that the duties of a RA don’t always fit into his busy schedule, this element of surprise can be fun.
“A group of guys from my hall play basketball every week,” says Braidwood. “It’s one thing to plan it, but it’s pretty cool that they put it on by themselves spontaneously like this.”
He suspects learning how to adapt to any situation will continue to help him—both as a RA and as a person.
“In life, you’re in a 24-hour situation where you don’t know what’s going to happen, so you need to be ready for anything,” he says.
