We're taking bets that Fox became a Family... YEAR FIVE - THE RA's & the Rest

I am sure I am going to forget a lot of things that happened. I will probably not talk about everyone of my RAs because it was hard to have stories about everyone and some people know that they avoided me or had reasons not to see me very often. I will try not to make any mistakes. Please post stories in the comments section.

My Staff: ARDs - Jon Victorine & Amy Rival RAs - Kunal Sampat, Angie Charneski, Aleks Ward, Matteo Forgione, Russell Willingham, Laura Bennett, Adam Page, Mohit Gidwani, James Finlay, Matt Davidge, Lindsay Averbook, Erik Read, Greg Pellitier, Alesha Lecesse, Jason Brothers, Ryan Donaher, Karina Cole, Krystina Foelker, Abdul Bezrati, Amy Poirier, Mark Stern, Tim Cheney, Amy Kosterman Office Workers: Tess Buck, Jenna Gadbois, Laura Forrest, Ashley Edson, Abby Beutel, Gene Ellis.

I knew this was going to be an incredible challenge. Fox had a lot of issues the previous year. Hot water being one of them. There was a ton of those "Got Water" t-shirts in the office and the grossest fish tank I have ever seen. I did a ton of rearranging and cleaning. YES I DID SOME CLEANING!!! Now there was the task of figuring out the staff. I had to hire 4 RAs. Moh was the easiest because he was off of the Eligible List. He constantly badgered me over the phone but it was a good thing and he was hired. I interviewed Mark Stern in the lobby of the CRC. I asked him to make sure that he was ready before I hired him. Thankfully he decided he was. I kind of stole Greg Pelletier from Jess in Leitch. We interviewed in the Bourgeois Bear's Den and I was late. Sorry, but he was a great hire for Fox. Then we had the last spot to fill in 1313 and along came Amanda Day. It was a very hard hire because we had two qualified candidates, but she won out. Now our staff was filled time for the rest.

The existing staff was very interesting. First we had the ARDs. Everyone said that they would be a lot of work. I knew that working with Vic would be a lot of fun. Although we had never worked together I had a feeling we would get along. I never thought that he was ever given a chance. Although in his early Res. Life years didn't help him, but I knew he had grown and he would get to work with women. That is a positive for any male. :) Amy I had know since her involvement in RA scandals from her freshmen year. She will always remind me of Barbara because of her hair. She also had a reputation of being difficult, but I know that she usually means well. Plus I love a challenge and believe that I can work with just about anyone.

They were both incredible. Vic became more than an ARD, but he also became a friend. It meant a lot to me that he was able to be one of the first people I talked to about leaving and that he was supportive. He has an incredible work ethic and I think that the entire staff looked up to him probably more than they did me. He definitely knows that building better than anyone I have ever met and could handle anything thrown at him.

Amy was the cheerleader of the staff. Although she did not always get along with everyone I think she made huge strides last semester. She also had a rough semester personally and did excellent keeping it out of the job with the staff. She had her bumps and I don't think she always agreed with the way I did things, but she went with the flow.

Then we had the Office Worker staff. I actually only hired Tess, Abby and Laura personally and the rest were hired for me by other RDs. Gene was my favorite because he took all of the girls shit(Especially Jenna) and still came back. That was a tough thing to do. He and Abby worked Monday night security and did there best although they didn't know until November that they needed to turn on the radio. Jenna was a ton of fun because she always had stories and made the office very lively. I miss all of her complaining about the office snacks and having to go to the gym. I am so glad that she was hired. Laura and Ashley were my creative people. They made some great fliers and banners for Fox. Abby was the one who gave me the hardest time which was a great change of pace because not a lot of people try to banter back and forth with me. She also was the take down the flyer and turn on the hot water girl. I tried to make them as much part of the staff as I could. I hope they liked my smiley faces on the To-Do Lists. Finally there was Tess who had way too much on her plate and worked because I asked her to. She was a great office worker and someone that I trusted completely to get things done. Although I never knew if she was coming in if she was scheduled I knew that she would do what ever she could to make up the hours.

So then the year started with Training. As I stated previouslytraining was not that wonderful. We did have some fun as the Fox Hall Staff. We had Team days with our T-shirts that I am sure the staff probably hated, but it brought us together. On the last day of new RA training I brought the entire new Fox Staff to the roof as a congrats for finishing the training. It was fun. Probably one of my favorite places in the world to go to. It was always very tranquil. JBro had kidney stones and missed a ton of training. I think that pissed off a lot of people. It was only the beginning. I also had to mediate a small book buying debacle. Once the new staff came we had a real fun time. Matt did a great job of cooking for us with his Baked Ziti.

Opening went as well as it could of. We set up outside and it made the process so much better. Ryan held down the fort in front of the elevators and Mark directed traffic in the front. It made life so much easier. Adam page led a crew that took out all of the trash. We all had a good time except for the fact that JBro didn't show up. It was the beginning of my head shaking with him all semester. At least he was a trooper and pulled trash with Laura Bennett later that week. I went running up and down the stairs to as many of the floor meetings as I could. It was tiring, but fun. We set the tone as the Fox Family throughout the building. The 9th floor was by far the funniest as I put Ryan in his place for making fun of Laura.

Aleks did a great job keeping her patience with the 8th floor girls. Although I thought she was going to kill them at times. As the semester went along she did a better job with them and even did a great program called "Shut-up Kareoke". We had a small ID scandal that the RA's did a fantastic job of handling. The police on the other hand made a couple of mistakes, but we got through it. Thanks to the RAs that were involved. Remember NJ fakes are the ones most likely to be taken away. We tried to have staff meeting in 601. Not one of my best ideas, so we moved them back. We had one of our many birthday cakes that night although Ice Cream cake is not the best idea for 27 people. I also had one of my best birthdays because I was able to not tell the entire staff. It is hard to get past that many people. :)

We also had two pretty big floods on the tenth floor. The one on Moh's side was real bad. Everyone worked very hard to keep it contained although I thought I was going to end up in the Connector vacuuming up water. The one on the other side was not so bad, because the residents and the staff worked very quickly. We got the water shut off and everyone made barricades to their rooms. Thankfully we had the 7th floor apartment as a back up for people to stay.

The Red Sox were the big news in October and we had fire alarms almost every night they won during the Series with the Yankees and St. Louis. We had fun times watching the riot squads come down Pawtucket Street. Luckily we did not have a ton of vandalism and only a few people were arrested. The staff did a great job of keeping everyone calm. I still can't believe they actually won. I will always remember that I was at UMass Lowell when it happened.

We had a ton of security issues with the girl that came in and assaulted Webster to the due that avoided the police and got into the building through the back entrance. Of course we locked down the back doors as the residents needed to use them to go to the 6th floor and study for finals. Erik, Amy P. and I had a interesting night, but we got through it. Lindsay had a lot of craziness on the 12th floor. Those girls were very nice to each other's faces, but not behind their backs. I miss seeing Lindsay almost every day stop by a say hello while I was in the office.

We had a number of incidents that happened in the building where the residents left in the middle of it. We definitely had some learning to do with handling things, but overall we kept the building running pretty well. We did not have too many water issues. Vic kicked the outside boiler a couple of times and got things working. I tried to give as much information as much as we possibly give to all of the residents and it seemed to keep people happy.

We went on retreat and Jimi grossed everyone out. "Tea bagging" just really isn't funny. We had a fun time and I don't think we really noticed that someone was missing. The staff had a good time playing in abandoned rail cars and exploring along with the hot tub and the pool. It was probably one of my favorite staff meetings that I have ever had. I ended the semester with an alcohol bust with Vic and a yelling at JBro. (I never intended it to be public, but my office wall is very thin.)

I know that I have forgotten a ton of things, but I keep typing trying to remember stuff and my memory is failing me. This was a very hard blog to do and I am sorry it took so long. I miss everyone. So many of you did not get enough time in this blog that I wanted to... Angie, Mark, Matteo, Aleks, Laura, Russ, Matt, Erik , Alesha, Abdul, Krystina, Ryan, Amy P. , Moh, and the rest made it an unbelievable time. Fox Hall Staff was my family at UML and you still are. :)

HAPPY VALENTINE's DAY EVERYONE