College Students Gain Important Leadership Skills

AUSTIN, TX - As summer comes to an end universities are welcoming back college students. Waiting to greet them are Resident Assistants. They are often whom students turn to first when they have problems, and in the process they gain valuable leadership experience that can last a lifetime.

RAs, also called “Community Assistants,” are college students who work at on- and off-campus residence halls supervising residents and serving as peer counselors. Tyler Holmes was one of those students. Campus Advantage hired him as an RA for its Campus Lodge property near the University of South Florida in Tampa. Holmes served as an RA for four years while completing a business marketing degree and now works at the company’s corporate office in Austin.

“Serving as an RA gave me experience most businesses look for when hiring you out of college,” he said. “While most of my friends from college really struggled to find a job after graduation, I had a full-time salary position the day after I collected my diploma.”

Mike Peter is CEO and co-founder of Campus Advantage. Peter worked as an RA while an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin. This experience helped him not only pay for school but eventually led him to start Campus Advantage.

“My own experiences as a Resident Assistant taught me important life lessons that have stayed with me throughout my career,” Peter said. “At Campus Advantage, we don’t want to just put roofs over students’ heads. We want to help create tomorrow’s leaders by providing students with resources they need to succeed in college and in life.”

Of the hundreds of positions the student housing company fills every year, many of them are for RAs who work at the 48 student housing communities the company manages in 20 states. Campus Advantage provides leadership training to RAs on topics such as effective time management to tools for personal financial success.
 
Dan Oltersdorf, Campus Advantage vice president of residence life, said students are exposed to the business side of the industry and often gain skills ranging from crisis management and conflict mediation to customer service and budgeting. The company teaches its RAs how to apply skills learned in student housing to their future career goals.

“These community assistants provide more than just pool parties,” he said. “They are helping their residents lead successful lives. It’s the difference between just housing students and being a quality student housing provider.”