Working on West Campus: A Student Assistant's Perspective

As the semester heats up (figuratively and literally - it's 65 degrees here in Ithaca!), we've asked Ambassadors to take a break from classwork and share their experiences with "Work and Community Service" on campus during the month of March. Senior Sarah Marie Bruno starts us off with a post about her experience as a Student Assistant in Hans Bethe House. Enjoy!

By: Sarah Marie Bruno '16

For the past two years, I have worked as a Student Assistant (SA) in Hans Bethe House on West Campus (Bethe is the best dorm at Cornell, not that I’m at all biased). West Campus is a community of five dorms for sophomores, juniors and seniors at the bottom of Libe Slope that integrates learning and living in a friendly and engaging environment. Each house is overseen by a House Professor who leads the educational components of the house’s activities. In Bethe, residents gather every week on the cozy couches in our house professor’s apartment for an informal talk or discussion. These talks are led by a Cornell faculty member or a visiting professor and vary tremendously in subject, providing students with the opportunity to learn about a wide variety of topics regardless of one’s major.

The talks always follow our weekly house dinner, a particularly delicious meal in the house’s dining hall. Residents eat together as a house and have the opportunity to chat with faculty fellows and graduate students. One of my favorite aspects of the West Campus House system is that it encourages and enables undergraduates to develop meaningful relationships with graduate students and professors. In place of Resident Advisors (RAs), graduate students live in the dorms as Graduate Resident Fellows (GRFs). The GRFs and undergraduate SAs act as resources for residents and help to build a sense of community and belonging to one’s house. As an SA, I have become close to people from all different majors and class years who I otherwise would never have had the opportunity to meet.

I regularly plan and host fun events for my residents and connect students to faculty and other students with similar interests. As a physics major, I have hosted a physics study group in Bethe House in which I help residents with their physics homework. I have also led the Bethe House Council, which is a forum for residents to voice their ideas for new events they would like to see in Bethe.

Working as an SA has been an incredible experience for me and is perhaps one of the best aspects of my undergraduate career. I have learned so much from my residents and have grown tremendously in my three years living in Bethe House. Cornell is a huge community, and the dormitory environment really helps residents to navigate that community, network with others, and become active on campus.

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 House dinner festivities in Hans Bethe House.