Residential Well-being Student Leaders

• Free on-campus housing
• Twice monthly stipend of $193 for new employees, $207 for experienced employees
• Professional experience in teamwork, conflict management, and programming implementation

• Must have a minimum 2.50 cumulative GPA
• Be in good standing with the University (e.g. no status sanctions from Student Conduct or Undergraduate Academic Integrity

Applications are now open via StarRez under ‘Employment Opportunities. Applications are due at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, October 5. Interested applicants should consider attending one of the following informational sessions.

Informational sessions

• Info Session #1: Monday, September 18 @ 6:30 p.m., Pamplin Room 32
• Info Session #2: Wednesday, September 20 @ 11 a.m., Zoom, Join Here
• Info Session #3: Saturday, September 23 @ 10 a.m., Zoom, Join Here
• Info Session #4: Tuesday, September 26 @ 7 p.m., New Hall West Training Room
• Info Session #5: Monday, October 2 @ 6 p.m., Wallace Room 407

General timeline

• September 18 - October 5, new student leader applicant submission period
• October 5, application review begins

If you are selected as a student leader, you will be assigned to a specialized role that will allow you to live into your passions or discover new ones while contributing to the well-being of other students. These roles will focus on:

• Guiding students on their ExperienceVT journey through ongoing conversations that ensure students learn about and explore their unique strengths and gain clarity about their goals and the pathways through which to achieve them.
• Fostering students’ understanding of and commitment to the five dimensions of well-being, including physical, social, community, financial and career (or major).
• Building community and relationships to help students develop a sense of belonging; learn about the importance of diversity and inclusion; and learn from others from different backgrounds, identities, and perspectives.

Student leaders in each role will also:

• Find opportunities to take groups of students to campus and plan community experiences that give students the chance to engage across difference, cultivate curiosity, and promote community involvement and connections.
• Create and/or promote opportunities to bring those experiences into the residence hall, rather than making students go to them.
• Build meaningful relationships with students and provide support and connection to resources.
• Respond to issues that arise in the community as needed.
• Provide support to students in distress.
• Ensure that facilities issues are addressed quickly.
• Other duties as assigned.

This is home. That’s a phrase you’ll often hear from Hokies and when Student Affairs says it, we really mean it! We know that feeling of “home” begins when you move into a residence hall, and you spend more time there than in classrooms, labs, Squires, dining centers, Lane Stadium, or just about anywhere else. It’s where you first experience the power of friendships and community at Virginia Tech and will build habits, patterns, and relationships that can significantly influence your pathways to success in college and beyond.

But we also know that our students are facing increasingly complex challenges as individuals and global citizens, and many Hokies are struggling. That’s why we have transformed the residential experience to create a culture and community focused on well-being. We want to empower every student to live out the Aspirations for Student Learning and take an active day-to-day approach to your well-being by:

• Finding purpose and meaning
• Identifying and understanding strengths
• Identifying goals and pathways to pursue them
• Developing supportive relationships
• Finding a sense of community and belonging
• Maintaining physical, mental, social, and financial wellness

Through your life on campus, every Hokie will have the opportunity to create a personalized plan and engage in purposeful ongoing conversations to experience Virginia Tech in a meaningful way. We call this ExperienceVT—a university movement led by Student Affairs that is all about connections for students– connection with people, with what they want to do, and with resources to help guide them.

To embrace this movement’s potential and create a culture of well-being, we are reimagining the power and purpose of our student leaders in the residential experience. We moved away from the traditional Residential Assistant (RA) role, which assigns one student leader to oversee a specific hall or area, to create teams of peer leaders who will live and work as part of a large web of support from across Student Affairs.