Many people who work at EWU like to describe their job as a "24/7" gig -- there are seven Eastern staffers for whom that statement is a literal fact. They are Eastern's residence life coordinators, employees who actually live on campus with the students they watch over.

Each of the seven is assigned to one of the university's residence halls, and it is their responsibility to make sure the communities run smoothly. "It's like being the mayor of a building," said Robin DeSantis, the RLC for Dressler Hall.

"It's not so much a job as it is a lifestyle," joked Nikki Kogan, the RLC for Morrison Hall.

While many people would cringe at the idea of having to live shoulder-to-shoulder with college students, Eastern's RLCs actually find the experience quite rewarding. All but one of them worked as residence hall advisors during their college days, enjoying it enough to make residence hall management their current career choice.

Michelle Schultz, the RLC for Streeter Hall, explained that, as with any job, there is the good and the bad. "It can be very rewarding or it can be very draining," she said. "It is exciting to interact with the students -- we get to see them in their 'real' lives."

Of course, "real life" can sometimes be messy, and each of the RLCs understands that keeping the peace amongst hundreds of 18- to 20-year-olds can be challenging. And, there is always the small element that make it especially challenging, providing the RLCs with the opportunities to provide what they jokingly call, "learning moments."

Schultz said things aren't as bad as other staff or faculty might imagine, though, as just a small minority of the residents generally creates the majority of the problems, though. "It's 5 percent that cause 90 percent of the problems," she said.

Schultz explained that the dealing with the difficult students is offset by the positive interactions they have with the majority of the residents. "Our experience with the students should be fairly balanced," she said.

Of course, the RLCs point out that there is much more to what they do than just deal with mischief. A large part of their job is providing the residents with co-curricular opportunities to weave their classroom life seamlessly into their residential life.

They serve as advisors for clubs and organizations, work cooperatively with student support services and formulate entertainment and learning programming in their assigned halls. They also work closely with the campus police to ensure the safety and security of the halls.

In addition to living in the halls with the students, each RLC also maintains 10-15 regular office hours each week. But, living with the students provides the best interfacing. "Just living in the hall, we get tons of interaction with the students -- our jobs certainly don't end at 5 p.m.," Kogen said.

All of the RLCs said they hoped that the faculty and staff at Eastern would recognize the potential of cooperation between the RLC staff and the rest of the university. "I think the value of the residence halls is undervalued," DeSantis said. "There are 308 kids in my building -- if I post one thing in my building, over 300 kids are going to see it."

More than 20 percent of the university's students come into contact with residence life staff, Kogen pointed out. That level of contact can provide valuable linkages between the university and its students, she added.

In the photo above (l/r): Shantell Jackson, Ericka-Erin Lundeby, Michelle Schultz, Michael Ames, Nikki Kogen, Jordan Keithley, Robin DeSantis.