Res Life Roundup Spring 2020 Vol. 2

SPRING 2020

Director’s Reflection p2 Get to Know the Team p4 AdOps highlight Committee Corner p6 Brief updates from the Res Life committees Professional Development p7 Tips from the Minimalists Work from Home Colleagues p10 Did You Know... ? p11 Brain Teaser p12 Binge Worthy Shows p13 Staff Recomendations Photo Credit: Adam Thomas Brockett IG: @adam_brockett

Res Life Roundup | Spring 2020 | Vol. 2

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Director’s Reflection

This too shall pass. But in my mind, our deeper objective hasn’t changed.

We still want to offer an outstanding residential experience for our students.

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Res Life Roundup | Spring 2020 | Vol. 2

Dear Colleagues and Friends, When I arrived on campus last August during opening week, I never could have guessed how this year would come to pass. I’m tempted to say that it has been the strangest and most challenging year I’ve ever faced, but I suspect that’s true for most of us. While it’s easy to focus on the difficulties COVID-19 has brought to us in 2020, I want to make sure that we take some time to remember the promise and energy and sense of possibility that we shared with our students, student staff and each other in August 2019.

When I take a moment to pause, I can remember what it was like that first week - my first week in a new job. I spent much of it riding around on a golf cart not really having any idea where I was going. But I remember meeting all of you, seeing our RAs in action, being impressed with the care and attention that were going into opening wonderfully decorated and efficient service desks, Arrival Survival Team members and staff at all levels engaging with students and parents, outstanding Fall Welcome events so well attended and exciting for our students. What an incredible time that was. I knew I had come to the right place.

If you’re like me, you may wonder what equality and equity should look like but actually looks like in 2020 in the United States. You may wonder, why are we still fighting the same battles as many of our ancestors? Why is discrimination, racism, and hate at the forefront of our conversations? I didn’t imagine that in 2020, I’d be fighting the same battles that were fought long ago. The truth is, those battles never went away. They were suppressed and washed over so that we could continue moving on in our lives. While we may want to focus on brighter times, my hope is that we actually don’t wash over these times, settle and simply move-on without addressing the systematic and systemic issues that oppress others. I hope that we do not wash over the many killings of unarmed black people at the hands of those sworn to serve and protect. I hope that we do not wash over the impact that many of our close colleagues, friends, and family members have felt, shouldered, and swallowed to assimilate, acclimate and show up day after day at work and personal lives.

I believe that it is critical that we all take some time to remember, despite the daily challenges we continue to face, that we will get there again and return again to that promise, energy, and a sense of possibility we shared in August.

There are many unknowns that we still have to face in the current state of the United States. We will continue to face them one by one, at the appropriate time, working with each other and our colleagues across the campus. In my mind, our deeper objective hasn’t changed. We still want to offer an outstanding residential experience for our students. We want to support their academic success and create an environment in the halls that encourages their learning to continue after they are done with classes for the day. We want them to experience first-hand what it means to create and be part of a community that is truly committed to inclusion and equity. We want to nurture their leadership skills. We want them to spend time with each other and have fun. While I don’t know exactly how and when we will get there, I have great faith that we will, together.

I thank you all for your resiliency and creativity in adapting to our current circumstances. It takes courage and grit to face the unknown and show up every day on behalf of our students. Your efforts have not gone unnoticed. I look forward to the day when we are back together, planning and organizing programs and events, teaching and serving our students, and learning and growing with each other.

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Stay safe and be well.

Sincerely, Valronica

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Get to Know the Team: AdOps!

Administrative Operations Unit serves as the administrative support for the communities.

We supervise the customer service supervisors and community assistants that work at our 13 community/building service desks which provide residents with day and night access to emergency support, resources, keys, and packages.

Candace Daniels

Daunece Cox

Zak Mellen

Favorite Part of Your Job: The combination of left-brain/right-brain responsibilities.

Favorite Part of Your Job: Seeing the projects I worked on being used and benefitting the intended audience

Interesting Fact: AdOps Staff are the jack of all DRL trades! We know and or do something with/for every unit within the Department.

Interesting Fact: CAs have logged over 150,000 packages in the past year.

Favorite Part of Your Job: Doing “detective work” to figure out things like missing keys and packages - really anything with small details. I also enjoy seeing my CAs become friends.

Coordinator of NC, Administrative Operations

Assistant Coordinator, North Hill

Looking for a Great Recipe?

Ask AdOps About Their Amazing Creations!

Cheesy Chicken Ranch Tater Tot Casserole (Zak) Jack Daniel’s Ribs (Daunece) Spaghetti with made from scratch pasta (Candace) Honey garlic chicken stir fry. Lots of flavorful veggies and very easy to make - www.dinneratthezoo.com/honey-garlic-chicken-stir-fry/ (Ashlyn) Lasagna (Donna) Baked Mac & Cheese (Melissa)

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Res Life Roundup | Spring 2020 | Vol. 2

Coordinator, IT Training and Projects

Interesting Fact: At any given time I have easily several hundred (inactive) keys in my office...and I check every single one as I get them to make sure they’re not live.

We support community development through policy and program promotion, creating community hubs. Lastly, we serve as a liaison between Assignments, Residential Facilities, and the rest of the community staff.

Ashlyn Newton

Donna Metz

Melissa McDaniel

Allison Panila

Favorite Part of Your Job: Supervising my staff and visiting the desks to get to know the CAs.

Favorite Part of Your Job: Working with the ADOPS Crew, they are the best.

Favorite Part of Your Job: Supervising my staff, I love supporting students as they transition from entry level positions to supervisors.

Favorite Part of Your Job: Figuring out how to try and make processes more efficient.

Assistant Coordinator, Denton Community

Interesting Fact: During the semester I meet with every Denton Community CA (there are 52 of them!) for a student hourly employee learning outcome meeting.

Assistant Director, Administrative Operations

Interesting Fact: It is really helpful in my world knowing where all the nooks and crannies in the residence halls are for multiple purposes.

Assistant Coordinator, North Campus

Coordinator of SC, Administrative Operations

Interesting Fact: I assist with the supervision of about 70 student employees.

Also, staff meal cards are a bear and take a lot longer to get and distribute than I ever imagined.

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Committee Corner

Substance-Free Housing: With a successful expansion of the program to include several buildings on North Campus, the RAs in substance-free areas implemented restorative practices in their community development plans and conversations with residents.

Cannabis Committee: Currently, there are assessment efforts taking place to review the success of follow up protocol with students. Additional brainstorming of outreach methods and programmatic partnerships in conjunction with UMPD are being explored, with an emphasis on education.

Terp Toy Drive: Several new efforts to promote and facilitate the program truly helped create success in support of the College Park Youth and Family Services. We collected over 1,000 gifts to support the local College Park community. Use of Amazon Wish List helped create more ease and accessibility for volunteers interested in supporting the program. Special thanks go out to Creative Services for the development of the elevator wrap advertisements and Ashlyn Newton for the QR code accessibility.

Community Development Workgroup: RA Training engagement has been reworked to create consistency in messaging and education across all campus areas and throughout fall, mid-year, and spring training. Currently, the group is working on a promotional document that highlights the foundations and expectations for staff regarding the Community Development Strategy.

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Res Life Roundup | Spring 2020 | Vol. 2

Professional Development

Tips from the Minimalists If you love organizing shows like Tidying Up with Marie Kondo or just look around your home (or office) and think you could do better with less stuff or more organization, then check out The Minimalists at www.theminimalists.com. “Minimalism is not about purging your life of things. Minimalism is a lifestyle that helps people question what things add value to their lives. By clearing the clutter from life’s path, we can all make room for the most important aspects of life: health, relationships, passion, growth, and contribution.”

Minimalists don’t focus on having less, less, less; rather, they focus on making room for more: more time, more passion, more experiences, more growth, more contribution, and more contentment. More freedom. And clearing the clutter from life’s path helps us make that room.

They have tons of suggestions for ways to approach your life and work (books, podcast, games, and more). Here are some that might be worth exploring! (this information stolen liberally from them, so the ideas are all theirs) Continued on p.8

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M

inimalist Workspace: An Experiment

As an experiment, why not give this a shot: get rid of everything in your workspace today (box it up or simply get it out of the way), then slowly reintroduce items to your workspace as needed over the next few days. Then get rid of anything you didn’t reintroduce—anything you don’t use this week.

The 90/90 Test

Here’s a simple exercise. Look at a possession. Pick something. Anything. Have you used that item in the last 90 days? If you haven’t, will you use it in the next 90?

If not, then it’s okay to let go. Maybe your rule isn’t 90 days. Maybe it’s 120. Maybe it’s six months. Whatever your rule, be honest with yourself. If your material possessions don’t serve a purpose or bring you joy, then they are likely in the way of a more meaningful life.

The 30-Day Minimalism Game

Find a friend, family member, or coworker who’s willing to minimize their stuff with you next month. Each person gets rid of one thing on the first day of the month. Two things on the second. Three things on the third. So forth and so on.

Anything goes! Collectables. Kitchenware. Electronics.

Furniture. Bedding. Clothes. Towels. Tools. Pencils.

Whether you donate, sell, or trash your excess, every material possession must be out of your house—and out of your life—by midnight each day. [OK - maybe that’s hard with self-isolation, so give yourself some freedom with that] It’s an easy game at first. Anyone can purge a few items, right? But it grows considerably more challenging by week two, when you’re forced to jettison more than a dozen items per day. And it keeps getting more difficult as the month progresses. Whoever keeps it going the longest wins. You both win if you both make it to the end of the month.

I did this activity and while I didn’t make it to the end of the month, I did get rid of lots of paperclips and books and clothes! (I was counting 20 paperclips on 20th and 21 paperclips on the 21st). It was a great way to gamify decluttering my life.

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hat are you holding on to just in case?: 20 Dollars, 20 Minutes

We often hold on to things just in case we need them: We hold on because we might need something in some far-off, nonexistent, hypothetical future. We all do it.

These are our just-in-case items: We rarely use them they sit there, take up space, get in the way, weigh us down. Most of the time they aren’t items we need at all (for me, these are things like cords and plugs).

Instead, if we remove the just-in-case items from our lives, we get them out of the way and free up the space they consume.

Follow the 20/20 Rule. You probably have hundreds of items you rarely use that you can replace in 20 minutes from your current location for less than 20 dollars. So get rid of them. You probably won’t even miss tons of the just-in-case items and won’t even need to replace most of them.

Photo Scanning Party

I did this one with my mom a couple years ago. She had lots of boxes stuffed with photos collecting dust - just waiting for “one day” to come when someone would go through it. So, I got her a photo scanner and went to work.

The upsides - the important photos were saved forever in the cloud and I could find and share them with friends and family easily. And if something terrible were to happen, the photos were saved. Of course, the memories aren’t material possessions, but I discovered a well-curated photo collection triggers all the wonderful memories of yesteryear—without all the physical baggage.

And if you want, make it a real party (well, when this is allowed again) - invite a few friends over and thumb through the photographs of your own childhood in all its head-gear wearing glory.

Truthfully, my mom kept almost all the photos (and she had so many, I ended up scanning only a portion - all the best, of course!), but I know if I did this for myself and my photos, I would empty a LOT of boxes and shelf-space.

Res Life Roundup | Spring 2020 | Vol. 2

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Great Book

If you were to set out to devise the most annoying and ineffective system for email management, you’d probably come up with something where a sound or alert interrupted you every time a new message comes in, commandeering your attention while you’re busy doing something else. And yet that’s precisely how most of us deal with email—in the most productivity-wrecking manner possible. Study after study shows that switching tasks causes us to work less effectively and efficiently.

Opening up email is no exception.

So stop fighting your brain’s nature and set up a system that works with your brain instead of against it. Pick a handful of designated times throughout the day to deal with email—maybe mid-morning, after lunch, and late afternoon—and then stop peeking at your inbox outside of those windows. Set yourself up for success by keeping your email app closed by default and open only during the times you actively need it. And turn off email notifications on both your computer and your phone.

By Daniel T. Ostick

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Work from Home Colleagues

Katie Wilhelm has been spending her work from home days with Christmas Stitch! Stitch is a lap dog during conference calls and he especially loves his guard dog role! He’ll sit on the windowsill all day looking out and protecting his home.

Carol Benedek’s dog Patches has a new favorite chew toy!

She has been enjoying playing tug of war with her toys. Patches loves Cambridge and Ellicott Community Pro Staff. Her favorite song is Patches (to the tune of “Bingo.”)

Meet some members of the Chef Harris Squad! Their workload has increased in the past month averaging one to two new culinary adventures each week. Even though their workload has increased they have maintained a positive attitude by coming to work prepared to be used and know that they are helping Chef Harris explore her hobby of cooking. A benefit is that at the end of the day they are able to relax in a hot tub of soap and get an exfoliation treatment with a scrub brush. They can’t wait for the next culinary adventure.

Tom Lamp’s energetic work from home colleagues left him a creative expression made of recyclables. A much appreciated relatively peaceful respite.

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Res Life Roundup | Spring 2020 | Vol. 2

Did you know... ?

Sergey Brin, the co-founder of Google, graduated from the University of Maryland in 1993.

1914 Calvert Hall opened its doors in July to its first residents, men still garbed in the same uniform worn by cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. It was suggested they bring $35 for room and furniture rental for the year, $15 for the purchase of uniforms and equipment This spot (photo below) on South Campus has lines that point to where the old buildings of the university once stood before the fire in 1912. It is said that if you step on the Point of Failure, you won’t graduate in four years.

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Brain Teaser

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Across

3. The site for Terps to get help for online classes 4. Maryland State Flower 7. A disruptive practice via a popular meeting platform

Down

1. Outgoing University of Maryland’s ice cream flavor at the Dairy 2. Current Governor of Maryland 5. The site for Terps to get hope with doing their job from home 6. Where Bingeworthy shows are found

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Res Life Roundup | Spring 2020 | Vol. 2

Winner’s circle.

The first 5 staff to complete the puzzle and send the correct answer to Janet Archer will win a prize!

Click here to complete the crossword.

Binge worthy shows Candace Joy Daniels: All American (Netflix) Tiger King (Netflix) Blacklist (Netflix)

Karlena Walker: Westworld (HBO) Grace & Frankie (Netflix) On My Block (Netflix) For Life (ABC) Prodigal Son (Fox) Godfather of Harlem (Epix) Watchmen (HBO) Erin Elizabeth Schlegel: Virgin River (Netflix) Restaurants on the Edge (Netflix) Valronica Marie Scales: Four Weddings & A Funeral tv show (Hulu) Little Fires Everywhere (Hulu) Ozarks (Netflix) Locke & Key (Netflix) Umbrella Academy (Netflix) October Faction (Netflix) Jack Ryan (Amazon Prime) Bosch (Amazon Prime) Laura McCulley: Ozark (Netflix) All American (Netflix) Little Fires Everywhere (Hulu) Joann Patricia Prosser: Grimm (Amazon Prime)

Maria Gelfond: Tiger King (Netflix) The Stranger (Netflix) Dead to Me (Netflix) Tales from the Loop (Amazon Prime) Upload (Amazon Prime) Working Moms (Netflix) Unorthodox (Netflix) Narco’s (Netflix) Ozark (Netflix) And classics of course: The Office, Friends Daniel T. Ostick: Hinterland on Netflix. And The Good Fight on CBS All-Access.

ElBonita Elliott: Downtown Abbey (Amazon Prime) Little Fires Everywhere (Hulu) Sex Ed (Netflix) Big Little Lies Season 1&2 (Hulu) Modern Love (Amazon Prime) Dead To Me (Netflix) Good Bones (Hulu) Continued on p.14

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image from: hulu.com

image from: newyorker.com

Allison Panila: Any Below Deck (Bravo) All or Nothing (Prime) Sneaky Pete (Prime) Jack Ryan (Prime) Bria Jackson I finished sex education in 2 days!

It’s sex positive and really funny.

Jordan Adams: Westworld (HBO) The Wire (HBO) Little Fires Everywhere (Hulu) Tiger King (Netflix) Jesus Ramos Miramontes: Community (Netflix)

Tiffany R. Harris: Kim’s Convenience (Netflix) Great British Baking Show (Netflix) Stranger Things (Netflix) Grace and Frankie (Netflix) Nature at Night (Netflix) Father Brown (Britbox) Midsomer Murders (Britbox) Markell Jamal Saunders: Hunters (Amazon Prime) Godfather of Harlem (Epix)

image from: imdb.com

Top 3 Little Fires Everywhere Tiger King Ozark

Gaby Teran Aguilar: The Office (Best show ever) (Netflix) Parks & Recreation (Netflix) The Ozarks (Netflix) Tiger King (Netflix) Doomsday Prepers and the Originals (Netflix) Solved: Extreme Forensics (Amazon Prime) Black in Latin Ameria (Amazon Prime)

We want to hear from YOU! What do you like most about the content? What new topics should we consider for future editions? Staff are invited to share ideas, feedback, and to contribute content to make this an inviting and helpful resource for all!

We hope you enjoy the first edition and look forward to hearing your feedback.

Send any thoughts to tkiras@umd.edu.

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Res Life Roundup | Spring 2020 | Vol. 2