Department of Residence Life

As the first person to hold the Community Development Residence

Life Assistant (CDA) #1 position at Stritch, I have had the unique
opportunity and responsibility of shaping the position and setting the
precedents for my successors. With this in mind, I have drawn on skills
from Communications and Public Relations courses to ensure that I am
initiating sustainable program models and laying groundwork which
encompasses the big picture.

By learning about our student
population at Stritch and crafting
programs tailored to their
interests, I am striving to both
meet the needs of current students
and identify general interests so
that certain programs can become
part of our tradition. My hope is
that these events can be improved
upon each year to suit the needs of
our changing population while
still maintaining their basic form,
giving students a measure of
stability in our event planning.
One such program is “Show Off
Your Den,” which allows students
to showcase their dorms and meet
their neighbors as they vote on
their favorite rooms.
(publicity below)
About me:
I am pursuing a BA in Communications with minors in Religious Studies
and Political Science and an advanced core certificate in Digital
Citizenship at Cardinal Stritch University. I will be graduating in May,
2021, and my plan is to work for a small, local nonprofit as an education
and outreach coordinator. This position with Stritch Res Life has enabled
me to gain experience in a myriad of areas, including event planning,
program facilitation, budgeting, social media work, community
engagement, and conflict management. I know I will continue to develop
and draw on these skills as I prepare for my professional vocation: my
personal mission and my life’s work.
In any job, it is important to have a
record – or at least a knowledge of
– what has been done in the past.
This helps simplify planning and
makes work more efficient. For an
event planner, knowing what
events have been done, how they
were run, and how the audience
or guests felt about them is vital. If
Stritch Res Life has already hosted
something that students here do
not like, I need to know that.
Likewise, if an event was a huge
success, or even if it went well but
there was room for improvement,
knowing in advance that the idea
is worth revisiting is key.
Coming into this new position, I
did not have information about
what events had been done, and I
have devoted much effort to
figuring out how best to record
what I have done, how students
responded, and suggestions for
the future. In PR 204: Event
Planning, we learned the
importance of creating program
proposals, budget worksheets, and
event timelines to keep track of
what needs to be done when and
by whom. Compiling information
in this way helps my supervisor
and co-worker stay in the
communication loop and it gives
future CDAs the information they
need to be successful in their own
event planning and community
building endeavors.
Emily R. Czaplewski
Communications | ‘21
When I started this position in fall
of 2018, Stritch Res Life had no
social media presence and no way
to communicate with students
other than emails and paper flyers.
Community Development
While these can be effective
methods, attendance at events and
Residence Life Assistant #1
a general lack of response to
emails about residence life matters
seemed to say otherwise.
Knowing from Communications
Responsibilities
coursework how beneficial social
media can be for connecting with
• Work 20 office hours each
students, I made creating a social
media presence for Stritch Res Life
week centered around event
a goal for my internship. planning and community-
I knew that creating and building
managing a social media presence
for Stritch would involve many • Plan and facilitate 6 all-hall
moving parts and collaboration,
and I wanted to limit my focus so events each semester (3 on
that we could be more present on
a few select platforms. I chose to campus, 3 off campus)
focus on Snapchat and Facebook.
Our Snapchat account is live, our
• Foster relationships with
Facebook page will be live soon,
and I have created a three month
students and advocate on their
social media plan and ready-to-
post content in my PR 335: PR in a
behalf to professional staff
Digital World class which will be members
available to my successor.
• Serve on the professional staff
duty rotation as on-call hall
director
• Create a Residence Life social
media plan
• Attend staff meetings
• Review RA event proposals,
door decorations, and bulletin
boards
• Assist with interviews of
Residence Life Coordinator
candidates

As CDAs, our job is to make sure students

have a positive residence life experience
while at Stritch through programming and
community-building. Paramount to this is
being open and available to residents.
Whether they want to share ideas about an
event they want us to plan or need to talk
through a challenge they are experiencing,
we are here to listen, help, and advocate on
their behalf.