CMU is glad to welcome back Parker Mason as the newest campus Residence Hall Coordinator.
After graduating in the winter of 2021 with a degree in Sport Management with a minor in Marketing. He was hired as the new coordinator of Garfield Hall.
Working for Residence Life as a desk attendant since 2018 he was excited to rise through the ranks all the way to the coordinator.
“I took on a lot of the professional roles, especially in my last year working in the office, so it was just kind of we all had a conversation. I just chose to step up because I loved my job and this is a way for me to still connect with residents and connect with the art community and you know, just stay in real life.” Mason said.
Mason was also a mid-year hire for residence life as an RA, Residence Assistant, during his sophomore year for the Walnut Ridge apartments.
“I call it the developmental building. It’s one of the better buildings for transition to be going off-campus. Since your apartment door leads directly outside. I love the culture over there. I think it was a big community building just like Garfield is, it’s just smaller,” Mason said.
The most memorable thing he’s seen as an RA was during his time in Walnut.
“ I packed my bag with all my school stuff because we were going to study over in Wingate and I was leaving my apartment and I just kind of smelled something burning. So I turned around and I looked at the top of my building and there’s smoke flooding out of one of the doors. I was just a brand new RA mid-year hire on my third day and I was just like, ‘oh my god’, so I ran upstairs. Probably like an idiot. I know you’re not supposed to run towards the fire. Luckily there was no fire. A student just left a pan with oil on the stove,” Mason said
Now in charge of the biggest building on campus, old tasks and challenges present themselves as the transition from RA to Coordinator is a lot to handle organization-wise.
“It’s been a little eye-opening. Just seeing the development of all 380 of the residents that live here and how I can hopefully get around and get to know some of them. It’s, it’s, it was hard at first but I think my SRAs, senior resident assistants, have done a really good job helping support me in my transition phase,” Mason said.
The job of a coordinator is just like the RA’s job but instead of being there for just the residence, they are also there to provide help to the RA. From setting organizational staff meetings, holding their own duty phone, and having one on one meetings with the building RA to check in on their progress. They even live on campus in their own apartment.
“We all have apartments within our respective areas. I have an apartment in Garfield just like all the other coordinators have apartments in one of the buildings that they oversee. It has a kitchen, living room, and a bedroom,” Mason said.
Parker currently wants to be a coordinator for at least three years as this was not a permanent job in his field of study, but a way for him to continue helping the students of CMU.
