Alyssa Meyers: Assistant Coordinator in long beach, CA

In this position, I am provided the opportunity to oversee a ten-person student Resident Assistant staff, work with the full-time residence life staff and participate in overnight and weekend on-call or "Duty" responsibilities while completing my graduate degree and holding a graduate assistantship in Student Activities at Bloomsburg University.

As the Graduate Assistant in the Student Activities office at Bloomsburg, I am responsible for overseeing Bloomsburg's impressive Program Board, which is the carefully selected group of students responsible for planning and implementing many of the special events and activities held on campus throughout the academic year. The Program Board works to develop, advertise and implement fun, inclusive and educational programming for all students. Events include Siblings and Children’s Weekend, Parents' Weekend, "Midnight Pizza" nights in the student union, "open mic" nights, game nights, "Pankaroke," hypnotist shows, sound stage events, magicians and more. Other roles which I have taken on as the Graduate Assistant in Student Activities at Bloomsburg have included Spring Fest Committee Chairperson, Music Fest Committee Chairperson, and Concert Committee Co-Adviser. ?

In consultation with various departments on campus, I worked to create an LGBT Safe Zone and Ally Training manual, to be presented to staff and students on campus throughout the upcoming year. In addition to my work with the LGBT training program, I also assisted the Student Life staff in creating an inclusive programming calendar for the academic year, intentionally designed with the needs of marginalized student populations in mind, while supporting the Catholic mission of the University.

This full-time position as a county caseworker dealt, on a daily basis, with youth and their families and provided extensive experience working with victims of abuse and neglect as well as truancy, drug use, etc. within Columbia County, Pennsylvania. Responsibilities included using strength-based approaches in de-escalating clients in vulnerable emotional states, assessing concerns from community members and managing client crises. By working together with clients to improve personal organizational and conflict resolution skills, caseworkers strive to assist in providing a safer, more productive environment for families within the community.