{"id":9091,"date":"2024-08-31T10:17:07","date_gmt":"2024-08-31T14:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/?p=9091"},"modified":"2024-08-31T10:17:09","modified_gmt":"2024-08-31T14:17:09","slug":"merriman-ras-prepping-for-first-alcohol-free-dorm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/2024\/08\/31\/merriman-ras-prepping-for-first-alcohol-free-dorm\/","title":{"rendered":"Merriman RA’s prepping for first “alcohol free” dorm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Marah Russell<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Staff Writer, The University Times<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Presque Isle\u2013As the University of Maine at Presque Isle (UMPI) approaches a new academic year, two resident assistants (RAs) in Merriman Hall are preparing to welcome a new class of students into their building. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That preparation includes welcoming upperclassmen into a historically freshman-only dorm and an exclusively \u201calcohol-free\u201d building. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third-floor resident assistant Lilliana Ainsworth and second-floor resident assistant Jackman Daigle have been working hard to create \u2018door decs\u2019, furbishing bulletin boards, and, most importantly, preparing themselves to oversee the health and safety of over 30 predominantly freshmen residents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two and eight other RAs concluded their week-long training program on Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ainsworth shared that a portion of their training was used to act out potential scenarios that may arise in the residence halls. However, no matter how many scenarios are acted out, they can never be fully prepared for what’s to come. \u201cWe\u2019ve got advisors with years of experience and every year there\u2019s always something new popping up,\u201d Daigle revealed, emphasizing the continuous learning process and the need for engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent years, Merriman Hall, also known as the \u2018freshman dorm,\u2019 has exclusively housed first-year UMPI students. However, in the spring of 2024, it was announced that upperclassmen would be permitted to live in Merriman Hall starting in the fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Daigle and Ainsworth, Merriman will remain the only dry, alcohol-free building. \u201cIt\u2019s nice for people to be able to make that decision now, especially those who are making a choice not to drink and do not want those influences,\u201d said Ainsworth. \u201cIt also might be easier for those in recovery to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although their job has many responsibilities, the two can agree that they\u2019re looking forward to the fall semester. \u201cWe have no idea what\u2019s going to happen; we\u2019ve got tons of new people, people who come from different areas, different interests, different all of the above, you name it, it\u2019s going to be different,\u201d said Daigle, \u201cTo be able to watch it grow is very much a privilege. And I\u2019m really looking forward to seeing what this year brings with the freshmen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ainsworth stressed the importance of students \u201cgetting involved,\u201d on campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne thing that I think is especially true with this campus is, you never know what opportunity is going to be out there. I have already had some crazy opportunities, but that would never have happened if I hadn’t shown up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Marah Russell Staff Writer, The University Times Presque Isle\u2013As the University of Maine at Presque Isle (UMPI) approaches a new academic year, two resident assistants (RAs) in Merriman Hall are preparing to welcome a new class of students into their building.  That preparation includes welcoming upperclassmen into a historically freshman-only dorm and an exclusively […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7368,7376],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-front","category-news","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/86"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9091"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9092,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9091\/revisions\/9092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}