Housing Intern Position Created
Dickinson introduced a new housing intern position this spring to the Residence Life and Housing Staff to “help promote our housing options and room selection process to our current students on campus” said Sage Ober, associate director of Residence Life and Housing.
Ober is currently the main staff member that deals with the room selection process as well as overseeing the houses and apartments on campus. The housing intern position was introduced to better connect students to the housing process at Dickinson. The main goal of the position is “to have the intern help us with administrative tasks related to housing, better share information about our housing options on campus and promote the room selection process so students [a]re aware of all of the important information related to this process,” said Ober.
This new position has been filled by Jessica Oren ’21, who has enjoyed working alongside Ober since the start of the spring semester. Oren’s position has covered a variety of different projects that work to, as she describes it, “increase the visibility of housing information, be a resource to students, and improve the way the process is advertised and explained to students.” These tasks have included making the housing website more accessible for students, establishing an open-house program for students to look at upper-classmen housing options, reworking the information session for first-year housing, and developing a stronger social media presence for the staff. Oren has most enjoyed the new housing information session she modified, the open-house for upper-class housing and being more active with the student body in general both in person and through social media.
Oren has been able to engage with the student body and make housing information more accessible and understandable since she is a student herself. “I absolutely love this position and love working with [Ober]…I have especially enjoyed helping revamp some of the ways that Res[ident] Life communicates housing information. All the information has always been out there, but students have been wanting more deliberate communication, which is what [Ober] and I were able to do this semester,” Oren said.
Ober is unsure exactly how she hopes the position to develop since it will only be for one semester, but she appreciates Oren’s ability to help mold and shape this position on campus. “[Oren] has done a fantastic job in this role and she has made a positive impact on our room selection process at Dickinson College. She has worked extremely hard and she genuinely cares about the residential experiences of our students,” Ober said.
Oren also sees this position growing and taking various forms as needed throughout the years. The position was originally offered to Oren as a “one semester gig”; therefore, while Oren has set up initial changes and additions to the Residence Life and Housing Staff, she is also unsure where the position will go. Oren is extremely grateful for the experience she gained as the first housing intern this semester. “I really love this position and the people I work with and am so appreciative of this opportunity and everything it has given me this year,” she said.