Maureen Walsh, of North Hedges, was selected as the top residence hall adviser in seven states. MSU photo by Erin Raley.

Maureen Walsh sees her life in shades of blue, pink and green.

Those are the colors that Walsh, a senior at Montana State University from Great Falls, uses to code her Day Planner in 10-minute increments. She uses blue for personal appointments, pink for her duties as a residence adviser at North Hedges Residence Hall and green for her coursework in family sciences.

"I write everything down, and I try to keep my life balanced. If I see too much of one color, I can cut back or add more," she said.

Walsh's detail to such planning and organizational techniques is just one of the many reasons that she was recently named Resident Hall Adviser of the Year for the seven-state intermountain region of the National Association of College and University Residence Halls. She bested student advisers of residence halls in colleges and universities in the intermountain area of Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona.

The Resident Adviser of the Year explains that resident adviser duties now are a lot more than shushing residents to turn down loud music during quiet hours, or monitoring for forbidden alcohol in the residents' rooms. Today's residence hall advisers spend a lot of time putting on educational programs for residents, which include the standard alcohol education, but also career and personal development programs. Just before the end of the semester, Walsh conducted a popular program for freshmen residents on how to get along with parents with their pre-college rules during the semester break now that students have had a few months of freedom under their belts.

"Maureen is amazing at relationship building and community development," says Wendy Davison, the resident director of MSU North Hedges. Davison, a member of MSU's professional staff, said Walsh is her number-one student assistant and is well worthy of her regional award for many reasons, including innovative educational program and social activity planning.

"She has far surpassed our expectations in that area. Plus, she's a terrific role model for her residents and fellow RAs. She works hard to include everyone and recognize the large group of Residence Hall Association volunteers she coordinates on a weekly basis."

It may be surprising that Walsh has developed such a knack for managing something as large as one of the state's largest college residence halls because she was late coming to the job. As a freshman, Walsh, came to MSU "just because it felt right here. My family is actually a HUGE Grizzly family." She lived in North Hedges Hall as a freshmen but couldn't wait until she could live in an apartment off campus.

"But I found I hated every single minute," Walsh said. "I didn't like shopping or cooking or cleaning up and washing dishes or much else that came with living in an apartment."

She bumped into her former RA (resident adviser), who urged Walsh to apply for an RA position during her junior year. Like other applicants, Walsh went through screening and a weekly class to teach prospective resident advisers how to respond to emergencies and then a three-day camp.

"It's a competitive but fun selection process," Walsh recalls. She was one of 72 successful advisers chosen from 150 applicants. Her first year she was RA for a co-ed floor and at the end of the year was honored as Female RA of the Year for the MSU campus. As a result, her application, an eight-page bid, was submitted to the regional contest, where it won highest honors. She will resubmit her application in the spring to be considered for the national competition.

Davison likes Walsh's chances. While resident adviser responsibilities take a lot of her day, Walsh also is involved in the community, and was one of the four finalists for MSU's 2004 homecoming queen.

Walsh said being always on call, as resident advisers are, can be grueling, but its varied challenges are one of the reasons she likes the job.

"We get so close to our students that we try to be there for every single one of them, and there's 60 on my floor," Walsh said. Not that RAs can solve all of the residents' problems. Walsh adds that she has noticed that frequently, freshmen students are prepared well academically for college, but can struggle with social and emotional preparedness. Walsh says she likes working with students, problems and all, and plans to make it her life's work. She hopes to join MSU's staff next year and make college and university administration her career.

"Every day is something different with students," she said. "Every day is challenging, but, I love working with students, with people."

Written by Carol Schmidt and posted 12/16/04.