Michelle Ahondjo is one of our ResLife Student Assistants. This is Michelle’s first year in the team, she is a third year student studying BSc Education and Psychology.
What is ResLife?
The ResLife Team are here to ensure students receive the best support throughout their time at the University of Lincoln. Relocating to somewhere new can be an overwhelming experience for many. ResLife are here to make your transition into university life as smooth as possible! Whether you have a question which relates to your accommodation, your studies or personal life, the ResLife team are here to point you in the right direction. The ResLife team live on campus too, so we are never too far away. The ResLife team are an experienced and diverse group in their second year of studies or above, they provide peer to peer support to students living in university accommodation.
What is like to be a ResLife Assistant?
What is it like to be a ResLife Assistant at the university of Lincoln? It is genuinely a magical experience. Being able to use my own student experience to help other students is a great feeling! We essentially create a safe space for students everyday with our lounge which is located at Cygnet Wharf, as well as running a phone line which students can contact between 6pm and midnight every evening. We are essentially here for students whenever they need us to be but, especially through times when most services are closed in the evening.
What Makes ResLife different to other University services?
What makes our department so unique is that we are students ourselves, we can resonate with students as we have experienced having deadlines, feeling overwhelmed, fallouts or feeling out of place and moving/starting a new life away from home. Being a student can feel daunting because it is a time to really learn who you are and what you stand for. The bottom line is we are here to support students with advice and running fun events and activities.
Tell us more about the ResLife Lounge?
The importance of the lounge is it allows students to come and de-stress. We opened the space in September and we have held loads of events over the year including, craft nights macramé, Karaoke, St Patrick’s day event, pamper days, study days, movies nights and many more and the best thing is that they are all free. The importance of the events is to help you meet new people from all backgrounds.
We were so happy to see so many students join us for Christmas Day – the day was amazing, we spent the afternoon and early evening together and enjoyed Christmas crafts, playing games – pool, darts, board games, bingo. We sang karaoke, enjoyed Christmas music, watched the Kings’ first Christmas Day speech and ate lots of lovely Christmas food and just had the best time; it was a great way to meet new people and make friends. Thank you to everyone who came and celebrated with us and for all of the lovely feedback.
Being a student can feel daunting because it is a time to really learn who you are
and what you stand for. The bottom line is we are here to support students
with advice and running fun events and activities.
What Impact do you this ResLife has on students?
We have seen so many students access our service this year, either via phone when they need to talk to someone or for just out of hours queries as well as students who attend our events daily, or those who drop in as and when they want to come to a specific activity. The cost of living crisis has had a huge impact on students so I think having something which allows students to attend free events, in a warm space whilst being able to grab a hot drink and a snack is invaluable.
Finally, what is your best ResLife moment from the year so far?
I’ve been able to make so many great memories but one of my proudest moments as a ResLife Assistant has to be the event we held on Christmas Day! We thought it would be a good idea to have the lounge open on Christmas day, and celebrate it with any students who were far from home. Being able to provide students with a safe space on such a special day is one that I was most grateful to be involved in! I love helping new students when they have just arrived in Lincoln, and I get great pleasure in helping international students. Moving to a different city to embark on a new stage of your life can be overwhelming and being a part of their journey from helping students enrol into the university and then to see people develop a community of friends is a truly amazing feeling.
To learn more about ResLife or to meet the team members click here
The ResLife Team are on available every evening during term time between 6pm and midnight. You can contact them via phone on 01522 835550 or via email on ResLife@lincoln.ac.uk