It’s been a rough year so far for this first-year Resident Assistant. Being a RA is no easy feat, so when Abby Malone held her second wing meeting this year, she was absolutely stunned to see how many residents showed.

“It’s been hard. I make up these beautiful signs telling them when and where the meeting is, and then none of them ever come. It’s like they don’t even care,” Malone said.

Malone had her first wing meeting a couple weeks ago, which covered topics such as rules and policies within the hall as well as getting to know the RA.

“I put out these bowls of candy and everything” she said. “Not a single person showed up. I ended up having to eat all the candy myself,” Malone said. She also described how she still went through the policies and procedures, despite having an empty room. “I was told to hold a meeting,” she said. “So I held one. I talked all about myself and my expectations for them for the year. There was a lot of useful information.”

Needless to say, Malone was nervous when she scheduled another wing meeting for a few weeks later. This time, the topics would include upcoming events as well as feminine products being flushed down the toilets.

“It’s been gross,” one of her residents, Kelly Martin, commented. “Sometimes people just throw them in the toilet and don’t flush them. And then it’s like, what do we do? Flush them? We can’t!”

So, Malone scheduled another wing meeting, about three weeks after the first, this time writing that it would be a “Wing Social Candy Palooza” on her posters, promising fun, games, and of course, candy. “I didn’t buy any candy this time,” she said. “I just wrote that. I hoped it would bring more people to the meeting.”

Apparently, it did, because Malone was shocked when almost 25 percent of her residents showed up to the meeting. Seven residents out of the total 32 on the wing gathered in the lounge Wednesday night. Malone couldn’t believe it.

“Seven residents!” she exclaimed. “Seven! That’s almost a fourth of my residents!” She was obviously overwhelmed as she said, “This is better than I ever could have hoped for.”

When asked why they didn’t show up to the first meeting, many of the residents were confused.

“We had a wing meeting?” asked one, Anna Wyatt. “I had no idea. I just came here tonight because she said there’d be candy. Where’s the candy?”

Others didn’t even seem to know about the second one. Resident Emma Palacio commented, “I don’t even live on this wing. I was just studying for my test in the lounge. I tried to leave when they started but the RA wouldn’t let me. She still made me fill out all the paperwork.”

In the end, it was a success for Resident Assistants everywhere. Malone said that she now hopes that maybe her next wing meeting will bring in around 30 percent of residents.